I used to play table tennis in uni, but hadn't played in decades. Recently, my interest got fired up (I don't recall why).
Today, I received my copy of a Double Happiness (DHS) Fang Bo B2X blade (B2X). I wanted to try out an ALC blade but didn't want to spend much. The most popular ones, the Butterfly Viscaria, and Timo Boll ALC, the DHS Hurricane Long 5, and others, were too expensive for my needs. The B2X fit the bill.
The internet chats say the B2X plays very similarly to the Hurricane Long 3, at 1/3 of the price, and of reasonably good quality ("the Hurricane Long without the quality control", some say).
The Setup: B2X, Forehand: Hurricane 3 (H3) Hard Black 2.2mm. Backhand: Hurricane 3 Hard Red 2.2mm. But rubbers are unboosted, both are the commercial version you get from tabletennis11.com. I had tabletennis11.com assemble the racket. I also asked them to lacquer the blade. I don't bother boosting since I no longer play competitively, and can't be bothered with the routine.
I have two other blades that also have H3 on both sides, all 2.2mm, all unboosted, so I can do some comparisons. I have a Donic Person Powerplay (DPP), and a Yasaka Extra Offensive 7 Power (YEO7P).
My YEO7P has 'H3 Hard on the forehand, and regular H3 on the backhand, and my DPP uses regular H3 on both sides. I actually couldn't notice much difference between H3 Hard and H3 regular, except that H3 Hard is 'not softer' than H3 regular. If I didn't know one of the rubbers was Hard, I wouldn't know, so it probably doesn't matter. Maybe the difference shows up when you boost them, which I don't.
The B2X comes in a silver sturdy cardboard box that locks magnetically. This case a big step up from the flimsy carboard box that comes with Donic blades, or the transparent plastic case that Yasaka blades come with. However, the case is really irrelevant. If you're not a fan of Fang Bo, you might be a little uncomfortable about his large photos on the outside and inside of the box.
Thankfully the B2X no longer comes with Fang Bo's face at the bottom of the handle. The cheap looking plastic seal is still there, but the design is an outline of a trophy.
In most cases, tabletennis11.con usually does as exceptional job assembling my rackets. Whoever assembles the racket there has some superpowers. But he made a minor mistake. He attached the black rubber at the back of the blade, and the red at the front. This is a minor thing because both sides of the blade are the same. However, the plastic seals on the blade handles, the orientation of the trophy at the bottom of the blade, and the serial number imprint on the side of the blade make it unmistakable (albeit easy to miss) which side is forehand and which side is the backhand. Superpowered, but mortal.
Quality of Workmanship
First, quality of workmanship. The handle and neck of the blade is quite well polished. Not as well polished as Donic blades, but it is smooth. There's no need to sand them. (I received the blade with the rubbers already attached, so I can't comment on the quality of the blade face).
Playing Impressions
On soft play, the feel reminds me of my DPP, which is a wonderful blade. Maybe not quite the same as DPP, but way closer to DPP than YEO7P. The B2X has significantly more vibration than the DPP in soft play. At first I was underwhelmed with the B2X. Why would I need it if it plays like the DPP?
On harder hitting, I feel like the B2X has more power to give than even the YEO7P, especially in looping. It feels both sharp and at the same time solid. The ball travels faster when looped or driven by B2X. The YEO7 has a walnut surface and feels hard and stiff. It feels very different to the B2X.
With the B2X, all my loops against a lightly overspin serve went waaaay past the table. I had to really close the angle (almost 0 degree, almost perfectly horizontally, it feels like!) before my loops went in. Each time I open the angle a bit, the ball flies off the table again.
One negative thing is the handle. For some reason, it hurts the inside of the second joint of my index finger. It's not because of any roughness in the blade handle; as I mentioned, it's quite well-sanded and smooth. The problem has more to do with the shape. The blade face widens up a more slowly than my Donic and Yasaka blades. I never had this problem with Donic, Nittaku, Yasaka, Tibhar, or Butterfly, and never realised a problem like this was possible.
My finger hurts when I use my normal grip with the B2X. I have to hold the blade further down the handle, kind of like how Ma Long holds his blade, with the bottom half of my thumb on the crescent top of the blade handle, and the upper half on the rubber. I'm not sure if I will adjust my grip or if I should look at shaping the blade -- I don't know how I would do that.
One of my favourite blades I have is a Donic Waldner Legend Carbon (WLC). This blade has a fantastic soft and crisp feel to it. I want to compare it against B2X to see which one is more powerful. The WLC seems has a thicker carbon layer than the YEO7P and feels much more carbony than YEO7P (but the hinoki surface gives it great control). My WLC has Friendship 729 Super FX on both sides, so any comparison with the B2X will have to be mindful of that difference.
At this stage, these four blades play differently from each other, and I have no favourites. I like them all.
I will continue to update this as I get more used to the blade.
