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Darker Esteem

€114.67
€126.97
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Number of Layers : 5+2
approximate weight (g) : 79
Blade Type : OFF+
thickness (mm) : 6.3
The Darker Esteem blade uses a combination of cypress wood and carbon to produce a blade with a softer and somewhat flexible feel. This allows for excellent spin, speed, and power with a high degree of control while looping.

Customer Reviews

All reviews listed are from verified customers who have purchased this product.

14/04/2023 Balanced & light hinoki-blade Review by Philipp Stamm
Quality
Since I've only played blades in FL so far, I was unsure when ordering because it's only available in ST. I've also just picked up blades from the dealers and they always felt too thin... the Esteem fits my hand like a glove. Even better with a bit of grip tape at the end!
Coming from the Viscaria I was looking for a slower blade with more control. With the Darker 07-2A.05 I found a very good one, with the Esteem an even better one, especially RH-blocks work much better with it. Much more controllable pressure/topspin can also be exerted from half-distance.
As some have already written, the wood is very balanced and it's glued very stiffly. This results in a very high sweet spot, pretty much the same ball impact over the entire blade! Nevertheless, the wood allows better ball control/dwell time than other carbon woods.
Due to the very light blade weight (76g) I can also combine it with heavier Tensor rubbers, R47 & Vega X, which still gives me a comfortable 170g. I'm curious about the next season if I can win a few more games with this combination.
In the TT forums it is also written not to play Hinoki blades with rubbers that are too soft. It can feel too mushy. I've never tried lower rubbers than 45°, but it's definitely possible due to the rather soft ball touch. Is just different from player to player, depending on the preferences or demands on the rubbers.
20/10/2022 Excellent In All Aspects Review by Varun Coona
Quality
I bought this blade because of all the good reviews, and it truly lives up to the hype. It has the power of a carbon blade with feel and feedback of a hinoki blade. Better speed and ball feeling than my all wood Darker 7P2A, although the weight feels like an 80-85g blade due to it being head heavy. All in all I would strongly recommend this blade to advanced, attacking players.
07/12/2021 Irreplaceable. Review by Ian St. John
Quality
Since buying this blade, I have become four times better (well, the other blade was cheap and worth what I paid for it) according to my opponent. And so has he (standing farther back from the table).
I am not a 'power player' and my friend says it works for me because I am more for spin and control. Seems to just leap out and make a return right where I intended.
Our games have gotten more intense and fun with a number of other blades of similar price. But no other blade works as well for me. I even bought the last two. Sorry, but he wanted one and I wanted a backup.

27/09/2021 I like it Review by Ian St. John
Quality
The best blade I've tried (of four or five). Good control, light, responsive. My game has improved significantly though I am not professional and cannot define why.
09/02/2021 Darker for ever Review by Marcello Azzoni
Quality
Wonderful Blade. Fast, very light, a lot of control, and full of spin potential.
Pair it with Donic BluesGrip C1 and you will find a great combo for an aggressive controlled game with an incredible spin. I keep My more expensive Butterfly Blades but from now I decided to play with Darker Esteem. It’s another thing better in every aspect.
21/07/2020 Excellent Balance of Speed and Feeling! Review by Sven Tade
Quality
First Impressions of the Darker Esteem Carbon (FL, 75 Gramm weight) (with my "Standard-Rubbers" DHS Skyline 3-60 2,1 mm black (medium-hard Version) at FH and Giant Dragon 612 1,5 mm red at BH): Nice Feeling, relatively stiff, but a good Feedback trough the soft hinoki outer-Ply. Gives good Control at service-return and passive block, good Rebound at all strokes. Easy ball Placement, good at block and counter. The Blade shines at fast Topspins and at Forehand-Smash, it sometimes nearly explodes and produces a sharp spin. The Balance of Speed combined with good Feeling, together with the great craftsmanship of Darker is in summary a very good Blade! Absolutely worth the price!
04/06/2020 Amazing Review by Miguel Sobreira
Quality
Light and Fast with Control.
Amazing quality, 71gr. I like them light.
It's a uniform blade, with superb construction and superb feeling.
TT11's delivery and service has no rival.
26/05/2020 Handmade Gun Review by Torsten from Germany
Quality
The Darker Esteem is a very light attack wood with good control. It plays very precisely both close to the table and from half-distance. The Hinoki outer veneer gives you a special feeling at the ball meeting point. You can play topspins very sensitively even with a late ball hit. Block balls play very easily with a great ball flight curve. In terms of speed, I would rate it in the OFF range (I play it with 45 * Tibhar Genius). For a carbon wood, it plays very sensitively without noticeable vibrations and enough speed for end strokes. My copy weighs 75 grams, it is ideal for my aggressive style of play (close to the table, earlier attack from the wrist). The processing of the wood is also first-class, with no sharp edges, a club blade very smoothly ground, lens cleanly incorporated. Communication and handling (from Germany) with customer service was very straightforward and friendly. Shipping also great! Thank you Sergei for this extraordinary wood! Greetings from Germany.
07/01/2020 Excellent Review by Sergey P
Quality
Dear all, this blade is fast but has good control at the same time. One of the most important features is very lightweight. The quality of production is excellent.
15/01/2019 EXCELLENT Review by NADIN FREDERIC
Quality
Purchased this blade to quit balsa and keep a light setup. 71 gr.
Great offensive weapon! Very linear compared to my previous blades.
Good control and superb feeling! Mounted with T05 on FH and Rasanter R37 on the BH. Couldn't recommend this beauty more.
And TT11 service at the top!
30/04/2016 Very light, fast, big sweet spot close to table blade Review by Mark Kinlocke
Quality
I have been using this blade since June 2015 I have bought a new one in March 2016 because the first one has developed a split thus separating the plies. I have repaired it using Chair Doctor glue and it is still my main blade with the new one as back up. To be fair the damage was probably caused by me hitting the table.
Summary, if you have used a single-ply hinoki blade, you will already
know the general characteristics, fast but controllable. Best suited for drive
loops from near to the table.
Stand out features of the Esteem:
1 Smallish head (150x155mm), Hinoki wood, carbon, very light. With Tenergy
05/25FX weight is 176g
2 Unique grip (conc/fl). Hard to describe but allows for easy and fast transition from BH to FH
3. Playing characteristic very direct, driving bat rather than spinny loop. But
now that I have it a while, I have learned to hold the bat very lightly for
slow loops
Maybe it's the small size and carbon but the sweet spot/blade feel is the same almost the same whether hitting the ball at the end of the blade or in the middle. So very nice for blocking or flicking those fast topspins that your
opponent plays to your body.
4. The balance is near neutral with Tenergy so with the light weight, your
shots can feel a bit slow even though the ball is travelling very fast.
5. I am not young. So I tend to chop a lot with BH and FH to slow the game a
bit. Surprisingly I do this quite acceptably with this setup.
6. I do have trouble with serve control compared to my other setup, OSP Expert (carbon) with T05/05. I really have to concentrate before serve in order to impart the spin and direction that I want.
7. It generally has a hard feel with not much flex.
If you are used to Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit or similar, this blade is not for you.
Over the weekend I played a veterans tournament. Of course most players were playing with anti/LP. I did win a couple of good matches simply by pushing or light topspin and attacking when the opportunity appeared. But I really had to concentrate to grip the bat lightly in order to allow me to control the balls.
Darker Esteem