Weight
73g
Thickness
7.15mm
Plies
7-ply
Handles
FL / ST
Material
Hybrid
Head Shape
Standard
Balance
Balanced
Yinhe T-11
Yinhe T-11 is a lightweight offensive blade built for players who crave speed and directness. Its unique balsa wood core, reinforced with carbon layers, creates a remarkably light yet stiff and powerful playing surface. This design delivers a fast, responsive experience with a large sweet spot, ideal for aggressive attacks and quick counter-hits. While it offers excellent maneuverability and stability, its inherent speed and stiffness demand a confident touch, making it best suited for intermediate to advanced attackers who can harness its power for a dominant game.
The blade features a symmetrical seven-ply build with a balsa wood core at its heart. This core is flanked by carbon fiber layers, which are then covered by outer plies of Limba wood. This structure aims to blend the lightness and vibration absorption of balsa with the speed-enhancing stiffness of carbon, finished with the direct feel of Limba.
TT Sensei Ratings
✦Our expert analysis of this blade's performance characteristics
Yinhe T-11 is renowned for its blistering speed. The stiff carbon layers combined with the balsa core create a powerful, direct playing surface that excels at fast drives, smashes, and counter-hits. It's designed to put immediate pressure on opponents, making it a top choice for players who want to dominate rallies with pace and aggression from the first touch.
Despite its high-speed reputation, many players report the T-11 offers surprisingly good control, especially when paired with the right rubbers. Its lightweight nature enhances maneuverability, aiding precision. However, the blade's inherent stiffness and low dwell time mean control for delicate touch shots and generating heavy spin on slow loops can be challenging, requiring a more advanced technique to master.
Players experience a relatively stiff and direct feel due to the carbon layers and balsa core. The Limba outer plies can impart a subtle woody sensation, but the overall feedback is crisp and fast, lacking the soft, cushioned dwell typical of all-wood blades.
The blade tends to produce a medium-high throw angle, complementing its speed for powerful drives and smashes. This can be advantageous for aggressive play but may require an adjustment period for players accustomed to a lower trajectory for more controlled, spin-oriented topspin shots.
Dwell time is notably low. The stiff construction causes the ball to rebound quickly off the racket, which is excellent for fast counter-play but makes it more difficult to impart heavy spin on slower, brushing loops. Players who rely on a long, grabbing contact will find this characteristic challenging.
This is an inherently stiff blade. The carbon fiber layers and dense balsa core create a rigid structure that contributes to its speed and direct power transfer. This stiffness limits flexibility, reducing its ability to absorb power for defensive shots and further shortening dwell time.
Impact produces a distinctive, sometimes loud and hollow sound that some players note as unusual. While not necessarily translating to excessive or fuzzy hand vibration, this acoustic signature is a characteristic trait of the blade's construction. The balsa core may absorb some vibration compared to pure carbon designs, but the feel remains quite direct.
The T-11 series delivers excellent value, offering performance that often exceeds its price point. Build quality is generally solid for a budget blade, though our testing notes the surface can be somewhat fragile and prone to chipping, particularly during rubber removal. Sealing the blade is a common and recommended practice to enhance its durability and protect the wood.
Technology
Yinhe T-11 utilizes a 'Balsa Carbon' construction, strategically pairing a lightweight balsa wood core with carbon fiber layers. This technology aims to resolve the typical weight-speed trade-off. The balsa core drastically reduces overall weight for superior maneuverability, while the carbon plies add crucial stiffness, power, and expand the sweet spot. Outer Limba plies are then added to provide a more direct playing feel and enhance control over the potent core. The result is a blade engineered for an aggressive, fast-paced game where quick reactions and powerful attacks are paramount.
Similar Blades
TSP Black Balsa 7.0
This is another notable balsa-core offensive blade. Players report it can be even faster than the T-11 with a potentially larger head size, offering a powerful 'kick' on loop-drives. It may provide a more compact feeling, though some find it less linear in its response compared to the Yinhe model.
Donic Waldner Black Devil
As another popular balsa carbon blade, it shares core characteristics of high speed and offensive capability with the T-11 series, though it is generally heavier. Our testing shows some players favorably compare the T-11's performance to this and other more expensive blades, appreciating its value-driven approach to similar playing attributes.