OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Heres a review for the 009.

Physical Inspection

Out of the packet the Phantom 009 is of the highest quality. Everything from the pip-tops to the labeling has been manufactured to perfection. This LP is very unusual because of its tacky tops. The tops of the pips are smooth and tacky, you can literally pick up another racket, roller or anything else flat for that matter. The sides of the pips are also quite grippy. This combination of smooth tacky pips with grippy sides makes for a interesting rubber. The pips are aligned horizontally and are a tad shorter then full length long pips. Even though saying this, its definitely NOT a medium/medium long pip. Its just missing that little touch of length that would make it a full blown long pip. The pips are thin and soft and are willing to bend when pressed against with a light touch.

Spin reversal and LP effect

The phantom 009 quite different to most long pips. Against light spin balls the phantom can significantly produce its own spin like regular inverted or short pips but against Heavy spin its able to reverse the spin and give the traditional long pip effect. The control is excellent for a long pip rubber, the ball will almost never pop up against loops or chops. The tackiness of the pips provides excellent control at the expense of spin reversal. Even with this grip all the traditional long pip shots can be done easily. During my time testing the 009 its not quite easy to produce "wobble" or @#$@3 balls. Against side back or side top spin I was able to produce wobble through the scoop and block strokes. Other than that its effect is not that pronounced.

Blocking/Hitting

On the packet it specifies that this pip is attack orientated and can be used for fast attack and allround play. Usually packet blogs mean squat but in this case its quite true. The phantom is a medium paced LP with excellent dwell time. When blocking against loops a wide variety of returns can be produced depending on your shot choice. If you choose to leave the racket in front of the incoming ball hoping that it will return something funny..... nothings going to happen. The super grip of this LP cancels out the topspin from loops returning knuckle/dead/floaters back to your opponent.

However this isn't such a bad thing... due to the extra grip you can really speed up your blocks big time without loss of control. Punch blocks against loops produce excellent dead balls at high speed. If the timing is spot on against a high spin loop, the return will carry slight backspin.

Chop blocking against loops is excellent. The tacky pips provide you with extraordinary control. Almost all top spin balls at any speed can be chop blocked quite hard with high consistency. The return will carry alot of backspin usually causing your opponent to dump the ball in the net on the next shot.

Hitting is simply superb!! The 009 almost hits identically to a short pip. The angle doesn't have to be as open as with most long pips. You can easily hit more then 10 shots with no loss of control. There is a catch though, for every plus theres a minus. Fast and consistent hitting comes at the expense of spin reversal. The opponent will almost never dump the ball into the net since your shots will carry a slight degree of topspin.

Pushing/chopping at the table

This is where 009 has a very unique property. Pushing against backspin for most long pips is troublesome and hard to control. 009 differs from them all because of the grip. When pushing against heavy backspin balls the ball can be kept extremely low and will most likely be a knuckle ball with sometimes the rare occasion of slight topspin. Pushing against light backspin balls is superb. The resulting ball is extremely low and will contain HEAVY backspin. Yes you read right, against light backspin balls the 009 is able to produce its own spin along with the conflicting spin to produce a heavy chop for the opponent. This is due to the tacky pips.

Chopping Mid-distance/Long-distance

The 009 being rated as a attacking pip gave me the idea that it would fairly suck as a defensive rubber. This is not true at all to my suprise, When chopping against loops the resulting spin produced is extremely heavy, much heavier then say destroyer, 388D/D-1, Neptune, 1615, 837 ( I can only compare it to those as Ive used them all). The reason for the heavy backspin is because of the tackiness on the pips and the slight spin reversal from the LP. Its a very subjective matter when it comes to chopping because it depends on your natural style of chopping.

By saying this I mean the arm speed that you chop at. If your chop action is slow on contact. The ball wont carry much backspin but will provide you with great control. The bonus side of this is that variation can be produced rather easily.

If your a aggressive chopper that tries to impart maximum backspin on every ball. Then the 009 will allow you to do so with great control. The spin produced on chops is not to be underestimated. Its much more heavier then anything Ive tried before. The ever so mighty destroyer doesn't even come close in terms of the volume of backspin when it comes to chopping compared to the 009.

Overall as a chopping rubber its very subjective to the skill of the user. The 009 will allow you to almost do anything with your chops but it depends on what you can do yourself. Unlike other long pips that mask up crap shots, the 009 will do no such thing. Out of position chops, miss hits or wrongly timed chops will leave you vulnerable.

In a way it promotes a positive chopping game. As long as your not tentative and go for your shots the 009 is definitely worth a try.

Conclusion

Now that you've finally got to the end I hope you found this review helpful. I would recommend this LP to allrounders. For close to the table players Dr N rubbers still reign supreme. For long distance choppers the 009 is excellent but quite different in the way that spin is varied. If your game is spin variation then 009 probably wont be as effective as some of the more deceptive pips out there, but if your goal is to chop to the point where the resulting ball weighs a tonne, give it a go

Excellent review LawOCG! Sounds exactly like my kind of pip!

Did it have a sponge or was it OX?

Also when you say the tips are tacky, do mean chinese rubber type tacky, or just very grippy?

Cheers!

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I believe its a pip thats not getting the attention that it should. Honestly its a great LP.

I had 1mm under it, the sponge was quite soft. I dont use OX as the thock thock noise keeps me up at night

the pips were Tacky as in when you press it with your finger tips you can feel the stickyness. If you were to put your bat 009 side down onto a glass table, press it really hard and try to lift it off again.....you'd probly rip your bat off with the 009 stuck to the glass or worse yet break your blade trying

the only reason it cant pick up a ball is because of the lack of surface area. But yeah enough said .....chopping against backspin....and giving heavy backspin in return shows you the power of its grip.

Yes I think that's a common problem with most LP rubber, not many sponsored LP players around to promote it...

Wow in that case it does sound tacky... better put the plastic protection film on when you finish playing It really sounds like a chinese made pip, since they make the best sticky rubbers!

It sounds a little like the Leggy 1.0mm that I used, but probably a fair bit tackier... I had trouble controlling this in the short game since the sponge is so springy... It also needed very positive strokes to keep control...

BTW Did you use a red or black sheet?

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Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

It sure sounds interesting. The basic style roughened/ smoothed tips and sticky stems puts it in the 955/ Leggy and Frustration league.

The ultra-tackiness is particularly interesting. I can't see how you'd get tackier than a Chinese pip.

The basic 'attack' vs. defence pip is ease of disguising the spin - but it depends on the skill level. I find it very hard using 1.5mm Frustration to disguise spin on chop but very easy to do (with alot lot less control) on inverted. I am not a chopper though.

Frustration (1.5mm) will give more reverse spin for sure. If you punch block topspin you'll return a mild backspin. For Yasaka you were returning no spin.

Yasaka is a high quality brand so it is certainly worth a closure look.

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I used the red sheet which is already tacky. Imagine how tacky the black sheet will be.

No chinese pips so far even come close to the tackiness of this pip. Maybe the 979 on a much reduced scale. Im keeping the lp with protection film on after playing and it works well.

Its definitely worth a try, and yes its of the utmost quality

great review! It sounds like it would suit my style of play. Where did you get your sheet?

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You could probably replicate the effect by dabbing Spinmax Red onto a sheet of 955. I might try this for fun. The Spinmax blab has long said that a lot of long pip users like their product.

I could never understand why, but hadn't considered chopping away from the table, or that the spin was mainly applied to soft stokes at the table, but the pips bend to reveal more slippery sides when blocking fast balls. Maybe this would be worth trying with an ultra soft slippery pip. Any suggestions?

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LawOCG has kindly let me try this rubber. Well this rubber got me quite excited! The tacky pips looks just awesome! Here are some pics:

With plastic sheet on, these pips really stick!


Without the plastic sheet:


I'll also do a review shortly, hopefully over the weekend!

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Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

wow, that sheet looks really nice! I wonder if these pips might be especially good at lower levels (like mine, heh) when your opponent can't produce a whole lot of topspin. It seems like this one could produce some of its own rather than just depending upon spin reversal.

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Read my review and you'll know

In my view the 009 is still the best LP Ive tried. Against lower level players that cant produce that much topspin, you can easily add your own by accelerating your wrist on impact.

Again its a great review and the methodical style is easy to follow. Yasaka is a very good company and this adds to their reputation (as well as that of LawOCG!)

For me these pips would be too sticky I think but it does show Yasaka as a quality player in the pip market. The pips do look good though and we await Haggisv's opinion. I suspect Haggisv will like them because of their stickiness.

Yes I liked them, and review will follow shortly... This is virtually a new class of long pips, and it will take me a while to work out new strategies with this rubber....

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

I can't believe the LP actually has a plastic that can stick on it ..
I might change to that LP depending on how I like my current LP ..

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Hi Law,

That was a very informative review on the 009. Being an equipment junkie myself, I have never tried the Yasaka long pip rubbers. I will order the 009 and check it out since you took the time out to give it such a favorable review. Thanks!

Ken