OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Im gonna to but one of This rubbers. Can you guys Help me decide which one? Please can u give me a review of both rubbers. How are they for serving, drive, chopping (I'm a Chopper) so I'm going to use the chosen one to defend and attack.

Last time, you talked about Tibhar Nimbus and Bluefire M3; the people who commented said Bluefire M3 would be a good rubber to choose. I personally would go for M3, but since you're talking about these 2 rubbers, I would go for Acuda S1; Bluefire M1 is supposedly very fast, hard, and maybe not the best rubber for chopping.

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Blade: Victas Koji Matsushita Offensive FL
FH: Victas VS > 401 2.0
BH: Victas Spectol S1 1.5

Rating: Recreational Player

Like Danthe said, bluefire m1 is way to fast. If you are a chopper, who chops a lot, I definitely would go for such a hard rubber. M3 is fast enough, if not too fast, so i would definitely not be thinking about going for the hardest sponge type when you have different options available for chopping.

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Modern Defender
S/U 1-Blade:Victas Koji Matsushita FH: Andro Rasanter r47 BH: Hellfire 0.9mm
S/U 2 - Blade: BTY Joo We Hyuk FH: Evolution E-LS BH: Hellfire 0.9mm

Tnks men. Yeah jaja I talked about nimbus and m3 but due to some shipment problems and stuff I preferred to use only a Donic rubbers. And recently I tested the m3 and it wasn't what I was looking for, Im testing a M2 MAX but im still thinking in the Acuda S1 due to a recommendation.

Have you managed to try Acuda S1? I'm curious, as I'm currently looking into inverted rubbers for my forehand to test. I'm a defensive player as well, but attacking is also an important part of my game.

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Standard Setup 1
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P1r 1.5mm

Standard Setup 2
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P4 1.5mm

Hardbat Equipment (Former Full-Time Hardbat Player)
Blade - Marty Reisman custom 5 ply Hock
Rubber - Yasaka Cobalt Alpha OX

I'll just snoop around snowman since you seem to be taking a similar path that I went down... and it might save you 1k!

I used the Acuda s3 and acuda blue s3 for chopping and looping as well as the bluefire and jp. The acuda s3 was my favorite of the bunch, but ultimately swapped to tenergy as it has higher grip and spin potential. Acuda has a bit more control in my estimation though.

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...

I'm using Acuda S2 for RPB and I like it. Good control and spin. Good for looping backspin. The newer tensors bluefire/tenergy have less control.

Also, S2 is harder than I thought (but not too hard), so S1 may be too hard for anything other than FH

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USATT 1502.
Long pips pushblocker, inverted RPB.

Blog (Ramblings of an ordinary penholder...): http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=32694

It really does come down to Tenergy doesn't it. When choosing forehand rubbers for attackers or defenders, I pretty much see the same pattern (get Tenergy or a clone of it). I'm thinking now I made a mistake getting Victas VS >401 as an reintroduction to inverted for me. Perhaps, as rubbers aren't cheap, I should just cancel my order, get Tenergy (probably Tenergy 05 FX or Tenergy 64 FX), and be done with it.

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Standard Setup 1
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P1r 1.5mm

Standard Setup 2
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P4 1.5mm

Hardbat Equipment (Former Full-Time Hardbat Player)
Blade - Marty Reisman custom 5 ply Hock
Rubber - Yasaka Cobalt Alpha OX

I think it comes down to how often you want to attack. More classical defenders use the slower rubbers, even at high levels, and do fine with them. Even 1.0 mm sponges etc.

The ones using tenergy will attack heavily when given the opportunity the vast majority of the time. So in my view, it comes down to your ratio of chopping to looping. If you chop like 80% of the time, then the slower defensive rubbers won't be a problem. Though some people prefer the tenergy type for classical chopping anyway, because it takes less effort to return the ball from far off the table. With the dampening sponges, you've got to really give it some oomph when pushed back.

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...

It really depends on the opponent. I tend to think of myself as a 60/40 defender (as in 60% defense), but at higher levels I probably defend between 70 and 80% of the time. However, when I attack I like to win the point within 1-3 shots, as this puts pressure on my opponent when attacking my defense. Put away power is therefore important. I realize though that I can only find a balance that works for me and I won't get supreme chopping control and high attacking pace in one rubber.

A more all round rubber like Victas VS > 401 sounds great for chopping, but the punch of Tenergy is appealing as it would give me more attacking options. I mean, I'm making the change to inverted from short pips for precisely that reason, to have more attacking options. In short, Tenergy seems to be the way to go for extra variety (slow long pips backhand and fast inverted forehand), but it depends how much control I would be sacrificing when chopping.

What would you advise? My priority is of course handling the higher levels, so I would be 70/30 or 80/20 in favour of defense, but my attacks have to count. As a reference, my attacks have decent pace with Friendship 802 1.5mm short pips, as in I usually win the point within 1 or 2 shots when I hit.

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Standard Setup 1
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P1r 1.5mm

Standard Setup 2
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P4 1.5mm

Hardbat Equipment (Former Full-Time Hardbat Player)
Blade - Marty Reisman custom 5 ply Hock
Rubber - Yasaka Cobalt Alpha OX

Not sure on the victas, as I've not used those. I have used the skyline soft rubbers and a number of other tacky ones. Those are actually pretty good and also common in world class defenders, but the maintenance of tacky rubbers turns me off. I liked the slower rubbers when I was doing ONLY chopping on the forehand, however since working on my forehand and attacking much more... they were far too mushy for me and lacked penetration power. You can hit a winner with anything, obviously, though the faster ones are easier and more dependable for that purpose.

Just from what I've seen, you either use hurricane 3/skyline 3 for tacky rubbers -- or tenergy for the non-tacky. That's from looking at higher end defenders, so it depends on your level of course. I'm sure any of the others would work fine. Acuda s3, bluefire jp, stigas garbage etc. Whatever you get used to. I just like the feel and reliability of tenergy. The other ones are kind of clunky for my style, though again it's probably got a lot to do with how long I've been using tenergies in various fashions.

I think tenergy 05 is the most common in pros, but the "best" defenders arguably use tenergy 64 more often. Just thinking of Joo here and Seo Hyo Won

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...

I went with Victas VS > 401 because of some great reviews I'd seen. How it supposedly plays interests me. However, I'm not aware of a single pro using it. As for Tenergy, I have my eye on Tenergy 05, Tenergy 05 FX, and Tenergy 64 FX. I think the lower throw of Tenergy 64 is probably why defenders tend to prefer it to 05, but Tenergy 05 supposedly has more spin. Spin (backspin) is pretty important to me, but then again I've learned to generate my own spin with fairly non spin friendly rubbers over the years. Tenergy 64 still probably has more spin than any other rubber I've played with.

If I find I can hit winners very easily still with the Victas 401 rubber, then it would probably be the rubber for me right now, as it's meant to be excellent for chopping (high spin rating) with a low throw. If I find it's lacking in the attacking department, then Tenergy it is. It's then down to which Tenergy.

This is very difficult, much harder than going through long pips. As I said, I'm making the transition to inverted to increase attacking options, so part of me is thinking why am I about to test Victas VS > 401, a defenders rubber, even if it is a fast one? Then again, increasing attacking options is not just about speed but the ability to fish and attack away from the table, something that is very difficult to do consistently and effectively with short pips. If it has a similar speed to my 802, which is supposedly does, then I might not need anymore power right now. Then again, the low trajectory of short pips may be assisting my finishing shots, so more power may be needed with a normal inverted rubber.

Joo Sae-Hyuk and Seo Hyo Won... Watching them makes me want to change to TSP Curl P1R and Tenergy 64 lol. I basically have an amateur version of their style, as in my defense to offense ratio and my patterns of play are very similar. I like to vary backspin on my backhand though, so Curl may not be the best fit, but Tenergy might be.

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Standard Setup 1
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P1r 1.5mm

Standard Setup 2
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P4 1.5mm

Hardbat Equipment (Former Full-Time Hardbat Player)
Blade - Marty Reisman custom 5 ply Hock
Rubber - Yasaka Cobalt Alpha OX

I played with a new sheet of 80-fx 1.7 yesterday, and felt again that the control was better than tenergy 64. It's less touchy over the table and pushes were a bit easier to keep on. I don't foresee myself ever changing from 80fx, or 64fx unless I go broke! But at this point, the attacks with 80fx are just so crisp! And the chops are easy enough to keep on with the 1.7 sponge. Very spinny, and non-tacky so no dust covered rubber I may try a thicker version at some point, or perhaps a faster blade as the ZLF is pretty mush when doing smashes.

The more I work in my forehand attack, the less I feel like chopping on that side so it skews my feeling toward the offensive side of things.

Are you still liking the feint long 3? I feel it gave me loads of control, at the expense of deadliness. My backhand is very consistent with it, and even fast shots are easy enough to return. But most people don't make a ton of mistakes against it, or find it particularly difficult to handle -- at least the way I play it. But for me, it's essentially a 'safety shot' to keep the ball in play until I can force a push/pop up and finish them off with the forehand. Whereas before with the slicker LPs, I could do more backhand attacks against serves and pushes. However, off the table chopping with those produced fairly dead balls and it was hard to really overwhelm anyone with backspin unless they looped heavily for me to reverse the spin.

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...

It's a difficult one for me. I get the feeling that Tenergy will be the end result of all this, but maybe there's no harm is getting there later rather than sooner. This is going to be my first inverted experience in over a decade after all, so Victas VS > 401 may not be a bad rubber to start with (control and spin oriented). From what you've said, I should pencil in Tenergy 80 FX and then I could move to Tenergy 64 if I feel I can handle it.

I'm absolutely loving Feint Long 3. I'm not done experimenting with long pips but I've put that aside for the time being so that I can get a forehand rubber I like. The star quality of Feint Long 3 is that it has the forgiveness of a LP in terms of chopping consistency and retrieving, but it also retains the ability of a shorter pip when it comes to varying the spin. I actually have some say in what's on the ball. Variation of backspin is a major part of my game, as it's perhaps the skill I've worked the most on, so it would be a shame to lose that. I can make a float and a chop look practically identical, meaning 90% of players I come up against think I'm a bat and not a player. Only the stronger players understand what I'm doing.

My defense is arguably better than ever right now with this rubber, as I'm keeping more balls on the table and I'm still able to keep my opponent guessing like I would with a short pip. It also sets up my attack, but I admit a more dangerous LP may be even better for that. I have a sheet of Dtechs OX and the wobbly cancer that oozes off it sets up perfect attacking opportunities, and boy does the ball go when you hit with it. It's not for me though as I felt I had no control over anything.

I played a guy in a match today (with my Feint Long 3) who was very confused, as he didn't understand how different levels of backspin were coming at him considering I was using long pips. He's a decent player, but he couldn't read anything I was doing and was instead focusing on the rubber. "It's just pips man" as he so elegantly shouted many times throughout the match lol.

However, I will say this. Just chop the ball back with FL3 and you're screwed, as any weird effects it has are in the mind of your opponent. It's an easy rubber to play against as it doesn't seem to do anything disturbing at all. My friendship 802 short pips give more disturbing bounces. It's also funny how I can do backhand to backhand topspins with people and they don't even peg that I'm using long pips. That's how non long pips this rubber is! You have to vary the backspin constantly with it though as its max backspin is not as heavy as most short pips I've tried and used over the years, so even a heavy chop against a loop is playable if your opponent is decent.

Dtechs 1.6 and Curl P1R 1.4-1.7 are the two remaining LPs I want to try, and I'm sure they will be a lot more deadly. That said, I think I will still end up with Feint Long 3 for its spin variation. Regardless, I have to try those two legendary LPs before I settle.

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Standard Setup 1
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P1r 1.5mm

Standard Setup 2
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P4 1.5mm

Hardbat Equipment (Former Full-Time Hardbat Player)
Blade - Marty Reisman custom 5 ply Hock
Rubber - Yasaka Cobalt Alpha OX

I'd think if you like FL3, then the curl p4 might be one worth trying as well. Perhaps in the thickest sponge if you're wanting more spin manipulation. It's pretty similar to the FL3 in that it's got pretty high grip on its own merit.

I've only used the p1r in OX, and didn't find it too great for my style. It had some grip, enough to attack with consistently but not very high disturbance (close to the table blocking/hitting) -- to the point where I might as well be using medium pips or something. Can't argue off the table, as it's probably the most used pip for chopping. I do think it relies more on incoming spin than something like FL3 though. So against heavy loopers it's probably better. I didn't care for it compared to many others, at least in the OX. Not bad by any means, just not exceptional for me.

For chopping, I'm sticking with FL3 and that's my story (EJ virus serum )! The FL3 just feels so secure, in that it can generate enough back spin to keep them honest -- yet if they loop heavy, it's slick enough to chop them back pretty easily where something like short pips might struggle to keep the ball low. But the p1r being less grippy by itself, converts more of the incoming top spin to back spin (the FL3 kills a bit of spin if you're too slow on the chop etc). So at high levels I see why the p1r is used. At least in my estimation...

So for your style, is it similar to viktoria pavlovich? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYPqku9Y0gE

She's a feint user as well, with a bit more defensive orientation.

And if you have a scale handy, do you think you could weigh the uncut victas rubber? I've always heard it's heavy but don't recall seeing a weight listed!

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...