nittaku willtria willtrea
My favorite among Nittaku products is their 3 star ball. An year ago, I bought a Nittaku Haneyoshi defensive table tennis blade. That was not a suitable blade for me.
For a while, I have been looking blades made of willow and came across Nittaku Willtria. My expectation of Willtria was it has less speed than Butterfly Defense II and more rigidity. As usual, I prefer weight less than 85 gm. Unfortunately, the Nittaku Willtria could not give me anything that I was looking for.
The weight of Nittaku Willtria is 95 gm. The Nittaku catalog says the weight is close to 85 gm, but it has really surprised me when I have found out that this blade so chunky. That itself brought a notion to me that this blade will be faster than Butterfly Defense II. That is true. The Nittaku Willtria is faster than Butterfly Defense II. I have seen some defensive players at the US National Level using this blade, but I’m not sure about the blade they are using is the same as mine in weight and speed.
What might have increased the weight of the blade. It is the handle which is flared but little longer than the regular handle. I would call it a longer handle - I can see a little bit of the handle sticking out.
The blade face size is the same for both the Butterfly Defense II and Nittaku Willtria. Another important thing I have noticed is that the wood that has been used in both the blades are different. The willow wood in Butterfly Defense II has more dark color while the willow wood in Nittaku Willtria is slight yellowish - the TSP Yanagi is more whitish.
When I compare both the blades, the Butterfly Defense II can absorb heavy impact while Nittaku Willtria not. Whatever rubber you use on Butterfly Defense II, it has more dwell time and you have more control. The Nittaku Willtria simply throw the ball out so fast. The throw angle of both the blades are high. But the Butterfly Defense II throw angle is deceiving for the opponents because the ball can suddently drop its flight path. I have not seen that with Nittaku Willtria.
I have tried TSP Curl P1R 1.3mm long pips on both the blades. When I have tried TSP Curl P1R 1.3 on Butterfly Defense II, I had the best control. When I have tried the same on Nittaku Willtria, the ball was just jumping so fast from the blade without any control. Then I have tried the 0.5 mm version of TSP Curl P1R. The Nittaku Willtria behaved very badly with that sponge combination. With the 0.5 mm version, you will lose a little chopping ability against short balls, but the Butterfly Defense II did a good job.
I would probably consider Nittaku Willtria as an all round blade rather than a defensive blade. I don’t think it is fair to put this blade under defense +. If someone wants to use this blade as a defensive weapon, they need to go for very slow long pips and slow forehand rubber. I fear the OX version of long pips like TSP Curl P1R, Butterfly Feint Long II fit this blade. Although I have not tried, the Hallmark Original OX may fit.
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This blade seems to be heavy. This blade has not weighed 90 gm - may be because it is a FL version.