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 price
erformance ...You get a very good bang for your buck ...
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 price
erformance ...You get a very good bang for your buck ...