Donic Alligator Combi

Very fast blade. Although it states that it’s a defensive/all-round blade, to me, it seems offensive with medium control. I play with the Stiga Allround Classic, and the Donic Alligator is much faster, even on the backhand side. A good back-up blade to enhance control and accuracy. Good price for the quality of the combination blade.

Great blade at a good price. It’s lightweight with small vibrations, allowing for controllable loops and topspins. The difference between both sides is slightly noticeable. The only thing I disliked was that both outer plies are very thin, but I guess that contributes to its controllability. I suggest always using a fast, high-quality rubber on the ALL+ side and experimenting with the DEF+ side as desired.

However, the quality is not good as the balsa core is flimsy and can easily snap, as verified by several users in other forums.

Great blade. I have Bluefire M1 with and Spinlord Dornenglanz OX. Good for flat hit or smash. Great control and when you miss, you know that is your fault. Good balsa for long pips is not too fast. On forehand, you must have fast rubber and the combination will be great.

Review:

As a modern defense player who favors backhand chopping and forehand looping/driving, I find this blade to be an excellent choice. Its remarkable lightness and responsive forehand side make it exceptional for defensive play, especially when paired with fast rubber (surpassing the speed of the Donic Defplay Senso). While the backhand side aligns with the characteristics of many defensive blades, it provides excellent control. Overall, this blade is an ideal tool for modern defense players seeking a lightweight option.

My best table tennis companion for the past five years, this versatile blade offers exceptional control.

The backhand side is ideal for long pips, anti, or thin inverted rubbers for effective cutting techniques. The forehand side provides sufficient speed, making it suitable for flat hitting and blocking. While it performs adequately for looping, it is not its primary strength.

However, the straight handle is excessively thick. I have owned four blades of this model and observed significant variations in speed among them, which is a concern for Donic’s consistency standards. Despite this drawback, the blade remains a formidable choice.

Very controlled and very slow defensive blade.

The FH side is slightly faster than the BH side, but it is still a classic DEF blade, not suitable for modern defenders.

For example, Tibhar STRATUS POWER DEFENSE or Butterfly JSH blades are much faster.

The best blade for playing modern defense by far! The DEF side provides pure control with high consistency. With the ALL+ side, you can achieve a wide range of variations (chop, loop, smash, etc.) with excellent control.

This blade exceeded my expectations. I have always desired a Donic Carvokev and had to wait 10 years to finally acquire a Combi Blade!

Almost the same characteristics as the Hallmark Aurora, but a bit slower. The Aurora has, however, a bit better control. All in all, a good blade but I prefer the Hallmark Aurora.

Speed BH: 4/10 Forehand: 6.5/10

Great bat! I use the Nittaku Best Anti-spin on the defensive side and Xiom Vega Europa on the offensive side.

Previously, I had used defensive bats and sacrificed some hitting power with the Xiom. This bat solved that trade-off. The defensive side of the Alligator is a little faster than the defensive bats I used, so I switched from Butterfly Super Anti to Nittaku Best Anti, and now the world is a bright, happy place.

It’s difficult to rate this blade in terms of speed and control since it differs on each side. I play modern defense with this blade and am pleasantly surprised by the combination. One side is faster, while the other is slower. This blade is much cheaper than Dr N’s combination blades.

My current blade setup consists of Butterfly Impartial XS short pips (2.1mm) on the forehand and Donic Piranja long pips (1.2mm) on the backhand.

The control and feel on the forehand side are excellent and complement the short pips perfectly. Similarly, the long pips on the backhand perform well.

As it’s a combination blade, the speed differs between the two sides, making it difficult to rate accurately, but I have no complaints so far. This blade suits my current playing style very well.

This blade is extremely light, as is typical for balsa blades, and offers a great price-to-quality ratio (I acquired it for €40).