Latest reviews

I have bought Tiago apolonia zlc , after trying Freitas alc as well and I felt it very familiar to me from the get go. I was afraid it will have more wood feeling and vibrations then I usually prefer but surprisingly it manages to excite me. It has a crispy feeling and I feel the zlc kicking in strong spins. Excelent touch in serve recieve , nice dwell time , very easy counter looping. I paired it with tenergy 05 on drive and dignics 05 on backhand and its a very nice combination . I like the speed because it is not very fast but still when you have the position u can produce a winner. Overall very good craftmanship mine is 90 gramms of course very expensive as usual with butterfly , but for me it is definately worth its price. If you are looking for a very round blade with very good touch and feeling , nice spin production but not too fast then go for it !.

I have been using Rakza 7 soft for more than a year. I do not know why but some batches are good and some are bad. I used them for my forehand as I want to control my loop. The good batches gave me lot of control, accuracy and suit my game well. The bad batches were really bad! At times they felt hard like a brick, sorry, and my opponents told me my loop had no power. I think quality control of this rubber is terrible, especially when I took advantage of buying 4 for 3 price from Tabletennis11. Another thing I notice is when I tried to glue the 2nd time the rubber curved a lot. It seemed it was pre-tuned with some kind of booster! Not sure if this is correct but I do not like pre-tuned rubber. I now switch to tensor rubbers as they are more consistent in quality and regluing is not an issue.

Background: I went to a high level tournament where I watched an European semi-pro player run through the entire tournament without dropping a game, even against 2600 (USATT) rated players. His blade...Butterfly Korbel. I thought if a five ply all wood blade is good enough for him, it's good enough for me. However, I wasn't ready to spend the money on the Korbel, so I bought the Xiom Offensive S as it has the same limba-limba-ayous-limba-limba construction.

Pros: Cost. $30 from TT11. How can you beat that? This blade is a solid Off- but if you can generate your own power, it's plenty enough. This blade has plenty of flex to impart great spin. It's soft and there is great control. It gives off a bit of vibration, but as someone who wants to know where the ball hits the blade, I welcome the feedback. I can loop, flat hit, and even chop with the blade (which isn't my game). I could see this blade being a solid blade for a modern defender (possibly). One of my favorite shots with the blade is the chop block. So much touch and control.

Cons: If you forced me to say something negative, it is once you get off the table, you have to work very hard to get a quality shot on the table. This blade works best at close to mid distance, so I don't see this so much as a con but it's the nature of the blade. If you play further from the table, you might want something faster. Better players would argue it's slow, but again, it's Off-. I don't see that as a con.

Five stars? For me, at my level right now, sure. For someone else, maybe not. However, since playing this blade, I've seen my consistency go up which is resulting in more points for me. Two other players in my club are now playing this blade and their game as greatly improved as has their USATT rating. If you're wanting to play an offensive, looping game, and you are in the 1000-1800 range, I think this a great blade to use.

As Usual I was living my life happily until my latest sheet of 729 563 wore down. However my Mark V was still alive. My coach said that pips weren’t very good and recommend me a better, more faster rubber. And that was Rakza 7 Soft. So the next session I decided to buy and use it. At first I hated it because it was heavy. However I quickly realised it’s potential. This rubber was so much faster and spinneir than that of my 563. I kept using it and enjoyed it. Then I started to struggle after a while it started to become less and less controllable. I got so tired of over hitting that I just went back to 563. However Until it started getting really uncontrollable it was a great rubber.

The Butterfly Rozena rubber is a really forgiving, yet spinny and fast intermediate level rubber. While highly skilled players should probably opt for the Tenergy or Dignics series, the developing player that still has problems with reading spin and adjusting the racket angle, should definitely give the Rozena a try. I am using the Rozena on my backhand, which is why I don’t review forehand techniques. I used this Rubber on a 92g heavy Nittaku Violin FL LG All+ blade.

Countering/Blocking:
Countering is easy going. The rubber is still speedy enough to not let the ball drop into the net. Blocking takes some adjustment, because it reacts much less to incoming spin. I sometimes have the problem that the ball slips on my racket, when blocking a diagonal ball down the line. This is really bothersome but can be adjusted to accordingly.

Topspins:
Topspins played with a thin contact, such as flicks and slow loops, don’t benefit from the sponge as much. They are spinny, but not as spinny as they would be if the sponge was engaged properly. This means that the rubber has plenty spin from mid distance and at the table, if you drive loop the ball. In this regard the spin production is quite astonishing, considering the spinsensitivity or lack thereof. Topspins against backspin should be player engaging the sponge, to guarantee the clearance of the net.

Short game/pushes:
The short game isn’t the Rozena’s strong suit. It is very safe; considering you do get away with bat angle inaccuracies without the ball popping up high. But the spin developed is subpar when compared to other rubbers. Again, you must engage the sponge to develop proper spin, so touching short whilst creating spin is hard, but long pushed should be alright with proper technique.

TL;DR: Perfect rubber for developing player. Low sensitivity to incoming spin, producing surprisingly much spin when engaging the sponge.

The balls DHS D40+ 3 stars are definitely one of the best balls today.
The biggest advantage is the natural reflection of the ball from the table.
Some balls such as Xushaofa or Jolla Prime
with the back spin stops and jumps vertically up.
If you do not have rapid acceleration, then pass the ball.
In this respect, DHS D40+ 3 star balls are much better, still have a natural reflection.
DHS D40 + have very good speed, roundness is not bad and durability is excellent.

Match with Adrian Więcek (blade: Long V)

DHS Hurricane 3 is an excellent rubber for beginners but also for top players.
It has much more variability in play than tensor rubber.
After playing topspin has an unpleasant ball bounce.
A high spin gives the ball a declining effect after bouncing.
Thanks to the soft upper leaf has excellent grip.
Not for nothing, this rubber is the most widely used among players in the world.
Many players ask different questions about DHS Hurricane 3,
they never get a substantial answer.
There must be determination and perseverance, then it will bear fruit.
For players with good game technique I definitely recommend using booster.

Very easy to control rubber without any weaknesses, but also without any real strenghts.
The Fastarc C1 has got a medium sponge that performs well with an allround offensive playing style. Topspins, even on heavy underspin, are easy to play. Passive blocks and counters can be played without effort. It also provides decent spin in all situations. Compared to T05 or Fastarc G1, the rubber is less sensitive to incoming spin.
all in all a very good and quite easy to play rubber for everything. The only bad thing about it is, that it does everything good, but nothing extraordinary.

I spent 6-7 months using Rhyzer 48 as my forehand rubber. (3 months on a Stiga Infinity VPS and then 4 months on a JOOLA Nobilis PBO-c). My rating is usually around 1500 - 1600 USATT, I train once a week with a coach and compete in a league once a week also.

Initial Impressions

The first thing that stands out about Rhyzer 48 is the speed. It's really quite fast, Tenergy 64 and Evolution MX-P feel slow in comparison. The good news is that its relatively easy to create enough topspin to consistently keep the ball on the table. As long as you have proper body rotation and weight transfer all you need to do is hit deep into the sponge and the ball will come out with a lot of spin. When I let friends hit with my paddle, I've noticed that the people with mediocre body rotation tend to hit the ball long. (Those people usually flip my paddle around to the side with Rhyzer 43, and have much more success with the softer sponge). The throw angle trajectory of Rhyzer 48 is medium to medium high.

The topsheet for Rhyzer 48 (and 43) is thin, soft, and features narrow pimples. The result is that the ball easily penetrates through the rubber and into the sponge. The result is that rubber and sponge engage easily and fling the ball out with lots of spin. The soft topsheet seems to easily surround and grip the ball. It doesn't take much effort to create spin. All one needs to do is hit directly into the sponge when driving/looping. Brush loopers who are used to tacky Chinese rubber (Hurricane 3) will hate using Rhyzer. Brush loopers would be better suited to trying out "Rhyzer Pro (50 or 45)" which features a harder topsheet with thicker pimples and tiny bit more tack. [Or jut get Golden Tango]

Driving / Looping
Rhyzer 48 is hands down my favorite rubber for looping backspin balls. It's almost effortless to loop backspin balls with spin, power, and consistency. One of my friends decided to switch to Rhyzer after seeing how effective my backspin loops had become. Something about the soft topsheet and thick sponge just helps to lift the ball with consistent spin and power. I don't use 48 on backhand, so i can't comment on back hand looping. Personally i have more trouble controlling 48 on backhand compared to 43.

During topspin rallies the rubber does a lot of the work for you. It works really well when hitting at 70-80% power. On the hardest/fastest shots it's less stable then a hard rubber like Rhyzer Pro 50. Also Rhyzer 48 is not that linear compared to harder rubbers.

From mid to long distance this rubber is amazing. You can power loop from distance easily. It's really a lot of fun.

Touch Play

The tradeoff with the soft topsheet is that it's very bouncy even during soft touches. I didn't have any problems with serves, but short pushes were a major problem for me. I can't tell you how many times someone would serve short backspin to my forehand and then I'd try to push it back short, only to instead pop the ball too high or too far and watch my opponent get the first opening attack. Some of this was due to the fact that I don't train touch play enough. I began practicing touch play with my coach more often and my forehand pushes became more manageable. Also, when i switched from the Stiga Infinity blade to the JOOLA Nobilis, the soft hinoki outerplies of the of the Nobilis seem to help a lot with keeping my pushes short and low. Even though the Nobilis is a much faster blade than the Infinity, the soft outerplies help to mitigate the bounciness of the rubber during touch play. (The infinity has a harder touch than most Limba outer blades because of special wood treatment ["Diamond Touch" and "VPS"]. The bottom line is that if you are going to use Rhyzer 48 then you need either good touch play skills or a soft outer ply blade. (Rhyzer Pro 50 is less bouncy during touch play. But of course there is a whole different set of tradeoffs with R50)

Blocking

Blocking seemed decent to me. It blocks fast which can be good or bad depending on your style and the type of ball you are dealing with. Blocking trajectory is medium.

Flicking

I don't really forehand flick that much. Unfortunately I'm not qualified to give a review on that. I haven't tried backhand flicking with 48 either.

Chopping

Don't even bother

Durability

Average. A little better than MX-P and Rhyzm-P.

Conclusion

For a player of my skill level it pairs well with an OFF rated or slower blade. At my skill level I would not use an OFF+ rated blade (and it really doesn't need the extra speed). I haven't tried it with a blade that has the carbon fiber positioned towards the outer plies (Viscaria, TB ALC, JOOLA Energon, etc...), but I assume that it might be more difficult to control during touch play and maybe even looping. I can at least tell you that I was happy with Rhyzer 48 on inner carbon blades and all wood blades.

Overall I liked this rubber and even bought it again. However my coach thinks that I should now use a harder rubber on forehand and recommended Rhyzer Pro 50 which I have been using for two weeks. 50 is more linear, less bouncy during touch play, and really rewards me when I hit the ball perfectly. The tradeoff with 50 is that it really punishes me with crappy spin when I don't hit the ball perfectly. So, consider that when you choose your rubber. (I haven't tried the new Rhyzer Pro 45 yet)

The Amicus Prime comes with a tabloid which has an app for managing the drills. It is quite user friendly and straightforward to use. The app allows you to see the sequence of how each drill works, and has 20 pre set drills, with videos of Apolonia Tiago playing the drills. To create your own drill is very simple, and only takes a short amount of time to get the ball that you want by adjusting the amount of spin, the speed, and the placement. Everything is adjusted on the app, there is no need to manually adjust the robot for different drills. The app allows drills with balls that have varing speed, spin, and placement to be all mixed together. This is very useful in simulating the rallies that you want to practice.

With each individual drill, you can vary the frequency of the balls, all the way up to 120 balls per min. You can also set how long you want the drill to run for before it stops and give you a rest in between. With a single button, the drill can be mirrored from right side to the left side, so you can practice forehand and then backhand of the same drill without having to create 2 drills. There is also the random function, where you can randomize the spread of the ball on the table, the sequence of the drill (left vs right), and also the spin of each ball.

Occasionally the robot may miss one ball, where it seems like it shoots one out, but it doesn't quite make it, but this is very rare. It doesn't actually jam, but it just skips that ball in the drill and continues with the next shot if it ever happens.

Overall, I am happy with the Amicus Prime, it is very useful when I do not have a practice partner and when I want to practice a particular sequence of shots, such as a short push, open up backspin loop, and then looping a topspin ball.

This rubber is a beautiful alternative to Fastarc G-1 for those who prefer rubbers of medium softness.
It provides a lot of safety for looping backspin balls and has a great balance of speed, spin, and control.
Another bonus: It weighs less that G-1, as expected. Perhaps I am imagining this, but the top sheet seems just a little softer than that of G-1.
A great, well-balanced rubber.

A good balanced blade.

Good feel and decent speed.

My is 88 g and with a straight handle.

There are several other really nice blades that are cheaper, but I guess you pay for the Butterfly logo.

I like the blade.

Blade: Tomokazu Harimoto Innerforce ALC
Weight: 90g
Thickness: 6mm
Type: Carbon
Composition: 5W+2C (Limba, Limba, ALC, Core, ALC, Limba, Limba)
Rubbers used with the blade: Tenergy 05

I can be very brief in this review.
It looks as good as it plays.
Like any ALC-wood, it has a wonderfully, crisp feeling.
This one just offers more feel than a Viscaria or Timo Boll ALC.
Also its handle is just perfect.
Recommended for every attack-minded player, who likes versatility and safety in their shots.

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.

------------------------------------Error, please delete-------------------------------------------------