Customer review for Yasaka Ma Lin Soft Carbon

External Review for Yasaka Ma Lin Soft Carbon on March 11, 2010

What a disappointment this was for me. This was my first new blade in 15 years, my old one was Joola Rosskopf Fire. Having tried my mates' blades, I finally decided to invest in some quality equipment. I bought this blade because I wanted more speed and more control than what I had. So I chose a carbon blade, but a Soft Carbon. I thought Yasaka and Ma Lin were supposed to be a guarantee of a good blade. Alas, it was not. For +50 euros, this blade is a very bad buy, there are lots of better choices out there.

The blade has a very poor speed to control ratio. According to Yasaka, the blade is supposed to have an extra-large sweet spot, but still it feels to function properly only when you hit the ball pretty much in the middle of the blade. The blade vibrates unpleasantly and the blade feels sluggish if you don't hit the sweet spot. There is not much dwell-time with this blade, so getting a good spin on the ball is quite difficult unless you have excellent technique and a suitable rubber. Tenergy 64 might be a good fh-choice here, since it adds some dwell time and is fast enough. For the bh, I would have to recommend something very lightweight, otherwise the weight will be too much for comfort. Dawei Inspirit Quattro Ultra Light H35 (SV35) or H40 (UL) 2.0mm or max might work just fine. I tried this rubber also with a soft (H35) attacking pips-out rubber, and it just didn't work, for me at least.

Finally, my blade weighed in at 96 grams, although it was rated at 85 grams. I have contacted Yasaka several times both in Sweden and in Japan about this anomaly, but have got no answer from the emails on their website. Unless I hear back from them pretty soon, I will never ever buy Yasaka products or recommend them to anyone. This blade was supposed to have it all for me, but it turned out to be the exact opposite. I know some top players have used this blade (e.g. Mattias Karlsson, world #361 Dec.2009) but I can't see that they have been using the same blade as this.

Pros:
-workmanship is fine
-blade comes pre-sealed

Cons:
-extremely heavy, 11g more than rated
-poor speed/control
-not much dwell-time for a "Soft Carbon"
-smaller sweet spot than expected
-handle is too thin (flared)
-poor customer support from Yasaka

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