OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I might want to change to JOOLA long pimples. what are the differences between those three long pimples?

Sorry for hijacking this topic, bus this question interested me for a while, because it seems that top defenders in my country except T. Mikutis, are using Orca rubber. If someone has tried it please share your thoughts about this. And if you can not only ox versions but sponged versions too.

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Setups (click on writings to read reviews):
1) Defence III / TSP P4 (0,5) / M3 (2,0)
2) Defence II / Joola Octopus (0,5) / M3 (2,0)
3) Ross Leidy "White Shadow" / P1R (1,3) / Hexer PS (1,7)

what is mikutis using?

Yes, please share your thoughts!

Editing post:
Tibhar Stratus Power Defence blade / Amsir Flutter 0,6 red / Tibhar Aurus 2,1mm (original version, that means hard sponge)

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Setups (click on writings to read reviews):
1) Defence III / TSP P4 (0,5) / M3 (2,0)
2) Defence II / Joola Octopus (0,5) / M3 (2,0)
3) Ross Leidy "White Shadow" / P1R (1,3) / Hexer PS (1,7)

So, no one has tried these rubbers?

Just out of curiosity I've ordered Orca / red / I think I will get in 0,5mm. Maybe will post a short review in a week.

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Setups (click on writings to read reviews):
1) Defence III / TSP P4 (0,5) / M3 (2,0)
2) Defence II / Joola Octopus (0,5) / M3 (2,0)
3) Ross Leidy "White Shadow" / P1R (1,3) / Hexer PS (1,7)

Will be waiting

Once again I got into situation when pips break (this time it was octopus and I never saw it coming) and I have no exact backup.. Tried to order another one, but local shop was out of stock, so I ordered Orca (0,5mm red) to play my important league matches..

So, at this point it's about 2 weeks with Orca & I can compare it to Octopus.

Joola Octopus (0.5)
Hard sponge with more or less soft-ish pips. Pips look just a tiny bit wider than most.

• I hated it at first because side swipes were inconsistent
• Rubber was too bouncy on first contact, many balls went long (especially for a short game)
• Maybe there could be more spin on chops

After a while I somehow managed to adjust to it

• Started to push/punch push with near horizontal blade, that helped with "going long" problem
• I really like how it can "tune down" powerful loops, could work fine even on faster blades
• Octopus is not grippy so it's easy to produce dead pushes and way harder to produce spiny pushes (I like that)
• Quite good feeling for blocking, though blocks are not very fast
• Quite easy to attack
• Mostly I like it for optimal speed on def II and it's all-round capabilities

Joola Orca (0.5)
Medium-hard sponge with thin medium-hard pips (pips feel harder than octopus)

• Good rubber for defense
• I always liked the harder pips feeling
• Rubber is not too bouncy on first contact. Shots seem controlled.
• In general a bit faster than octopus, but just a bit
• Hard hits/blocks have way more power than octopus
• While I think that octopus has no disruptive effect at all, orca has some. It's possible to do sliding blocks, side swipes has more spin, even pushing back the opponents service (with slightly tilted to the side angle) can provide annoying for opponent side spin.

There is nothing particularly bad about this rubber except that it is expensive and pips break really fast compared to Octopus. Two TOP defenders in my country that are still playing with this rubber said that pips break almost every 2 weeks. EDIT - they really break fast, mine started to tear at the base after 2 weeks also.
other minor things:

• It's way more easier to make mistakes when blocking with Orca, Octopus is more forgiving.
• Orca doesn't absorb power as good as octopus (but that is expected from harder pips, I'm just reminding everyone)

Conclusion
I would say that Orca is a better overall rubber than Octopus and I could recommend it for modern defenders at least to try. I could easily switch to Orca any day, but I think I wont if pips break as fast as others say.. Also for me on my def II Octopus feels just about perfect in speed, I don't know if I want to risk adjusting to new speeds when city championship and league finals are coming up shortly.

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Setups (click on writings to read reviews):
1) Defence III / TSP P4 (0,5) / M3 (2,0)
2) Defence II / Joola Octopus (0,5) / M3 (2,0)
3) Ross Leidy "White Shadow" / P1R (1,3) / Hexer PS (1,7)

Our club president has used Joola Octopus extensively-with a LP OX blocking and hitting game. It seems like a pretty good rubber but I just don't want to pay that much-unless I am getting something unique or significantly better than chinese LP-and I do not think I am.

Joola Octopus OX (red) on Xiom Aigis

After having played whole TT-season with the less grippy and medium speed Palio CK 531a OX (red), I tried Joola Octopus which is supposed to be grippy and slower.

Now, first some words about the blade. Xiom Aigis is a defensive blade with soft Limba outer plies and a lot of flex. I have never played a more flexible blade than the Aigis. It vibrates very prominently and has a very soft, hollow feel. I suppose this is what others call 'mushy'. But the long dwell-time is and flex makes it very good for brushloops and spin creation IMO. In the catalogue, they state speed is ALL+, but I would definitely call it a DEF-blade. Dimensions approx. 158 x 165.

Now, Indeed, Octopus is significantly slower and grippier compared to Palio CK. The blade might reinforce this. It has several consequences:
1) It gives you more time to prepare for the next action. More easy to play modern defence since you can 'prepare' your next step (looping attack) better
2) On the other hand, it also gives your opponent much more time to think before hitting. Generally this makes the rubber less disruptive.
3) Not much reversal with passive strokes; you have to play more actively with this rubber to be effective (compared to Palio)
4) You are able to create your own spin, also in the short (pushing) game with a fast horizontal movement. Strokes with some topspin are also possible
5) Attacking is easier and seems to be more explosive too

I thought I would have some huge adjustement problems (coming from Palio) but this was not the case. Chopping is easier, more controlled, but requires a bigger chop-movement. Blocking is consistent too, but there's not much spin reversal.

I don't really like the fact that this set-up has slowed down my game, although I had some good results with it. I think a faster and harder blade would work better for the Octopus OX. I will try it on Defence II or Defence Pro soon.

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Exclusive OOAK-Interview with Joo Saehyuk | Masato Shiono | Panagiotis Gionis

Nice review.

P.S. Pipsy, please be my friend and try it on Def II blade I wanna know the results

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Setups (click on writings to read reviews):
1) Defence III / TSP P4 (0,5) / M3 (2,0)
2) Defence II / Joola Octopus (0,5) / M3 (2,0)
3) Ross Leidy "White Shadow" / P1R (1,3) / Hexer PS (1,7)

Haha Justas . Listen, I'll be your best friend and try Octopus 0.5 (in black) on Def II, ok?

Don't know when exactly I can report my findings. I have many things to test and I will be mainly focusing on tennis the following months

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Exclusive OOAK-Interview with Joo Saehyuk | Masato Shiono | Panagiotis Gionis

I've played with Octopus 0.5 for half a year I think, and at the moment I still have 1 training setup with it
At this point I'm only interested in the OX version.

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Setups (click on writings to read reviews):
1) Defence III / TSP P4 (0,5) / M3 (2,0)
2) Defence II / Joola Octopus (0,5) / M3 (2,0)
3) Ross Leidy "White Shadow" / P1R (1,3) / Hexer PS (1,7)

I reserved the OX for my Defence Pro blade which is equally hard, but a little flexier and a little slower than Def II...

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Exclusive OOAK-Interview with Joo Saehyuk | Masato Shiono | Panagiotis Gionis