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Cheap ALC blades: Hurricane H301&Fang Bo& PG5 |
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jonyer1980
Gold Member Joined: 07/30/2008 Location: Spain Status: Offline Points: 1598 |
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Posted: 08/06/2017 at 7:47am |
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I would like to know if anyone has tried this blades sinces there´s barely any info about them. According to the specs, they are quite simitar: same average weight, thickness even price tag is really appealing.
Could you compare to classic TBS/MAZE/VIS? |
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Rosewood V FL
Nittaku Fastarc G1-FH Stiga DNA Pro-S MAX BH Avoid any Butterfly stuff... at abusive prices. Raw power without control means nothing |
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darucla
Super Member Joined: 07/30/2017 Location: England Status: Offline Points: 115 |
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I have a Fang Bo 2 and a H301. I prefer the look of the H301, but no big deal.
I intend to use them as backups for each other, although not been playing much for the last couple of months due to a broken wrist on my playing hand. Also, I am not sure they are identical, as the H301 handle is a little bigger and the face ply is dyed grey. [The N301 (much more expensive) has koto (like the TBS and Viscaria) face also dyed grey, which may be telling.] It may mean nothing more than a aesthetic design choice, to go with the handle, which is also grey. The FB2 and the Hurricane Long 5 have natural wood-finished limba outers, like the Maze. But they are all inner-layer types, ie, the carbon is between the core and the two outer wooden plies, so they are not strictly comparable to the BTY blades you mention, in terms of construction.
I can say that they are much more wood-like in feel than an ALC copy (Stradivarius, XVT). Not quite so fast, but fast enough. Easy enough to go to after my Hurricane Long 3, 7-ply wood. Suited to Hurricane FH rubber (IMHO) rather than Tenergy or Tensor, but playable with both. My FB2 has H8 FH and EL-S BH; the H301 has H3 Provincial FH and Palio Aeolus BH, so not easy to do direct comparisons, especially with the broken wrist. I've only played a couple of light practice sessions with the H301. I am thinking of moving to a softer Chinese rubber for the BH on all of my bats. maybe H3-50 or Skyline 3-60. I believe the PG-5 may have less production quality and consistency, but this is rumour and hearsay, as I don't have one. It seems that in this aspect, it would be like the PG-7 compared to the TG 506 or HL 3. |
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ashishsharmaait
Silver Member Joined: 02/27/2013 Location: India Status: Offline Points: 914 |
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I have tried these:
Blade Price(RMB) Speed Hardness Weight Stiffness HeadHeavy ML5 800 9 6 92g 5 8 FB2 200 9 7 90g 6 7 H301 200 9 6 93g 5 8 N301 1600 9.5 9 92g 7 8 TB ALC 850 9 8.5 87g 7 8 GF 300 9 7.5 90g 7 9 BF 280 9.5 9.5 87g 6 7.5 DD 600 10/9 10/8 85g 9 5 ZLC/ALC For me the DHS limba blades are quite good if you use H3N 40 (boosted). They provide good touch in the short game (not very bouncy), easy mid-range speed and controllable top-end speed. The throw angle of the DHS limba blades is a little low compared to Koto Outer blades and requires a more open angle while driving the ball. The arc is also lower, but the control is exceptional. Given the price, I think the FB2 or the H301 are both good choices if you are not after aesthetic value alone. The FB2 is a little bit stiff but still more flex compared to TB ALC. The mid-range speed is as good as TB ALC and the increased weight makes the top-end speed higher. At the asking sprice, both H301 and FB2 are a steal. Although Sword, Yinhe and other chinese brands have equally good ALC blades for even lesser (150 RMB) and Yinhe and Sword even have ZLC blades starting from 250 RMB. Edited by ashishsharmaait - 08/08/2017 at 2:47am |
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jonyer1980
Gold Member Joined: 07/30/2008 Location: Spain Status: Offline Points: 1598 |
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Thanks for your reply. Looks like there isn't any meaningful differences between FB&H301
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Rosewood V FL
Nittaku Fastarc G1-FH Stiga DNA Pro-S MAX BH Avoid any Butterfly stuff... at abusive prices. Raw power without control means nothing |
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iamj8
Super Member Joined: 09/11/2009 Location: NZ Status: Offline Points: 429 |
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Thanks for the great input.
I thought I read somewhere that FB2 was Koto but I may be mistaken. Does anyone know if Hurricane 301 or PG5 have limba or koto routers? And ARE the ALC layers second from the top like most carbon blades? |
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A version of Hurricane 3
A version of Tenergy A Stiga blade... |
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shinshiro
Super Member Joined: 09/21/2016 Location: Brazil Status: Offline Points: 243 |
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ashishsharmaait, can you please name a few of these ZLC (or ZLF) blades?
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ashishsharmaait
Silver Member Joined: 02/27/2013 Location: India Status: Offline Points: 914 |
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For ZLF, Yinhe V-03 is easily available. Around 400 RMB. For innerlayer ZLC Yinhe V-04 (480 RMB), Sword Gold Feather (300 RMB), Sword BlackBerry (300 RMB). For outer layer ZLC Sword Blue Feather (Like Hayabusa ZXI, a little slower and more flex). Just ask for Yinhe and Sword catalog, they have lots of ZLC blades. |
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shinshiro
Super Member Joined: 09/21/2016 Location: Brazil Status: Offline Points: 243 |
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Thanks ashishsharmaait!
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piligrim
Premier Member Joined: 06/21/2011 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 5293 |
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Sword blus feather is not zlc. It has JL carbon
Here http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=62002 Somebody says its Viscaria clone |
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azv
Member Joined: 04/17/2017 Location: US Status: Offline Points: 47 |
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FB2 (some places also FB Carbon) has limba outer piles. H301 is the cheap version of N301 and I'm pretty sure it's koto outers. Both have the ALC close to the core.
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ashishsharmaait
Silver Member Joined: 02/27/2013 Location: India Status: Offline Points: 914 |
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JLC is the Sword Equivalent of ZLC carbon, the same way Zephylium is Xiom's eqivalent. I have two of these and can confirm the ZLC feel (I also have a TB ZLC, MJ ZLC, Double Day ZLC). Its is not a Viscaria clone, it is thinner, harder and faster. Also the head is a little longer than Viscaria (which is a bit more roundish compared to BF) so it flexes a little more. It is called Blue Feather because the wood is as light/thin as feather (5.5mm only and top ply is very very thin). My pieces only weigh 86g/88g and are very well balanced. I have not seen a carbon ply grab the ball so well (except Carbonado 45 maybe). Let me know if you want me to share pics and also, since it is less than $50, I would recommend that to someone looking for a reasonable ZLC alternative.
Edited by ashishsharmaait - 08/07/2017 at 11:31pm |
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shinshiro
Super Member Joined: 09/21/2016 Location: Brazil Status: Offline Points: 243 |
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ashishsharmaait, if it is not too troublesome, can you also include Viscaria, Blue Feather, TB ZLC, MJ ZLC and Double Day ZLC on the chart you made above? You have tried several famous blades and also cheaper alternatives, so a comparison between all of them would be of great help! Have you played with Gold Feather too? That's actually the blade that caught more my attention
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ashishsharmaait
Silver Member Joined: 02/27/2013 Location: India Status: Offline Points: 914 |
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Updated...yes I have the GF too. It is more of an Off-/Off blade compared to OFF+ for BF. Softer and more dwell time.
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shinshiro
Super Member Joined: 09/21/2016 Location: Brazil Status: Offline Points: 243 |
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Thanks!
BF and GF have limba outer plies? Or they are koto?
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ashishsharmaait
Silver Member Joined: 02/27/2013 Location: India Status: Offline Points: 914 |
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GF has Limba. BF, has a very very thin top ply. I think it's koto.
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Avallo
Super Member Joined: 02/12/2014 Location: Indonesia Status: Offline Points: 481 |
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Try sword future 6008
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jonyer1980
Gold Member Joined: 07/30/2008 Location: Spain Status: Offline Points: 1598 |
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I finally got a Fang Bo 2 and I could try today for a while on my old Thibar Evos.
Packaging is cool, made of quality cardboard. Much nicer than Typical Thibar/Donic/Joola of the same price range. Quality is quite decent although it can't be compared to top-notch ALC Butterfly blade. I peeled off the rubbers after playing and fortunately I didnt have any splinters issues, plywood construction was fine without any wood-knots or glueing problems. Surface was even but edges were a bit rough, specially between the fiber insertions. FL handle was nice as well. The neck was sanded down properly and I didn't notice any issues related to the handle. For small/average hands it's great. Feeling: It has been a long time since I played with an ALC blade, and this time the experience was quite surprising compared to first gen BTY blades I also own. It really has a more natural & woody feeling compared to TBS/Maze/Vis because of the carbon fiber are inner oriented rather than outer like former ALC blades. Because of that, you can feel it's not as fast as TBS but definitely more rewarding in terms of control or even spin. At the end it's nearly the same at the top-end speed as TBS. I would dare to say it's somewhere between a RWV-TBS. To sum up, I strongly recommend this blade to those advanced players that want to try an affordable ALC with a more woody and direct feeling. That doesn't mean it's an easy blade to handle suited for beginners, but at least it's still on that limit of a controllable blade for a human being that plays TT quite often at a decent level. At this price it's quite a bargain and there's no risk if you don't like it since you can resell it again for same price. Edited by jonyer1980 - 09/08/2017 at 6:13pm |
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Rosewood V FL
Nittaku Fastarc G1-FH Stiga DNA Pro-S MAX BH Avoid any Butterfly stuff... at abusive prices. Raw power without control means nothing |
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