OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I got my Nittaku Acoustic Cpen from the Malaysian TT website, 'www.presports.com' last February 13. Attached to the Acoustic Cpen are the Andro Hexer HD 2.1mm(Max) on the FH and the Donic Coppa X2 Platin Soft 2.2mm(Max) on the BH.

I had played with it for about 40 hours. I decided to post it now considering that I wanted to condition both rubbers so as to see the performance of the rubbers. It takes about 30 hours to properly condition the Hexer HD and about 20 hours for the Donic X2 Platin Soft.

Serves: The Hexer HD can be used for serving slow or fast as well as short or long spinny serves depending on how you utilize your wrist. For me, I find it easy. When the Hexer HD is new, the ball bounce is a bit high but give it time to condition of which I had mentioned in the above paragraph and you can make the ball bounce low.

Serve returns: I find it easy to return back serves, particularly, spinny serves. With proper technique, you can return the ball back without it popping high.

Pushing: I find the Acoustic very effective in pushing. I find it easy to direct the ball short or long. From my practice, I can control the pushing of the ball to drop 4 inches from the net on slow to mid-speed balls, particulary, on the short game.

Chopping: On chopping, especially on the short game, there are times that I used the traditional backhand to execute chops. On the Hexer HD, the ball can be fast and spinny while keeping the trajectory low.

Drives: The Acoustic performs well on topspin or sidespin drives. I find it easy to execute drives from short-to-mid distance without exerting much effort.This is where I like the Hexer HD and there is a lot of spin when executed properly. Most of my drives are sidespins but I can also do topspins. When you are about 3.5 metres (11 feet) from the table, that's the time you will have to exert more effort in your drives.

Looping: Even here, the Acoustic is also good in this department. Both rubbers can be used for looping. It's a breeze executing a loop whether short or long. Depending on how you use your wrist, you can impart or not impart a spin on your loop.

Smash: I use my FH side to do my smashing. From the table edge, I find it possible to smash a ball 2.5 inches from the top of the net. Here, I had to put some effort in practice to make my smashes effective. I like to use it as a surprise weapon.

Blocking: I find the Acoustic with the Hexer HD on the FH good in blocking. On slow to mid-speed balls, you can block normally. On fast balls, it's better to close the angle of your blade.

RPB: I find the Coppa X2 Platin Soft an ideal RPB rubber. I can loop, drive and do active blocking with ease. It's not too slow and not too fast either. When using the Japanese grip(open grip), my drives tend to be more topspin and when using the Chinese grip(close grip), my drives tend to be more sidespin. I prefer to use the close grip.

Overall, with the set-up of my Acoustic CPen, I find it a very good close to mid-distance blade. Both the rubbers have good ball feel as well as good dwell time on the Acoustic and due to it, it does well in nearly every department. The only shortcoming is when you are going to play long distance(particularly, more than 11 feet from the table) wherein you have exert more effort in your swing.

I hope this review helps!!

Thanks for the review, it is good that you like the blade. Do you spread your fingers when executing RPB ? And did you glue the rubber up to the handle or do you leave a space on BH side ?

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Expert II crwi C-Pen
Red Acuda P1

@aeoliah: It's good to know that you remembered me coming from a Jpen background.

I leave a 10cm gap on both sides of the blade so as not to make the blade heavy. Presently, I curl my fingers when executing RPB. My strokes are more sidespins and less prone to hitting my fingers at the back.

I originally tried spreading my fingers when executing RPB. When using these method, most of my strokes are topspins, can do passive blocking and a bit more accurate in ball placement. If I probably trained some more, I can reduce my errors in letting the ball hit my fingers.

On the FH side, I play with my fingers spread out. Only when I have to play the short game, do I play with my fingers curled.

Actually I am wondering about glueing the rubber : Perhaps having the rubber close to the handle will make the overall weight heavier, but it will be less head heavy, whilst having a space between rubber and handle will give less overall weight but the blade will be more head heavy and this will be felt when executing the stroke. What is your opinion ?

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Expert II crwi C-Pen
Red Acuda P1

That's something for me to think about.

For me, I am alright with the way my set-up is. Both the rubbers are not heavy and I find the blade well-balanced. Had I probably been using Chinese rubbers like Hurricane 3 or TG Skyline 2, it might be otherwise.

I plan to stay with my present set-up for sometime since I am enjoying it.

I hope you don't mean 10cm gap but 10mm gap. Otherwise it should look funny having 1/3 rubber only on the end-side.

@Speedster: Thanks for pointing out my mistake in one of my earlier threads.

I should have doublechecked that thread before posting it. Yes, it's supposed to be a 10mm gap on both sides.

Thanks, Speedster!

Usually I have between 15 to 20 mm gap, because with 10 mm part of my fingers would rest on the rubber. My Butterfly Schlager Carbon J-pen has about 18 mm gap, and I think this is standard for Butterfly's J-pen.

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Expert II crwi C-Pen
Red Acuda P1

Thanks for the detailed review mitsurugi!

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