Description
The Darker Speed 90 Hinoki is a high-quality, single-ply blade. The craftsmanship is second to none. Very unique and of limited quantity, Japanese Kiso Hinoki wood is understandably prized. Only Darker has access to this type of wood. Thanks to this, Darker has been able to engineer a very dynamic blade, feeling slow on soft shots and fast and powerful on hard hits. The precisely calculated thickness gives it a lot of stability, with a large sweet-spot and soft vibrations. Any lines on the blade are characteristic of Hinoki wood. They are neither cracks nor signs of glueing/bonding. These are single-ply blades, made of pure HINOKI and each surface is very unique. Darker never glues pieces of Hinoki together but uses glue only to attach the grip pieces to the blade. Hinoki is a very fragile material. Very weak under the strong impact. Even with the rubbers, if you place the blade too roughly on the table it could possibly crack. That is why many Japanese users always carry spare blades, just in case. Handle with care. Resin is one of the characteristics of HINOKI wood. It may come out over time. It does not affect the function of the blade.
Junglestrut –
I have finally found the Holy Grail of all table tennis blades. From now on I will not be using anything else other than this. It is now my ONLY weapon of choice. This will also be my last purchase for as long as I have it. After buying and selling a whole gamut of Butterfly blades (ZJK ALC & SZLC, GARAYDIA ZLC & Vizcaria), Andro Treiber Z, Nittaku Septear & Noveliar, I have now arrived at the final frontier. Kiso Hinoki is legendary which is why you may notice that all of the blades I’ve used in the past have some sort of this wood being used in their construction. When I found out that this blade was discontinued by Darker in 2014, due to the severe shortage of premium quality Kiso Hinoki, I immediately purchased three (3x) from the OOAK Shop as they managed to secure one final shipment. Everything that’s been said about this blade is 100% TRUE. No amount of R&D that Butterfly will ever spend on the latest greatest cutting edge carbon can ever replace the FEELING that you get from a Darker Speed 90 in your hand. This blade is highly dynamic, offering great touch and slow speed at low impact and huge power with high spin at high impact. The optimized thickness and shape provides a highly stable blade with the largest sweet-spot of any blade in existence covering the ENTIRE face of the blade and producing virtually ZERO vibrations. Because of that this blade is tremendously confidence inspiring when paired up with the right combination of rubbers. Impossible to place shots I weren’t able to make before are now more powerful, more spinnier and more accurate. During open ups I am now the aggressor versus being stuck in an endless game of pushing and chopping – so annoying! My search is finally over and I am so glad I was able to secure a final shipment before these rare species finally gone extinct. Currently using Nittaku Fastarc C-1 on the FH and Nittaku Alhelg on the BH. I may experiment with Fastarc P-1s & Tenergys n d future but right now its perfect!
Y L –
There is something about this blade. It is very lively and spirited, delivers great speed, yet very excellent control. There are blades that cost more but not necessary have the same power and nimbleness. I love it and this will be my blade for choice for a while. Stock is rare and I don’t know how the SMASH shop got hold of this batch. I plan to buy a second one as a spare.