This article compares blades from three largest floorball brands that currently dominate the floorball world: Unihoc, Zone and Salming. We've picked one blade of each brand.
Unihoc Sonic
About 10 years ago, Unihoc introduced two new blades as the start of the floorball blades revolution - Player and Evo3. While the blade Player is still immortal, Evo3 has been eliminated from the regular collection. Only a freestyle blade Evo3 Hook remained. Player blade caught the attention of the floorball world, because the blade is still suitable for the most of floorball players. A significant part of the floorballers go for the pre-curved blades, but players on the top level usually like the straight blades, because they can curve it according to their wishes.
Recently Unihoc decided to bring a new blade to floorball market - Unihoc Sonic. It is the successor of the blades Player, Player+ and Replayer. Unihoc will not include these blades into the new collection 2018/2019 so much as they did in the previous years, but they will use Sonic blade instead.
Let's summarize the basic facts:
- The blade is slightly curved all over its profile. The medium concavity (8 mm) makes the blade perfect for the passes, dribling and backhand shots and passes. On the other hand sweep shots are harder, because the blade is almost straight and the ball might slip from the heel of the blade.
- The weight is 79g (PE) a 75g (PP).
- Available in these colours: White, Black and Neon yellow
- Material: PE - medium and hard blades, better for a parquet flooring. PP - medium blades, better for a tarkett and rubber flooring.
- Differences with the Player blade: it has a castellation on the bottom part and more angled heel
- Similar blades: Salming Quest, Zone Monstrum and Exel Megalomaniac.
Zone Hyper
After merging with the Unihoc owner the Zone brand was looking for a new breath for a long time. Zone change it by releasing the Hyper blade. The blade focuses on players are not interested in curving the blade by themselves, but they want to buy the finished product. Are you looking for a blade that fits for shooting to almost everyone? Zone fullfilled this goal on 100%.
Let's summarize the basic facts:
- Typical shooting blade which found many fans among the players. The blade is accurate for the sweep shots (the most common shooting form). Because the blade is very concaved (10 mm) and pre-curved, slap shots are not so accurate. Backhand passes and shots are the biggest weaknesses.
- The weight is 77g (PE) a 72g (PP).
- Available in these colours: White, Black, Neon yellow, Neon orange, Light red, Light green and Light blue
- Material: PE - medium and hard blades, better for a parquet flooring. PP - medium blades, better for a tarkett and rubber flooring.
- Similar blades: Unihoc Unity, FatPipe Jab, Exel Chill and OxDog Avox.
Salming Hawk
Salming brand went through a huge boom about 3 years ago. The brand is still among the best, but still couldn't release a blade that would attact the attention of the floorball world.
The Swedish manufacturer still relies on the immortal blade Quest (or very similar Quest1). Few years ago Salming introduced Quest3 blade to the market - players tried this blade, but they gradually moved back to the Quest blade.
After starting off on the wrong foot with Quest 3 blade, Salming brought Quest5 to the market. This blade is very similar to the Quest blade, but more concaved. It became partially popular, but the market did not love so much. Meanwhile Quest2 as the only pre-curved and hardly concaved blade has been still popular. And this blade is now followed by Salming HAWK - this latest model from Salming was introduced at the end of 2017 with a very positive feedback from the players.
Let's summarize the basic facts:
- The blade has a medium concavity (7,7 mm) and is pre-curved, so it is good for the sweep shots as well as slap shots. It has a firm heel that will not bend during shots, so the shots are accurate. But backhand shots and passes are not so accurate.
- The weight is 77g.
- Available in these colours: White, Black, Pink, Light blue, Green, Dark blue, Dark grey and Orange
- Material: Touch - soft blade made of PP material which is better for a tarkett and rubber flooring. Endurance - medium hard blade perfect for a parquet flooring. Bio Power - hard blade intended for the shooters, but not good for the technical players.
- Similar blades: Unihoc Epic, Zone Zuper, Exel X-blade, OxDog Delta.
