OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Sorry to start another thread about Spinlord Dornenglanz but the other threads about the rubber seem to be too old or very long.

I'm using a very fast blade and it works very well for me on the fh and I don't want to change. However, when I switched to this blade (Nexy Labyrinthos) I had to go on a quest for an LP I could control.

I had been using CTT Pogo Ox for over a year on a slower blade and I liked it, but on the Labyrinthos it was just way too fast and uncontrollable. (For me...for others, like everything, your mileage may vary!)

So I tried GD Dragon Talon. The Talon in Ox was I'd say about 10-15% slower than the Pogo. Better, and the construction of the Talon gave more control and also chopped better than the Pogo, but still too fast. I used it though for about 6 months and then...

Next experiment was the Talon with 1.5 Air dampening sponge. Ahh! Now that made a big difference in control. The Air sponge is very dead so on touch shots it's like it's not there. On hard blocks it absorbed a lot of the speed. I'd say compared to Talon Ox that it was at least 25% slower. Yes, it really made that big of a difference. Now the downside was that it was harder (again, it may just be me) to get good reversal and it was more sensitive to spin than the Ox version but oh could it block back the hard loops dead and low. I was pretty happy with that rubber/sponge combination.

But of course with the rave reviews of the Spinlord Dornenglanz the EJ bug got hold of me! So I had to try a sheet.

My expectations were that it was going to be at least as fast as the Dragon Talon but I decided to try it in Ox to start with anyway. When I opened the package I found the absolutely highest quality LP that I've ever tried. On the pips side the manufacturer has applied a clear plastic, semi-stiff cover sheet that made it as easy to glue as any inverted rubber. Looking at the underside I was totally impressed with the quality of the rubber. The DG is a very thin topsheet but even so the quality of the rubber has an incredibly firm and solid feel. The tops of the pips are absolutely smooth and shiny and I'd say the stiffness of the pips falls between Pogo and Talon. I should have measured the uncut sheet but on my slightly oversized blade--after centering the logo and ITTF info etc--the sheet just barely covered the left side. I could have moved it over of course but I would have had to clip a bit off the ITTF rectangle. Another concern with many LPs is a huge un-pipped area at the bottom. The DG has a very modest strip at the bottom for the logo area. I didn't feel it was necessary to trim any excess, which was good because I only had about a cm at the top after gluing. So I'm not sure, but the size of the DG sheet seems to be slightly smaller than some other brands.

From my first bounce test after gluing I was amazed that the DG seemed even slower than my Talon with the Air sponge! I was quite surprised by that and wondered how it would be on the table. So yesterday I tried it first for an hour or so against topspin with my robot then for several hours in practice matches. My conclusion is that the Spinlord Dornenglanz is indeed slower and more controllable than the Talon (even with dampening sponge) both when chop blocking at the table or when dropping back to chop. I've always had trouble with deep chopping but with the DG it seemed to have a much lower throw and more backspin than Pogo or Talon.

Then came some practice games where I mostly block topspin or attack underspin. On passive blocks the DG seemed to just take all the spin off the ball. One opponent was laughing at how I was getting a "knuckleball" effect and whiffed more than once. With a little more active chop motion the DG really puts some backspin on the ball with good control. With the Talon I never seemed to be able to get the backspin (i.e., "reversal") I wanted without losing control...but the DG gives me both. It's a deadly blocking machine! As for attacking underspin, well since it seems to get more reversal, it was even easier to keep the attacks on the table. Though I must admit, I don't really smack the %*$# out of the ball like some LP attackers do...my hits are more of a fast deep push...but just the same I liked the feel of the GD on this blade for attacking underspin better than anything else used so far.

For those players who want to create a lot of their own spin, I'm not sure the Spinlord Dornenglanz is what they want, though it may perform better in that regard with some sponge. Someone else will have to test that theory because the DG in Ox seems to match up perfectly with the blade and fh rubber I'm using.


 
 

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Giant Dragon Kris Special : RITC 802 w/Dawei 2.2 35d fh : : Donic Blue Fire M3 2.0 black bh
Member of Charlotte Table Tennis Club, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Visit Charlotte Table Tennis Club on Facebook

I used the Dornenglanz for a little while, and I really liked it--good spin reversal in OX--but the rubber was just not durable. It was fine as long as I blocked and pushed. Lift shots (kind of a rising punch shot) against backspun balls was superb with this rubber. But when I really started hitting with it, I lost 5-6 pips in a matter of days. I was really disappointed with the durability (I'd had the rubber maybe 5-6 weeks). And with the price that it is, and unavailability here in the states, I wasn't going to try a few more sheets. Maybe I just got a bad sheet. I hope yours continues to work out for you!

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USATT rating - 1999

Blade - Rendler Smart FH - Hurricane 8 hard black BH - Grass DTechs OX red
Blade - BBC 9/10/9 FH - Hurricane 8 black BH - Dragon Talon OX red
Blade - Hallmark Aurora FH - Hurricane 8 black BH - Joola Badman OX red

Yes it's a great rubber. I went on an amazing winning streak with it and DG gets better and better with age. However for my game, I think it's trumped by Neubauer Desperado as DG isn't as disruptive in comparison.

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My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

Thanks CC1, I find your post very interesting. I have considered trying DG for a while and had forgotten about it, but this brings back my desire. However, what's even more interesting is your comparison of Talon and Pogo in your experience. I have the same issue as you with blade and have not found anything that betters pogo for my BH control. I tried Talon and found it to have way less control than Pogo and dumped it quickly. Have not tried the Air sponge you describe, but I can't see it helping. Your little review here leaves me wondering where DG would sit with my Gergely's.

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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.

From the description of DG provided by ttdd.de, it sounds quite close to a Friction Special 2.
Anyone play with both DG and FS2 can comment on the differences and similarities?

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The Dark Side: "Quicker, easier, more seductive" - Yoda

Obviously, that's nothing I can offer an opinion on yet. I'm not a real hard hitter with the pips side so hopefully my DG will prove to be more durable. I agree that Pogo is nearly indestructible! I've never had a problem with any LP when it comes to losing pips so maybe that just has to do with playing style and how hard and often one smashes with the pips. My game is more forehand oriented in as much as I try to use the LPs to set up my fh as much as possible.


 

_________________
Giant Dragon Kris Special : RITC 802 w/Dawei 2.2 35d fh : : Donic Blue Fire M3 2.0 black bh
Member of Charlotte Table Tennis Club, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Visit Charlotte Table Tennis Club on Facebook

A lot of people complain about the durability of DG on noppen-test. I have two sheets (one of which had two months of hard use), both fully intact with no problems.

_________________



The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
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My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

It took me a bit over 3 months of SOLID play to start to lose pips/bent pips on my DG.

Been using it all year, I wouldn't say its solely responsible for my results but it bloody well helps.

MNNB, i'll have videos galore of it doing it's thing after the Australian open (July) and hopefully get one of me vs some other forum favourite pip players

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Yasaka Sweden Extra
Yasaka Rakza PO 2.0mm
TSP Curl P-1R OX

"slappy slappy slappity slap"

I played with it for about 4 months - and I smash with the LPs if I get the chance. No breakages, no loose bases...

Must be a quality control issue then. I really liked DG OX red, but the base in the sweet spot of many pips were ripped in only 3 hours of play. Worst durability I have ever seen from any LP and I did not bother to order another sheet to try.

I think you should have asked for a replacement. 3 hours? Really? I've been using it now for something like 20 hours and I've made plenty of hard blocks and hits and it still seems like new.

For MY blade and forehand rubber combo, this is without any doubt the best LP I've tried. Even if I have to replace it every few months I'd do it. The best thing for me is that the more spin my opponent gives me the better it performs. If they keep trying to push underspin to my backhand I just punch it back hard and deep. Against topspin I can block flat and low off the bounce with ease. Perhaps the main weakness (and of most LPs actually) are the slow, deep no spin balls. But even against those the Dornenglanz can punch better than others and send a nospin ball right back.

Of course, I think how an LP performs depends a lot on the blade and forehand rubber. So the fact that the DG works so well for me may be specific to my bat. I used to use Talon on a different blade and it was great, but on my current blade it wasn't nearly so good and thus I went searching for something else until I found the SpinLord Dornenglanz.

 

_________________
Giant Dragon Kris Special : RITC 802 w/Dawei 2.2 35d fh : : Donic Blue Fire M3 2.0 black bh
Member of Charlotte Table Tennis Club, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Visit Charlotte Table Tennis Club on Facebook

Since it will be a little while before I play in another tournament, I figure that this is the time to try another LP. I was watching old videos of me playing with Dornenglanz, and I saw how much better I was able to punch back those backspun balls with that rubber than the Palio CK531A I'm using now. This shot is one of my "go to" shots, as I hit it fast and hard to unexpected locations, and it sets me up for a winner. But, I had reservations about the durability of the DG (as I posted earlier in this thread). So, I sent an email to the good folks at ttdd.de to inquire about this. My message was as follows:



I appreciated the quick response I got from Mark Koehler (12 hours), who is the general manager at ttdd.de. his reply was as follows:



I'm taking that response, if I'm reading between the lines accurately, as an acknowledgment that the DG does have durability issues. Despite that, I still may order another sheet. I need something with max spin reversal, good control, and a fair degree of funkiness. I tried the DTechs, but couldn't control it well enough (and I can't afford a Tachi blade--the "DTechs Tamer").

Anyway, I'm just sharing this info with others in connection with the DG LP, and if anyone has any other suggestions for a LP that performs like the DG, I'm all ears!

_________________
USATT rating - 1999

Blade - Rendler Smart FH - Hurricane 8 hard black BH - Grass DTechs OX red
Blade - BBC 9/10/9 FH - Hurricane 8 black BH - Dragon Talon OX red
Blade - Hallmark Aurora FH - Hurricane 8 black BH - Joola Badman OX red

To me the Neubauer Desperado is even better, and I haven't lost any pips yet. I also never lost any with Dornenglanz. Personally, I think the top three at-the-table pips are D.Tecs, Desperado and Dornenglanz, then there's a big drop-off.

Supposedly ttdd has another more durable rubber similar to Dornenglanz in the pipeline called Blitzschlag, but they're having ITTF problems and haven't been able to release it.

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The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

MNNB, how would you rate the spin reversal of the Desperado vs. the Dornenglanz? Do you think it would be good for the "punch shot" against backspin, to send a topspin ball back?

_________________
USATT rating - 1999

Blade - Rendler Smart FH - Hurricane 8 hard black BH - Grass DTechs OX red
Blade - BBC 9/10/9 FH - Hurricane 8 black BH - Dragon Talon OX red
Blade - Hallmark Aurora FH - Hurricane 8 black BH - Joola Badman OX red

I think the spin reversal and punch shot are a bit better than Dornenglanz.

Control
1. Dornenglanz
2. Desperado
3. D.Tecs

Disruption
1. D.Tecs
2. Desperado
3. Dornenglanz

_________________



The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics