Donic Cayman

Review text:

Very similar to Dr. N Firewall Plus, with a slightly smaller head and not quite as thick. It is slightly faster with the same rubbers.

Rather light thick balsa blade. It makes sense mostly with pips. With very slow long pips in OX, the blocks go fast, low, and the spin is well reversed. It’s likely hard to loop from the FH side — counters and blocks are fine, but if you are late to the ball and it starts descending and you want to topspin it over the net, you’ll likely have a hard time due to low dwell time and bouncy balsa.

Tried only classical (non-tensioned) Short Pips on the FH; with it control on pushes and serve return is OK, and smashes are good.

I’ve been using this blade for years with 1.5 Donic Akkadi Taichi on the forehand and 1.2 Piranjatec on the backhand. It’s an excellent combination on this very light blade.

Flat hitting and blocking are excellent on this blade, but I can’t comment on looping or chopping as I don’t do these shots. The blade being balsa is very light and quite fragile, so you have to be very careful with it at all times.

Control can vary with some shots because of the lightness of the blade, so I’m thinking of upgrading the Akkadi Taichi from 1.5 to 1.8 mm. I don’t think it will upset the balance.

Good light blade. Due to the hardness of the outer layers, it has almost no feel at all. It is better paired with soft sponge rubber. I had hard sponge rubber on it and keeping the ball under control was challenging.

Used with Donic Vario Soft & Mach 1 rubber, this blade outperforms its advertised specs, delivering great control despite its speed. It excels at looping with soft rubber and has a formidable counterattacking game. The blade’s versatility makes it a valuable backup option.

Got this as my first “real” blade. It’s very delicate since the inside is made out of cork and uber light. There is no vibration and it feels very soft. However, I don’t like this blade since I don’t feel that I hit the sweet spot often and it’s just way too soft for a counter hitter like me.

Rated Speed: ALL Rated Control: high.

Super light, stiff all-rounder, as proclaimed, works well with long pimples.

Got the blade for only $26 off TTNPP — good stuff! This is how the blade plays:

Blocking/Flat Hitting: This thing blocks and flat hits extremely well — especially when near the table. Many times it’ll surprise the opponent because the ball gets returned before they can recover from their stroke.

Looping: I found it a bit tough to produce some spinny loops. So far I’ve been experimenting with a bunch of different rubbers, and it seems a medium sponge has been working the best.

Chopping: Not the greatest for chopping because the blade lacks feel. Like for looping, medium rubbers seemed to work best for me.

A very good blade for the full-offensive player, but a finesse-oriented player should look elsewhere.