By the way anybody else than mg planning to come to the WTTC in Paris? 

Apologies for the late arrival of this review.  I took some hand-written notes during my time with it, and only just had the time to get them organised.

Much has been said of Ross's craftsmanship in the past.  Most of his blades are good advertisements for his abilities, but the Vagabond is a great example.  The wood quality and workmanship are just incredible, with the striking wood grain and vase handle being highlights.  It really turns a lot of heads in the club.

A quick bounce test gives a high pitch.  The nice surprise was the sweet spot - from a simple bounce test, the sweet spot is huge.  Massive.  Very impressive.  It is very thin for a 7 ply...

With rubbers fitted, the balance is very neutral.  There was a slight bit of head-heaviness with Tenergy fitted, but most blades have this issue, and Vagabond was better than most.

I have to make a special mention to the vase handle.  I was always skeptical about how comfortable it would be - it's difficult to imagine from a photograph alone.  However, the hand feel is great - super comfortable.  What is noticeable is how far up the handle your hand is forced.  I hold my blades quite high anyway, so it felt very natural to me.  Some other clubmates found it difficult to adjust to though, and mentioned that they would need time to get used to the way it felt on forehand/backhand transitions.

In open play, Vagabond feels OFF-, on a par with Acoustic, Virutoso, Korbel.  For a 7 ply, I find this to be an excellent speed - very usable.  It doesn't have the flyaway nature of some 7 ply blades, and remains controllable throughout the gears.  It's also not hugely bouncy in the short game, despite the hard outer ply.  Vibration is very mild, never uncomfortable, and gives reasonable feedback.  Compared to a Clipper, it's a notch slower, and certainly less bouncy.

Vagabond is stiffer than the blade thickness would lead you to believe.  No doubt the ply selection is having a major impact here.  It's certainly stiffer than the 5 ply comparison blades I've already mentioned.

The wood feel is interesting.  It feels sharp and precise in the short game, but doesn't have the outright bounciness that a hard outer ply would usually lead to.  I guess the ply selection helps to take the edge off somewhat with low speed impacts.  But the sharp feel makes certain shots very easy to do.  Flick service returns are particularly strong, and blocking is very accurate.  However, once you start playing a faster game, the low-speed "damping" (for want of a better word) is unnoticeable, and the overall feel becomes medium+.  I would say it favours driving, rather than looping.

All of this adds up to an interesting set of gears.  The short game is good if you play active shots - flicks and the like.  Pushing is OK, but it can be easy to pop a no-spin ball up if you're used to a softer feel.  General topspin play and hitting is very balanced, and shows a predictable, medium throw.  You can be very aggressive with topspin, but still retain a lot of safety.  

I found the high gear to be a bit limiting - away from the table, it runs out of grunt somewhat.  With softer/slower rubbers, I had difficulty with returns which dipped late - it became difficult to lift them from below table level.  Switching to higher throwing rubbers helped a lot in this area.  Initially, I switched to Bluefire M3.  This raised the throw, but my returns still lacked penetration.  Moving to a harder sponge really sorted things out however.  T80 worked particularly well, and I thought it was a great fit for the characteristics of the blade.

If I had to choose a single word, I'd probably go for "adaptable".  Vagabond is very versatile, and can be adapted to suit many styles with correct rubber selection.  It covers the vast majority of needs incredibly well, and provides excellent linear power delivery, which makes it very easy to use for the speed it gives.  The weakness is in high-speed looping - it lacks either the flex or softness to help with spin generation at high speeds.  If you spend a lot of time looping from mid distance and beyond, rubber selection would become important.

First impression is, that Vagabond looks really beauty, although the handle looks a bit faded. It`s a curious feeling, to hold this unusual handle in my hand, but it is playable. That`s a positive surprise for me.

By the way: it is really funny. At the end of April I decided to test the Vagabond, some days later (in the beginning of May) I registered also for a test of the new OSP Carbon blades. All these time I was waiting for these blades and yesterday (when all halls are closed) both blades arrived. But ok, there is a solution for each problem. 

Like I said, Vagabond arrived exactly in the wrongest moment that`s possible (for testing), because one da later I started my holiday journey and coming back the sports halls were closed. 

But what is the name of the blade? Vagabond. And a vagabond is "a person without a settled home or regular work who wanders from place to place". So I decided, that the Vagabond also makes holiday. Maybe he will meet some other tt-blades on the journey. So Vagabond started his exciting journey through the Mediterranean Sea.

Sorry but because if injury and a very small opportunitites to test the blade I will pass this time. 

 

I don't have any more users for testing at the moment, so once the list is done I think the blade is heading back to Ross.  I will pass the info on and see what he wants to do.

 

Unless I get a my shoulder cured by miracle in the next month I will not test the Vagabond so don't count me in. Thanks!

 

fatt - send Ross an email.  I'm sure you can work something out with him.

a. I'm European (born in England and of completely European descent), and 

b. Ross's vase handle is driving me nuts! I have to try it!

Please don't tell Ross, but I'm thinking about commissioning a third Sotto Voce and everything I've read about the handle suggests to me that it may very well be the way to go. But I'm very reluctant to change from my beloved straight handles without at least holding the vase first.

I've never volunteered to test a blade because I am seriously a rank amateur - and that's on my best days! If the European tour could be extended, I would be happy to pay the cost of postage to Australia (we'd need to find a way to do that, but I'm sure it can be done) and from here back to Ross. Mind you, there may be another Aussie or Kiwi who wanted to jump on the bandwagon.

What do you think?

 

The vase handle is a personal thing, obviously, but I'm really taken with it.  So much so, I ordered a Rapscallion with a vase handle...

Thanks again!

I think that Bluefire M1 is indeed a perfect fit for the blade, tried it both on FH and BH and it worked very well. I liked the rubber on another all-wood blade - Runlox-5, but I was looking for some more finishing power. Vagabond is definitely faster and more powerfull, maybe a tad slower than what I'm used to. Composition is to some extent similar to blades like the Ludeack Power but the harder outer veneers result in a different feeling. There is just enough feedback, I had some problems controlling the blade when I hit harder or when I was trying to generate heavy topspin but I had just 2 hours and the blade is different from everything I have played sofar. Looping was good near the table and mid-distance, loopdriving was better when I managed to land the shot on the other half of the table:) Blocking was really good, short game too, sometimes the Vagabond felt a bit less forgiving but I didn't realy had the time to get used to it. Still I played well with it after such a short time and actaully liked it. There is no need to comment on the looks - everybody has seen the pics, handle has become darker, but Vagabond is still a beauty:)

Since I won't be able to test it again soon I need to know where to send it now. Andy? Ross? 

I already own 3 Ross Leidy beauties so I am quite unpatient to get my hands on this one.