Recently I had opportunity to test this blade. I made three sessions, with rubber I use on other blades, so I can compare crest ar with other blades. On bh was rakza 7 soft, on fh rhyzm and t05. I try to play both wing looping, but sometimes also pushes, blocks, punches, no chopping.
First thing I noticed was linear play, but with max rubbers linear is never really linear, ball can jump too far during passive shots. Then I noticed really easy play on bh side during warmup and various drills. It was kinda slower TBS, stiffer feel but not hard. On fh I noticed lack of catapult (but I play with flexy blades for years, used to them), although once you use to it you can change your shots to adjust. Combo was head heavy, I generally don't like heavy slow bats. In tournament play, where you dont always have time to execute full backswing and swing, bat was too slow for some shots, many balls finished in net. Also, pushing wasn't great. Bat grabs ball relatively well during brush loops, but is slow for distance play. I couldn't find angle for off the bounce fh reloop, which I do with my flexy setups.
For me speed is about 7.8-8.0, control same.
All in all, blade was pretty good for warmup and practicing. It allows (and forces you) to play modern loop-everything timo boll style basic shots. It's probably good for tournament play for allround style player with thinner rubbers. For tournaments I prefer slightly faster or flexier blade with more catapult. | ivan |