Palatinus OSP Expert ALL+ Review

DISCLAIMER:
I am a very satisfied OSP Virtuoso user. July will be the 1 year mark with the blade. After buying more than 30 blades in a 10 year span, I can't seem to EJ my way away from it.

But several weeks ago, I was lucky enough to receive an Expert to review.

It's an ALL+ looping blade, and having owned several blades in that category and having spent a year or two with the Avalox BT550 (a similar design) as my primary blade , I was curious to see what Palatinus brought to the table for a thinner 5 ply looping blade.

SPECS:
The blade I received was as follows:
5.42mm thickness (flexes with a big pop)
89.2g weight (feels lighter due to neutral balance)
160 x 151 (longer than average head)
Square Straight handle (medium thickness, on the thinner side)

Since then, I've had a chance to try it at several practices as well as in for fun matches. Knowing my own technique limitations, I've also allowed several, much more accomplished loopers (US1600 and US1700) to try it. It's a looping blade, so why not, right? I figured that it made more sense for me to block against it (because I am used to blocking their loops with their normal gear). This first draft of the review reflects my first week with it.

1st take
Hurricane 3 Neo 2.1 FH, Mambo H 1.8mm BH
-The short game and passive play and excellent feedback of the Virtuoso design are there. The blade makes placement on softer balls very easy. Pushing, blocking short, all very comfortable. Feels like an ALL blade.

-As expected, it's easier to produce consistent, point winning topspin from both sides. Doing FH/FH and BH/BH topspin drills with this blade was a treat, as it balances very good control with a huge selection of gears.

-But mid distance topspins are where this blade excels. On bigger strokes there is a strong sense that the blade "loads up" before kicking the ball out. Unlike the Avalox BT550 however, which seems to get a bit squirrely when flat hitting any further than the mid-table powerzone, the Expert seems to maintain a solid feel and is more predictable. And speed at mid distance feels more like an OFF- blade than ALL+.

After spending an hour playing matches with it, I let a US1600 looper/fisher/lobber/allrounder (who normally uses a Stiga Allround with Juic Scramble, a Mark V clone) try it. He mixes brush loops with drives, and I noticed that his loopdrives were more powerful and packed significantly more "wallop". The topspin dive after the bounce was much, much more pronounced. And I was more likely to make errors blocking. The middle gear (somewhere between a drive and a brush) was what scared me though; his consistency and placement skyrocketed, while maintaining a good deal of the power of the drives. As might be expected, his brush loops were similar in spin to what he produces with his normal setup. Spinny, but not fast. He wanted the blade after just a few minutes of it. But this one is not for sale :)


UPDATE:
2nd take (blade in the hands of a US1700+ 2 winged looper)
This player usually uses a DONIC Epox OFF with Vario, a fairly stiff blade with softer rubbers.
He plays 5-10 feet off the table, loops and counterloops from both wings and plays a control game.
I put a set of Banda Rossa Soft 2.0mm on it.

Comments were as follows:
"As I long as I was aggressive, I controlled the point"
"Attacking and counterattacking were good, plenty of power from mid distance"

He didn't like the blade/combo for defense/passive play. Being used to a stiffer setup, the flex of the blade+soft rubbers caused consistency problems.

Recap:
If you like flexible 5 plies with limba outers, and want to be able to attack from mid distance, this is a very good blade. If you are used to stiff or hard feeling blades over the table, your control will suffer.

Icontek, now you see why I switched to this blade?

89.2g weight (feels lighter due to neutral balance)

Edited by Tinykin_2 - 06/05/2011 at 10:54am

Otoh, balance is relative and also depends on the rubbers used for the test and the blades one is used to...

Less vibration but better feel? Can you explain it? Because I hate tbs- alc kind of stuff because there is no vibration and I cant feel the ball. With Exert there is less vibration but more feeling?

Well I'm playing with oc cr and there is no "bad" vibrations at all. I can feel the ball very well. I just wanted to understand why expert is so much better than oc series.

TSuBaSa wrote: I just wanted to understand why expert is so much better than oc series.

Hmm, I think it's hard to describe. I have not played Expert, too. But I know why the Virtuoso is much better than other woods, for me. But it can be only experienced.

arylate makes the blade dead. It unnaturally dampens vibrations of all kind. for stiga - I suspect spruce layer to be responsible for all that crap. Playing with OC, OC oversize is annoying. Every hit is a pain. I came accross OC blades, that felt like metal plate. I admit that not all OC blades are the same. You may be the lucky one.

Thank you all for so much information. They are really halping me. But its highly subjective right? You may think oc cr's vibrations are too much and an other guy may think there is not enough feedback while playing with virtuoso.

I have to go to Adana this week. I dont know when I can go to fbvtt but I'll call you when I can...

Was there a list? Can I get my name on the end of that list?

TSuBaSa wrote: Well I'm playing with oc cr and there is no "bad" vibrations at all. I can feel the ball very well. I just wanted to understand why expert is so much better than oc series.

Then you have to try this Tulpe 702

icontek wrote: In play over the table, if can feel slower than OC on smaller strokes, closer to Stiga Allround Classic. If I weren't married to my Virtuoso, and I played more mid-distance I would buy the Expert in a heartbeat.

icontek.....a few quick questions:

1. Did you find that the Virtuoso L you have was more controllable with close table play compared to the Expert?

2. How was looping and lifting under spin ability between these 2 blades...any big difference?

3. Did you feel any difference in throw height between these 2 blades?

I am almost ready to pull the trigger on one of these blades, figuring out head size for either one is also hard for me to decide on.....maybe a M in Expert and L in Virtuoso I am starting to think.   Thanks for any further info besides what you have reported already.
 

 

Im interested in an OSP blade, and on the website, there is no name, no address, no e-mail, no tel. number. Before we are talking about "service" the least thing i expect is a name and contact address. Jeez.

Edited by Klaus123 - 06/25/2011 at 1:36am