A Few Thoughts: The Core Difference Between Inner and Outer Carbon Blades
1
It is better to spend more time living in the real world than in dreams and virtual spaces.
The body’s total energy is balanced. If you move or exercise too little, too much energy flows to the brain — and the overthinking starts.
2
Every time I switch from a tacky rubber back to a tensor rubber, it takes two or three games to readjust. With the tacky rubber, there’s a dwelling sensation on contact; switching back to tensor, the ball leaves the paddle too fast. The same thing happens when moving between inner carbon and outer carbon blades. But ultimately, once you’re used to either, you adapt.
That said, if you actually want to improve technically, switching too frequently between different rubber or blade systems isn’t ideal.
3
Every time I try a good sample blade or rubber, I worry that the final production version will be a step down in quality. This is a habit some manufacturers have. It’s not that they can’t make good products — they just figure that good enough sells fine.
4
Some brands will scrap a blade over a minor wood flaw. Others use those for giveaways. Some brands will have a blade delaminate and then call it user error.
5
When I interviewed Hong Kong team members a decade ago, some of them mentioned one reason they chose Butterfly rubbers: better quality control. The company doesn’t slack on older products just because a new product came out, and it maintains consistent QC as stably as possible.
This isn’t easy. Honestly, the good-batch rate for rubbers isn’t as high as people assume.
6
On the subject of competition — many brand distributors are in the position of “the brand makes money, I don’t.” In many cases their own purchase price is higher than what you see on Pinduoduo or secondhand markets. When you think about how some brands seem almost obsessive about price controls — even policing resale market prices — I actually understand it now.
Because looking after the distributors is ultimately how both sides win.
7
From the AZX/AZXI to the AZX Pro/AZXI Pro, the larger head size brought a noticeably stronger dwell sensation and absolute depth. But at the same time, for amateur players, it becomes harder to control. If the goal is to optimize for amateur use, wouldn’t it actually be better to make many blades with a smaller head?
8
At moderate power levels, outer blades accelerate off the paddle faster. And faster initial speed means more possibilities for variation.
9
Outer blades train habits of not needing to actively drive through the ball. Inner blades train the habit of sustained power application. The core of inner arylate-carbon blades is fundamentally a question of force management.