OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Finally got around to trying this rubber, took me ages to convince Sheepcoate to buy it so that I could try it (thanks mate)!

AVX Pronte 2.2mm Soft on a Dr N Firewall+ balsa blade

Topsheet is quite tacky and is among the thinner ones I’ve seen. It feels fairly soft too, but it’s a little hard to judge since it’s thinner. Sponge is marked as Soft, but did not really feel that soft, measured at about 39/40 deg. The Sterco seems to also have such a thin topsheet, but is totally non-tacky, and the sponge is softer.

The throw on loops for the Pronte is quite high as expected, but I had little trouble adjusting to it since the throw of my 999 Nat is high too. Speed was higher than I expected, similar to a lightly glued 999 Nat. that’s been well primed or worn in. It is very nice for looping backspin.

The thin and tacky topsheet seems to give it two definite gears which I really like. On slow brush loops it comes off very spinny, and you can feel the topsheet stretching a little, and then catapulting it back… result is a very spinny but slow loop. But when you hit through the ball a little more, the sponge kicks in and it gives quite a boost in speed with still very good spin, the balsa blade would have some effect there too. The sponge feels faster than most Chinese sponges, I suspect it’s Japanese.

I played a few games with it, and it many ways it seems similar to my 999 Nat, probably 80% of the speed of a boosted or glued up (2 layers) 999 Nat.

For serves, it was tacky, which is all I would need to load them up with spin. Chopping and pushing was very controllable as well, as with most tacky rubber.

I did not get around to trying to block or counter-loop against a strong looper, but I expect that with such a high throw, this will be harder close in, but not bad away from the table.

Did I like it, yes I did! If I ever decide to stop boosting my rubbers, it would be my #1 choice, as the sponge hardness is just about right for me without glue (medium soft) and it has plenty of speed on loops to put the ball away. The slow spinny loops feature that is key to my game, seems to be hard to find in rubbers, an this one seems to do it very well…

We’ll try it boosted up next, will be interesting to see how it performs… hope the throw does not get too much higher…

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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

I used pronte for a couple weeks, was very impressed with the spin capability with the tiniest of wrist flicks. I think i was using the medium sponge, but i'm not sure. I had severe delamination problems with this rubber; after going through three sheets i gave up. This was when it just came out, perhaps six years ago? I would presume they've solved those problems by now, but at this point i don't know if i could go to such a high throw rubber again.

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Equipment: Matsushita PowerDefence, Spin Art 1.9 black, Xiying 979 ox red
Style: American | US Rating: barely 2000

Yes I thought you might have liked it kagin!

The sheet I glued up seemed very well stuck together, so I think delamination issues have been resolved.

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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

The Pronte's now my number one choice!

I put up some comments in LawOCG's review of Pronte; it's a lighter version of Globe 999 National in a sense.

I also agree that it probably needs a faster blade to make it really shine. I'm currently using an Avalox P500; I'm guessing a one-ply or a P700 can help it a bit in the speed department.

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Viscaria. H2 Neo 2.15. Tenergy 05 1.9.

So if it is a lighter, more consistently high quality (brand perception?) version of 999 / H3 / etc., why haven't more people taken to it? Seems like on paper it would be a desirable option if one wanted the usual tacky, fast, brush looper's rubber and didn't want to tune or buy pre-tunes (BW2, etc.) every month. What's the catch?

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USATT 1700 ··· 11/02/2013 ◄ ПЕШ

Hi Slade.

It's has different feel than most Chinese rubbers -- nearer to the concept of Tenergy because of the very dynamic and soft (than Chinese traditional) sponge.



I know I mentioned this before, but I think now that it's not exactly the same as playing a pretuned traditional Chinese tacky rubber.

I hope that helps.

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Viscaria. H2 Neo 2.15. Tenergy 05 1.9.

I had a hit with Pronte on sunday.
Slow compared to tenergy 05.

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Chasse Patate

AVX Pronte Soft 2.0mm Black (not really all that soft.. as others have said)
Definitely see the Tenergy comparison; it felt in the same mold to me. Maybe I had some VOC effect or something going, I don't know.. but it felt pretty fast, high throw, same style of bite and spring on the ball.. most of the same stuff with tackiness added (though to be fair, tamer). However, the tackiness clearly does not make it feel like Chinese rubber, just like a slower Tenergy and I almost want to say the stickiness seemed to lock it into a position on the sponge more than aid actual brush looping. Felt more like a grippy rubber with extra stickiness added (a lot), or Japanese fake-Chinese. By comparison another hybrid I've used in the past, Juic 999 Elite in Black (red was significantly different), leaned a little more towards the Chinese side (or at least still grippy but without the harsh bite on the ball). I have some of that laying around I might have to try again.

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USATT 1700 ··· 11/02/2013 ◄ ПЕШ

Hello,

How would you compare the Avalox Pronte (soft) with the Juic 999 Elite Nano in term of speed and speed and feel ?
Is the topsheet thin like Pronte ?

Thanks all,

Brahms

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Blade = Butterfly Kong Linghui 'Special'
FH = 61 seconds Super 999T-1 2.2mm
BH = Yinhe Pluto 1.5mm

Alex, make a Sterco review. Or compare it to the Pronte more throughouly

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Blade: testing...
BH rubber: testing...
FH rubber: testing...

I played with Pronte BH/FH on a AVX BT555 for 2-3 years, then switched to Sterco when it came out around 3-4 years ago. I never speed glued.

Sterco is:

less tacky
less dwell time/lower throw - ball rebounds faster and allows a faster close of the blade which generates more speed, loops have a more driving trajectory

Control wise I found both to be very good at pushing, blocking, and touch shots. Very easy transition from Pronte to Sterco for these shots.

I have tried a friends blade with Tenergy and agree that Tenergy is faster than Pronte.

btw, just for fun, I just picked up some Gambler Outlaw 2.0 based on reviews on this forum and I am trying it out. I am willing to try it out since its only $14US per sheet. I'll try to post a review after I play with it for a while.

Thanks qpskfec for this nice post.
Is Sterco really higher in terms of speed compare to the Pronte ?

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Blade = Butterfly Kong Linghui 'Special'
FH = 61 seconds Super 999T-1 2.2mm
BH = Yinhe Pluto 1.5mm

I am not qpskfec, but I concur as to Sterco is faster than Pronte. It is like 1-2 steps faster. Make it three steps when hitting hard, the tension on the rubber really helps.

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Viscaria. H2 Neo 2.15. Tenergy 05 1.9.

I agree with Yuzuki, Sterco is definitely faster than Pronte. It's not as fast as Tenergy or Outlaw.

Welcome to the forum qpskfec!

yes I agree too, that the sterco is considerably faster... it's completely non-tacky as well, but still very spinny on loops.

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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