Customer review for Yasaka Ma Lin Soft Carbon

External Review for Yasaka Ma Lin Soft Carbon on March 10, 2010

What a bummer! I was in the market for a new blade after many years. After trying a few blades, I decided to buy this blade because I wanted more control and speed than what I previously had. So I chose a Yasaka Ma Lin Soft Carbon blade. I was sure those names were supposed to be a guarantee of quality, but I was fooled. For over 50 euros, this blade has lousy value.

The blade has horrid speed/control. Yasaka says the blade has an extra-large sweet spot, but it feels to work as it should only when the ball hits pretty much the middle of the blade. The whole blade vibrates nastily and it feels sluggish if one doesn't hit the sweet spot. There is very little dwell-time, so generating a sizzling spin on the ball is pretty difficult unless you have excellent timing, technique and a proper rubber. Tenergy 64 should be good on the fh, since the dwell-time is decent and the speed is more than adequate. On the backhand, I would recommend some very light rubbers, otherwise the weight will skyrocket. The Dawei Inspirit Quattro UL H35 or H40 max or 2.0mm should be just fine. I also experimented briefly with a soft (H35) attacking pips-out rubber, but it just wasn't for me.

Last, but certainly not least, my blade weighed in at a whopping 96 grams, although it was rated at 85 grams. I've contacted Yasaka on several occasions both in Japan and in Sweden about this defect, but haven't got an answer from their contact emails posted on their website. If I don't hear back from them soon, I'll never buy Yasaka products or recommend them anymore. This blade could have had it all for me, but in fact it offered very little. I read that e.g. Mattias Karlsson, world #361 Dec.2009 used this blade at one point, but it's hard to imagine that they had used my blade very successfully.

Pros:
-blade is factory-sealed
-the finishing is ok

Cons:
-superheavy, +11g compared to rated weight
-lousy speed to control ratio
-very little dwell-time for a Soft Carbon
-sweet spot smaller than marketed
-(flared) handle is too thin
-customer support is non-existent

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