Palio AK47 Red

TLDR; try this BH rubber for fun if you are intermediate/advanced with good footwork, otherwise it is not worth it.

Background: I have been training for around 1 year now (practice 2-3 times per week). I use an inner carbon fiber (mesh) blade called Gambler Fire Dragon Touch. Previously, I have used Rakza 7 2.0 mm and Palio CJ8000 on my backhand. The only reason I switched to Palio AK47 Red was because I was curious about the rubber and it was cheap.

Review: It is clearly faster than Rakza 7 on full body, aggressive shots and had a lower angled arc. However, it was very difficult for me to open up against backspin with this rubber, and it was just generally harder to have my shots land on the table during matches. Even during training, my shot accuracy was not as good when compared to using Rakza 7.

I am writing this review because I recently played against a recreational player after trying out the Palio AK47 Red for one month (at least 10 hrs of training). I was using my old rackets for fun, and I realized that my backhand was actually much more consistent using my older rackets that had Rakza 7, CJ8000, or Mark V. Today, I took off the Palio AK47 Red and glued an old Rakza 7 onto my current setup. I instantly had better shot consistency when I hit warm up balls against a robot after I switched.

I can imagine that players with better footwork and technique can hit high-powered shots more often, which is what the Palio AK47 excels at. However, for me, I do not always hit with good form and acceleration, so Palio AK47 felt inconsistent to me compared to Rakza 7 and CJ8000.

I cannot speak on typical durability, but the sponge does flake off on the edges within a few weeks. This does not affect performance. However, I could not re-use this rubber after taking it off my blade, because the sponge cracked and broke when I peeled it off my blade.

I have this rubber on a stiff, hard and fast blade called XVT Black Knight 7. I play with Long Pips on the other side...

Apart from the original Palio AK47, the newer AK-47 series comes in 3 variations - Red, Yellow & Blue. The Red being the hardest (45° - 47°), Yellow (40° - 42°), and Blue (38° - 40°).


The AK-47 certainly feels like a 47° sponge ...

It's fast ... Perhaps, just a wee bit slower than the MXP.

For a rubber that's this hard and fast, the AK-47 is very light ... I have issues with my playing-hand shoulder, and elbow, and so, I have to use light-weight setups. The AK-47 Red works well for me ..

It's does not seem springy.. The trajectory is pretty linear... While top-spinning, I noticed that the ball stays quite low, with just about enough arc over the net.. I had a bit of trouble lifting (looping) back-spin .. However, this could be, in part, due to my technique, and also the blade..

In terms of spin - The AK-47 is not the spinny'est rubber out there, but, for a rubber with almost no tack at all, it can certainly produce a respectable amount of spin on serves, pushes, and top-spins.

Blocking, I feel, is really good with rubber - Both, passive and punch type of blocks..

My Flat-hits, and kills are very consistent with this... Same with counters ..

Control with this rubber is decent ... However, it's certainly not for beginners ...

In terms of downside ... I found manufacturing inconsistencies in different sheets - A fair amount of variation, in terms of sponge hardness, and weight. Also, in some sheets, I found that after sometime of usage, there was some slippage, due to the grip wearing-off..

Overall, this rubber does a pretty good-job of giving you almost all the playing-qualities of tensor rubbers that cost 3-times as much ... One of the best rubbers, in terms of priceerformance ...You get a very good bang for your buck ...

This rubber, when cut, weighs.... wait for it..... 38 grams. That's right. With a 47 hardness sponge at that.
That is absolutely freakin phenomenal.
With this rubber on both wings the bat feels like air. You can accelerate as if you're holding nothing.

HOWEVER

There are variations, some rubbers can be heavier and so lose the main advantage.
Also, the topsheet is of the new variety (very thin topsheet), so it doesn't bite on the ball. And of course, it is a lower grade rubber, at only $10, so you can't expect that much of it, but it delivers easily over double the price.

I wouldn't use it on backhand because the backhand needs more grippy topsheet, but for forehand you can get pretty much any kind of spin, since it rewards deep spongey contact (like the new thin rubbers in general).