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OSP Ultimate II Plus |
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ThePongProfessor
Forum Moderator Joined: 11/17/2014 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1528 |
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Posted: 10/15/2019 at 12:01pm |
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OSP Ultimate II I have tested many 7-ply blades
for Tabletennis11.com, including the DHS Hurricane Long III, Nittaku Ludeack,
Donic Ovtcharov Senso V1, Stiga Clipper WRB, and Stiga Ebenholz NCT VII to name
just a few. All of them are high quality blades with different characteristics ranging
from comparatively soft and moderately fast (e.g., Hurricane Long III, Ludeack,
and Clipper WRB) to hard and fast (Ebenholz NCT VII) and thus serve different
player types well. My personal favorites are probably the Tibhar Samsonov Force
Pro Black Edition and the Stiga Rosewood NCT VII. Both blades have five central
ayous plies, but differ in their surface veneers, with the Samsonov Pro having
limba outer plies and the Stiga having rosewood plies. Limba plies result in
longer dwell time and a great feeling when looping, whereas rosewood is a
harder type of wood, which results in a more direct feeling upon ball impact
and shorter dwell time. I prefer the Tibhar for my FH where I use Hurricane 3 type
rubbers, while I really like Stiga Rosewood for my BH short pips. Over the years, I have read many raving
reviews of OSP blades, and I was, therefore, very excited to see OSP release
the Ultimate II and the Ultimate II Plus blades (U2 and U2+, respectively). OSP
describes the U2+ as a blade for advanced attacking players who want to
maintain very high spin levels. OSP used Indian rosewood as the outer veneer to
create a harder and more aggressive blade vis-à-vis the OSP Ultimate II but
does not provide any information about the other wood plies. The spin is postulated
to be a result of a special laminating procedure. OSP sends the blades in a
no-thrill flat cardboard box, which, however, offers excellent protection
during shipping. The content of the box exudes quality. First off, the Indian
rosewood plies of the OSP U2+ are stunningly beautiful and clearly the
blade is exceptionally well made. Also included in the box, is a flyer that
offers suggestions on how to handle and care for the OSP U2+ and a little
booklet (with a small sheet of surface veneer for repair jobs), which lists
technical data for the blade (dimensions, weight, handle type, build date, etc)
and provides a brief description of the blade. My OSP U2+ blade had the
following dimensions: height: 158 mm, width: 149 mm, thickness: 6.4 mm, weight:
93 g. The exceptionally smooth SQST handle has the following dimensions:
length: 102 mm, width: 28 mm, and height: 23 mm. The blade has a resonance frequency
of ~1356 Hz. Unboxing: https://youtu.be/OK1J8Wn7nqI
Testing procedure: I tested the OSP U2+ using well-used sheets of
Nittaku Hurricane Pro 3 Turbo Blue (black, 2.0 mm) and Nittaku Moristo SP AX
short pips (red, 1.8 mm) in my FH and BH, respectively. The rubbers were
attached using a layer of Revolution 3 normal viscosity glue. I tested the
set-ups over several sessions, playing drills and matches against my usual
training partners using the Nittaku J-Top training balls. Playing impressions: First off, the set-up was much heavier than
what I am used to at nearly 200 g. Despite this, the blade felt well-balanced
with the center of gravity oriented toward the head. The feeling generated upon
ball impact is direct with an absolute minimum of vibrations. The first couple
of FH and BH drives quickly revealed that the blade is fast (OFF level) and
hard, producing a low throw angle. FH loops, played against blocks, have a fast
and deep trajectory, which I found to work better from mid-distance than close
to the table. Slow opening loops against backspin produce higher spin levels
than would normally be anticipated from a blade that feels so hard, but still
lower than, e.g., the Samsonov Force Pro Black Edition. FH blocks feel very
solid but demand unusually precise timing. If mistimed, the FH blocks careen
off the end of the table. I struggled a lot with BH blocking. The vast majority
of the first 50 blocks went over the table. The very soft Moristo SP AX pips
felt very peculiar in this aspect of the game, almost like medium or long pips
with considerable spin reversal on the blocks, something that is normally not
the case with these short pips. I am left wondering if the hard nature and
short dwell time of the blade causes this effect. For sure my BH blocking
consistency was much lower than usual. Flat hits and smashes are fast, but the
heaviness of the set-up put a upper limit on the pace. Pushes, especially FH
pushes, felt great with this setup. The combination of the hard OSP U2+ blade
and the hard and tacky Nittaku Hurricane Pro 3 Turbo Blue rubber worked well
together in this aspect of the game. I was able to keep pushes flat, spinny,
and short or long, depending on my intent. The OSP-Moristo combination worked
reasonably well in aggressive serve receives, which allowed me to put my
opponent under pressure right from the receive. Serving with the OSP/Hurricane
set-up felt great, with the blade and rubber working well in concert to enable
high spin production. The massive weight of the set-up impeded my FH-to-BH (and
reverse) transitions during match play. I found myself out of balance or simply
not prepared for the next shot, more often than usual. Edited by patrickhrdlicka - 10/15/2019 at 4:42pm |
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lasta
Member Joined: 12/04/2018 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 86 |
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Hi, do you have a cross section photo? IMO the original Ultimate was superb and unique in having a hardwood core. A shame they are going to opposite direction through the newer versions.
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ThePongProfessor
Forum Moderator Joined: 11/17/2014 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1528 |
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One of the images on their webpage shows a pretty good cross-section: https://tabletennis-pingpong.equipment/home/39-972-osp-ultimate-offensive-blade.html#/25-handle-fl
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gromousse
Super Member Joined: 12/17/2011 Location: France Status: Offline Points: 110 |
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I own the original Ultimate, 3 Ultimate II with different shapes and weights, and a Ultimate II+
The original Ultimate was a very good blade but it is particularly suited for celluloïd balls, because when you hit hard with it, the trajectories become straight. It is still a good blade but now, with plastic balls, you have to stick near the table, or you may feel difficult to adjust the ball because of the lack of spin of the new ball. The Ultimate II is, according to me, an excellent proposition to drastically increase the amount of spin of the ball, and helps too to keep the ball fast with an extra flex and softness provided by the sweet core. It offers much more grip and is more dynamic than the Ultimate 1 which is closer to old Clipper blade, without losing control ; in fact it offers better control, too. Whereas I can understand that some players can prefer the old Ultimate to the new, because it suits better their game, I would not say it’s a pity that OSP takes another direction for its new generation of blades, because the new OSP blades suit better the new plastic era of TT. The Ultimate II+ is another creature... U2 can be played by many players I think, but U2+ is more oriented for advanced players who want precision and power without losing spin and especially without using carbon fibers which provide a different touch. U2+ delivers huge power and spin and is much more precise than U2 in service and returns, but it is also less permissive. I did not qppreciate much the association with H3 41 orange I am usually play, but I had surprising excellent results with T05hard and Dignics 05.
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OSP Ultimate 2 / T05 / T05fx
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ThePongProfessor
Forum Moderator Joined: 11/17/2014 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1528 |
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@gromousse: I like your analysis and look forward to trying out the U2.
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stiltt
Assistant Admin Joined: 07/15/2007 Location: Location Status: Offline Points: 1020 |
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With the U2, people used to play on any given bloody Sunday, with or without you. Now after the review they'll upgrade to the U2+ and wait for you until the end of the world.
Edited by stiltt - 10/16/2019 at 4:42pm |
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GMan4911
Silver Member Joined: 08/31/2012 Location: Earth Status: Offline Points: 830 |
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Thanks for the review.
Rubber/blade synergy is so important. I recently moved a pair of 4 month old ITC Powercell Ultra 48s from my OSP Virtuoso+ to my Ultimate 2 because while the grip was still good, the sponge was starting to lose their bounce, or so I thought. Wow, the Ultimate 2 restored the zip to the Ultra 48s and then some. On the plus side, spin was just as good and maybe a tad better and the added speed makes my loops deadlier. On the other hand, blocks were flying off the end of the table with more frequency. I tend to stand too close to the table so maybe that's a good thing as it's forcing me to play a step back to keep my blocks under control. BTW, Xiom Omega V/VII Asia Max feels wonderful on the Ultimate 2.
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OSP Ultimate II, FH/ITC Powercell Ultra 48 Max BH/ITC Powercell Ultra 48 Max
ITC Challenge Speed, FH/ITC Powercell Ultra 48 Max BH/Powercell Ultra 48 Max |
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AMonteiro
Platinum Member Joined: 01/30/2007 Location: Brazil Status: Offline Points: 2042 |
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When I saw they were making this blade I was very excited to buy because I tought It would be thinner, more like Ultimate or Ultimate II, then it would be perfect for me because my all time best blade before plastic balls was P700 (6.2mm) and since 2015 I'm using rosewood blades (Glory and Goiabao both 6mm)..
But UII+ with 6.4~6.5mm and this weight are not for me as I use heavy rubbers already.. Maybe one day I order one custom, a little bit thinner and lighter.
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Dynaryz AGR /Yasaka Goiabao 5 / Dynaryz AGR
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Matt Pimple
Gold Member Joined: 12/03/2012 Location: Phoenix Status: Offline Points: 1995 |
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The original Ultimate has ayous core which is a very common core wood type and it is fairly light and soft for a "hardwood". The Ultimate II and I believe the Ultimate II Plus as well, use ayous as core too.
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lasta
Member Joined: 12/04/2018 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 86 |
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Hi Matt, the original Ultimate had a mahogany as the "central" core (Limba-Limba-Ayous-Mahogany-...), the subsequent version replaced it with spruce.
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