OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Rubbers share very little in common. So it is more like review of both rather then comparison. My style is fast attack and I never care about amount of spin. I will not compare rubbers of how spiny they are. It is just not important for me.

I tested SpinLord Degu 2.0 and then Yinhe Uranus Pro Soft 2.15 on backhand of my DHS Hurricane 301Z blade (Koto top with innerforce-"Z-fiber"). The blade I currently play is not good for chopping so I will not comment both rubbers properties for defensive style. Degu is known to be very lightweight. Uranus Pro is only 2-3g heavier cut on the blade.

Degu was my first real BH SP rubber but I immediately felt its limitation. Degu is a beginner level rubber. There are too kinds of "control" in table tennis. Beginner's rubbers control is returning all balls on the table in similar dull way regardless of how good or bad, strong or weak you make your strokes. Degu is not simply slow but unresponsive and the stronger you hit the worse is control and flatter arc. Degu has weak sponge that is not working properly in anything harder then delicate strokes. Degu is mushy on a soft blade, Degu feels better on a harder blade but still not good. Every short pips technique stroke is possible and not very hard to perform with Degu: active or passive, but quality of them are unimpressive.

There is one problem with Degu that I do not know whom to blame. Rarely but regularly balls from topspin blocks just fall under the blade. It seems I intuitively have to close racket to counter incoming topspin more then the rubber grip can hold. I played LPs and MPs for years and never observed such phenomenon.

The sponge hardness of Uranus Pro Soft (UPS) is similar to Degu's one but it is very different in play. Uranus Pro Soft (UPS) is truly uncompromising offensive rubber. Very fast from the base with very heavy catapult effect that launches early. Pushing underspin is fast low long but with good control of height and placement. Attack opening is easy so it is not worth to play pushing rallies. Flicks, drives, punches, counterhits -- wristy, forearm or full body stroke all land balls on the endline even if shot is not made ideally. And the more incoming ball power and the more your own stroke power, the better placement control. The harder you hit, the less incoming spin affect. I did not succeed to reach soft sponge power limit in scored games. The sponge is very soft but with very deep reserves in power.

The cost of the UPS big gun is obvious. Passive play is hardly playable. I have to forget my chop block and even simple block is rather tricky. It is impossible to return short incoming fast serve. Trying to dump incoming ball energy results of negative affect of spin and tricky catapult. It is not impossible to play touch shots but it is not automatic skill and it does not pay out well.

I actually wanted to buy medium version of Uranus Pro as I feared the same weak performance of soft sponge. But occasionally have got the soft version from my local dealer. Usually I did not enjoy catapult effect and prefer harder more linear behavior. Next time I will probably try medium sponge hardness version in hope to keep UPS offensive advantages and gain some passive play opportunities.

You may think I do not control UPS fully and properly. Yes and no. Easy and effective attack opening and advantage in open rallies makes the game style more brave, direct and effective in overall. During the first training session I performed very well in real games against a wide range of strong and experienced against pips opponents.

I did not test UPS on FH. But will probably try some day as all-out offense is usually better fit for FH.

Pushing with Uranus Pro is excellent. Fast, low, controlled and loaded with underspin. No popups, no nets. But difficult to play short.

I agree on DEGU. I used to like it but the weak sponge and soft top sheet do not seem to work well with the heavy ABS ball. Needs to be relaunched with a new firmer sponge.

Omut you appear to be on quite an interesting journey with you choice of back hand rubbers as I believe you have migrated from LP to MP and now fast spinny SP. Please tell us more.

Tried Uranus Pro Soft on the FH. I cannot play with it. Too low throw. Too direct. Degu on another blade was more playable on FH.