OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Interesting sponge colors - and that notch is unique. I suppose it serves a purpose but you wonder if Tibhar will eventually put the notches in everything they sell.. or not.. Looks almost as though there is NO ID strip... you have to look real close, it's quite narrow, and there's nothing right in the middle. Or maybe these are just samples, the actual retail sheets will be sans notch and will have a normal ID strip, as can be seen on the ITTF website.





Iskandar

So where are Evolution rubbers made? The second poster on this thread thinks it's Japan, though some think it's from Germany.

viewtopic.php?f=44&t=21112&start=15#p238913

Tibhar certainly doesn't say. The "JTTA" stamp and the Japanese writing, and the different size of the sheet point to Japan. I had a look at all the Tibhar rubbers in the LARC:

http://www.old.ittf.com/_front_page/itt ... ory=rubber

Several things are evident.

1) Out of 59 rubbers, I count 11 that are marked "Made in Germany" (including some old ones like Nimbus and Volcano, but also new ones such as Aurus and Aurus Prime. And Crazy Bull.. ). 14 are marked "Made in Japan" (some are also quite old, or used on pre-mades, ever hear of "Speedy Spin"?). There's the odd one marked "Made in China" (e.g. Dang - and we know Grip-S is made in China even if not marked as such). And the great majority are NOT marked with the origin. (These are "headstamps", others may be marked on the packaging.)

2) Virtually all (a few exceptions) have "JTTA" stamps. Including the ones "Made in Germany".

So what to make of this?

1) The JTTA stamp doesn't mean much when it comes to provenance. Not sure why Tibhar has JTTA on most of its rubbers (one notable exception being Grip-S) while most other manufacturers don't have them. Even Stiga doesn't use it on its Made-in-Japan rubbers (Calibra, Airoc, Mantra). And I'm very darned sure it's not because you can't sell unstamped rubbers in Japan (check the online Japanese stores to see if there are any Andro or Stiga rubbers available there...).

2) Unlike a lot of its competitors, Tibhar seems pretty omnivorous when it comes to sourcing rubbers from OEMs - they have rubbers from all three sources (Japan, China, Germany). MOST of their rubbers are unspecified as to their origins, including the Evolutions, but also other new ones such as K1. Why are these unspecified while others have the origins stated? I don't know. It's entirely possible the topsheets and sponges come from different countries and assembled somewhere else. Perhaps some of these are even made in China and Tibhar wants to hide the fact (in case there's a bias against Chinese rubbers - which there is, if you think about it).

In the end, only Tibhar knows where Evolution comes from.

Iskandar

As much as Tibhar have gone to some length to hide the origin of Evolution, it's pretty obvious that they're ESN if you pick one up, hold it in your hands, and compare it with other ESN rubbers released at the same time. If you hold MX-P in your left hand, Bluefire M1 in your right, then you can't in all honesty state that you have no idea where MX-P is made.

The only element of doubt comes from the lack of a "Made In" statement by Tibhar themselves. Ask yourself why they would do that. But regardless - although people on the "outside" of the manufacturing process can't be 100% sure, I'm 99.99% sure and I would be amazed if Evolution was made by anyone other than ESN.

The notches and lack of logos on the Prime and Select are done to make the rubber obviously a sample, not ITTF approved, and hard to resell on for financial gain. The final commercial product won't be like that.

Yes, I agree with that 100%

Going back to the Aurus Prime and Select rubbers, the two felt quite similar to me, and I'll share some thoughts.

Throw is medium to high, and loops are very spinny with plenty of curve. Speed is similar to something like T05, not faster. Even though the sponge is medium soft, I could not feel it bottom out at all, perhaps the extra thickness of the sponge helps here.

Spin on serves/pushes is really good. It has high grip on the surface, but the topsheet feels quite elastic too, so it grips the ball really well. I think the thinner topsheet helps with this.

The closest rubber in performance & feel would be Tibhar evolution EL-P.

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Hardly seems worth having a different rubber if the closest to the performance and feel is one by the same manufacturer.

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I'll have to find the cut off pieces of Rasant and Rasant Turbo to compare them with MX-P. Does Tenergy (or Airoc or Mantra) really feel all that different? In any case, do note that Tibhar isn't shy about putting "Made in Germany" on its rubbers - Aurus and Aurus Prime are definitely marked "Made in Germany". So if Evolution IS made in Germany, why conceal the fact?

Ah.. found the Rasant Turbo cutoff. OK, they feel about the same (the MX-P cutoff is a little tackier), but the Rasant Turbo doesn't have that same smell. Maybe because it's all evaporated...



Well, if you can convince people it's different and if it sells more rubbers, why not? Consider how many Tensors there are - there must be a lot of duplication across brands... If ESN sells more rubber this way (rather than marketing it all themselves), that's why they do it.

Iskandar

Actually, if you think about it.. why did Tibhar release their Rasanter/Bluestreak (er, Bluestorm ) equivalent as Aurus Prime/Select rather than part of the Evolution line? Adds to the suspicions that Evolution is not ESN. Also.. has anyone measured Mantra and Karis sheets? Are they an extra cm long compared to ESN sheets, like Evolution is?

Iskandar

I am gluing my Tibhar Aurus Prime and noticed:
1) No smell for factory-tuned rubbers like MX-P. No arc before and after VOC gluing.
2) Topsheet is sticky. Not Chinese old style but still much more tacky then MX-S.
3) Sponge is immediately soaking and drying VOC glue. The difference in gloss of the glue layer allows to apply glue perfectly even if you care about it. I did not try very recent rubbers but it seems Prime is very different to any 2015-style generation rubbers like MX-P and MX-S. I never tried any busters but I think this kind of sponge is very greedy and responsible to liquid chemistry.
4) Sponge and topsheet glued very strong together. I destroyed either sponge or topsheet but not bond when tried to disassemble a small leftover piece.

Will post tomorrow how Prime plays comparing to MX-S.

Tried red Tibhar Aurus Prime 2.1 on Stiga Cliper Wood 85g.
In comparison with red Tibhar MX-S 1.9 on Sanwei Fextra 90g

Prime is very fast and spiny rubber, but luck of dwell and shaky control at max power. While Prime does not feel soft, it plays like typical soft rubber. I do not play medium soft rubbers (MX-P is also too soft for me), so cannot name any similar to Aurus Prime rubbers.

Easy spin feeling like infamous Tenergy 05. Good feel and control in short game. Much faster then MX-S in the middle gear.

I will try Prime on my current Sanwei Fextra blade as Stiga Clipper Wood 85g is not for me.

It was a big surprise as I had a couple of 90g Clippers and they both played very different. Heavier Clipper blades (modern design) are more solid, no vibrations, lower throw and much better in blocking game and away from the table.

Tried Aurus Prime on my Dr. Neubauer Matador Texa Balsa. Much better performance on this stiff and hard 7+2 ply blade then on softer Clipper-like blades.

I have a good memories of Aurus Soft control and linearity and Aurus Prime has similar "simple handling" feel with very good spin and high (even excessively high for me) speed for close to the table and half distance. Aurus Prime is not very spin sensitive comparing to other bouncy tensors. For example, I hated Xiom Vega Intro. I literally cannot understand how to play this "entry-level tensor" rubber at all. IMO Aurus family is strictly better for new players.

In my opinion Aurus Prime is very speedy and spiny (comparing to MX-S). Particularly FH pushing is excellent: very precise, low and spiny. Aurus Prime has no MX-P or other tensors catapult on/off switch mode. Prime is linearly fast.

Dwell-time of MX-S is higher that helps to activate sponge on very powerful strokes and far from the table. But MX-S is much more brutal and needs always heavy stroke to be useful. Aurus Prime is more responsive for short strokes.

Aurus Prime does not create arc when hitting through the ball with closed racket like MX-S does, but it is very sensitive to small wrist engagement. Topspin loop is not my strength, so I will not comment the general topspin quality, but I see the big potential of wristy spin variation game for experienced players with Aurus Prime.

So I think Tibhar Aurus Prime is reasonable alternative to Tibhar Evolution MX-P and MX-S. Aurus has own character and advantages.

What I do not like in Aurus Prime is short-arc behaviour. My default all-in FH drive creates a high arc but the ball sometimes falls before the net, not after. The MX-S I play several years has pleasant long-arc trajectory that helps to control placement away from the table.