Donic Acuda P2

Product information

Brand
Donic
Category
Rubbers
Reviews
3
Rating
4.33 star(s) 3 ratings
Price
$55

User stats

Speed
8.5
Spin
8.7
Durability
6.8
Control
9.3

Reviews summary

1
 
33%
2
 
67%
0
 
0%
0
 
0%
0
 
0%
Overall rating
4.33 star(s) 3 ratings

Item details

The new Donic Acuda BLUE rubber captivate by its outstanding playing characteristics such as very good control and complete the features of the successful Donic Acuda S rubber sheets by a high flight arc with topspin balls due to the grippy surface. The Acuda P2 is the Medium sponge version in the Acuda P range. Released in 2015.

Latest reviews

Pros
  • control
  • blocking
  • driving/smashing
Cons
  • brush looping
  • power
  • harmless
General: I am using this rubber in 2.0mm red on my backhand. Prior to this I was using the EL-S in max. This rubber has a soft topsheet on a medium-soft sponge, lightweight (44g?). Very soft spongy feel.The Acuda Blue series has been described as “feel good“ rubbers. That's very true. Trajectory is fairly low. The Acuda Blue P2 however is not made for the dangerous, modern offensive player. It is amazing for “returning the ball“. I really have a love-hate relationship with this one.


Negatives:
1. This rubber was and still is grossly overrated on spin on tabletennisdb. It is a spinny rubber compared toa large portion of rubbers that is out there, but the topsheet is not superbly grippy. Hence this is NOT a rubber for brush loops – the ball will simply slip and fall down. You need to engage the sponge to generate decent spin. It is very challenging to banana flip on the table and lifting moderate to heavy backspin even off the table is very straining. You really have to rip through with your whole arm – while then you have to make sure the ball doesn't fly off the end of the table. The medium throw (definitely not above 4.5 intabletennisdb terms) does its part in that equation. In comparison it feels like the EL-S can lift backspin just by flicking the wrist. If I do the same strokes with my Hurricane 3 NEO, the ball just shoots off vertically into the roof. This rubber has crippled my game in the sense of opening backspin and my opponents frequently lock me down in my backhand because my forehand is very strong and aggressive in comparison.


2. This rubber lacks power when away from the table. Catapult on lower side, base speed ok. Base speed is comparable to EL-S, but catapult feels less. This is interesting, because it's also not good for “making things happen“ close to the table either.


3. It's simply quite harmless. Not a killer.


Positives:
1. This rubber has outstanding, fantastic, amazing control. It's difficult to stress enough the feeling of safety this rubber grants you. Due to the topsheet being far from being on par with MX-S EL-S T05 and the likes, it is also fairly unreceptive to incoming spin. The medium (maybe even medium tolow) throw angle just brings the ball back onto the other side of thetable with ease.


1a. Blocking: Passive blocking is great – even against heavy rotation topspins that come in crushing onyour side of the table, you just have to close the bat angle a little bit and this rubber provides very flat and annoying blocks. Active blocking is equally great. Not a rubber for spinblocking though because of aforementioned characteristics.


1b. Driving/Smashing: Extremely reliable, feels very linear. Nothing funny ever happens. Just hold the bat at the right angle and swing away. Of course it lacks speed, but you know, you can always just swing a little harder. When drive-looping you also develop some decent spin, because you're engaging the sponge more.


2. The catapult is not strong, but it is easy to active even with your backhand. Due to the softness of the composition of the P2, you don't have to hit hard to get some potential out of this rubber. In comparison the EL-S feels very dead close up but easily overshoots due to sudden activation of the catapult effect. This one is very controllable.


3. Quite light in weight. If you're looking to save a few grams on your setup, this is great.


Dont know:
Chopping, lobbing, serving – I don't do those (with backhand).
Speed
8
Spin
8
Durability
7
Control
9.5
Pros
  • Easy to loop
  • Easy to block
  • mid distance
Cons
  • 3rd ball
  • active blocking
  • short game
The blue sponge from the Bluefire series combined with the topsheet from the Acuda series make a very good kit. Looping and passive blocks are extremely easy to perform, making the Acuda P2 perfect for players who always aims for longer rallies. Since the hardness combined from both the topsheet and sponge are medium, this makes it very hard to perform at the short game, most of the times when receiving the balls either go to high or too deep in the table. Some more experienced players might be able to compensate for its bounciness.

Third ball aggressive shots are hard to perform, since the contact time is short. So I would say this rubber has a low-medium throw.

This rubber is perfect for players looking to aim for longer rallies and reliable shots.
Speed
8
Spin
8
Durability
4.4
Control
9
Pros
  • Nice upgrade
  • Spin
  • Control
Cons
  • noone
Bluefire JP was good and Acuda was good also, but this product merges them and makes a better combo. To be honest the JP series was not as successful as M series, their topsheet wore off quickly, so this is a reboot for JP series in my opinion. The sponge is the same as the JP series, the topsheet is very similar to the Acuda series. I tried it on both sides and loved it.

Fresh of the package there is someting new and something old in this rubber, clearly the grippy, but not tacky rubber surface greets us, to touch it is a bit grippier then the M series. The pimple stucture of the topsheet is similar to the normal Acuda, but the material of teh topsheet is somewhat softer to the push. The sponge is the very familiar Bluefire JP sponge, with the distinctive smell and the even pores inside it. I loved this sponge in the JP series, because they were very linear and spinny, so I had some high hopes.

Counterhits
When counterhitting I felt some spinginess in the whole rubber, but the overall speed was less, than M2, when hitting the ball flat. When making the contact a bit more spinny the rubber comes very lively and the speed increased a tempo. It was clearly visible and forseen, that this rubber was not engineered to counterhits. During smashes I felt the lack of power, even the bottom of the rubber, so I could clearly hit through it.

Looping
Acuda series were always adored for their looping characteristics. As seen on the counterhits, when the blade was a bit more closed the ball speeded up, this force was actively working in the loops. Looping can be achieved with insane spin, medium throw, very fast pace and good control. To use this rubber at most, you must have an intermediate technique, but the topsheet helps you with that. Have I mentioned, that when hitting with a closed racket angle the rubber becomes more faster? Oh yeah! Well this rubber makes you loop all the time, with spin and speed. Lifting underspin has to be timed, and the ball will clear the net, but huge arc monsterloops are hard to create. Counterspins have to be timed well also. So If i compera to the JP or the M series, this rubber has a greater potential for a much aggressive play, but with a greater risk... as it used to be. Blocking loops were firs decieving me, they cleared the net, but I clearly saw them in the net, the trajectory is very low.

Short play over the table
For the first time when pushing the ball I had the same Tenergy feeling, when my opponent pushed with P2 i had to lift the ball instead of pushing or it instantly went into the net. Other honorable mentions with these capabilities Donic Barracuda, Xiom Omega (Elite). The rubber is a bit bouncy and sensitive to incoming spin as any other high spin european rubber, but due to the medium throw, it was not hard to keep the ball low and spinny. Due to the loop/smash speed duality of the rubber I found it hard to flip with FH. BH banana flicks were revarding and hearth warming shots. Serves are spinny, but I had to count in the spring effect of the rubber... so after some adjustments my serves were great.

Summary
[FONT=&quot]I play with M2/M1 and the throw was sufficient, the speed was better, than M2, the spin is awesome. The rubber is not very sensitive for incoming spin like Tenergy, bounces a bit less, and the speed is the same or a bit slower. Control and drops are flatter, but do not go into the net. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Still I can say as an intermediate player I had the required technique to use this rubber effectively, only had problems in finding the right angles. I do recommend this rubber to a spin oriented player, who wants a decent attacking rubber which is more forgiving than Tenergy 05. Playing distance is close to mid distance, from far away developed and strong strokes are required to get the ball clear the net. Durability is the same as an usual Donic rubber, some abrasions after 30-40 hours of play (please keep it clean), but the grip remains, occasional reboostering is required after 3-4 mounths and it is good for a year. [/FONT]

Blade recommendation
My blade for the testing was a Yinhe/Galaxy/Milky Way - Venus 14, a blade hat is a Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit Clone with 80-90% identity. I would not recommend softer blades for this rubber, because it may feell mushy. Clearly this rubber was designed to loop so looping blades are recommended with stiff or nearly stiff builds. Flexible blades max require better technique and longer strokes to get the maximum out of the rubber. I really liked the rubber on the Zhang Jike ALC (2012 Blue dragon pattern) Which has koto outer plies and kiri core, but my setup was also nice with limba outer ply and kiri core.

[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Overall, if you want to upgrade from Bluefire JP buy this, if you want to be more aggressive, than Bluefire M, buy this. If you want a bit more spin, speed and control than Acuda, buy this.[/FONT]
Speed
9.4
Spin
10
Durability
8.9
Control
9.3
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