Review: JOOLA Proline One blade

Over the past few weeks I have been testing out the JOOLA Proline One blade. This is the successor to the very popular JOOLA Rossi Emotion Blade. It has a 7-ply construction with inner 3K-c carbon and a hinoki outer layer,

JOOLA describe the blade as having a softer feel for good control in the short game, but with a few gears to play dynamic and higher risk shots.

But what do I think? To find out I tested the blade with my Power Pong Omega robot and my friend and team-mate Jarek “The Brick Wall”.

The rubbers I used when testing the blade were JOOLA Dynaryz AGR.

Speed

The first thing I wanted to test was the speed. I quite like playing with fast blades. Iâ€m not the most technically gifted player, so I tend to rely on a quick blade to help me play faster shots. The JOOLA Proline Blade has decent speed, but nothing exceptional. Maybe I would rate it 7.5 out of 10. 

There is extra speed in this blade, but youâ€re only going to activate it with some really explosive body mechanics. The speed doesnâ€t come ‘out of the boxâ€. This is good if you are an aggressive player and you need a blade which is a little more controllable. But for a player like me, I just didnâ€t feel I could get enough oomph for the limited way I play my shots.

I found it easier to attack closer to the table. I could do some sharp counter-topsins. But away from the table? Not so great. I donâ€t normally play too far back, so this is probably more a technical issue with my strokes than the blade. If you like to play away from the table, youâ€ll probably find there is enough arc from the blade to play some decent counter topspins. 

Control

But the flip side of the average blade speed is that it has tons of control. Really lots and lots of control. I could keep my pushes really tight to the net and I could absorb a lot of heavy topspin with my blocks. 

In many ways itâ€s a really safe blade. I didnâ€t feel like I was going to miss much by overhitting the ball. I even gave the blade to a few beginners to use during coaching sessions. And whilst they found it more lively than their entry level bats, they all adjusted within a few minutes and found it very easy to play with.

The control with this blade is 10 out of 10. This makes it perfect for any player who has an all-round game. It would also be a really good choice for a player looking to upgrade from an entry level blade.

Spin

The spin generation is solid. I could serve with lots of sidespin, push with lots of backspin and my loops have plenty of topspin kick. The throw angle from the blade is medium. So it seems to do everything pretty well. Pushes low, tick. Loops with a nice arc, tick. Blocks on the table, tick?

I really liked the blade for close to the table counter-topspin. This was pretty effortless and it felt the blade married up nice with my technique for this shot.

Overall, I would rate 8 out of 10 for spin.

Verdict

JOOLA have done a pretty good job with this blade. Itâ€s very easy to play with, does everything well and has huge control. It doesnâ€t have the speed of my regular blade (JOOLA Vyzaryz Trinity), but there is enough speed to hit attacks which donâ€t get returned.

Itâ€s a decent price for a carbon blade, and a good choice for anyone playing at the local league level. I would say it is particularly suited to the all-round player, who mixes up controlled play with some offensive shots. Itâ€s also suited for those rapidly improving intermediate players who want an upgrade to a higher level blade which has controllable speed.

You can see some footage of me using the JOOLA Proline One in the video review below…

You can buy the JOOLA Proline One blade from Bribar Table Tennis:

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