I got one of the good 802s from Taiwan with the "medium" (Feels hard!) pink/orange 729 sponge. After a couple of hours, the sponge broke in and now I quite like it. It's harder than any of the other SPs I've tried (spectol, challenger attack, 802s bought in the USA).

I'm not sure why it played so crappy for the first couple of hours but I've had that experience with many chinese rubbers.

This is great rubber if you can get the good quality sheet. There was a thread earlier about the different top sheets masquarading as 802.

About the difference in preferred thickness of sponge between shakehanders and penholders - I think the reason for it is that penholders are able to produce much more spin (using their wrist when hitting) and have much more control as a result, so they don't need much sponge in order to be able to grip the ball; shakehanders need the depth of the sponge for that.
There may be other reasons, too. Penholders need less speed, for instance, because they play more frequently over the table and hence have less distance to cross.
And a penholder with a 1.6 mm sponge who is using speedglue, ends up with something that compares to a 2.0 mm sponge of someone who doesn't glue at all (like me).
Glue may have to do with this in more than this respect. There seems to be (or have been) a tendency to increase sponge thickness since the nineties, both with shake and pen pro's; this may have to do with the increased effects of the use of speedglue by opponents using inverted. On a thin short pips rubber an incoming ball with extreem topspin may reverse so much that it will float away beyond any reasonable control. Spinny pips help in this regard. Increased sponge thickness helps too, for the same reason: it increases friction. I read somewhere that Johnny Huang used 1.9 pips early in the nineties; somewhere in the late nineties he changed to 2.0, then to 2.1, if I'm correct.
A defense-oriented player like Gao Jun, however, isn't bothered by increased reversal effects, but would welcome them. So the choice for thick or thin may also depend on your style.

Why many pros use the 802 in red color? The black color 802 not as good?

He Zhi Wen: red 802
Wang Zeng Yi: red 802
Ding Song: red 802
And many others . . . .

noticed that almost all stock red chinese short pips suck(play dead) they dont seem to be using stock version must be using national version or they assemble

noticed that almost all stock red chinese short pips suck(play dead) they dont seem to be using stock version must be using national version or they assemble

A few points here:

- If (and it's a big if) there is any practically detectable difference between red and black 802 (I have used both extensively), or indeed other Chinese SP (651, 652, Sharping, 802-40, Dragonow), it's very very slight.
- They certainly don't "suck" or "play dead". I've used red 802 and red 651 with great effect, and they certainly aren't dead
- I think there's far far too much fuss about "national version" -- you can play at a ridiculously high level with stock rubbers. One of the top players in the UK (He Zhi Wen) uses stock 802 on orange sponge.
- Lars (formerly of Japsko) used to import a lot of RITC stuff, and go to know the company well. According to him, most senior Chinese players do assemble their own, using their own choice of sponge.

I notice 802 is available in OX - wonder if it'd make a good hardbat rubber.

Iskandar

red stock sp are always crap in Ritc.

- Lars (formerly of Japsko) used to import a lot of RITC stuff, and go to know the company well. According to him, most senior Chinese players do assemble their own, using their own choice of sponge.