Latest reviews

Omega VII Tour
Weight: 74 grams (uncut)
Hardness: Hard
Speed: OFF+
Spin: Extremely High

Omega VII Tour is the hardest rubber and at the same time the spiniest rubber in the Omega VII series. The Omega VII Tour will be out in August and I was fortunate enough to use this ahead of the release date. This is the fastest rubber in the market along with the Joola Rhyzer 48 only that the difference is that the O7T has a 55 degree hardness. I never thought I would use a non sticky ESN rubber this hard. The Vega China was very hard at 54 degrees but this is even harder at 55 degrees ESN scale. At first feel of the rubber before gluing it to the blade, the sponge is very hard but the topsheet feels medium soft. I guess, Xiom designed it as a balance for the hardness of the sponge. When you press against the topsheet, you can still feel your fingers dig into the sponge. I would not call it soft (i.e., the tospheet) but the ball can partially sink to it. It is on the heavy side. At 74 grams, it is even heavier than a DHS Hurricane 3 rubber.

I tested this with several blades like Xiom Stradivarius, Fuga andFeel ZX3 but I spent the testing most with Stradivarius since it has the feel Ilike best. The Feel ZX3 is an awesome blade but since it is Kiso Hinoki, Ichoose to test the rubber more with the Stradivarius because it is a koto outerply blade. No offence to hinoki blade users but this is just a personal preference on top plies that I have for myself. The Omega VII Tour has an extragear or two compared to the Omega VII Asia. The VII Asia is already extremely fast but the Omega VII Tour still has extra speed that can offer. Mind you this is not for the faint hearted. The rubber is not designed for intermediate players or players that are still mastering their basics. It is a beast when you unleash it provided you have the skills because the rubber is the best representative for an all out offensive rubber never caring about defense. This is the rubber you go to when you want an artillery to demolish your opponent’s shots. Onthe serious side, the advanced players will really appreciate this because thepower on the shots is simply above the rest of the ESN rubbers in the market right now. I had to adjust with the rubber in my forehand because it was very bouncy on attacks. This is also because I am accustomed to slower rubbers thatare not as bouncy and not on the level or class of the Omega VII series of rubbers. For the backhand, it was not a big problem because I adjusted to it ina span of 2-3 days. When you are doing topspins, I would caution you to take a step back away from the table the moment comes back because you would need to stay a bit farther from the table because of its long trajectory. The Omega VII Tour shines the best starting at middle distance when you are past the initial attack and are already doing fierce exchanges with counter topspins. Its shines even better when you are far from the table because you will not feel a reduction of power and speed even ifyou will just an all wood blade. When I used this with the Xiom Fuga blade with the Omega VII Tour, the power of the rubber carried it through even at far distance from the table. I recognize that the Fuga is not a slow blade but with other rubbers on it, it would dwindle in its amount of power once you are far from the table.

The thing with the Omega VII Tour is that it does not have the high throw of the Rhyzer 48. The Omega VII Tour has medium or medium high throw when you spin with it but it does not have the profound arc of the Rhyzer rather it has the sharp and long trajectory when doing topspins against underspin or topspins versus block. The spin is one of the spiniest I have tried. It already approaches near the Tenergy 05’s level of spin. If I compare it directly to Tenergy 05, it is almost as spinny but I would trade the Tenergy’s extra spin to the Omega VII Tour’s extra power. In the longer ran especially in rallies, the Omega VII Tour can overtake the Tenergy 05. Also,the Omega VII Tour’s hard sponge gives it a higher potential for spin and especially for power because you can compress more with sponge and the stronger the shot, the more compression with the sponge is needed. The O7T will give you extra juice when the situation calls for a very strong finishing shot whether it is near or far from the table.

The surprising thing about the Omega VII Tour is that it has a lot of gears. It is not linear in every way wherein even at soft or weak shots like drop shots it would be bouncy but in the case of the O7T, the drop shots can be slow. I was surprised that it has a good degree of control on shots inside the table but still needs some adjustments. Blocking is also very stable and I am talking about passive blocks. Active blocking seems to be a bit bouncy and also need adjustment. Nevertheless, despite its overwhelming speed, I would suggest to tame it and tame it with a lot of practice especially as a forehand rubber.If you are an intermediate level of player, I would discourage you to use this in max thickness, even at 2.0mm I still think this would be too fast. This is suited for players who have mastered their shots and have very good control on their counter topspins and other form of attacks. In my opinion, I think we are facing the best attacking rubber that is new in the market right now.

I played the material specialist firestorm on a 2.1 sponge on the offensive blade. I played this rubber for about three trainings in one week. The quality of this rubber I think is very good. It has some space for a pointing finger so you can grip it that can feel comfortable while using it. My first feelings are that this rubber pushes you somehow to the offensive play to the offensive strokes and not so. Passive and defensive game. The spin is very high in my opinion because the pimples are very smooth so you can give much more spin to the ball comparing to the other short pimples that I ever played. I Would say speed is on a high level. It's pontius very elastic and the rubber has a catapult effect....

Spin is good but, dwell time is less than Butterfly Moonbeam AL(not carbon) blade. Thus, you end up with less spin, faster game. It is like you are wasting half of your energy on full stroke. Your racket move has to be precise. Less forgiving... If your legs are not fast enough, you will struggle a lot.

My other problem with this blade is backhand top spin after fh drive, spin or any fast game. I couldn't be successful on backhand top spin as my Arylate blade. Ball always goes out of the table. I need to close the blade. I tried for 4-5 months and still my game no where near with my BTY Moonbeam. So, I am back to it.

I recommend this blade to the people who needs extra power.

edit: OK guys! This blade is very attracting. I accept the fact that it is really hard to resist to not use this blade when you have already. I will give this blade a chance, even if my game worse than BTY Moonbeam AL

StigaNostalgic VII<o></o>
Weight: 93 grams<o></o>
Thickness: 6.39mm<o></o>
Plies: 7 ply (wenge-spruce-ayous-ayous-ayous-spruce-wenge)<o></o>
Speed: OFF+<o></o>
Hardness: Very Hard and Stiff

The Nostalgic VII is avery fast blade and despite being just an all wood blade. The structure is likethat of the Nostalgic offensive but has extra ayous layers that makes it a 7ply blade, In short, it is the Nostalgic Offensive with 2 extra plies.
This is the fastestblade in the series and also the one with the hardest feel. This has a distinctstiff feel intended to have a fast rebound effect when hitting the ball. Stigais saying they have patterned this to have a clipper like construction butinstead of an ayous wood as second layer, they used spruce instead ayous in the2nd and 6th layers. t is lighter compared to the Clipper Rosewood which couldreach up to 95 grams and above. The handle of the Nostalgic VII will not makeit as head heavy as the Clipper Rosewood because there is some weight with thehandle. The Hardwood series have a different surface of their blade headsalso because the eb7 and rw7 both have a thin nct coating.

For its speed, the bladeis one great whacking blade. I glued it with Mantra H and Calibra LT Sound inorder to decrease the weight. The speed is more or less equally fast as theRosewood 7 if not greater. If you compare it to other blades, Nostalgic VII isfaster than Clipper CC and more or less the same speed with Nexy Higgs.The blade is powerful enough in which even at far distance with both the MantraH and Calibra LT Sound, the Nostalgic VII could easily clear the net. If I wouldcompare its speed to composite blades, I would rate it as faster than aCarbonado 90 but a step lower in speed than Carbonado 145/190. If being comparedto common blades from other brands, it is a notch lower than TB ALC andViscaria in terms of speed but there are onstances when you are hitting theball flat with Nostalgic VII that you can feel it has more power.

How is the spin? Itdepends on the rubber you are using because if you are just a flat hitter ormostly do loop drives then the Nostalgic VII is more than good enough for thatparticular type of style. If for example you glue the Mantra H, Calibra LT Plusthen you have one hell of a counter driving and hitting set up. If you like tospin then the catch is to use a slower or softer rubber. With the slowerrubber, I also used the Calibra LT Spin for the Nostlagic VII because it seemsto be a good combination. With the Calibra Spin as a forehand rubber, theNostalgic VII can offer a good amount of spin. If you choose to use a Chineserubber, I would recommend the Genesis S version at it is softer. When I used myHurricane 3 on it, you have to make sure it is boosted and softened. If you usemedium hard rubbers, you would need to carefully select the rubber for it andalso your brushing skills should be good. With soft rubbers like Calibra LTSound, the ball hits the sponge deeply so spinning is not a challenge but withharder rubbers you need to brush up a little bit aside from adjusting to thebounciness of the combo. I do appreciate the Mantra H’s ability to spin verywell when you know how to brush the rubber only that the challenge is that itis very bouncy on a hard blade like Nostalgic VII. Also, by using softrubbers like Calibra Sound, you would also save weight as this blade is on the90’s scale.

The Nostalgic VIIdefinitely recommend this to people who have at least intermediate level ofskills as this blade is for advanced level players. Offensive short pip playerswould love this blade as it attacks very well with short pips due to its hardand stiff characteristics. Smashers and blockers would also love this sincethis is more of a hitting blade rather than a spinner’s blade. If you are aslow looping kind of a player the Nostalgic Offensive/ALL are the ones foryou and not this. Overall, I am quite surprised with the quality and <o></o>
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My review of Yasaka Sweden Classic blade.

Hello guys my name is Pawel here is my video review on the Rakza 9 rubber

I love the sound when I spin the ball very fast. After softer rubber(Donic Bluestorm Z2), balls are going to the net. Rubber requires more brush, quicker bat swinging when contacting the ball. If you start to do lazy spins, you won't get any good result.
To gain more arm speed on spin I started to workout with lightest resistance band by swinging my arm like spin motion.

One week after edit: I got used to speed and hardness. Maybe it's because of booster vaporization. It is very hard to smash high balls or fast topspin away from table with soft sponge. It just doesn't act what I estimate. But hard sponge sweeps away all the uncertainties.

Profile: As club level players say, my topspins are powerful and spinny, strokes are good enough to play at league but my footwork is not enough yet and definitely because of not having enough match experience, I am bad at reading game. Sometimes its like keep pushing running button continuously at Pro Evolution Soccer

I'm extremely happy with this blade. The finish is extremely good (sanded wings etc) and it feels quite light at 82g. The packaging seem to have improved during the past years as it comes in a fairly high end packaging.

Very controllable compared to the Stiga Clipper which I used with the same rubber setup (FH: H3 Neo BH: 729 B2). Extremely well suited for a topspin oriented game.

As the title says. I'm a long time player of the Vega Pro (VP) and after playing the Vega Tour (VT) now for a bit over 30 hours, I will stick to it on my FH.

The additional speed of the Vega Tour come in handy with the new plastic ball. The new top sheet generates even more spin on touch play (slow FH loops, flicks et al).

Blocks and drives are consistent and with high control. With the top sheet being thinner and more flexible, the rubber is a bit more sensitive to incoming spin, but that was true for the VP as well, so for players coming from the VP not a big surprise. It needs adjustment during receive (especially side spin) and block (more active blocking required).

Looking at the specs the new VT comes with all the new "features" of XIOM (Elasto Futura Cycloid and the new carbo sponge) if you believe in these marketing terms.
With it's 45° sponge, it still plays more like a 47,5° sponge. See my review in forum section to see the different composition.
A fact to notice is that the VT is lighter (4 grams cut to a Vega Tour Blade) than the VP, which is good if you like your racket not too head heavy.

All in All a good addition to the Vega Series of rubbers and another example of XIOMs innovative cooperation with ESN.

Τhe racket came in my hands in a nice black with a silver box.
On the back of the package it appears that this blade is one of the fastest woods produced by Donic.
Αfter I removed it from the box, I was really impressed by the quality of construction. the more likely it is not to be made in Sweden. The local dealer told me that it was made in China.
The blade construction is 5+2 plys the top ply is koto and after that is carbon.
Starting to play with the wood immediately can understand that is a very fast blade that comes closest to off + .
The flaired handle seemed a little thin for my taste.
TOPSPIN
the wood shines in this area , giving a medium throw to the ball you can produce easily massive spin.
SHORT GAME
You must be very careful cause the blade tends to throw the ball high and far. I think short game is not the strong part of the blade in many cases the blase was uncontrollable.
BLOCKING
The large sweet spot and the medium stiffness allowed for good feel when blocking.
FEELING
The blade is not as hard as most carbon blades like Butterfly Timo Boll ALC or Timo Boll Spirit.
CONCLUSION
Donic made a great blade for the very well-trained players will yield a lighting fast setup that will require a very high skill level to master.
Many compare Donic Ovtcharov True Carbon with Butterfly Viscaria. OTC is softer ,faster and more difficult to control in short game but it can produce massive spin in spin to spin situation.
A lethal weapon in right hands.

I used this on my Butterfly Moonbeam FL(5Ply+2Arylate) blade's forehand side. Although it is harder on paper compared to Tenergies, it doesn't feel that way. 2.3mm is quite thick. Sometimes you don't engage with wood when hitting ball.

Don't expect phenomenal arc of T05 but Arc is good enough to topspin close and under table like T05. Even after you hit, you see the arc which feels quite satisfying. When you topspin with forward moving, you will get T64 effect.

What I don't get is that why on topspin to topspin game, ball sometimes tends to go to net. I am closed to table player (max 2 meters away), so this didn't bother me much.

Flicks are easier after T64 on Timo Boll ALC blade. I don't think same for push or backspin on the table. Maybe if I get used to, I may overcome that.

According to my dealer Tenergy/Bluestorm price ratio is 1.75 now.

I loved this rubber. It feels me like I have super power. I guess I will stick with it

Edit: I am using this rubber on backhand now. It is not like having super powers now But it is quite good on punches, lifting the ball, wide backhand top-side spin, flicks. Maybe tenergy better at those areas too, except fast hitting.

A lot of information. A few good elements for this rubber. What can be played. Everything in the film.

The Omega Pro is an all wood blade with hard outer plies. It has rosewood outer veneers. Although description on the stats it has hard ebony wood veneers but the other description is it is rosewood. The Omega series boasts of having jointless veneers - meaning unlike other brands which have non-continuous layers of wood, the Omega Pro has continuous plies. The blade feels hard on the surface but when you hit with it it doesn't feel too stiff. Unlike, the rosewood blades of other brands that feel stiff and heavy, the Omega Pro has somewhat of of a semi soft feel on impact. The one I had was with a ST handle and weighed 86 grams only so the blade is light. Other rosewood blades in the market with 7 plies usually have a heavier weight which ranges from 90-93 grams. Thickness of the blade is about 6-6.2mm. The wing part near the neck of the blades needs to be sanded. Good thing the Omega Series has a built in sanding device that is included in the blade box. You have to sand the wing part because it is a bit sharp but this is not a major issue.
The blade is not too fast. If I compare it to other 7 ply rosewood blades, I would rate it as OFF but I sometimes feel that it is an off- blade. It does not feel too bouncy but the when you loop with it it seems to be good enough to spin and has a good "dwell time". When I was looping the ball, I felt that the ball was easy to spin like brushing the ball with a limba outer 7 ply blade. In fact, it feels like just a semi stiff 5 ply blade when you are looping with it. When you smash with it, the hard outer plies is a good combination because you are able to give the ball the needed power and rebound when hitting the ball. The control is superb wherein it blocks well. This is mainly suited near the table and to some extent medium distance from the table. Soft and medium hardness rubbers are the best rubbers suited for the Omega Pro. I have used the Omega V Pro, Vega Asia DF, Vega Asia and Omega VII Pro with this blade and all works really well but to maximize the power I suggest to use the Omega VII Pro all the way since some players would find this blade slow to their taste. The blade has good control wherein beginners can even use this blade with slower and thinner sponge rubber versions of Musa 3 or Vega Europe at 2.0mm thickness.

This is an amazing rubber. It may be 1 or 2 generations older than the Xiom Omega VII rubbers but this one still can compete with newer rubbers. This rubber is almost good in everything because:

1. Vega Asia DF was released a few years ago but it still packs a punch when doing topspins and hard smashes. This rubber is very fast. It is as fast as Rasanter 45 rubbers although harder rubbers like Omega V or Vii pro can be faster on stronger shots due to having a property where you can compress the sponge more without hitting the wood or "bottoming out". Softer rubbers seem to bottom out but the Vega Asia DF seem to have no bottoming out effect observed. This is an excellent attacking rubber for both backhand and forehand since it is a good alternative for newer attacking rubbers that are much expensive. It has enough power near and far from the table.

2. Very spinny even for polyballs. The DF or Dynamic Friction formula for the Vega Asia DF produces very good amount of spin despite being overshadowed by its cousins. Most people find the Vega Pro version spinnier but I found out that the Pro version is inclined more for people who are very good in brushing the ball in order to spin. The Vega DF is very spinny and easier to spin despite having not so developed skills or techniques. The Vega DF has an improvement over the old Vega Asia version in which it is a few notches spinnier but nothing more. The old Vega Asia is as fast as the DF version but the difference in spin can be felt by a lot of players I have asked to use the rubber also. I had the non df and df versions at hand at the same time on the same blade for comparison.

3.I think you can buy Vega Asia DF as low as 33-34USD. If you cannot affod the Omega V or VII rubbers, then this is a good alternative rubber. It may not be as fast as the newer ones but it offers more than what it is priced. Like the Musa 3, the Vega Asia DF is a low cost but high performance rubber.

4. I find the Vega Asia DF as a very good backhand rubber. It blocks better and has more control than Tenergy 64 though a tad less spinny. It is easier to block very strong attacks with the Vega DF in both forehand and backhand. You cannot chop with it defensively since this is an attacking rubber but all other strokes are fine with Vega Asia DF.

Using this in ST L-Size with T80 (FH) and T05 (BH) and loving it! It's just so much fun to play with. The flexibility and control is special. First bought the regular handle size and quickly realized it's too small for me. Passed that one to a friend and ordered the L-Size right away.

Photos here:

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/showthread.php?17386-Nittaku-Violin-ST

Omega VII Pro is a speed machine, that still has high control. If you like to loop drive, this is a rubber to consider.

Short game is a challange as the catapult kicks in early.

I can't match the comment on forgivingness and spin though. Spin is high no doubt, but it requires a decent technique to generate this spin. If the ball is not hit in right moment, there is more speed than spin and a good chance to overpace.

Omega VII Pro requires active play the whole time, but rewards you with difficult to return loops and blocks. Underspin is also dangerous because of the lower bounce after second contact.

Nice rubber again from XIOM. A unique rumber in the market that will surely finds its crowd of fans....

An incredibly good board. Very low price. High quality. Speed in the OFF-/OFF range. Arylatecarbon for more players.
If it was promoted by a player, it would be many times more expensive. We have developed a review with a friend from the first division:

Hi All!

Not so long time ago, my inner equipment junkie self settled down with Donic Bluefire M1 on my FH side. With Donic Bluestorm Z2 out I tried that one too, but unfortunately I lost my love towards Z2 due to reasons listed on it's product review page. And also I went to try some chinese made but good FH rubbers. So I came across this AK 47 RED version. To be honest I loved the T05's bite on the ball, but I don't have enough time and skill to fully utilize that rubber. I loved MX-P but felt it a bit numb and unpredictable on counterloops. M1 was a perfect alternative to that, was a bit livelier, than MX-P, and the feeling was better. I will make my comparison to these rubbers. The rubber was tested on an ALC OFF blade.

So AK 47 RED feels a bit lighter on the blade than M1 or MX-P. It did not require any transition or modification from me or anyone that I showed the blade. They stated that the rubber feels lively (compated to Tenergy 05/05FX) and easy to play. The ball touch feels a bit more rigid than T05 and a bit harder than M1, but less softer than MX-P. Bouncyness is tricky, because the catapult effect is reduced, but the spin sensitivity is high, like a Baracuda level.

Serves are very spinny, because the tad less catapult effect it is easier to keep short. In other areas there is nothing special to say. This rubber plays like a modern attacking rubber fully comparable to any european modern tensor. Loops are really loaded with spin. Some of my opponents mentioned, that their flight curve is less predictable. It is a tad slower than the MX-P.

I tried the unboosted version. After 20 hours of play The rubber shows no signs of usage.
Black max on standard 151x159 butterfly head is 44g.

Update: After three months of usage. I still have the rubbers, I tried different applications, tried to boost it and experimented a bit with the glue layers. First of all after three months, a training camp and two championships (around 70-80 hours of play, 3 regluings) the rubebrs look fine. There is a matte abrasion under my thumb on the FH black rubber, but no abrasion on the surface of the rubber. The red rubber looks like a used one, there is a strange matte pattern on it, which does not show the sweet spot. Some sort of fluid spill pattern, maybe one of my cleaners did this. I also ordered a spare pair of rubbers, my other red sheet does not show any symptoms like that after 2 months. So the colour change on my red sheet was probably because of me. So the durability is good.

Regluing is tricky, because the rubber is factory tuned even if it's not advertised. The glue (revolution no 3.) can be peeled of (4 thin layers) easily from the sponge with minimal or no damage. The first glue was more softer than expected, and the rubber shrunk a bit (way less then euro/jap tensors) and it curved in. So it was likely boosted. The second glue layer was more crispier, when I removed it. So I had to reboost my rubber a little to make the curve a bit flatter. The optimal glue layers are 3+2 for a decent OFF- speed on an ALC blade. Boosting the rubber gives it more speed, but also flattens the ball flight curve a bit more, than expected.

Crash tests were performed (unintentionally). The upper rubber is quite durable to direct table edge hits. It may show a bit abrasion on the surface. However the sponge is quite fragile. It really breaks. A misplaced banana flick may cause an inch (2,54) cm tear in the sponge, while the surface looks fine. But considering the price of the rubber I don't really care if I have to replace it 2-4 times a year. So it is similar to Baracuda sponge as far as I can remember.

Overall impressions:
When brand new the rubber shines with 3+2 layers of glue, personally a single layer of booster can be beneficial to the rubber but nothing more. When regluing the rubber deserves a little boosting, just to conserve the original factory boosting. Serves are quite good, lot of spin can be generated with brush type movements. Huge control over every type of situation, good no pin game and good spin game.

I tried this rubber with a Butterfly blade. The rubber gives you very good control. It also has a very nice sound when you smash. I find that the rubber shrinks after about 2 months even though it is still glued to the blade. If anyone has tips to prevent rubber shrinkage that would be awesome.

Lets start with Pros. Handle fits your palm like a dream, i used Korbel and that blade was a dream however i bought this one because Korbel updated its version and now it feels like a cheap ugly blade " dont know why they change the design because they made it worse" However that's other topic. Handle is smooth and and easy to hold and it gives you so much feel when hitting the ball. Control of this blade is lovely even when i used BryceHighSpeed, Rhyzm 48 and Donic BlueFire M1 those rubbers just gave me more feel rather then speed. Talking about speed pairing Hadraw Sk with these tensors would make this blade your favorite, as this blade is OFF - i would say it makes perfect balance with fast rubbers. It gives you feel to do whatever you want with that ball. Speed of this blade is well balanced. Paired With Rhyzm 48 this soft blade gives lovely feel you can play close and far from table. There is not downsides i would say and improvement that Butterfly could make. The weight of this blade meant to be 85 grams, mine came as a 95 however with the handle shape it felt lighter due to comfort i say. The price is high but for this top end blade its nothing, i think this blade is for players that tend to get too fast blades like Viscaria and need more control rather then speed and for someone who is developing into being top class player and uses ALL round blade. If you do have money to spend please do get this instead of Viscaria or Timo Boll ALC as this would give you a taste of what Table tennis really is all about.