Customer review for Yasaka Ma Lin Soft Carbon - Chinese Penhold

External Review for Yasaka Ma Lin Soft Carbon on June 19, 2019

This is mostly for those players who are "advanced beginners" or "early intermediate" players like me (consistency isn't quite there yet, but I have most of the strokes down and read spin okay). Nittaku Fastarc C-1: FH, Fastarc S-1: BH.

This blade gives you speed that a wooden blade won't give you. You do sacrifice some control, but this blade has fairly good feedback. Pushing felt difficult when I first got this blade, mostly due to not being used to the stiffness of a carbon blade. However, over 3-4 months of adjusting, pushing consistently is no longer a problem. Blocking is also a huge plus, as you can feel how much a shot sinks in but is still reactive enough to effectively block when timed well. This comes in handy with its gears. I can go from pushing to an on-table flip to blocking all within the same rally.

It's got a large sweet spot. ~85% of vibrations aren't felt unless playing against very powerful stroke. This was a problem with my old wood blade, especially since most players I practice with are better than me.

When looping/counterattacking mid-distance, its sometimes hard adding more spin onto the ball, but I chalk that up to lack of training/rubber. It's a me problem and not a blade problem, as my coach used it once with no problem. For far-distance counterattacking, I can really let this rip and test out my forehand stroke. It definitely offers enough power. One thing a lot of people get hung up on is about how slow this blade might be. While its a valid concern, I've found that you dont want a blade that is too fast for you, especially if you are still learning the game. I find this blade to be a little fast at times, but as I have grown over the years, it has really helped me adapt to ball speed changes and general ball-tracking.

Overall, not a beginner blade, but I think it's a good blade for someone to take that next step from beginner to intermediate player or for trying out carbon blades. I feel this is a good blade to "grow up" with.

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