OOAK Table Tennis Forum

How does Stiga Platinum rubbers compare to say Butterfly Tenergy, Tibhar Evolution, Donic, Yasaka, Andro Rasanter, and any other brand?

Does Stiga Platinum compare to Yasaka Rakza 7? Is it basically the same rubber?

They are both made out of the same ESN factory in Germany. Each brand will request the characteristics they want and ESN will produce it according to the specs desired. There should be protocols in place where the exact formulation is kept secret even if multiple brands are under the ESN banner. So no 2 rubbers will play exactly the same, though some lines will share certain familiarities.

Rakza 7 if not mistaken is from the generation shortly after the speed glue ban. I think introduced sometime around early to mid~2010’s, along with other now classics such as Vega Pro, Fastarc G1, MX-P. This gen was known to use more natural rubber in their compositions and hence topsheet durability is pretty great imo. This gen also tried to mimic Tenergy the closest as it was the clear leader during this period.

Platinum has been released only in the past few years so should play differently and more in line with the trends and preference of its introduction era. I.e more adapted to the plastic ball, different pip structures (height, spacing) and upgraded sponge technology.

Personally I prefer the older gen which is why I haven’t bothered to test Platinum specifically, so if you can stick with Rakza 7 it’s still an excellent performer and one of the best bang for buck no matter which region you live.

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ZFT

MX-P was released in 2014 for the new ball, not the speedglue or booster ban.

I believe the other rubbers you mentioned were released in 2009/2010 and were in response to the speedglue ban after the 2008 Olympics. And the booster ban in 2009.