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Balsa Carbo X5 is the most controllable off carbon blade I've played with so far probably due to its softness. If you're an offensive player which mainly attacks from close to the table, you can't go wrong with this one. The anatomic handle feels really comfortable and like all butterfly products it has an outstanding building quality. Highly recommended! Btw the listed weight of 70g is wrong. According to butterfly it's a 83g blade.

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This is an excellent blade. I am a mid 1900âs player that loops, blocks, hits, pushes â basically everything but primarily aim to be an offensive, forehand looper. I have been using the Michael Maze for several years and, most recently, tried out the Timo Boll Spirit blade. With the Maze, everything is great until I run up against players north of 2100, at which point the Maze becomes a little unwieldy, too fast and difficult to control at times. I have also found the Maze difficult to slow loop and hit âcontrolâ shots â the âtouchâ is lacking. As a bonus, the X5 also has a very fat grip (I have the straight handle but have also seen the anatomic which is equally as beefy). Butter fly is way off in their mm ratings of this handle. They rate it at 22 mm thick - the same as the Maze and TBS but the X5 handle is visually much thicker, no question about it. I prefer thicker handles and find many of the Japanese/Chinese blades to be too skinny versus some of the German brands. In terms of specs, this blade is lighter than most by about 10%-15% which really helps if you are using heavy sponge such as Tenergy, etc. I have always felt that Tenergy, when used in combination with 89-95 gram blades, is simply too heavy a package. The X5 solvers this issue and feels very well balanced with these heavier sponges. In comparison to the Maze and TBS, the X5 has better control, a much better short game, is far easier to loop and âslow loopâ and has enough gears to hit or loop from mid distance without issue â plenty of power. I have no idea what some of the negative reviewers experienced or why â maybe they thought they had an X5 but did not! I have always wanted to try a softer blade and have heard good reports on Balsa woods. I now know why â the Balsa wood is very forgiving but this blade was no sponge. I am not sure what the outer wood layers are made from but they work very well in combination with the Balsa core and carbon layers. My game improved immediately â the first time out!

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A top seller, and for very good reasons! I only wish I had this blade 25 years ago. Not the fastest blade out there, but reasonable enough for a junior player or an allround player. BTY's rated this blade way too fast, it's more like an ALL+ or OFF-. The feel is soft, there is lots and lots of dwell-time so with the right rubbers, you will get all the control you could ever wish for. After briefly switching from my old medium-hard blade to this one, I was amazed at just what I could do with the ball! Nothing seemed impossible to do, countering topspins with over-the-table topspins were easy, as were even bh-chop-blocks in amazing angles to devastate the opposition. It didn't matter what my opponent threw at me, I could place the ball anywhere I wanted on the table, with almost any kind of spin I wanted. I felt like a ping-pong wizard. The blade is also very lightweight, rated at 70g but my specimen is 80g, still very light. The flared handle is very good as expected from BTY. The blade is perfect for loopers as you can generate loads of spin with this blade. Smashers beware, you might be disappointed, but with the right (i.e. very fast/hard) rubbers, why not give it a try? It just might work. Pros: -lightweight at 80g, rated 70g doesn't really apply -excellent speed/control ratio -excellent value at 50 EUR -excellent dwell-time for looping -very good handle (flared) -factory sealed Cons: -balsa is very fragile quality in this blade, needs edge tape -speed is over-rated by BTY, ALL+ is pretty close

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