Palio Expert 3.0 Table Tennis Racket & Case | ITTF Approved High-Performance Ping Pong Rackets for Beginners | Maximum Spin & Control

I am a table tennis player with a 1300 rating (after 9 months of play, out of 3000) at USATT, and I bought this racket for when I play with beginners, and also for me to practice technique. I usually play with a Yasaka Battle Balsa racket with Rakza 7 Soft / Rakza PO rubbers. I was very impressed with the quality of this Palio racket. It came with protective plastic sheets over the rubbers. The handle is very comfortable (flared). As I do with all my rackets, I used grade 50 sandpaper to round off the edges of the blade to accomodate my sensitive office worker hands. I then used grade 400 sandpaper to smooth the handle and then I used Walmart MINWAX polyurethane clear satin varnish to make the racket look beautiful even after playing with my usually sweaty hands (see photo). Most table tennis rackets come with sharp(er) edges so I just give this option for people who like more comfort.The "speed" or hardness of the wood blade is usually expressed using a scale of 0-100, or the DEF/DEF+/ALL-/ALL/ALL+/OFF-/OFF/OFF+ scale where "DEF" is a racket for defensive players (softer wood, slower bounce) up to OFF+ which is a racket for offensive players (hard top wood, fast bounce, difficult to control shots). On this scale I would rate this racket an ALL-. The rubbers on both sides are fairly "spinny", so one can impart a lot of rotation in addition to speed to the ball. They are not too different from the Rakza 7 Soft I am usually playing (both having a soft sponge), i.e., serves look the same with respect to the curve of the ball which changes with rotation (spin) on the ball. This racket makes it easy to control the ball which is good for beginners. I could easily do all the strokes even against strong top spin. Note that ALL- doesn't mean the shots are slow, with the correct technique one can do loop kill shots just like with an aggressive paddle, with a bit more effort. Conversely, doing defensive strokes such as push or block is very easy with this racket.In summary, this is a surprisingly great racket for the $40 price for beginners for the first year. In addition, watch the Youtube videos from yangyang TT to start with the correct technique and you will be a table tennis pro in no time.

I've had the chance to use a few different ping pong paddles in the $30-50 price range lately, and this has been my favorite of them so far. It's very lightweight, and has a good bounce off of it. Definitely has been my go-to paddle ever since purchasing.

As with every purchase, I did extensive research before making my first paddle purchase. I must say this Palio paddle definitely did not disappoint. The most important thing when learning to play ping pong/table tennis is learning the basics and building control of the ball. This paddle definitely helped me with that. I used this paddle 3-5 hours, 5 days a week and boy did I play the heck out of it. Within a few months I went from hitting the ball off the table like a noob to beating tougher players using pro blades!For the price, this is a great BEGINNERS paddle. I will emphasize that again, this is a BEGINNERS paddle. The rubber has good grip however it does not have that bounce that higher end paddles have. It does dampen the hit of the ball which contrbutes to slower play but more control. As a beginner, control is more important than speed and this paddle helps with that. I was able to learn and properly execute a bunch of serves that created lots of spin.The paddle itself is well built. I did not have any issues with my paddle as others have mentioned. I also did not to abuse it or hit the table with my paddle. The one thing I do recommend is getting a proper paddle rubber cleaner and spong. I used mild soap and water and noticed this dulled my rubber right away. I recommend cleaning the rubber before and after each use to maintain the rubber's grip.The carry case itself is simple, nothing special about it however it did hold up pretty well considering I travelled with it 5 days a week. The zipper did not come loose or jam. The case has a thin layer of padding but I wouldn't recommend dropping the case and paddle as it may cause damage. The case is mostly meant to keep dirt away.After 6 months of extensive use, I am beginning to notice the rubber separating from the blade around the other edges. I believe this to be normal as I used this paddle extensively in such a short amount of time. Although I built a great foundation with this paddle, it is now time for a more intermediate-pro paddle rather than replacing the rubber.

So far this paddle is good. I have only had it for a couple of months. It appears to be a good beginners paddle. Now that my tennis game is starting to improve, I am afraid I will quickly out grow this paddle. I am just beginning to learn about spin. I hope this paddle is up for the challenge.

After playing with a variety of paddles throughout my youth and adulthood, this paddle has been by far the best. It was hard to get used to - the spins my friend threw at me were hard to counter because they flew off of this paddle. It was also much more sensitive, but I started to develop a great feeling for the ball, and my serves became so much cleaner. I really had my friend struggling to keep up with the spins I started throwing back, and he didn't have as sticky of a paddle. This paddle is great for offensive or defense (though perhaps slightly towards the defense side). The included case is also a great perk.OVERALL: The speed may be lower than most intermediate-pro paddles, but it's still faster compared to the cheap $15-$20 paddles I've been playing with. The spin/control is awesome, and the feel is top-notch. For such a cheap price, this paddle is really the best you're going to get if you want to seriously improve your game.

This is not light weight like other Stiga ones, but that is what makes it a right one for beginners. It has more control and good amount of spin. This will improve your game instantly.