I often get chances to test blades from Chinese brands. They are made in China and they are owned by Chinese brands too. The brands that came to my attention are (1) Kokutaku (2) Grand Dragon and (3) Sanwei. These Chinese brands make whole range of table tennis equipments - from ball to tables.
The big trouble I had with all the three brands are understanding what the catalog says. The Grand Dragon has a pretty decent catalog in English. That is cool. However, the description used for different equipments are little Russian to me. The description has grammatical errors. Some technical description are hard to understand too. I have not seen a catalog of Sanwei and Kokutaku, so I can’t comment on it. The descriptions on the back of the three brands are little confusing.
The Sanwei blades have better make up and finish. They have better quality too. The Grand Dragon comes next. The Kokutaku does not appeal to a lot of people. It has surprised me after seeing a player who uses a Kokutaku blade I have given him an year ago. He still uses it and he likes it. All these brands have some qualities that attract people. They are not high quality as XIOM or Butterfly, but there are players who like them.
The major brands like Butterfly and XIOM target their market with the players of certain styles. The brands I have mentioned above don’t have players representing them. It takes a lot of resources to figure out a right blade from these brands to fit a right style.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Kokutaku blades are very good value for money and reasonable quality, definitely suitable for most amateur club players.
Sanwei products have a good quality with affordable price also their products are different from Big Brands like BT or Xiom, the question is what is the best equipament for each player not what is the best Brand.
I am using Sanwei HC3 with Code BH and Rings Links FH and is the best choice for me
This forum has a restrict point of view
^^
dear sir , Kokutaku is from japan! and I never heard about the grand dragon….
in china , double happiess , milkway , friendship 729 is more popular..
I really like Galaxy (sometimes called Milkyway or Yin He). These blades are high quality - and usually resemble something from the major brands in design. The UV 2004 has been awesome for me.
I am interested in learning more about XIOM too.
I would also attest to the high quality of Galaxy blades from China. I switched from a Michael Maze to a Venus-1 and find that it has more control, but a little less speed. I also own a K4 (which is a TBS clone) and a T-11 which is fast, light (70 grams) balsa center blade with 2 carbon layers.