This is the official hardbat classic paddle for the hardbat classic tournament which will take place in Las Vegas from June 26 to 28. There are two hardbat classic paddles released for this tournament. The entry level paddle is Killerspin HBC-1. The competition quality paddle is Killerspin HBC-501B.
I have couple of friends in the club who play hardbat. They are participating in the Hardbat Classic tournament. They were eagerly waiting for me to bring these paddle for them. I have spent some time analyzing, playing and playing against the HBC-501B hardbat classic paddle. Since nobody wants to try out the Killerspin HBC-1 hardbat, I don’t have a review at this time.
A good hardbat player will be little disappointed with the quality of this blade. The hardbat classic paddle HBC-501B is compact, not like wider hardbat paddles. The other players and I have tried the straight handle. I have felt the handle is very well built and comfortable to have control over the face of the blade. The hardbat classic blade is not hard enough to generate enough power. I think that is intentional. The hardbat classic tournament is not to favor few hardbat power players. They have to come down from their level to play a equal game with a hardbat player from a bar.
It may be unfair to compare the HBC-1 hardbat classic rubbers to legendary Butterfly Orthodox rubbers. However, the HBC-501B pips rubbers perform close to Butterfly Orthodox or Dr.Evil or Leyland. I have not done much research into the pips size. I have noticed the base cloth for both the hardbat paddles are not thicker like Butterfly Orthodox, and this may the reason the lack of punching this blades can’t generate. The weight of HBC-1 hardbat is close to 125 gm while the HBC-1 entry level paddle is 115 gm.
The skilled players have to keep the expectations aside as this hardbat classic paddle is not built for high technical table tennis and ping pong game. The hardbat classic paddle is faster, and respond very little to the incoming spin. A heavy chop can’t generate enough underspin. The heavy looping stroke can’t geneate any heavy topspin. The skilled players have to adjust to the behavior of this blade. The hardbat classic paddle shines very well in the area of smacking (smashing or hitting in terms of a better table tennis and ping pong player).
hardbat classic paddle - killerspin
Buy Killerspin HBC-501B from TableTennisStore.US
I have played against hardbat classic paddle twice - against a 2100 rated player and a 1600 rated player. The hardbat classic is a faster. This does not mean you can run too far from the table to chop. I doubt you can bring the ball to the table being away. The chopping stroke not only generate any much spin but the energy drops so fast in that case. So, playing close or one or two feet away from the table is the viable position. Because of its speed, you can expect the ball to fall on the boundary of the table.
Look out for high balls. The hardbat classic paddle throws out ball with high arc. This would generate a fun game - we will see more smacks. The chopping strokes wont keep the ball low, it will generate high arc knuckle balls still. You either block it or hit it, thats where the fun is.
With the hardbat classic paddle, what you will experience is not a high technical hardbat for a tournament like US Open. The hardbat classic paddle is going to take you to a time when the game has started, and how they have played at that time. The hardbat classic paddle to play a fun tournament and join the spirit of ping pong.
I’m thrilled to see how many basement players from America can take this game little more serious from here. I would like to thank Killerspin, Budlight, ESPN and the hardbat classic management team who make this event possible.
Hardbat Classic Paddle Killerspin
Hardbat Classic Paddle Killerspin
Hardbat Classic Paddle Killerspin
Hardbat Classic Paddle Killerspin
Hardbat Classic Paddle Killerspin
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for this great review Varghese. I’ve got my paddle and have also been experimenting with it against a Newgy robot.
Unfortunately the spin coming off the robot is much greater than what I’ll get at the tournament so I’m not clear this is good practice for Las Vegas.
How did you play against the rated hardbat experts? I think the tournament is over-handicapped which will really favor the lower rated folks.
Thanks Joe for commenting.
You can control the speed in your newgy control panel. You have to practice against ball having good speed as well as less speed. Since there is less spin in this game, you may face players who hit the ball hard.
To avoid the hit from the opponents, keep the ball low over the net. Look at some of the crazy stuff I do in the video: http://www.tabletennisjunkie.com/tabletennis-discussion-forum/viewtopic.php?f=133&t=174
Great review! I do have a question. Are these the ONLY 2 paddles allowed in the HardBat Classic? I play currently with a sportscraft hardbat paddle, are these legal?
Thanks, and again I really enjoyed the write up on the HBC-501b!
The Hardbat classic is a fun driven tournament, and do not abide to the hardbat rules as far I know. There is money and sponsors involved. The prize money is $100,000. Because of these reasons, they have their own rule on rackets. You can use only the Hardbat Classic paddle in their tournaments. You can’t use sportscraft paddle. They will look at the brand signature on the handle to make sure they are from Killerspin.
Thanks for the info Varghese..
So what are the dates for the Classic this year?