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Tested Rakza X max first time today on Defplay. I have been playing with Rakza 7 lately and I have been happy with it.

Rakza x is definately different with harder sponge. Much closer to Chinese rubbers, quite dead on soft contact.

Loops started land right away with RX, arc was nice and precision was there. Trajectory was lower than with R7, which was welcome. Fishing and spin on serves was disappointment.

Advantages of Rakza X vs. R7

- Lot of gears
- Pushing is very controlled and short pushing is easy.
- Great potential for controlled chopping.
- Powerloops were loaded with spin and sidespin.
- Accurate looping.
- Counterlooping felt good
- Blocking felt direct and good

Disadvantages of Rakza X vs. R7

- Half of the spin was missing on serves.
- Fishing was difficult as the rubber was dead on low impact. Sometimes ball just dropped to my feet and even if successful, balls didn't have much of spin or speed.
- Propably spin was missing from the pushes too.

Summary

After first training session I am not convinced with RX. Dead feeling in softer shots is just too big weakness. There were many positives and the RX was plug and play ready. Only bigger adjustments were needed in the fishing department, because RX don't play ball by itself.

In many matches I rely on very spinny serves and it seems that giving them up too big of a deal. With R7 the second bounce in serves "takes off" noticeably, but with RX I struggled to get any service points in practice matches.

Maybe RX needs to played in and it's getting better with time...

Second training with RX didn't go well. It was great in warm up counter driving, but that about it. It just too dead in softer shots and it would require much faster hand speed than what I am capable to get something out of the sponge.

I took RX off and put the old sheet R7 back. It's like homecoming. R7 is not as precice as RX, but otherwise it just better: more dwell, more spin and more juice in softer shots.

ROFL.. the scale stops at 10, so they have to invent 10+, 10++, etc. Why not 11 and 12? Sound like, with X they're trying to achieve the same thing that you supposedly get with H3 - slow with soft shots, fast with faster ones.

Sort of the opposite of this:



Iskandar

About to start using Rakza X on a firm recommendation instead of Stiga Tour Hybrid H. Looking for more grip. How hard is the sponge? I am a close to the table blocker who relies on smash and forehand drive rather than loop.

Bulldog.

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Tibhar Stratus Power Defense
Tibhar Evolution ELP
Tibhar Grass DTecS Ox

EUR37.50 from tabletennis11 - but then you have to add VAT to that.

If things go well I'll be spending several months in Amsterdam next year (sabbatical leave) but one thing I won't do there is buy stuff! 24% VAT, I think... I'll hold off until I get back home again!

Iskandar

Had my first knock with YRX on Sunday. It went very well. Fast, spinny but controllable. Great at and at medium distance from the table. Good for service return and for service. Hope to have a Summer League match with it on May 11th.

Bulldog.

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Tibhar Stratus Power Defense
Tibhar Evolution ELP
Tibhar Grass DTecS Ox

Sick price, I really hope they are durable.

I paid a lot less than that for what appears to be a quality rubber.

Bulldog.

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Tibhar Stratus Power Defense
Tibhar Evolution ELP
Tibhar Grass DTecS Ox

This pretty much sums up what I've felt in the couple of days of use of this rubber.
Lack of spin on serves, lack of feel, not good control on soft touches, especially on powerloops most of my balls are going long off the table although the trajectory is low and good. Looping felt good with this rubber but counterloops tend to go either into the net or long off the table for me.

Maybe the rubber is good with the new ball, will try it with that in next week and report back.

I'm using the max thickness on a YEO blade btw and for some reason I prefer the Rakza 7 or Rakza 7 soft over this rubber.

I've had a sheet of this for a little while, but yet to try it out. It will be interesting to see how it compares to my long used Rasant rubber. Sounds like the sponge is going to rather a bit harder...which probably won't be a good thing. I also have a sheet of Rakza 9 to try also. When I do get around to it I may have to write a comparison review of all 3.

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

I've played all 3 (7,9,X), not the soft varieties. 9 and X are quite similar, 7 spinnier, slower and much higher throw & spin sensitivity. I find them all quite controllable (for their class).

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Timo Boll ALC ST
FH Tibhar Evolution MX-P Max
BH Tibhar Evolution FX-S 1.8
185g

I have Rakza9 , RakzaX, Rising Dragon and Shining Dragon on my Balsa blades.

1. Rakza9 used to be uncontrollable for me nearly 3 years back. Now the rubber is still flat and feels amazing ! ( I have been playing with Rising + Shining Dragon rubbers for nearly 2 years now )

2. RakzaX feels very good at landing counter-loops / counter-hits. But like most ppl have mentioned it is not as spinny as Rakza7 and my feeling is that RakzaX is not as spinny as Rakza9 either ! I thought RakzaX was supposed to be higher control,spin+speed ? RakzaX throw is lower than Rakza7 and Rakza9.

3. Rising Dragon is completely different feel from Rakza series. You don't get the same control. Hybrid rubber means different type of strokes, technique, etc. Rising Dragon is probably the least spinny of all Yasaka high-end rubbers. But the real advantage is developing a "chinese" game. This rubber CANNOT be boosted! But due to Chinese manufacturing there are too many defects ( Topsheet has started to separate after more than 1 year play, I think rubber quality is not there )

4. Shining Dragon is a true Chinese rubber. This is the hardest sponge and enables very "chinese" style strokes and game. Speed is comparable to Rakza7. Slightly tacky and has mechanical spin as well. This rubber DOES boost and after 6 months it develops extremely reverse-dome ( deep dish ? ) so you need to boost to even get it on the blade when it is an old rubber.

Rakza9 ---- this feels and plays like a very high-end rubber!
RakzaX ---- very high control but doesn't play as fast or spinny.
Rakza7 ---- High-end All-Rounders Dream Rubber!
YRD ---- Dont buy unless you need to transition from Euro to Chinese style
YSD ---- Typical Chinese setup, very durable, boosts like anything, I am still testing this

Edit: Rakza9 and Rakza7 feel medium-hard.
YRD and YSD feel similar to Chinese rubbers, hard in the hand, but softer when playing strokes.
Flicks are very very easy.
RakzaX I think is even harder sponge than YRD. I can't for the life of me flick either FH or BH.
RakzaX plays fine when counter-looping from faraway from the table.
But that is all I am able to do with RakzaX.

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__________________________________________________________
Backup C-pen blades:

• TSP Black Balsa 7.0 :
  1. FH/BH-YRakza9/XOmegaVT
  2. FH/BH-TSP Spectol/Yinhe Qing OX
• 729 Bomb C-P : FH/BH-DHS H2 Orig/DHS H3 Orig
• TSP Versal :
  1. FH/BH-XOmegaVA/YJupiter-II
  2. FH/BH-*blank*

Fun blades:

• Yasaka Battle Balsa(ST) : FH/BH- DHS TG2Neo/Gewo HypeXT 47
• Dr. Neubauer
  High Technology
  Cypress-Carbon(ST)
  ***************************** : FH/BH-YRakza7/YRakza7

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I agree with your estimation. When I tried Rakza X it felt like beginners rubber compared to Tenergy.

I add also...

Rakza 7 soft ---- Spinny in it's own way, but lacks high end power. For players who like soft rubbers and maybe best with fast blade.

As a mid-level player, I couldn't get the best out of either of these rubber sheets. Rakza X and Rakza 7 soft were not what I'm looking for with the new balls, first I thought it was a bad glue job, but that didn't change my perspective on either of these. Other players seem to love them.

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Donic Waldner World Champion 89 FL; Donic BlueStar A2 (Red) Max; DMS Firestorm (Black) 1.8