Latest reviews

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the DHS Gold Arc 3. I felt a lot of similarities with this rubber and Tenergy in terms of it's look and feel. I don't think it shares the same speed as Tenergy however it's balance between spin and speed is remarkable and similar.

Below is a video review myself and Tom did in 2013. I used the Butterfly Timo Boll ALC blade and Tom used the Butterfly Timo Boll ZLC.

Fantastic shoes, the best by far in the stiga range. They are light and very comfortable with excellent grip. I would compare them and say they are very similar to the butterfly energyforce series of shoes. If you are playing and competing at a high level and playing a lot of hours then these shoes are great value. They are much cheaper than the butterfly equivalent and are very similar.

Also I think they look great! Smart black and red design gives them a unique look!

This rubber is fantastic for a reason! Its the most popular rubber in China! it has excellent spin and speed. I used it during the speed glue era. My only issue now is that without boost or speed glue the rubber does not have the same speed. It requires boosting. I have yet to try the Hurricane 3 NEO which is pre glued, which I am sure is very good.

Hurricane 3 = Amazing

I acquired this rubber and used for a short amount of time out of necessity when no others were available to me. It did a solid job on my backhand side but was much to slow for me. It was easily controllable and produced a fair amount of spin. I would recommend this rubber to players not yet ready to step up to the tenergy series or similar rubbers.

This is one of yasaka's most popular blade.

When I was playing in France I saw quite a few top french players playing with the ma lin carbon. It is a good weapon of choice if your looking for a fast blade that still offers good feeling along with the carbon characteristics. I found that the carbon gave it a nice crisp feeling when I was looping and was quite durable so I would get similar results after each stroke. The feel of the blade also means that you get good control so is good for touch play and effective counter looping.

Overall a very nice blade, if you are looking for a fast carbon that offers good feeling this would be a good choice or if you prefer a softer carbon feel, try the ma lin carbon soft.

I've been playing with rakza 9 for about 2 years now (I used rakza 7 before), very similar to rakza 7 I found rakza 9 still had a grippy/tacky surface which meant that the balls dwell time on the rubber was a fraction longer compared to normal rubber so you were able to impart good spin. Rakza 9 is a harder rubber than rakza 7 which gives it a faster rebound effect and as a result is not quite as 'spinny' as rakza 7.

It's very nice to loop with as you are able to produce a lot of effortless power so you get good results, it's a very nice rubber to serve with as I was able to get great control and grippy spin.

It is a tensor type rubber so is fast, faster than rakza 7. It is well suited to an aggressive players looking for a bit more power but still with very similar characteristics of its predecessor Rakza 7 because of the tacky surface.

I found rakza 7 had a grippy/tacky surface which meant that the balls dwell time on the rubber was a fraction longer so you were able to impart good spin with a nice ark. Its a very nice rubber to serve with as I was able to get great control and grippy spin and all my serves benefited from this as over time it helped improve my service as I was able to get more spin than previous rubbers.

It is a tensor type rubber so is fast. It is not quite as fast as tenergy but would be well suited to aggressive players looking for a bit more spin on their loops and especially serves. Rakza 7, I found, was better for serving and control than tenergy because of this tacky surface and yet still offered power that was similar to tenergy.

i use these shoes everyday in my coaching. I find the grip really impressive and they have an excellent look to them. I have not tested the shoes enough in tournaments however I have found no problems to them so far during practice matches and training. I hope STIGA will release more variations of colours in the future.

For me, I find the most important elements to shoes is having them light weight and with good grip. These shoes have both of that and I will continue to use them during my coaching.

This blade is the same one that Ma Lin used for a few years. (Pen grip).

I recommend this blade for the offensive player. It is fast but you are still able to get good solid control and consistency in your shots as it is not 'over the top fast'. I found it gave me a good overall balance for my close to the table attacking game from both wings as it provided enough speed and was able to counter loop with this blade effectively from close-mid distance.

Because of the durability and hardness of the blade it gives you a very consistent result on the ball even if you don't hit it in the middle every time, yet at the same time the feeling is not compromised as it still feels very nice to play with.

A blade for the player looking for a step up to a more attacking orientated blade for strong loops and counter loops whilst still offering you with control and good solid feeling for touch play close to the net.

This rubber is the type of rubber that if you use once you're hooked. It's well balanced and flexible and reasonably forgiving. It's also durable. This is the defining rubber of the post speed glue era. I am interested to see if it will hold up it's reputation against the new plastic balls.

I tried the blade out for a few months second hand and it did a great job for me after my boll spirit broke. It is extremely fast but with the controlability that comes with wood blades. I found that the wood surface would come away and split easily when removing rubbers though. I have moved back to a timo boll spirit because it suits my style better but I would still recommend this blade to a fast attacking player that likes to hit the big shots .

I really liked this shoe, the only cons for me is that it's quite expensive.

The shoes has a good design and feels comfortable on your feet. One of the most important things with the shoe, grip, is also good in Energy Force 10. The shoes durability was OK, I played one season with the shoes without big grip problems or getting big holes to the shoe.

The Energy Force -series' shoes are a "safe" choice if you want great shoes, but you will also have to pay more than of other shoes.

I used these shoes one season a few years.

Pros:
+The shoe has a really good design in my opinion. That's the first thing I noticed.
+They also feels very comfortable on your feet; soft but solid also. These are the great sides with this shoe.

Cons:
-The grip! I know it's also that our hall has a very bad floor but sometimes it felt like I just didn't have any grip while playing table tennis with the shoes. I obviously tried them in different places too and had the same problem, the grip wasn't as good as in my previous shoes.
-Durability. I think it didn't take much longer as a month before I already had some holes in the shoes. The durability depends of course very much on your playing style but again, my previous shoes has had better durability also.

Xiom Omega V Asia. I played about 2 years with this rubber. I used it only on my forehand.

I think this rubber is quite similar to Tenergy rubbers. Xiom Omega V Asia has maybe a bit harder sponge which provides you more speed to your strokes but takes away some control at the same time. The amount of spin isn't probably the same as in Tenergys but I would say really close to them. What I liked in this rubber also is that it's cheaper than Tenergy and it had a lot better durability (at least for me) than my previous rubbers.

This isn't a bad choice as rubber at all! If you want more speed choose the 2.1mm rubber and you certainly will get it. The lack of great control is why I personally only used it on my forehand to hit hard strokes. But as said, this rubber feels quite the same as Tenergy rubbers.

I played with this blade for a couple of years. Offers quite a nice feel with good control, reasonable speed but not the fastest as there is no carbon it in.

I actually went from a faster vectron fibre carbon blade back to the Petr Korbel blade and the added control that the korbel offered me meant that I was more consistent in rallies and was able to direct the ball with more accuracy which as a result led to more consistent results. Can be used for various levels of players as is a good all rounder.

This was one of my first rubbers for my backhand. Very popular rubber when it first came out.

I would suggest this rubber for a beginner/intermediate player who wants a slightly softer feel than regular sriver on the forehand or backhand side. This is an ideal rubber for the player looking to improve their game and to help develop a good technique whilst enabling a softer feel with more spin and control.

I find too many players that have not 'ingrained' their technique and who have not been playing long will buy the fastest rubbers like tenergy which slows down their progression in their technique as the rubber is doing all the work. However, sriver el is a good choice for the progressive player looking for good control whilst allowing you to improve your technique, performance and overall understanding of the game.

The good old Sriver! This rubber was the most popular rubber when it first came out. The tenergy equivalent going back 15 plus years in the speed glue days.

I would suggest this rubber for a beginner/intermediate player. This is an ideal rubber for the player looking to improve their game and to help develop a good technique whilst still offering a good combination of speed, spin and control.

I find too many players that have not 'ingrained' their technique and who have not been playing long will buy the fastest rubbers like tenergy which slows down their progression in their technique as the rubber is doing all the work. However, sriver is a good choice for the progressive player as it will give you good control whilst allowing you to improve your technique, performance and overall understanding of the game.

This is a great rubber from Joola which is a good choice for the backhand side. The soft sponge allows good spring and speed on the backhand. I always feel in good control even when hitting the ball at a high speed.

I have given this rubber 5 stars, not because it is as good as Tenergy but because it is very cheap for how good it is. I think its an excellent rubber for beginners and intermediate players in table tennis. I have given my old sheet of Milky Way Moon to some kids I coach and it really teaches them the stroke.

You get good spin on serves and push shots and has excellent control during topspins, the only real issue is its speed. When you want to kill the ball it can sometimes be tricky. This is where lets say Tenergy 05 excels. It is much easier to generate great speed with Tenergy. But for the Milky Way Moon's price you cannot go wrong really.

I have heard some players boost this rubber so it is faster, perhaps this would be the best option.

I like this blade because its very fast and light. The handle has a different feel to other blades to, its quite soft on the handle and comfortable. I think the only real issue for some players is its speed, but I like to play hard, fast and aggressive. The price is reasonable to for a Carbon blade, unlike these Butterfly Carbon blades