Tibhar Fortino Performance

The blade is stiff. I can’t feel the ball enough. I suggest using the Tibhar Samsonov Force Pro instead. It has similar speed and control but is more flexible. Anyway, it’s a nice blade, and top spins are good.

When Tibhar says this blade has the highest feel, it’s true. I could feel the ball in my hand. The vibration is close enough to perfect for me.

I tested TFP for nearly 3 months, 10 hours a week, using Valmo max on Forehand and Rakza 7 2.0 mm on Backhand. It has a great feeling, good for push and block. Top spin play is comfortable, especially for close and medium distance.

Balsa core blades are not my preference. However, the control on short game is good.

This blade feels like off- it has a really good balance between control and speed.
I have many blades and this is a keeper. Used with Nittaku S1 the ball always stays on the table. Consistent. Exceptional service from TT11 as always. Thank you.

Good.

The design of this blade is absolutely awesome. Just beautiful.

Real Performant!!!

The blade is lightweight and provides excellent control and speed. I highly recommend it for any player looking to improve their game.

I can highly recommend this blade after using it for the last two months. It is a slower, control-oriented 9-ply blade. It is not too bouncy or fast for over-the-table pushes and touch shots. But when you swing hard, the Dyneema layers kick in and it has plenty of power. The blade is stiff, so for high-level loopers, you might want to look elsewhere. However, I am generating good spin. I am using Andro Rasanter 53 on the FH, which seems to be a perfect match for this blade.

Control, spin, and feel are very good compared to others.

Madero posee buen control aunque demoró un poco en acomodarse al madero, este no posee tanta velocidad pero sí control cuando te acostumbras, puse una muy buena sensación al momento del impacto de la pelota, el sonido cambia cuando le pegas de forma correcta y enganchas la pelota.

Very good in all aspects of the game. Control, spin, and feel are very good compared with other quality brand blades.

I was initially attracted by the blade 7+2 composition and a new (not so new, actually the fiber was invented in the early 90s) fiber called Dyneema.

There are not too many blades with 7+2 inner layer composition on the market. Xiom Zetro Quad is one of them, so I was eager to compare it to the Fortino. The ZQ is an awesome blade, but it has some downsides for me.

And I must say, I was surprised in a good way by what the Fortino is.

First of all, I can say the build quality is OK (the blade is made in Slovenia). I didn’t notice any problems with my blade, but I couldn’t say it was extremely well finished or fine-grained either. The quality is good, with no splintering when regluing.

The composition of this blade is interesting, the central core is balsa wood. I know many people like balsa and the other half hate it. I’ve never played with a balsa blade, so I cannot judge. But I gave the blade to the one who normally dislikes the balsa and he liked Fortino nevertheless.

Coming to playing characteristics. I’ve tried this one with MX-P and EL-S.

Can’t-go-wrong combo, I must say. The racket is light, not head heavy at all (or just a bit). The blade itself was 85g, but normally you can expect lighter samples.

The first thing I’ve noticed when playing is how effortless my game became. I don’t know how Tibhar made this.

But when Tibhar says “With pride we can say there is no other wood with this setup currently on the market. A real innovation,” I confirm it’s true.

My impressions were a sum of Feel + Power + Spin + Control:

• Feel. The feel of the blade is great. The blade is bouncy but it still has the good dwell time, I don’t know how they made it :-)

• Power. The blade possesses absolute control but still you won’t feel the lack of power in any situation. I don’t know how they made it :-)

• Spin. The blade makes you feel like you absolutely ignore or absorb the incoming spin; however, you still can impose a great spin in your stroke. The receive is easy and the serve is great.

• Control. You may play an all-round game or an offensive game. You feel absolute control in any situation close or far from the table. This blade supports you.

Overall, you must get it right. It’s not a top-end attacking blade (look for Fortino Pro if you want one) and not the most controllable.

But I can’t think of any other blade that is such easy to use and still has such power.

I caught myself that I cannot name any major weakness of this blade, really weird but true.

I’ve tried all table tennis elements from flat hit to top spin, from push to banana flick and the blade doesn’t fail in any of these.

Regarding ZQ comparison. ZQ is harder to use overall due to its big portion of non-linear behavior.

ZQ seems to have more power at full strokes. Flat hits are somewhat worse with ZQ.

It’s more challenging to play safely with ZQ closer to the table.

Summary. If your style is playing mid to far from the table with top spins, you may prefer ZQ.

If you want to play safely from any distance and more often play close to mid-range then your choice is Fortino.

And finally, it’s a must-try blade, you’ll love it.