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R53 is overall a good rubber, it is, in my opinion better suited to advanced players, so my ratings for control are really based on my short comings!! Which will likely be similar to other players of a similar level.R53 is capable of producing high spin levels, for a rubber with a hard sponge the top sheet feels pretty soft, you can feel the ball sink into the rubber, so when brush looping the ball is gripped very well and high spin is produced. Top spin v back spin is fairly easy, the rubber has a medium to mid-high throw angle so the ball can be lifted well.Counter top spin, drives and fast blocks are where this rubber stands out, once the sponge is engaged the catapult kicks in, it feels very crisp indeed, fast and direct.Good technique and feel is needed when blocking, because the sponge is engaged and the ball pings off fairly quickly.Short game, pushing etc is similar a light touch is needed.Serves can be loaded with spin but again good touch is needed in order to control the ball well.Durability - still to be confirmed but there seems to be a drop off in spin capability, nothing to serious, but the ‘out of the pack’ performance does drop off.If you’re a higher level player then it’s likely you may give this rubber a better rating!!

INFO

Got this rubber on a black Friday sale for around 23 euros. I bought it for my backhand but ended up using it on my forehand until I got a new forehand rubber.

Characteristics

I got the red one which has a matte finish, not sure how the black one is though. Non tacky but very grippy surface. Mantra H is a 47.5 degree rubber so it's very similar when it comes to hardness to most standard high end rubbers like MX-P, Fastarc G1 and Rasanter R47.

Feeling

First impressions of this rubber was amazing. It felt alive in every stroke. This rubber probably has one of the best feelings out of the package. Shots where you would engage the sponge would give a nice crack sound and a powerful shot. I had previously played with about 3 month old rubbers and changed one side to the mantra H, during the training sessions I felt that I couldn’t miss when using the mantra. If you compare it to Tenergy 05, Tenergy feels more like a trampoline with higher potential whereas Mantra feels alive in a sense that it feels like you're using its full potential in most strokes, which is nice.

Topspin strokes

Loop : This is where the rubber shines. When looping against a block you almost always engage the sponge and you’ll get the nice crack sound. It has a medium throw angle but the arc on the ball ensures that it’ll stay on the table.

Counter : Counter looping is great as well. The rubber is just the right hardness for me because I don't have to overwork my stroke and lose control but the rubber also isn't too soft where I won't hit through the sponge to where it bottoms out.

Open ups : The grippy topsheet is great for biting the ball and lifting the backspin. Spinny open ups are great but as I said earlier, the rubber works best when you engage the sponge which gives you confidence in looping backspin with more force.

Close to table

Backspin short/long : It’s a bouncy rubber so it can be hard to make a short return if u dont put any backspin on the ball. This goes for most european rubbers.

Flick : Grippy topsheet + medium throw angle results in great flicks. Ii I compare it to Tenergy 05 I’d say the Tenergy 05 is better because it has a bit higher throw angle and a bit better spin.

Overall Thoughts

Without a doubt it’s an amazing rubber that anyone could play with. It’s for the active player for sure. I’d say this rubber suits all ranges, close-mid-far away from the table. It has a lot of gears which allows for anyone to use it.. Make sure you hit the ball at its highest point and the rubber will do the rest for you.

Improvements

The only downside I see for this rubber is the durability. The first month is awesome but after that you really feel that the rubber has lost its fuel.

First, I've heard of quality control issues with this one, and while I didn't have a chance to try different one myself, I could see from some photos that the total blade head thickness can be different, even the Plies can be of inconsistent thickness.. but another issue that can affect reviewer ratings is the fact this blade may not at all perform well in the beginning, it really needs to break in!In the beginning, it was like a different blade, slower, throw higher, sweet spot really small! However, after some weeks of use, the sweet spot is actually pretty big for a wooden blade, and the blade is pretty consistent and powerful. It has sort of a hard feel very similar to PG-9, which is rather surprising. However, the dwell time is definitely longer with this one. The throw also noticeably higher, much easier and spinner to loop with a Chinese rubber closer to the table. As it is now, it is a wonderful blade for its price!

How comatible is this blade with h3. Or which buterfly alc blade feels more compatible with chinese rubbers?

I gave this rubber a try and indeed it is a really nice rubber. It can do all, if you are thinking loop based attacking game. It has decent control and many gears. The catapult effect is low, which makes it a safe rubber when playing over the table. But I found it slow when looping, and a bit inconsistent when counterlooping. Also it is a bit slow. My alltime favourite is the Bluefire M1 and this rubber has some areas, where it is clearly better, but due to it's speed it is simply not as aggressive and not as efficient. If you are a looper, who likes to control the game, this is an insanely effective rubber.

Currently I am searching for less spin sensitive rubbers for my FH and I came to this rubber. Some say, that it is an upgrade to the Vega Pro. Usually I play modern looping/attacking rubbers on my FH (Like M1, Omega V PRO, MX-P, Nittaku Fastarc G1). I was searching for a fast, but bit less spin sensitive and forgiving gear. So this rubber has a soft upper rubber, that absorbs the ball and helps to get a prolonged contact during your hit. But when you engage the sponge it simply explodes. This rubber is fast. The general throw of the rubber is flat, but it always clears the net, I did not have to alter my technique from them M1 to play with this rubber. When you loop, the throw angle can get really high. This is a really stable rubber, mainly for FH. Cut down to standard butterfly head size it is 53 g. Compared to the modern tensors it does not have a huge spin potential, it is only decent. On the other side, this rubber is simply a confidence booster, it has insane amount of controlled speed paired with resistance to incoming spin. If your game is about (fast) looping and counerlooping and quickly playing the ball out of the reach of your opponent, this rubber will help you to do that. The price is really good, the durability is also good. Maybe this is not recommended generally to pro players, because of the lack of monster spin, but every intermediate player should check it out if it suits their playing style.

My current backhand rubber. I love the black sponge it looks cool. I could write pages from this rubber, but to put is short and simple. This is a really good T05 alternative. It is slower, than the T05, but faster, than the T05 FX. It feels hadrer and less springy, than the T05. The rest is the same. For it's price it is an outstanding rubber.

I'm a big fan of this ball, not to sure why it's not used more. It's used a lot here in the UK in local league and VETT events.

This (commercial version) is one of the best forehand rubbers for me. I'm playing strokes with full body movement, and brush looping a lot, aiming for turning most back spin balls with a powerful loop.Now I have tried a lot of forehand rubbers in various hardness degrees. But I tend to return to my H3N, now in 41 deg 2.15mm. This rubber is superior in spin. The harder, catapulting sponge gives the perfect kick when spinning the ball, in any way. When I compare the H3N to harder non-Chinese rubbers, these rubbers (when looping) works good, if your strokes aren't that fast and you don't hit the ball thin (brush looping). There isn't really that much more to say about this rubber. This is my reference rubber when trying out new forehand rubbers. The ones that gets near in performance is: 729 Battle II Provincial Gold 40 deg, Yinhe Big Dipper 38-39 deg and DHS Skyline TG2 NEO 39-40 deg. These are very spinny as well, but not that much catapult, better control and a bit less speed. Don't misunderstand me. These are very good rubbers, but a little lower in my rank. Yinhe Moon Pro Hard is a rubber that comes near in speed, but perhaps it lacks a bit in catapult and spin.

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 ...

Backstory : Bought this blade in China in 2018 so I got the "China version" "hologram sticker" version. Played with it for about half a year and then changed to Petr Korbel. After I changed to harder rubbers (mx-p 50 example) I felt they worked better with the Clipper, so I changed back and have played with it since.
I´m 17 right now and have trained consistently since I was 10.

Feeling :
At the moment I play with Hurricane 3 Neo (boosted) and Stiga Mantra H. Like I said I feel that harder rubbers fit well on this blade. Because of the stiffness it's very consistent, hitting hard won’t make the blade flex too much. Not as much vibration as a 5 ply blade but still a bit more than a carbon blade. The blade gives nice feedback when you hit a shot where the ball goes into the sponge. On normal hits you get a little *thud* feeling. Not as much as an allround/offensive classic.

Attacking shots :
The more power you put in the better.
FH & BH loops feel great especially when you hit the ball at its highest point. If you let the ball drop too much it's a bit harder to hit a good shot compared to a 5 ply blade. The blade excels in harder shots, you get the nice crack feeling and the ball goes on the table with great power (speed & spin)

Punch shots with the backhand are great because it's a hard and direct shot which goes hand in hand with the blades characteristics.

Passive shots :

It is a block machine, it has the perfect level of stiffness and speed to make blocking a breeze.
Long & short pushes are nothing special, I wouldn’t blame the blade if I made an error in this area.

Conclusion :
Like I said it’s a do it all blade. It’s really hard to blame the blade if you miss a shot. I’d recommend this blade to anyone who has trained for at least 4-5 years and up. Before then I'd recommend a 5 ply wood blade because they're easier to play with. This blade has so many gears that even people in the highest leagues use it and even some Chinese National Team players before the new plastic ball.

What rubbers fit well?
The blade works really well with harder rubbers as long as you can make the ball sink into the sponge. Softer rubbers work as well and it will definitely help with looping the lower balls.

I went from 651 2.2mm to trying a thinner short pips to work on my technique and consistency. I am using an old DHS PF4-032 Cpen from the 1970's. I like this short pips. It took me some hits to get used to the low trajectory of this pips. You really have to hit through and forward for an amazing flat drive. The low trajectory is really a pain for your opponent, and somewhat for yourself if you're used to spinnier more modern pips. However, this is where it shines as well. You really have to fine tune your drives and smashes for Pluto to really work. Once you're in the zone, your opponent is in trouble.

Amazingly, I am able to spin pretty well on serves and brushed LP style blocks. I think what is amazing about this rubber is that blocking hard smashes the sponge really kicks in and it's lethal side comes out. Switching back and forth to another old PF4 using 2.0 Dragonow and back to Pluto I found out that training on Pluto has helped me play with faster SP's.

I can't wait the day I switch back to 651 2.2mm and see how much my training as improved. The price is really inexpensive so give it a try!

This is the most underatted blade in Butterfly family. It is expensive...stiff...soft...springy...but you have more than you wish from your price.
Good spin, control, but dwell time is like waiting for Taxi in New York... You love that and I think it is better than Apolonia because it is more control and feeling oriented blade than spin and power so you will enjoy more than only Woody inner alc

I've been playing with this blade for a few years now, and with several different rubbers. I've tried it with Tibhar Rapid, Rapid Soft, Aurus Soft, Andro Good, Yasaka Rakza 7 Soft and Victas VJ>07 Regular. I've just bought a long pimple rubber for the backhand side, but couldn't test it due to lockdown here in Belgium.
The forehand side of the blade gives a little more speed than the backhand side, without it being a rocket launcher. The backhand is more used for controlling the ball or creating more spin with a pimple-in rubber. As for pimples-out, I can't give much information about this, since I didn't play enough with that type of rubber. The balsa core gives the blade a lightweight feel, which I really like. It also gives a huge amount of control on the ball, on both sides of the blade.
Even though the core of it is balsa, I've had both my Techno Power Contacts fall on multiple occasions and even get whacked against the table, and they never broke.
Last plus side of this blade is its price. Here in Belgium, it's priced at 35€, with a really great quality, feel, and durability.

Very well suited for BH. Very easy to execute every stroke. Not spin sensitive. Easy to achieve good speed.

This rubber is very fast and has super amount of control. I use it on my backhand as i think that it is a cheaper alternative to tenergy 05. I just wish that is had more spin

very good rubber for forehand. Speed is decent, spin is incredible and the control is amazing

The price you pay for this blade is great because it has tons of control and is a 7 ply blade. It is recommended for beginners and i love the way that is has a cool design. The speed on the blade is high and fast even when using Hurricane 3 which is a slow rubber.

not alot to say. good rubber nice speed with control.
spin is not bad but does feel enough consistent enough
not bad but there are same quallity rubber for cheaper

Really fun to play with , great for improving technique and game play. Very noisy and pricey other than that its worth the bucks. Suits beginners and pros. It does look very cheap made "china" screws in plastic with a lot of vibration is a disaster waiting to happen, time will tell. 1 year guarantee. Conclusion it does well what was designed to do , great fun and really unpredictable shots. Enjoying the robot !!!!!!!!!!!! Easy to use and very rarely it jams or double fires.