OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I've been lucky enough to get hold of a sheet of Victas V>01 Limber so here's my thoughts.

Firstly a bit about myself. This is my first time using a tensor, my previous rubber is Haifu Whale II. My blade is a Donic Appelgren Allplay Senso V1. My level is somewhere between 800 and 1100 Rating Central which I believe is about 1000 to 1300 US. Not sure if this still leaves me in the beginner category or maybe intermediate.

The version I'm testing is 2.0mm in Red and I'll be using on my forehand.

Come in nice packaging with a thin sheet of paper covering the rubber. Nothing fancy though unlike some other boxes I've seen.

Unfortunately in my excitement, I forgot to weigh the rubber but its a lot lighter than the Haifu Whale which is known to be heavy. Of course part of the reason is that this rubber is 2.0mm compared to the 2.2mm Whale but it took 8 grams off the weight of my bat which is now 161 grams.



I've forgotten the term but there was none of that warping of the rubber, it lied very flat.

Here's the pip structure. No idea what this shows but I got a bit snap happy



The main difference in the actual rubber i noticed compared to all the other rubbers I've had is the sponge. Instead of being smooth it was quite rough and like marble. Perhaps this is what all tensors are like, I'm not sure, however a sheet of Bluefire JP that I had a look at was very similar. There are good pictures of the limber sponge in the V>15 Limber review thread.

I've not yet had a decent hit so can't really give a good review. At my level, to be honest I'm not expecting any miracles, in fact I'm probably not expecting to be able to tell much difference to the other rubbers I've used as my good shots tend to depend on me rather than the rubber. The thing I'm most interested in though is not what I gain, moreso if I lose any control due to using a tensor.

One thing I have noticed at this early stage is a distinct 'crack' when I hit the ball hard and well.

Thats all for now, hopefully I can give a bit more information from my perspective in a couple of days.

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Donic Waldner Senso V1,FH Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm ,BH Victas Triple Regular 2.0mm

Had a decent hit with this last night. The ball used was an Andro 3* Celluloid. Note that my views are from a beginner / intermediate level and should be taken with a grain of salt but these are my observations. Also the references to my current rubber Haifu Whale is not to say how the Victas V>01 Limber compares but simply what a player at my level is likely to actually notice. I'm sure there is a much wider difference for higher level players.

Serves: Didn't notice any difference from the Whale, this opponent had the same issues as previous. Whether the spin generated made some of his shots go off the table by more I less, I couldn't tell but I got roughly the same amount of free points so spin must be adequate.

Hitting/Smashes: This is where I thought this rubber was noticeably better than the Whale. The ball seemed to come off faster with my flatter hits and made a real 'crack'. The sponge is softer and thinner at 2.0mm so whether the blade was able to come into play here I'm not sure but this is an aspect of my game I was looking to improve so am really happy with the help this rubber gives. Note that control wasn't an issue and I didn't find the ball flying off the table.

Loops: With the player being a predominantly defensive pusher I had ample opportunities to return his backspin pushes with slow spinny loops. This particular guy always had trouble returning them and a slow spinny loop with the Whale was normally a winner. To me, if any area wasn't as good as the Whale, it might have been this, and I only say 'might'. When I was able to execute the shot, it still seemed to get the desired result however I seemed to find it a little more difficult to execute this shot. Note that these shots I'm hitting extremely fine with lots of spin so maybe the thinner sponge or that fact its completely non-tacky will just take a slight adjustment. At my level I''m a bit inconsistent so might have had an off night too and there really wasn't that much in it.

Away from the table a bit say 1.5- 2metres, I was able to easily get the ball back on the table whereas with the Whale sometimes it just seemed to go 'doof' and not carry over the net. Obviously a technique adjustment was required with Whale as that shouldn't be happening, but I did better with this rubber so perhaps this might also be an improvement.

Blocking: Didn't really get to block much on forehand but didn't notice anything good or bad.

Pushes: Just as good as the Whale, no better no worse. Spin seemed fine but also wasn't particularly sensitive to it either and this guy can get a bit tricky with rubbish spin at times.

Short game: I really like the control that my soft, slow blade gives and my ability with the short game. Had no problems with this rubber. No pop ups or fly offs. Neither better or worse than the Whale for someone at my level.

Summary: As we all know deep down, at my level, equipment is probably 20% and ability and technique is at least 80% so I really wasn't expecting miracles and I didn't get any though I'm really pleased with what I did find. I wasn't able to notice really any difference in most parts of the game however the one thing I did find is that my drives and flatter loops did have extra pace without a noticeable loss of control, something I was hoping for. So is a tensor necessary at my level, probably not but I also think that as long as its not the fastest rocket out there, its not going to hurt either, and might just add a little something.

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Donic Waldner Senso V1,FH Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm ,BH Victas Triple Regular 2.0mm

Nice review Cobalt

I think your findings make a lot of sense, those are the sort if differences you'd expect between Whale and the V 01.

Having tried both these rubbers before myself, I found blocking & hitting to be a lot easier with the V 01 Limber. A fine brush loop is likely to be spinnier with the Whale as it has a bit of tack, whereas you need to dig the ball in a little more (not much since the sponge of soft) to get the spin on the V 01, and when you do, you get very good spin from this rubber too.
The V 01 is also a lot less sensitive to incoming spin, and very easy to use. I put a sheet of this rubber on an all-round blade for my daughter, who is pretty much a beginner, and I had her looping spinny loops in no time.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Good review...
Its good to see a review from victas products

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Victas Koji Matsushita
Thibar Hybrid k1 euro max
TSP Curl p1-r 1.0

Today i removed the edge tape on my bat and noticed that this rubber had shrunk by about 1mm around the edge,. Given i often cut 1mm wider than the blade it might have shrunk by 2mm. You might want to keep this in mind if switching to a different blade. Did i air out before putting on. Doubt it, i usually can't wait to get it on and have a hit.
Haven't noticed any difference in play at all.

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Donic Waldner Senso V1,FH Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm ,BH Victas Triple Regular 2.0mm

Interesting...I don't get this with my Victas 401. I've actually never had this happen with any rubbers I use.

What glue did you used Cobalt?

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Really couldn't tell you this time. Is still on the blade so can't tell from the residue. If i were guessing I'd say the lkt. Haven't used the Donic for a while. Have got some now though.

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Donic Waldner Senso V1,FH Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm ,BH Victas Triple Regular 2.0mm

The only time I've had a rubber shrink was recently when I used a VOC based glue on a bluefire M2 and omega euro. I found the after euro the shrink more then the slightly harder spongeg M2.

As far as reasons I don't know as I've used VOC glues on M2 before and have had no issues.

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CORNILLEAU Hugo Calderano FOCO OFF+
FH: ANDRO Hexer Powergrip 2.1
BH: ANDRO Hexer Powergrip 2.1