STIGA Pro Carbon Performance-Level Table Tennis Racket with Carbon Technology for Tournament Play

Overall Short Comment: Very good for its priceSpinny on drives/flat hit. (Any shots involving a lot of mechanical spins)Can feel too powerful if you're not used to playing with 2.0 mm sponge.Lightweight for its speed -- still heavier than most premade bats.Soft Rubber - Forgiving for beginners, but the maximum spin is limited once you become good at the sport.The rubber can be changed though.Good for:- Beginner learning European offensive mid-distance style of play- Recreational players who want to play aggressively with drives- Beginner with generally offensive playstyleBad for:- Absolute beginners (You won't be able to handle a blade this fast! Get Stiga Titan/Evolution),- Choppers (Why would you be looking for an offensive paddle?)- Close-to-the-table loopers (If you're close-to-the-table loopers you would probably be looking at Chinese premade bat, not Stiga. Stiga is known for mid-distance style of play)- People who know slow loops, Chiquita, banana flicks, ghost serve (If you know these shots then you're serious about table tennis, so you should invest in higher quality equipment like Stiga Clipper, Stiga Rosewood, paired with good Stiga rubbers like Calibra/ Airoc Astro/Mantra/ Genesis)Long-detailed comments:The Blade:The blade is a little heavier than most premade bats. However, this blade is considerably lighter when compared to other offensive blades.I would say that the weight of this bat is just right for people who are starting to develop offensive playstyle. The blade can be pretty fast despite its light weight and it doesn't vibrate too much.The Rubber:The rubber is Stiga S5, which is a beginner rubber with very little speed and spin on the top sheet. (Very good control)This rubber, however, can generate a decent amount of mechanical spin(The spin resulted from the ball sinking into the sponge which occurs when you hit the ball as opposed to touching/grazing).The 2.0 mm sponge is also very thick yet soft, with the red side being a little softer than the black side.While you can generate a good amount of mechanical spin in shots like drive, it will take a lot of effort to do shots like flicks or slow loops.Therefore, like other Stiga premade bat, this paddle is good for people who like flat hitting.Durability:The rubber does lose its tackiness quickly. Since it comes with a not-so-tacky rubber, it will be very hard to generate a top-sheet spin after some period of playing. I've been using this paddle for two months. I play in a college club 4 hours a week + a few more hours with a friend. Right now it's time I change the rubber. I will keep the blade though, it is pretty good.If you are a complete beginner(You can't do forehand drive & backhand top spins comfortably), consider Stiga Titan or Stiga Evolution. Most other premade bat comes with 1.5-1.7 mm. sponge thickness. This paddle comes with 2.0 mm thickness and it is faster than your average paddle!If you are a beginner who is changing from a cheaper premade bat to this in order to be able to do offensive shots like drive/loop/flicks/Chiquita,this paddle is a good buy! While the blade is fast, the slow and not so spinny rubber will allow you to make some mistakes.If you are not used to playing with thick sponges, it will take some time to adjust. Once you are familiar with it, this paddle is pretty good for its price. You can upgrade the rubber (or purchase a pre-assembled racket) when you are better at offensive shots and you start to feel that this paddle is too slow(At first, this paddle was too fast for me but when your skill improves you will feel that it is very easy to control.If you are a beginner who can already do spin-intensive shots(slow loop, flicks, loop kill) or an intermediate player, don't get a pre-assembled bat. The Stiga S5 rubber is insanely good at flat hitting/smashing but it is designed for beginners/mid-distance looper.Comments on each shot:Smash/Flat hit: This paddle is insanely good. The ball flew off so fast that you will forget that you're using a 50 USD beginner paddle.You can smash a chop/lob comfortably since the non-grippy top-sheet is not very reactive to the opponent's spin.Drive: The paddle is good at speed-drive.The spin is ok.Loop: You can loop strongly with proper technique and a lot of energy. You should change the rubber to something tackier if you want to play loop game.Push: The paddle can push well. The S5 rubber offers a lot of control.Lob/fish: The speed of the blade allows you to lob comfortably without putting in a lot of effort. The soft sponge also means more dwell time and easier control.Block: The lightweight blade allows you to quickly block. The rubber offers a lot of control. Pretty good at blocking for an offensive blade.Serve: The rubber can do most serves comfortably, especially long serves. Some spinny short serves(Ghost serve, backspin reverse pendulum) is still hard to perform with the non-tacky top sheet.Chop: As typical of an offensive blade, the 2.0 mm is a little too thick for chopping. It can be hard but still doable.

Got the racket/bat/paddle today and immediately noticed that the assembly is poor. Material seems high quality, but assembly is not. On the backhand side the black rubber wasn't flat, had multiple small to medium sized bulges, making the racket completely unusable.I have requested a replacement, and once I receive it, I will update the rating as well as the review.EDIT: I got the replacement and it's all good now. I would rate this racket highly for beginner to intermediate players. If you are below 1200 rated, you will be ok with this. Anything beyond that, you will need to invest in a custom-made solution.

Five stars because after purchasing and playing with a number of bats, this is the best value dollar for dollar.I now have a $125 Avalox bat. obviously, this isn't as good, but...let me tell you, it's pretty darn good!I've also tried a couple of the killerspin bats, the one that's all black with the case, and the ones that come in Blue and Lime Green. Both of those bats feel "dead"direct versus this one.And what's the difference going up to the Avalox? The Avalox has a bit more "responsiveness", an almost "brighter" feel than this one. It's a subtle, but noticeable difference when you're playing more and more.Aside from highly recommending this bat, my suggestion to you is, always keep your bat clean with the cleaner you can buy here on Amazon. Keeping the surfaces clean, regardless of your choice, makes a world of difference.

Love this paddle, it's my first one that I've gotten since starting to play about half a year ago at work. Before that I'd only used the crappy ones at work that were who knows how many years old and falling apart. This paddle made a HUGE difference! I actually started feeling like trying to put spins on the ball made a difference! After playing with this paddle for a few months, I'm spinning and chopping with ball on level with some of the people who have been playing for years. Some of my coworkers have other paddles they've bought which I've tried, but this one just feels the best to me. Lightweight with good speed and spin!

I'm just getting into ping pong, been using some cheaper stiga paddles. Didn't think it would make a big difference, bought it to leave at my work (because all the paddles there are almost broke)Little did I know that this paddle is amazing, it is effortless to hit the call with force, also amazing spin control. Changed the entire game :) I will note the weight of the paddle is slightly more, and feels like it's up in the paddle not the handle. Took some getting use to, but I'm liking it now.Only 1 complaint, the handle isn't super comfy, the flat in the sides make it feel like your holding a rectangle instead of a round handle.

Bought this as my previous STIGA racket, the STIGA Titan, had broke in an accident. I like the hit of this racket, as my serves seem to hit lower and faster than with other rackets including my old Titan, and I feel more power with this racket compared to the Titan. However, it feels somewhat harder to control, and I don't have as much spin generation as I was expecting from this racket. The spin feels no different, or maybe even a little less compared to the STIGA Titan. I play ping pong nearly every day and competitively locally, and have had this paddle for about a month in a half. Somewhat disappointed in this racket.

We have a table at work and a lot of people decided to bring their own bats in to play. I tried other people's out and found some I liked, but decided to order this one based on reviews here. I find a lot more of my hits stay on the table now and my game has improved significantly. A few people I work with have ordered this same paddle after trying mine out. It's a great bat - not cheap, but not crazy expensive.