DHS Gold Arc 8

Coming from Tenergy 05 on the FH, this is what I found, having played with it for about 6 months.
First thing that stood out was the lack of bounciness. Finally, I could again hit through the ball and not worry about drifting long.
Smashes are so much more easy because of it. Second thing that stood out, was the short game and touch play. Easily the best part of the rubber.
I didn’t need to change my technique a lot, the only difference was the amount of spin on the ball (higher) and control was much easier

Serving required a bit of training. Tenergy 05 is superb for serving. As is the Gold Arc. You just need to engage the sponge more to get the spin you want.
Now the thing that really required a change: topspins and counterlooping. Tenergy 05 does a lot of the work for you, which is sometimes excellent (when counterlooping close to the table), but a lot of the time it makes you ‘overhit’ balls, because the precision needed is too high (for me).

This resulted in a change of technique. My FH has now again become my main weapon. I have so much more variety with it from spinny openings to loop kills, everything goes with this rubber. You simply don’t have this freedom with 05. Lastly, the durability is excellent, which I very much like.

Cons? As with any high performance, fast rubber, your timing on counterloops need to be good. Other than that, I really don’t have much to complain, it is simply that good. It isn’t brilliant in one area, it just does everything well. Treat it right, and you can trust this rubber, like a good dog.
I will be sticking with this for a long time. A shame it isn’t easy to acquire where I’m from.

Highly recommended for every developing and semi-decent player who looks for a forgiving rubber with maybe 5% less high-end performance than Tenergy 05.
As most of us are not pro’s, they won’t really notice or need the extra 5 percent, rather the extra control this one gives you.

I completely agree with ControlledSpin's review. I am a two-winged penholder with a USATT rating of 1650, and I was using the Tenergy 05 on my backhand. With the Tenergy 05, I could not commit to a full backhand proper stroke because the rubber was too bouncy and hard to control. With the GoldArc 8 (47.5 hardness), I feel more confident with my backhand loops. I recommend this rubber if you feel that the Tenergy 05 is too hard to control for you. If you are comfortable with the Tenergy 05, I think you should stay with it because it is faster and has more spin.

This is a seriously great FH rubber: its in the same league as Tenergy and MX-P. In the recent past I've used primarily Tenergy 05 or Tibhar Evo MX-P and Yasaka Rakza 7 for a good time prior so I will use them as my primary comparisons. I think my best comparison would be to describe Gold Arc 8 as a slightly faster and spinnier version of Razka 7 with a slightly higher throw angle. Basically an upgraded Razka 7 for the 40+ ball. For T05/MX-P users it has more in common with MX-P being slightly slower with similar spin and a tad higher throw angle. It does everything well with no glaring weaknesses: Opening loops, counter loops, blocking, pushes, flat hits, serves, serve returns are all excellent.


Tenergy 05 is still a little stronger as an all out pure looping rubber and MX-P is faster but GA8 provides excellent spin and speed in an overall excellent and balanced rubber that is great for mid distanced looping attackers. If you are a pro or an aspiring pro T05 is still probably the best choice but for amateurs I think this is the better overall rubber. Recommended.