Double Day Valiant Loop King Review

I will spend the next week answering this question and let you know.

The blade is definitely a high quality ALC blade.  I don't use ALC blades usually so I really can't compare it to Timo Boll ALC.  The ST handle I am using is different from the Timo Boll ALC though and a bit thinner than I would prefer  (with rubbers, the blade is head heavy).  The one I got weighs 89g.  The head is 161mm by 151mm.  It's about 6mm thick.  It's similar to a Timo Boll ALC I think with the main difference being that a Koto outer ply is replaced by an Anegre outer ply.  Anegre is harder than I would usually like, but it is an outer ply that I have used on the Yasaka Extra and Grubba blades so I have no problem with it unlike Koto, which I almost feel allergic to even when I don't play that badly with it.

I put on my spare Adidas P7 rubbers and took it to the club.  Immediately, I could see the advantage of this blade over my usual wood blades - this is a clear OFF blade, no compromises.  It felt so good that I wanted to play with it.  Against my better judgement, I moved my Tenergy 05 sheets onto it.  I will be playing competitive matches with it.  I went 4-3 today in matches I played with it.  Given I was coming from ALL+/OFF- blades, my control suffered on defensive and offensive shots, but it was much easier to put the ball by people with sheer speed.

One of my clubmates plays with a Timo Boll ALC FL with T05 and T80.  I will exchange blades with him and loop before making more detailed conclusions.  I was impressed by the looping quality, but again, it makes the most sense to compare this with the ALC Butterfly blades before closing this review out.

Alas, no one in my club has a Timo Boll ALC.  The juniors use Timo Boll ZLCs (a different and excellent blade in its own right).  One of my club mates does have a Timo Boll Spirit with Tenergy 05 on both sides.  I tried it - it was lighter than my blade and seemed faster - not sure whether it was because it was easier to swing or just faster.  The owner felt it was faster than my blade too,  So maybe my blade is really an OFF-/OFF blade with a power kick on some harder strokes.  That would give the Loop King name better context.

I like the blade a lot.  It fits my looping focused style very well and is now my main blade.  That said, it was heavier on the head with Tenergy 05 than a Timo Boll Spirit and that balance might not sit well with some people.  The blade might also be too slow for lovers of the Timo Boll Spirit/ALC blades.  That said, if you like to play heavy topspins with good placement and control, this is a blade for you.

Let the party begin....whoop whoop....sorry getting too excited...

And asifgunz, I've PM'd you!

I added the video view of the blade though.

Maybe someone can get some history/background info of Double Day. 

Although the specific companies they made blades for is confidential, let's just say that when they stopped being an exclusive OEM for a particular brand, that brand started putting silver tags on the bottoms of their handles instead of the black ones to signify the change in partnership and manufacturing.

TT collectors will probably understand what I mean by "black tag."

Nice...so are you saying these blades will be in the black tag quality. How did you like your penhold with the zlc/alc combo?

Schen,

If you go to the page for the Winner in the links that fatt provided, and you try to translate the page to English, you get a style for the winner called "Attack".  This makes sense.

If you go to the page for the Loop King and try the same translation, the same thing says "flurry", which may be "hurricane" for all I know.  What is the intent in English?

Thanks!  I'll be at the Learning Tree club this evening for the adult classes if you happen to be around!

And Double Day blades are manufactured in Taiwan.  Double Day's office, warehouse, and factory are all in the same building.

I already did, if you read my review.  I played well with it.