I have TWO of these... both ILLEGAL... as they are skinned with 180 grit SANDPAPER. Yes, some of us play ILLEGAL LIHA when nobody's looking. :-)

For LIHA it's a FANTASTIC blade! Has enough pop to hit a strong stroke... and enough control to place the ball with near-surgical accuracy.

Never had rubber on either of them but I LOVE them for LIHA play!

pippy, i read your review. smiles

FORGOT MY PASSWORD...

AFTER TWO YEARS, I'M BACK TO LIKING THIS BLADE. ITS A GOOD LOOKING BLADE, COOL NOTCHES FOR THE DEFENSIVE GEEK WANNA BE, ANYONE WHO WANTS TO BE UNIQUE WILL LIKE IT BUT...

ITS NOT FOR BEGINNER CHOPPERS. ITS LIGHT AND HIGH THROW AND LOTS OF VIBS AND THE HANDLE IS LONG AND THIN SO THE FEEL IS RADICALLY DIFFERENT FROM A STANDARD 5 PLY WHICH MOST PLAYERS USE.

YOU HAVE TO REALLY PRACTICE AT CHOPPING FOR ME TWO ADDITIONAL YEARS AND NOW FINALLY I LIKE IT- ITS A NEW BLADE FOR ME AGAIN WHETHER I USE SPONGE OR NO SPONGE, 837/755, B/R .

YOU CAN'T SIMPLY LET THE BALL BOUNCE OFF FOR A CHOP LIKE YOU CAN FOR A FASTER LOW THROW PADDLE.

ADJUSTING TO ITS SPECIALIZED CHARACTERISTICS WAS A CHALLENGE.

ENOUGH SAID,

PIPPY

Very slow, high vibration blade. Its the lowest cost slow blade I have used. You won't be hitting many loopkill winners with it, however you may be getting your opponents loopkills back at them.

perfect control, but note - it has very high flex and vibration

weight is 70 g

with offensive rubber on FH allows both good chopping and deadly looping, but not good for FH bloking

very good with Hurricane III (you may choose a different speed versions of this rubber as you need - from very slow #19 to very fast National) but don't recommend hardness more that 39 if you want to chop

I herby declare myself a Toxic 3 player! based simply on the fact I beat a club guy that normally slaps me around because of the blades unusal slowness and deceptiveness or unpredictability. The speed was just below what he is used to I reckon.

The entire class of flexy def blades has frustrated me for years but I understand why these blades are constructed as such. The flex is needed for spin for a slow blade which can kick or give high throw. Reversal spin can also be achieved by blocking with a lp on fast blade like bomb.

The hurdles you have to leap over: will the same soft stroke kill the pace off a hard shot also put a slow ball right into the net; will a chop land short or fly out or pop up due to the flex. I still have trouble close blocking fast low ts drives but they may not try those because the previous balls coming off the toxic are so low and slow.

These issues are resolved only by experience and feel. On the same note, there are vibes but not as much as my BBC All or Instinct. That is due to the hard feel when blocking. Strange that it feels both flexy, its so thin, and hard when chopblocking.

My beloved R2 just gives enough speed for the other guy to work with and is no fault of that blade. It's all about the category of blades and sticking with a blade that was designed for your style. As I said above, apologies for double posting, it is not easy to use this blade imo.

I use Dawei Xp 1.5 on the FH and755 OX on the BH. 755 is a fast pip even on the toxic! 837 is a faster pip. I'm not sure if these selections optimize the playing characteristics of the toxic eg Feint OX lps are waay slower if the bounce test means anything so the Toxic can really be a black hole if the right lp is used.

Lastly the grip is long and the sweet spot is lower so I do not choke up like I would for Mat Pro which is the opposite.

One more thing:

its true what PB said, under soft hits it is very slow and short but fast hits gives fast rebounds that may fly out on the bh but this means keeping the arm still to achieve the toxic effect. With SST the ball really stays low because of the hard sponge unlike a bouncy sponge.

Two more things: The FH plays just like my R2. Its easy to counterhit, loop, or block even @ fast pace. The toxic takes the pace off. Keep the head square to the table for long lasting fh rallies. It is a consistent and stable blade.

Blog update: Bounce test 0.5 feint 2 is lowest yet vs robot on 9.0 on 90 degrees passive block rebounds greater than 755 ox! Victory lies in the square to the table block and also the closed blocking angle against hard fast ts. There are probably better, slower combos but I think its good enough.

Final thoughts:)

Flexy and slow and thin blades are made for chopping and not as good up front blocking. This is a great thin blade that flexs to take in the incoming spin and increases it. The flex also deals with the arc and makes curvy balls. It is consistent at low and high speed. Great feel for long swing chops from both lp and thin inverted, loads of spin that faster stiffer blades can't make.