The Best Table Tennis Blades to Buy in 2024

  • Post category:Blade / Equipment
  • Post last modified:January 4, 2024
  • Reading time:103 mins read
  • Post comments:2 Comments

Finding the best table tennis blades is not an easy task. There are so many varieties. The top quality blades are marginally ahead of the other near equally good table tennis blades.

If you are a beginner, you should use the ready-made bat. After that, when you uplift yourself to the intermediate level, switch over to customized rackets.

Research on finding the perfect table tennis blades is always appreciable. But don’t do it year after year. Your solution will never come to an end.

Rather give your full effort to build your technique to the next level. Table tennis blades are very durable. It’s not like rubbers that you need to change after a decent use, like after 6 months to 1 year. A blade may give you an easy run of 5 years.

Let’s check the best table tennis blades.

16 Best Table Tennis Blades: At a Glance

These table tennis blades will give you the best result according to your playing style.

  1. Butterfly Viscaria
  2. Timo Boll ALC
  3. Butterfly Timo Boll ZLC
  4. Zhang Jike Super ZLC
  5. STIGA Carbonado 145
  6. JOOLA Rossi Emotion
  7. Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit
  8. Butterfly Primorac Carbon
  9. STIGA Infinity VPS V
  10. STIGA Clipper
  11. YASAKA Ma Lin Extra Offensive
  12. Yasaka Sweden Extra
  13. XIOM Stradivarius
  14. Butterfly Petr Korbel
  15. Stiga All Round Classic 
  16. NITTAKU Acoustic

Top 16 Best Table Tennis Blades: Comparison Table

Rank

Name

Plies

Class

Store

1

Butterfly Viscaria

5W + 2C(AC)

OFF

2

Butterfly Timo Boll ALC 

5W + 2C(AC)

OFF

3

Butterfly Timo Boll ZLC

5W + 2C(ZL)

OFF

4

Zhang Jike Super ZLC

5W + 2C(ZL)

OFF

5

STIGA Carbonado 145

5W + 2C

OFF+

6

JOOLA Rossi Emotion

5W+2C

OFF

7

Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit

5W + 2C(AC)

OFF

8

Butterfly Primorac Carbon

3W + 2C 

OFF+

9

STIGA Infinity VPS V

5W

OFF

10

STIGA Clipper

7W

OFF

11

YASAKA Ma Lin Extra Offensive

5W

OFF

12

Yasaka Sweden Extra

5W

ALL+

13

XIOM Stradivarius 

5W+2C

OFF+

14

Butterfly Petr Korbel 

5W

OFF

15

STIGA All Round Classic 

5W

ALL

16

NITTAKU Acoustic 

5W

OFF

Table Tennis Blade Buying Guide

Table tennis blade properties
Table tennis blades

Let’s look at the official rules.

“The racket may be of any size, shape, or weight, but the blade shall be flat and rigid.”

Also, at least 85% of the blade thickness shall be of natural wood. It may include an adhesive layer like carbon fiber, glass fiber, or compressed paper, but it shall not be thicker than 7.5% of the total thickness of 0.35 mm, whichever is smaller.

The inclusion of carbon fiber or other adhesive material makes the blade faster than the all-wood blade but with the sacrifice of control. So, the carbon blades are suited for professionals, not for beginners or intermediates.

At the time of choosing your blade, look at the following aspects.

1. No. of layers of wood

Various options of blade layers are available in the market. It may comprise 3 layers, 5 layers, or 7 layers. There may be an extra layer of carbon fiber or other adhesive materials.

Table tennis blades with a higher level of layers are harder and faster. So, 7-layer table tennis blades are faster than 5-layer blades.

2. Types of Wood

The quality of the table tennis blades depends on the quality of the wood material. Among the various kinds of wood, three types of wood are most popular as blade materials.

Balsa

This is the most popular wood that you will find in most table tennis blades as a core material.

It is soft, light, porous, and springy. This soft balsa wood allows the ball to sink in which invariably increases the dwell time.

Players like loopers and choppers who want to produce a lot of spins would love this wood. Because of its softness and springing action, it will help vary spin and deceive your opponent.

Limba

It’s a classic European topspin wood. It’s heavy and fast but not springy. This soft limba wood generates superb control for topspin players.

The hitting capacity of the blade increases with the increase of thickness of the limba ply. Limba has excellent acoustic properties also. Topspin players like the vibration and acoustic click sound.

Hinoki

Hinoki is the classic Asian topspin wood. The durability and the preservability of the hinoki wood are at the highest level in the world.

It is the golden blade in table tennis. Hinoki wood is very soft. It is easy to give a nice soft touch with this wood but very fast at the time of hitting.

3. Stiffness

The behavior of a racket heavily depends on the stiffness of a blade 

StifferLess Flexible (or springy)More speed but less spin

Less StiffMore Flexible (or springy)Less speed but more spin

4. Weight

More WeightMore MomentumMore speed but not easy to maneuver

Less Weight Less MomentumLess speed but easy to maneuver

5. Balance

The balance of a racket is three types. 

  1. Head Heavy where there is more mass towards the head
  2. Head Light where there is more mass towards the handle
  3. Even Balanced, where there is an equal distribution of mass

Head HeavyMore speed and spin but less control and feel

Head LightLess speed and spin but more control and feel

6. Style of Table Tennis Blades

Shakehand, Chinese penhold, and Japanese penhold types table tennis blades penhold

Blades are of two styles

  1. Penhold style
  2. Shakehand style.

Choose your style of Blade according to your style of play. If you are using a Shakehand grip, you must choose the Shakehand style of Blade.

7. Types of Handle

Types of table tennis blade handle

It will not be worthwhile if we forget about the handle of the table tennis blades.
When you look at the specifications of the blade, you will identify three types of handles.
AN- Anatomic
FL – Flared
ST – Straight

Anatomic and Flared types of handles are of the same type with slight variation. These handles are more popular. Advanced players who change grip during play prefer a straight handle.

8. Sweet Spot

The sweet spot is the area of the blade that can produce maximum power with consistency but at the same time, you have less feedback. The more stiffness, the larger the sweet spot will be.

Composite blades are generally stiffer than wood, which means they have a larger sweet spot with less feedback.

Many players prefer wooden blades to carbon blades because they like the feedback for more control over their shots.

9. Class of Table Tennis Blades

It is the most important consideration in the selection of table tennis blades. Class is broadly divided into three categories.

  1. ALL (All-round) – All-round blade balances speed and control. It is more suitable for beginners and intermediates.
  2. OFF (Offensive)– Here you will get more speed with the sacrifice of control. If your style of play is attacking, opt for this blade. Most professional players use Offensive blades to destroy their opponents.
  3. DEF (Defensive)– If you focus more on control rather than speed, it suits your playing style.

These categories are also more fine-tuned, like
ALL+, ALL, ALL-
OFF+, OFF, OFF-
DEF+, DEF, DEF-
(+ → More speed and less control

– → Less speed and more control)

Best Table Tennis Blades Reviews

The market for table tennis blades is mainly dominated by the offensive class. There is a huge variety of blades in this class. It tempts you to frequently change blades.

In the offensive class, you will find two types of blades,all-wood, and composite (A mix of wood and carbon fibers).

In carbon blades, there is an extra layer of carbon material over layers of wooden ply. Many advanced players like carbon fiber blades generate more power on their shots.

ALL (All-round) Class is a medium-speed blade along with good control. This blade is a combination of a hardcore ply with a soft outer ply.

Let’s go to the reviews of the best table tennis blades.


1. Butterfly Viscaria Table Tennis Blade

This Viscaria blade from Butterfly is one of the most popular blades and ranked within the top 10 in 2020. This is an offensive blade that uses the combination of 5 wood layers and 2 layers of Arylate carbon fiber.

Arylate carbon has some unique features.

  • Lightweight
  • Great feel and Responsiveness
  • High flexibility
  • Vibration control
  • Minimum Energy loss

Butterfly Viscaria blade uses Koto, a harder wood as the outer layer, making the blade rigid and stiff. This blade has a larger area of sweet spot which results in more consistent power-hitting. The combination of feel and high balance of Arylate carbon along with the larger sweet spot gives the blade great power, speed, and control. Due to the high arc trajectory of the ball, the Viscaria blade gives a higher margin of error with your loop shots.

Key Features

  • Layers: 5W + 2C(AC)
  • Material: Koto Wood + ALC Carbon + Limba Wood + Kiri Wood (Core)
  • Weight: 87 gm
  • Thickness: 5.7 mm
  • Speed: 90
  • Control: 88
  • Characteristics: OFF
  • Two Styles, FL, and ST

2. Butterfly Timo Boll ALC (My Favorite)

Butterfly timo boll alc blade

Timo Boll ALC uses the same technology as the Viscaria blade with the combination of 5 layers of wood and 2 layers of Arylate carbon. The only difference is that the handle and wings of the Viscaria blade are slightly wider than the Timo Boll ALC blade.

Butterfly Timo Boll ALC is not as fast as ZLC but you can get a great spin with high control which the ZLC series lacks. The high dwell time of this blade produces incredible spin which is the looper’s dream. This blade has a high throw angle, making it easy to play away from the table. As this ALC blade is very responsive, you need proper timing to make use of its speed, spin, and control.

Key Features

  • Layers: 5W + 2C(AC)
  • Material: Koto Wood + ALC Carbon + Limba Wood + Kiri Wood (Core)
  • Weight: 86 gm
  • Thickness: 5.7 mm
  • Speed: 89
  • Control: 87
  • Characteristics: OFF
  • Three Styles, AN, FL, and ST

3. Butterfly Timo Boll ZLC

This unique blade from Butterfly combines 5 wood layers plus 2 layers of ZL fibers that give the feel of the power of a carbon blade, but ZL fibers’ flexibility holds the ball longer than a carbon blade. For this, there is an increased dwell time that gives the ability for more control with increased speed and spin.

Timo Boll ZLC is a perfect blade for offensive players who love to play loop and smash.

Key Features

  • Layers: 5W + 2C(ZL)
  • Material: 2 plies of Zylon Carbon, 5 plies of Wood
  • Weight: 85 gm
  • Thickness: 5.5 mm
  • Speed: 95
  • Control: 75
  • Characteristics: OFF+
  • Three Styles, AN, FL, and ST

4. Butterfly Zhang Jike Super ZLC

Zhang Jike Super ZLC is the first blade from Butterfly that uses the power of carbon and the flexibility of ZL fiber. This 7-plies (5W + 2 ZLC) blade has a larger sweet spot that makes it easy to play close to the table or from mid-distance with precise placement. This high-priced premium offensive blade not only offers good speed and control but also is very good for soft-touch play.

Key Features

  • Layers: 5W + 2ZLC
  • Material: 2 plies of Zylon Carbon, 5 plies of Wood
  • Weight: 90 gm
  • Thickness: 5.6 mm
  • Characteristics: OFF+
  • Three Styles, AN, FL, and ST

5. STIGA Carbonado 145

Key Features

  • Layers: 5W + 2C
  • Material: Composite
  • Weight: 90 ± 5 grams
  • Thickness: 5.7 mm
  • Stiffness: Stiff
  • Hardness: Medium
  • Control: 44
  • Speed: 144
  • Characteristics: OFF+

STIGA Carbonado 145 is a composite blade consisting of 5 wooden layers and 2 outer carbon layers. But what is unique in this Carbonado series, is the application of new carbon technology, known as TeXtreme®. 

This lightweight TeXtreme® Spread Tow Carbon is flexible in one direction making it possible to control the ball trajectory. In the Carbonado 145, carbon layers are arranged at an angle of 45°, which gives a wider sweet spot with a higher arc.

It has lots of power but at the same time, it will give you a good command over control which is hard to find any other carbon blades.

It is a great blade for players who like offensive play from mid-distance of the table with a higher margin of errors and a good amount of control due to increased dwell time.

According to the construction of carbon layers, there is one other option, i.e. the Carbonado 190, where carbon layers are at an angle of 90° which gives a higher sweet spot in the longitudinal direction. The STIGA Carbonado 190, more direct in nature is suited to the offensive players who like to play close to mid-distance from the table.

To maintain the balance between speed and control according to the level of playing, STIGA has also designed 2 other Carbonado series varying the amount of carbon.

  • More control but less speed compared to the 145 and 190 series
  • Suited to all-rounders and offensive players
  • Less control but higher speed compared to the 145 and 190 series
  • Suited to offensive players

6. JOOLA Rossi Emotion

Key Features

  • Layers: 5W + 2C
  • Material: Hinoki + Koto + Carbon + Ayous
  • Weight: 87 grams
  • Thickness: 5.9 mm
  • Stiffness: Medium 
  • Hardness: Medium
  • Control: 73
  • Speed: 90
  • Characteristics: OFF

JOOLA Rossi Emotion is an offensive carbon composite blade with a Hinoki outer ply (Hinoki + Koto + Carbon + Ayous). The nice combination speaks to the credibility of this blade. The smoothness of the Hinoki outer surface makes it easy to paste rubbers. The combination of carbon + hinoki works great for speed and control. The blade is very good for looping as well as blocking. From soft touch to power drive, all work well with this blade. Considering the values, the blade is priced at only $90. The Rossi Emotion is an excellent option for those who want to migrate from an all-wood blade to a carbon composite blade.

  • Excellent control
  • Good speed
  • Great for looping and blocking
  • Good grip
  • Great value for money

7. Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit

This offensive Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit blade is very similar to Timo Bool ALC in terms of construction and performance. The only noticeable difference between the two is the size of the handle. The handle of Timo Boll ALC is slightly shorter than Timo Boll Spirit. In terms of price, Timo Boll Spirit is cheaper than Timo Boll ALC. Either way, both are great offensive blades especially suited to players who love power looping.

Key Features

  • Layers: 5W + 2C(AC)
  • Material: 2 plies of Arylate carbon, 5 plies of Wood
  • Weight: 87 gm
  • Thickness: 5.8 mm
  • Characteristics: OFF
  • Three Styles, AN, FL, and ST

8. Butterfly Primorac Carbon Table Tennis Blade

Butterfly Primorac Carbon is one of the all-time fastest table tennis blades in the world. This blade uses balsa as a center ply, Hinoki wood as an outer ply, and TAMCA 5000 as a carbon layer in between them. TAMCA 5000 is light but very strong with high elasticity. This gives power and stability to the blade. Though Primorac Carbon is a stiff and fast blade, it is still controllable. The softness of the outer Hinoki wood gives that soft contact feel. This blade is very good for smashing and blocking but has a low throw with a short dwell time.

Key Features

  • Layers: 3W + 2C 
  • Material: Composite (3 plies wood and 2 plies carbon)
  • Weight: 88 gm
  • Thickness: 6.9 mm
  • Speed: 95
  • Control: 56
  • Characteristics: OFF+
  • Two Styles, FL, and ST

9. STIGA Infinity VPS V

STIGA Infinity VPS V with Diamond Touch is a lightweight offensive blade from STIGA that has a unique combination of high speed and amazing control. This blade is built around two technologies, VPS (Veneer Precision System) and Diamond Touch technology. In VPS technology, two hand-selected middle veneers are specially heat-treated at precise times whereas the Diamond Touch technology gives a hard and smooth outer surface. 

The hard outer surface Of Infinity VPS V reminds you of the power and stability of a carbon blade. Like a carbon blade, it has a larger sweet spot that gives you power over a larger area of the blade.

Apart from the speed, the key feature of STIGA Infinity VPS V is the ultimate feeling. This soft, lightweight flexible blade gives you a lot of feedback and is suited to aggressive players who play close to the table. The excellent control makes it easy to block and counter-topspin shots.

STIGA Infinity VPS V has a low to medium throw and the lower arc requires a little effort to play away from the table.

Key Features

  • Layers: 5-ply 
  • Material: All wood
  • Weight: 85 ± 5 gm
  • Thickness: 6 mm
  • Speed: 88
  • Control: 65
  • Characteristics: OFF
  • Two Styles, FL, and ST

10. STIGA Clipper CR Table Tennis Blade

STIGA Clipper, one of the best-selling STIGA blades for the last 40 years, is for consistency. It is a 7-ply all-wood blade that has ultimate control that boosts your confidence with the easiness of putting the ball on the table. It is a fantastic blade for blocking. The non-responsive nature of the STIGA Clipper helps for good work in the service and receiving department.

The downside of this blade is that it will not give the speed that you can expect from a carbon blade. This actually is beneficial for those who are in the advanced stage of developing skills in table tennis. STIGA has added the CR system in the Clipper blade where the inclusion of the WBR system (UV treatment of the front part of the blade) negates the deficiency of speed. In a nutshell, the STIGA Clipper works great as a transition blade from an all-wood blade to a fast carbon blade.

Key Features

  • Layers: 7
  • Material: Wood
  • Weight: 90 ± 5 gm
  • Thickness: 6.4 mm
  • Stiffness: Stiff
  • Hardness: Medium
  • Control: 64
  • Speed: 112
  • Characteristics: OFF

Other variants

  1. STIGA Clipper Classic
  2. STIGA Clipper CR WRB

11. YASAKA Ma Lin Extra Offensive

The YASAKA Ma Lin Extra Offensive blade is the result of the nice collaboration of Ma Lin, the 2008 world champion, and Yasaka, a very well-reputed company. It is a 5-ply all-wood blade. The focus of this blade is to provide extra power, which is achieved by the hard outer veneer. The hard surface has a large sweet spot to play your power shots over a larger area. This offensive blade is also good for blocking.

The other part of this popular blade is that it also exhibits good control. The thick and medium-soft central veneer gives the feel that allows you to dominate the game with more speed and control.

Key Features

  • Layers: 5
  • Material: 5-ply wood
  • Weight: 86 gm
  • Thickness: 6 mm
  • Characteristics: OFF
  • Speed: 90
  • Control: 74

12. Yasaka Sweden Extra Table Tennis Blade

Yasaka Sweden Extra is an excellent blade for beginners and intermediate players who are on the path to developing techniques. The reason for being Yasaka’s best-selling blade is the ideal balanced combination of power and control. The hard inner Vanier gives you speed while the medium-soft outer ply is for feeling so that you can do what you want to do. This allrounder blade is very effective close to the table and from mid-distance, it also does justice to your effort.

Key Features

  • Layers: 5-ply
  • Material: All wood
  • Weight: 84 gm
  • Thickness: 5.8 mm
  • Speed: 82
  • Control: 71
  • Characteristics: ALL+
  • Two Styles, FL, and ST

13. XIOM Stradivarius Table Tennis Blade

Xiom Stradivarius, one of the best seller blades from Xiom, uses Aramid carbon as the outer ply. Aramid carbon is a mixture of vibration-absorbing soft Aramid and highly elastic Carbon, providing ideal performance with an exceptional spin capability and stable feel without any irritating vibration. The topspin attack is very powerful and secures with this aggressive blade.

Key Features

  • Layers: 7
  • Material: 2 plies of Aramid-Carbon + 5 plies of wood
  • Weight: 87 gm
  • Thickness: 5.7 mm
  • Characteristics: OFF+
  • Speed: 90
  • Control: 84

14. Butterfly Petr Korbel Table Tennis Blade

Butterfly Petr Korbel is a very good offensive blade from Butterfly with consistency in speed and control. The outer ply of limba wood has a dynamic balance. This blade is capable of producing energetic topspin. Butterfly Korbel gives you a good response at most contact points.

Key Features

  • Layers: 5
  • Material: Wood
  • Weight: 91 gm
  • Thickness: 5.9 mm
  • Speed: 83
  • Control: 85
  • Handle: Flared, and Straight
  • Characteristics: OFF
  • 4 plies of Limba, center ply is Ayous

15. STIGA All Round Classic

If you are an intermediate player and want to switch from a ready-made to a customized racket, the STIGA Allround Classic is perfect for you.

It is one of the best-selling blades of a widely reputed brand, STIGA.

STIGA Allround Classic makes you feel classy and improved during your practice and game. This blade surely will boost your confidence in your long journey of table tennis.

Key Features

  • Layers: 5
  • Material: Wood
  • Weight: 80 ± 5 gm
  • Thickness: 5.1 mm
  • Hardness: Medium
  • Control: 78
  • Speed: 63
  • Handle: Flared, Anatomic, and Straight
  • Characteristics: ALL
  • Lightweight 5-ply blade with great feeling and control
  • Ideal for intermediate and experienced players

16. NITTAKU Acoustic Table Tennis Blade

NITTAKU Acoustic is an outstanding blade, especially for intermediate players for good speed with excellent feel and control. The material of this blade is thicker and softer which gives stable characteristics when attacking and blocking. This blade has the perfect combination of vibration, weight, and sound.

Key Features

  • Layers: 5
  • Material: Wood
  • Weight: 88 gm
  • Thickness: 5.7 mm
  • Speed: 88
  • Control: 67
  • Handle: Flared, and Straight
  • Characteristics: OFF
  • 5-ply blade with great feeling and control
  • Ideal for intermediate and experienced players

Conclusion

There is always a temptation to go for the superfast blade. But these blades require a good level of expertise and don’t bring good results for players who are still in the developing stages. Rather a good combination of speed and control (an all-round blade) helps you to successfully advance to the higher level where you have the option to choose an offensive blade.

Here are some good examples according to the playing level.

Best Table Tennis Blade for Beginners

Stiga All Round Classic

YASAKA Ma Lin Extra Offensive

Yasaka Sweden Extra

Butterfly Petr Korbel

Best Table Tennis Blade for Intermediate Players

STIGA Infinity VPS V

STIGA Clipper

Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit

Butterfly Timo Boll ALC

STIGA Carbonado 45

Table tennis blades are the heart of the rackets. A good blade that matches your playing style will give you an extra layer of advantage over your opponent.

Do your research properly. Try with 2 or 3 blades to fix finally one of them.

Don’t change your blade frequently. That will not help improve your game anyway. Rather fix one blade and try to improve your technique.

Blades always have an intimate relationship with the table tennis rubbers. A proper combination of the blade and rubber will take your game one step ahead of your opponent.

Related Topic: “The 18 Best Table Tennis Rubbers in 2024

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Darek

    Hello!
    I have been using Japanese Primorac OFF- which is 25 old (I hadn’t been playing for 20 years and the blade was still waiting for me in my cabinet). You wrote: ”A blade may give you an easy run of 5 years” so I wonder, do my blade after so long time lost some of its properties? I use it with Donic Blufire M3 and Acuda S3 and it looks to me that is working fine, but I have no comparison of how these rubbers would play on a new blade.
    I have to admit that I feel bad spending money on a new blade if the old one is OK, but if I would gain clearly on a new one I would probably buy it.

    PS. Your website is great and I learned a lot through it, thanks for your work!

    1. Indranil

      1. Acuda S3 is a soft rubber with good control and spin but not too fast. Bluefire M3, the softest of the Bluefire series, has very good control and speed. Spin is excellent, actually the M3 works great for looping. A stiff offensive blade would be the best combination for both rubbers.
      2. You have mentioned that the blade is 25 years old which suggests that you have changed rubbers several times. The use of glue on the blade surface on too many occasions is not certainly good for the health of your blade.
      Thanks for your compliment.

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