I've made this switch recently and beforehand I was struggling to find many on-line comparisons. So I thought I'd share my findings. Short preamble...I'm closer to a classic defender than modern defender and have being playing LP for many years to a decent standard. Gone from DrN FLP to DTEcs (8-10yrs) to Curl 1.0 (3yrs) and now to Feint 3 1.0, and periodically must have tried almost everything inbetween!
Comparisons are: both rubbers in red, both 1.0mm sponge, and both mounted on a Joola Chen Medium blade.
Why look to change in the first place? What's wrong with P1r?
There's nothing wrong with P1r, it's a fantastic rubber with many superb qualities. But there are issues which I can't seem to iron out even with a lot of practice on technique over a prolonged period. These are:
1. Safety / effectiveness of service return
2. Amount of backspin generated on opening chop to low spin loop
3. Ball popping up when pushing
4. Off the bounce bump attack very low success rate
5. Creating a float ball from a strong loop
6. Keeping a low trajectory on push and chop numbers 3 and 4
7. Occasional behaviour giving it a life of it's own
Sounds like a long list and that a lot more practice is requried. Maybe so. But if you're practicing twice a week and also playing matches that doesn't leave much time for more practice. Hence looking for an alternative. Most LP players will EJ a lot I suggest and every rubber tried seems to have additional qualities that are traded off against ones lost. I guess you can train your game to suit one particular rubber or find the rubber that suits your game the best. One of the reasons for this review is that in Feint 3, aside from one small feature, is better for my game in all other areas.
Here are some specifics:
Trajectory - The ball doesn't have that strange flutter effect that Curl does, but it is lower and does not seem to pop up on pushes or on chops 3/4 etc
Serve receive - Additional to the lower trajectory, service returns are much easier and safer. Long fast low spin serve receive on the BH is a weak point gone.
Speed - The Feint is slower, I'd say about three-quarters of the Curl pace, which means you can chop it harder and block shorter. Also bump attack from incoming push goes on
Float balls - Easy to create on purpose, but seems to create them inadvertantly through slight differences in the contact point on the face of the blade. Very nice when it happens
Chop - Easy to get the ball back, easy to change placement, much heavier chop possible with standard stroke (Joo and Chen really jab on contact with the Curl whereas others don't, they plays for a smoother contact). The jabbing is really hard to bring into your game without making huge misjudgements on shots.
'Strawberry' - Much easier to perform, goes on, keeps the spin (Curl seems to take it off and it floats so then goes long)
No spin balls - easy to give a nasty skiddy flat return without popping the ball up
Strangeness - The fluttering of Curl gets to a lot of opponenets and the Feint doesn't have that. But what it does seem to do is sit up or shoot on after bouncing, which is very tricky for the receiver
Consistency - Feint is way more consistent. Never underestimate the value of 'just' getting the ball on the table and reducing unforced errors. Enables the defender to build pressure on the opponent.
Twiddling - shot technique for Feint is extremely close to inverted, so twiddling becomes much easier. Simplifies your game. Curl you need to be very attentive.
Attack - because Feint is closer to an inverted technique you can virtually play the same backhand loop drive as you would with the other side. Punches very well and I've already mentioned the bump attack off the bounce.
Spin manipulation - Way easier with Feint
Distance - Feint equally effective both at the table and at distance, Curl is difficult closer in
Push - Easy to push to push, hardly any pop up balls, easy to change from spin push to float push
Block - You could almost play an old style FLP blocking game with Feint. It takes the speed out of a hit and you can block spin low and short. There are much better rubbers available for a blocking game, but you do need to be able to block effectively in all game styles, and that's hard with Curl.
Drop shot - fantastic. Proper dead short dying balls
Placement - Very easy to move the ball around and keep it low and safe
Worry - I'm always a little worried about what the Curl is going to do in various circumstances. I'm not with the Feint, I know what it's going to do. And that, along with the above makes for a lot of confidence when you're using it.
Fishing - Curl is better, possibly because it’s slightly faster.
Conclusion
Aside from the really small element of fishing I'm really struggling to see where Curl trumps Feint. It's one of those rubbers that I think gets overlooked because it's not cheap to try out, maybe players go to FL2, or it's possibly seen as old technology. I know that I've not tried it before and I've tried a lot of different rubbers. All the above increases my competitiveness and results have certainly improved without much adjustment at all.
Hope it helps for anyone thinking of switching either to or from Feint Long 3.
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