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“Where can I rent table tennis or ping pong blades, bats, frame or rackets and rubbers?” I hear this question so often from serious players as well as novices alike. To some, the equipment junkie-ism takes them through a journey of one equipment after another. They are so thirsty to try one equipment after another. The table tennis federation ITTF pushes the players to their limit to buy new equipments. In the last two years, there have been many table tennis rule changes from ITTF. The speed glue was banned, the frictionless long pips were banned, the boosters were banned. Just like you, I’m also tired of these changes.

Our table tennis store often send out blades, rubbers to customers to help them test and choose equipments they may like. Unfortunately, this program is not available to the public. There are table tennis business who run similar programs. The losers in this type of program are business themselves because the customers won’t return the equipments at scheduled time, in the good condition and sometimes they won’t return.

Alternatives to Renting equipments from a table tennis store:

1. Start a equipment testing group in your club. With 5 to 10 people in a group, and with a little investment of money the group can run a successful rental program.

2. Buy used equipments from websites like Table Tennis Market. After you test the equipments, keep it or re-sell again on the same site.

3. Any table tennis player will have some equipments in their closet that not being used. Why don’t ask your friends, are they ready to do an exchange of equipments with you?

4. Go to a local thrift store, garage sale. You may be lucky to find your favorite blades there.

Investment in table tennis equipments is not a bad idea. The table tennis equipments have good resale value. If you sell a used equipment without damages and within days or weeks after you purchase, you can sometimes get the same amount you have paid while buying it.

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Sponsor Ad: TableTennisStore.US - 1000 XIOM, TSP, JOOLA, CHAMPION table tennis products! complete table tennis store and ping pong store for table tennis players
Sponsor Ad: TableTennisStore.US - 1000 XIOM, TSP, JOOLA, CHAMPION table tennis products! complete table tennis store and ping pong store for table tennis players

Have you seen the XIOM catalog? Have you looked at their blades list and the blade performance chart? If you have, then you may be one of those who are confused by its rating. Hit feel, Flex, High Speed Performance, Rebound Speed etc… in the performance chat. This can confuse you. This rating is for high technical players who understand their game well.

Here comes an important question that a lot of players have asked me, including high technical players. Can you suggest a good XIOM allround blade? Here is my answer. The XIOM Magellan is close to be called an all-round blade. I can’t call it classic. Neither I can’t call it is a pure all-round blade. It is in the OFF- range.

The blade has a very compact handle, and it is a highly crafted blade. Amazing feel because of the top hinoki layer, and medium flex makes it a very good top spin blade. I can’t find good defense with XIOM Magellan - with long pips or inverted. The kiso-hinoki top layer can’t do much absorption of energy. However it has excellent blocking ability.

The XIOM Magellan is a close to the table top spin blade. It weigh 76 to 80 gm. It is light. The blade is flexible. You may feel a little bit of its flex in your hand. The blade puts amazing top spin on the ball.

I have tried TTMaster Punto and Butterfly Tenergy on the XIOM Magellan. I have not found a good countering with Butterfly Tenergy on XIOM Magellan. The rubbers that suit XIOM Magellan are Tensors like XIOM Omega series, ZETA. I doubt little about Vega series. With XIOM Omega III, it is possible to play little away from the table. However I still fear about its countering ability.

The XIOM Magellan and XIOM Aigis are two XIOM blades that I have seen which have high control at defense. In short games, they perform good. The XIOM Magellan at high speed rallies pump good speed onto the ball. The XIOM Aigis is little slower in high speed rallies. This comparison does not mean XIOM Magellan is a defensive blade. I can’t call it a defensive blade. It is in the OFF- range. Can I find any other XIOM allround blade? Probably XIOM Magellan is the closest I have found in all-round.

The XIOM Magellan has Swedish technology. The all-round behavior that you have seen Swedish blades is lacking in XIOM Magellan. XIOM has given a new definition to the all-round with a Kiso Hinoki layer on the wood. How the designer has achieved this with Kiso Hinoki is amazing.

If you are a close to the table - may be one or two feets from the table - top spin player, the XIOM Magellan blade is for you.

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Sponsor Ad: TableTennisStore.US - 1000 XIOM, TSP, JOOLA, CHAMPION table tennis products! complete table tennis store and ping pong store for table tennis players

Chinese brands blades

February 3, 2010 Table Tennis Blades

I often get chances to test blades from Chinese brands. They are made in China and they are owned by Chinese brands too. The brands that came to my attention are (1) Kokutaku (2) Grand Dragon and (3) Sanwei. These Chinese brands make whole range of table tennis equipments - from ball to tables.
The big [...]

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Who does not hate Insufficient address!

February 2, 2010 Table Tennis Store

Out of thousands of packages shipped out from TableTennisStore.US every year, some packages come back to the office. Thanks to USPS (United States Postal Service) for telling the real problem. The packages that come back have insufficient address.
The packages that come back to the table tennis store cost money to send out again. This situation [...]

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XIOM Vega Europe Review

January 29, 2010 Table Tennis Equipments

Isn’t the life too busy? It has become busier these days. I don’t get a lot of time to test new rubbers. I try to find time, but sometimes it is hard. I have written a blog on XIOM Vega Pro a while back on SpinMantra. The plan for testing XIOM Vega Europe was postponed [...]

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Removing glue sheet from the blade

January 28, 2010 Maintenance

I hope this article will help the pimples players rather than inverted players. The pimples players who use no sponge version of pimples attach the rubber to the blade with glue sheet. After long time usage, the glue sheet becomes very much permanently attached to the blade. It is hard to remove. How do you [...]

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What Color and it’s effect on spin and speed

January 27, 2010 Table Tennis Equipments

Green, Pink, Magenta… Oh No. We are not talking about the funky colors of rubbers that you see on a racket bought from Walmart. We are talking about the professional table tennis rubbers available in market that you can buy and attach to a blade.

The official colors of table tennis or ping pong is Red [...]

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TSP Cutman Rubber Review

January 23, 2010 General

Everyone needs an explanation what does a cutman means. The TSP Cutman is a defensive rubber for the moderan defensive players. I have not seen a similar rubber to TSP Cutman in the market. I can think of Dr.Neubauer ABS, but that is an anti-spin rubber. The TSP Cutman is not an anti-spin rubber. It’s [...]

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Giant Dragon Taichi, Karate rubbers

January 22, 2010 General

I’m not a Chinese rubber fan. They lack quality and consistent performance. My dislikes to Chinese rubbers happened few years ago in the speed glue era. I did not use speed glue, and none of the Chinese rubbers could give me good performance. I have to reconsider this facts again when I have looked at [...]

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Please help us to help Haiti

January 18, 2010 General

This is the worst disaster I have seen in my life. My heart goes to the people in Haiti. I find it a time to act. Please find a charity and donate whatever you can. We have donated as cash to a faith based organization having orphanages in Haiti.
In the rebuilding stage of Haiti, we [...]

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