GOD Favored SST-729, by LawOCG
Thread:
http://forum.oneofakindtrading.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=130
Out of the packet the GOD Favored SST-729 looks pretty unspectacular. It has a "TianJiao" Sponge which must be around 45-47degrees! Its extremely firm to the touch and immediately it gives off the feeling that it will be extremely stiff and will have a flat feeling to it. The topsheet is of very nice quality though. Its got almost no tackiness to it at all, its butter smooth to the touch with a slight grippiness to it. It cant pick up the ball like other 729topsheets. This super hard sponge combined with a non tacky topsheet is friendships attempt to make a " Both sides Loop Driver" rubber. Initial impressions and the heavy weight of the rubber makes me abit sceptical about it.
First impressions on the table are pretty promising. Counterhitting and blocking is pretty decent and a step above the norm of 729's. Which puts it in the same league as the Focus II and Faster III. The throw angle of the rubber is slightly higher than normal so a little adjustment has to be made. I must say, The perculiar combination of a very hard sponge along with a elastic non tacky topsheet is very sensitive to the way you hit the ball. If you tend to hit right through the ball without much grazing, then you will find this rubber to be very stiff and slow. But if your strokes are well seasoned and you hit through the ball with some topspin, you will see that its quite devastating close to the table in this respect.
Playing the short game(dropshots, Chops, short pushes) is very very good with this rubber just like all other 729's. Everything is controlled and goes where you want it to go with the amount of spin you want it to have.
Extremely heavy short pushes are effortless with this rubber. Ok.. Now for the looping. As Ive mentioned above different people will have different opinions of this rubber due to their strokes, that mainly being the FH/BH loop. As long as I maintain that set 45Degree angle I can hit harder and harder with no hesitation and the ball will have more and more speed and spin accordingly. In order words theres no limit to how powerful your loop can be.
Counterlooping with the SST seemed to be a abit troublesome. At about 1-2m back from the table the sponge has to come into play when your going for the counterloop. The thing is, when Im back away from the table counterlooping, the SST is just dull and lifeless I have to hit much much harder than usual just to make a decent shot. This is due to that EXTRA hard 45-47Degree sponge, If it was softened up with a few sessions of gluing then It will probably perform better.
For loopers in general this is a O K rubber that is abit on the speedy side. Its a great rubber no doubt, But there are many other variants of 729 that perform just as well or even better. IMO Loopers should use either the Higher/Faster variants or the Focus2. Those 3 types perform better than the god favored SST and are of much lighter weight. A interesting note. If my eyes arnt lying to me, I would say that the GOD favored sst-729 has the same sponge as the focus II but a few degrees harder. The color is the same and the pores on the sponge are very fine which is apparant on both rubbers.
Conclusion: Great rubber if you are a close to the table looper that takes the ball early. If your thinking of using this for Mid distance play and counterlooping. There are better solutions.
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