Latest reviews

It's an incredible rubber. In terms of putting spin on the ball, both on serves and in rallies, it's wonderful and easy to handle, and playing with it feels very safe due to its great control. I started competing with this rubber and it has brought me very good results.

Glayzer is a great rubber, it feels like a Dignics 05 but a little softer and more controllable. The feeling on touch feels quite similar to Dignics 05 but I feel I have more confidence to put full power into the ball. Though this isn't exactly my type of rubber because I like a fast rubber

I tried D09c a couple years ago on my forehand side while playing penhold with an offensive hardwood blade. Coming from Hurricane 3, I found it very difficult to control because of the high throw angle. My loops often went long. I could not touch the ball softly, which is a big part of my game with H3. For a penholder, not being able to touch the ball softly negates a big part of the advantage of playing penhold.

Recently I have been experimenting with a shakehand chopping style using an extremely defensive blade (Zebrawood Oversize 3-ply). I like to twiddle to attack on the backhand, and Hurricane 3 on a defensive blade was simply not powerful enough to make dangerous attacks or lift heavy backspin. Even on forehand it left something to be desired. So I decided to try D09c again.

On this defensive blade the difference between H3 and D09c is immense. I can create fast balls with relatively little effort. Instead of feeling uncontrollable, the catapult effect gives a very comfortable increase in speed. This is exactly what I need to upgrade my hybrid-defense style.

When playing defense with Hurricane, I was mostly chopping on both wings, with the occasional topspin attack. These attacks were never fast or powerful enough to overwhelm my opponents, so I would only win points with good placement. Playing heavy sidespin loops far from the table was another main tactic of mine -- trying to imitate Hou Yingchao.

Switching to D09c makes my attacks much more potent. Instead of playing pure defense, I can attack when the ball comes to my forehand. My opponents are hitting the ball out because my loops are so powerful -- something which never happened with Hurricane. The backhand attack is also really nice, allowing me to kill the ball easily and get the ball safely over the net.

Aside from power, the other main thing I like about D09c is the high arc. When playing with an offensive blade I found the high arc to be annoying, but on a defensive blade it is quite nice. Particularly for lifting backspin, I don't have to exert nearly as much effort as with Hurricane. The motion for lifting backspin with D09c is quite similar to a normal loop with Hurricane. This can give me precious time during points to reposition and get ready for the next ball.

With Hurricane 3, blocking flat balls is a nuisance. You have to make sure to brush the ball to add your own spin, or the shot will be unstable. With D09c, I found that it can convert some of the speed of a smash into spin. It was possible to block smashes from short pips and antispin rubbers, and when the ball digs into the sponge it will generate some topspin on the return. Thus, I feel comfortable staying closer to the table and fast-blocking with my forehand.

Another big pro is how easy it is to generate spin, compared to Hurricane. With a small wrist motion, I can create 80% of the high end spin. This makes it easier to be deceptive about my spin and how much spin I am making. Needless to say, the high end spin is not as good as Hurricane's.

Certainly I think D09c improves my chopper playing style, transforming it from a pure defense style to a more hybrid defense-offense style. I am much more likely to attack and counterattack on the forehand, and much more likely to twiddle for a backhand smash. However, D09c still has some cons which I would like to list.

1. It is bad at chopping. I think this has to do with the throw angle and the catapult effect. Chopping on forehand with this rubber just isn't as stable as chopping with Hurricane 3. I am somewhat forced to attack balls that come to my forehand, because chopping might not be an option.

2. You cannot play passively or gently with D09c, you must play actively and touch the ball sharply. Touching the ball softly is a recipe for shooting the ball in a random direction. Therefore it is harder to carefully manipulate spin compared to H3 -- especially sidespin. For this reason I still think it would be a bad decision for a penhold player to choose D09c over H3, because H3 allows a much better short game and (side)spin manipulation.

3. Sidespin loops far away from the table are not as good. The quality of the spin is less, and they are harder to aim. Hurricane 3 allows low-to-ground scooping sidespin shots, but these are much harder to do with D09c. Side-downspin chops and snakes are also harder to execute. Best to just not let the ball drop so low, and just play pure topspin. I will certainly miss this aspect of H3, but I will keep trying to imitate it with D09c.

All in all this rubber feels amazing and after only one playing session I was already seeing improvements. I'm excited to continue using it. Hurricane 3 is nice and has a special place in my heart, but for a modern defender I think D09c is clearly a better option.

My setup: 85.06g + SuperKaiser Ninja-300 National(FH) + Butterfly Dignics 80(BH)

Overall feel is very similar to DHS w968-8 or S968, however it provides a crisp feeling, commenly seen on butterfly blades.

This blade combines excellent ball dwell, crisp and catapult effect, enabling a highly controllable game. I would have to say, at first the catapult effect takes some to time to get used to, especially if you're switching from w968 or other relatively slower blades.

Beweare of the weight issue, as different weigh blades have vastly different sound and feel. I have 3 of this blade all in FL handle. One from Japan(with JTTAA on the handle), 2 from Taiwan. The Japanese blade is 91.60g while the other two are 84-85g. I suppose the heigher weight was caused by the increase wood density, as the heavier blade had less pores and a harder sound.
#1: 84.63g 1250hz, 312hz
#2: 91.60g 1350hz, 350hz
#3: currently has rubber and I couldn't be bothered measuring

I played with 388D-1 0.5mm as penhold forehand rubber. This is where the rubber shines for high-level players. Amazing for attacking with wobbly deceptive balls, and gives great spin reversal. Best suited for a hardwood blade, like ebony or rosewood. 388D-2 is also quite good, but suits a more defensive style.

If someone is interested in changing to long pips, 388D-1 with 0.5mm sponge is the rubber I would recommend without hesitation. For penholders it is a godly rubber, you will never need to change. For shakehand players it is a jack of all trades, but master of none -- good for a new pips player who has not developed their style yet. Shakehanders should use an allround or defensive blade.

The topsheet is mildly grippy. Blocking gives a lot of spin reversal, especially with OX. Pretty fast, as far as long pips goes.

The rest of my review is devoted to the shakehand grip, where I have experimented with 388D-1 in OX, 0.5mm, and 1mm sponge.

My impression is that this rubber can play a decent chopping style, a decent blocking style, and a good attacking style, but it is not exceptional at any of them. I would not recommend this rubber to an advanced shakehand pips player unless they are a "chameleon" who likes to change their playing style based on the opponent.

OX is wonderful for attacking. If you put it on a Viscaria, you can play flat smashes as fast as short pips. Hitting through backspin, if you can land it on the table, is almost impossible to return. A bit hard to control, though. Defense is ok, but not great.

0.5mm is my favorite, and the most flexible. Much more controllable than OX for chopping and blocking. It can't create much spin on its own, but it can create enough spin for a deceptive serve, and enough spin to make the chop consistently land on the table. This is a rubber which will allow a newbie to decide whether they want to play a far-distance chopping style, or a close-distance blocking-attacking style. Chopping works best when your opponent gives heavy topspin -- dead balls are harder to return.

I do not recommend 1mm, since it is too sensitive to incoming spin and does not have the chopping capability to justify such sensitivity. The extra sponge does not increase the spin generation (in my opinion), it just makes the pips more bouncy. I thought that 1mm was worse at chopping than 0.5mm, because of the increased bounciness. Attacking is worse and less deceptive than 0.5mm because of the spin sensitivity. No idea why they make this rubber in 1mm honestly.

This blade has a very good control with a great sweet spot. This is reflected in excellent blocking and loops. It is not a very big blade 157x150 this is for me a small draw back. I like long blades. However, it overall performs really great and gives me great confidence when using. It is also rather good in the near field with also good control of under spin short game. Sweet spot is also really good. I that a huge nice wood feeling with a very deep hold. Handle is great for large hands but my hands are sized so that I prefer to sand the wings. The wings are normal sized but I like the increased control and also fit when I have sanded the wings 2-4mm. Build quality was good with nicely sanded edges. I put some varnish for protection as always do on any blade. I used Stiga DNA Hybrid H which give a rather low, not too low, arch (it is the rubber) otherwise I expect a nice arch from this blade. The only potentially weak spot might be smashed which are OK but could be a bit slow but this can be remediated by a fast rubber.

It is not a hard blade but rather have the nice dig in feeling and control.
Durability is also so far, played for more than a year, good. How durable in the long term it is I cannot say having not played with it the whole time.

The blade overall is an Off blade. it is slower than an outer carbon blade but go es more than enough power.

Great tacky hard rubber. The biggest issue I have is that after 3 months it started to degrade quickly. Now after 6 months its completely dead. I only play about 3-5hrs a week these days. That is a big disappointment.

It is basically a Timo Boll or Zhang Jike alc, so if you want the Butterfly feeling, but you want to save money, then this blade is a must have. You can get it for around a quarter of the price of a TB ALC, so it is very cost effective. I feel it is an upgrade from the Yinhe Pro 01, they are quite similar. Another thing is that it is limited edition, so there is some prestige around it if you are a collector. It is overall a high performing blade for and incredibly reasonable price!

I love linear rubbers, so this rubber is a good one for me. It does it's job well without high catapult. It's quite a hard rubber, so it can go fast as long as you hit through it. It can also play short, chop and spin pretty well. It is balanced, but it does nothing exceptionally well, and it's price is quite high for what it is giving. There are other rubbers out there that have a higher value, but you cannot go wrong with this rubber. One thing bad about this rubber, the bottomsheet is badly affected by regluing. The Glayzer's spring sponge is durable AS LONG AS you keep it on the blade you glued on when it was new. If you reglue it, it'll crater like the moon.

I love linear rubbers, so this rubber is a good one for me. It does it's job well without high catapult. It's quite a hard rubber, so it can go fast as long as you hit through it. It can also play short, chop and spin pretty well. It is balanced, but it does nothing exceptionally well, and it's price is quite high for what it is giving. There are other rubbers out there that have a higher value, but you cannot go wrong with this rubber. One thing bad about this rubber, the bottomsheet is badly affected by regluing. The Glayzer's spring sponge is durable AS LONG AS you keep it on the blade you glued on when it was new. If you reglue it, it'll crater like the moon.

This blade is to me the Innerforce ALC improved. It is a little heavy so that might be a negative for some but it increases its overall power. It's speed is pretty close to outer carbons but has the control and dwell of inner carbons and even comparable to wood blades. It's soft outer limba layers let me spin and loop confidently, as well as play the short games nicely. Blocking with this blade is as good as it's looping games. When I want speed, I just need to dig a tad bit harder and it gives me all the speed I need with added control.

But enough about performance specs. I've always prioritized the feel of the blade in my hand when searching for the right blade, and this blade does not disappoint. The soft Limba outerply gives the initial impact a very warm and broad feeling. These soft outer layers just begs to be deformed by a strong swing though, as when it is done so, the inner ALC kicks in, giving the softer outer plies stability and power, with a metallic crisp similar to the Viscaria, but muted by soft outer plies. Combined, the soft and the stiff form to give great feedback to the hand, and speed is not compromised at all.

This is the rubber with the best balance between usable catapult and linearity. This rubber does almost everything well, from looping to short work, from flat smashing to chopping. I have been on the market searching high and low for rubbers with not too extreme catapult, but not dead either. Having tested both extremes, ultra fast catapults like T05 and hard tacky Chinese rubbers, I have concluded that I preferred a blend of both. Not necessarily tacky, but medium/low catapult with good grip. I would rank this alongside Rakza Z and Dignics09C as one of the top 'linear' rubbers out there, and the G1 is the best one among the three when it comes to price to performance ratio. Serves and receiving serves are great as the linearity helps with overshooting and the grip helps with spin insensitivity. In short, my EJ syndrome has been put to an end with this rubber for my forehand. When my backhand gets better, this'll also go to my backhand.

This blade fits very well with modern ESN or Japanese rubbers. Gives very strong spinny loops. Blocking is good and particularly with faster rubbers. Smashing is good with faster rubbers but not with soft to intermediate sponge and speed rubbers. Can though be done with a flicking motion. Control is very good. The blade is not as speedy as the fastest 7-ply or carbon blades but with a fast rubber it gives plenty of speed. The handle is really outstanding particularly for intermediate or large hands. Actually quite unique in for for both anatomic as well as straight handles. The blade is for the price around 50€ worth every cent. The blades invites both a technical and offensive game. From mid-distance one needs some more powerful rubber and then it works rather well. Soft rubbers give too little power beyond a couple of meters. The blade had a very nice finish and I have had no tears or wear in the top pile from changing rubbers on several blades. I always put on a thin top seal. It has been my main blade for a couple of years. My level is intermediate varied play with offensive.

My setup:
Diode Pro ST
Loki Arthur China 2.1mm + 2 layers Haifu yellow
Dawei 388D-1 1.0mm sponge

My background: usually I play penhold with 2x inverted DHS rubber on hardwood blade such as YEO. Typically defensive style with counter-loops, lobs, and snakes from behind the table. I've chopped with Xiom Allround S, Diode Pro, and Koji Matsushita Offensive. I've played penhold with both short pips and long pips on forehand.

Diode Pro is very slow on most strokes, but with the potential for a very fast attack if you add enough power. The change between slow balls and fast balls is also very sudden -- below the power threshold is still quite slow, but once you hit hard enough to flex the blade then the ball goes very fast. Not much in the middle gears.

I don't know if this speed profile is standard for defensive blades, but I found it very hard to get used to -- particularly with the inverted rubber side. If I tried to gently scoop the ball onto the table (as I often do in my normal playing style), it would often go into the net, and if I tried to power-loop the ball it would often go long. Comparing to my Koji Matsushita Off, I think the power-loop is actually faster with the Diode Pro. Disclaimer: I think part of my trouble with this blade is that I am not used to playing with softwood blades.

I'm sure this construction is really good for players who like to play a modern defense style -- but I found it difficult to control. While Koji Matsushita Off was faster on most strokes, I found it easier to control than Diode Pro because the speed was more predictable.

Wood is very soft, giving good dwell times for chopping on both sides. The stability of chopping is really nice.

Adding sidespin is very easy and very potent. Sidespin is normally a big part of my game, but my practice partners were whiffing my sidespin balls much more than usual when I played with this blade. The sidespin scoop creates a really spinny ball (though it's not so fast). Strawberry chops with pips on backhand were also quite spinny -- more so than the straight backspin chop.

Generally a good defensive blade, but I think I still prefer a hardwood blade like Koji Matsushita Offensive. A defender who likes softwood will probably appreciate the Diode Pro a lot.

Usually I play with hard tacky Chinese rubbers like Hurricane 3 and Skyline 2, on a wood or woody-feeling blade.

My impression of Zyre 03 is that it's made for an all-out attacking game with little flexibility for anything else. This seems to be in line with how other amateur players feel.

I tried Zyre 03 2.7mm for a playing session on both sides my clubmate's Hadraw 5 FL (5 ply all wood blade). My first impression was that it completely lacks feeling -- to the point where the setup felt like 60 degree rubber on a carbon blade. The contact time is extremely little and there doesn't seem to be much vibrational feedback.

I was amazed at how well my attacking shots went in. Power loops went fast, with a big jump and safe arc. Looping from behind the table was especially nice -- I can't think of any other rubber that made such consistently powerful spinny shots from behind the table. Somehow power-looping is the only shot where you have any feeling -- everything else feels like nothing.

There are some shots I like to play away from the table which I found hard to play with Z03: strawberry slices, hooking forehand sidespins, and snakes. Playing with Z03 very much forced me to play a standard aggressive topspin game, whereas much of my usual style involves trying to confuse my opponents with strange spins.

My short game was terrible and I could not figure out how to push with heavy backspin. I'm sure there's a way to push, but I'd need to spend more time learning it. Any time I tried to push, my opponent would just flick or loop it with no issue at all. Even my long pushes were not so spinny. My best strategy was to serve fast and long every time, to get to open rally as quickly as possible.

I could not get any sort of feeling of gripping the ball. You have to be confident in your strokes without receiving feedback. Pushing underspin somehow feels like pushing underspin with pips -- the ball kinda rolls on it. It's very different from Tenergy 05, where you get a sharp crisp feeling of biting against the incoming spin.

Lifting backspin was pretty easy, but you have to add power. Slow looping is not an option.

Interesting experience overall, but I probably won't be using it again. Useful for a player who plays extreme unrelenting offense, but wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.

This rubber is very good, until it gets power crept by Dawei 388D-1, and Dawei in general. The reversal is great, feeling is nice, like most other long pips.

(I have not used 388D-1 yet, though I have used Saviga. It outclasses 955)

For its price, this rubber tops every chart. Its speed, spin, and overall quality is on par with some 729, or even DHS rubbers. However, this does not mean it's a must buy. Mercury has glaring problems, like gears and feeling. Overall, a very nice rubber for its price, but if you have a big budget might as well get some other rubber.

Mark V is a very good rubber made for all kinds of players. Has great control, capable for every possible shot with hardly any problem and has a lot of potential. I personally use it on the backhand (RPB) and it has amazing control and I can place very well. There's a reason why this rubber is one of the longest standing rubbers ever.

Hurricane 3 has no introduction, it's one of the most famous rubbers of all time. For good reason too, it has some of the best feeling from a rubber, high gears, very controllable, and extremely spinny! It also promotes a correct and powerful form using the entire body, as a failure to do so leads to a miss or a low quality shot.

Overall, everything about this rubber is great!

I bought a new Zyre 03 recently and I find it fast and spinny, with enough control, but it does require experience as it isn't a rubber aimed for beginners, it does require a good understanding. The spin is rather impressive (imo not as good as Hurricane and other Chinese rubbers but for what it is, it's very impressive.) You also need a confident shot, you can't just do a "nothing" shot and expect it to be decent like Tenergy. For this rubber you need to hit it confidently to get the best out of the rubber. For me, the rubber suits my backhand very well, I might switch to it fully. Compared to D09C I would say it's a little less forgiving and faster. The spin is pretty similar though. The thickness I haven't gotten used to yet and I find the thickness really weird but I like that feeling. I would recommend this rubber to those who want good enough control without it being crazy fast and bouncy like the Dignics 80 or Tenergy series, while having an impressive amount of spin and have good power.