My first review and I am going to compare to what I have been using the last 4 months. A Drinkhall Powerspin Carbon blade with MX-P max thickness both sides. I kept an MX-P on my BH and glued an MX-S on my Fh, first to the touch it was definitely more grippy than MX-P with a harder sponge but I would say a softer rubber. It was only a small session just a warm-up with a few forehand to forehand and backhands etc; the normal, proceeded by some serve return stuff and followed by a few games. First impressions were positive whilst warming up my normal forehand topspin was troubling my hitting partner with several being blocked back long from the spin I was generating, I kept my stroke pretty much the same maybe a little more upward to compensate for what I would say is a slightly lower throw. Again switching to the backhand the same scenario, the spin was massive and the lower throw was more suited to my backhand stroke.
Moving on to serve return and again straight away I could see the spin was causing problems to my hitting partner, any backspin serves I could load right up and he would dump them straight in the net. He said how much more spin I was producing on my serves and that he had to adjust his bat angle quite a lot compared to the MX-P to return the ball. Going to a long dig from a backspin serve and this rubber to me was probably one of the easiest to open up against backspin I have ever used. If my footwork was good and I put maximum effort I could easily produce massive spin that would win a point outright or cause my partner to struggle to keep it on the table, but even when out of position I could still lift backspin quite easy with a flick of my arm.
I wouldn’t say a negative of this rubber but a compromise maybe, the spin is massive and the touch shots I could keep short and loaded, I felt confident with most shots and that I could control incoming spin easy too but once off the table, especially compared to MX-P personally I found it a little harder to stay in the top to top rallies. I would say that the slightly slower speed and extra spin helped me place the ball where I wanted but It lacked the outright power and speed to out hit my opponent from a couple of metres back. I had to generate the pace from my technique rather than rely on the sponge power. Not a weakness in the rubber for sure just different and maybe the slightly lower throw again, a more upward brush on the ball during counter hits.
I will stick with it for a while and see how durable it is compared to other Evolution rubbers but definitely I am liking the extra spin and touch I was getting. I would recommend people who use MX-P to give it a try, it shines at looping backspin and control is great too and if you stay close to the table whilst playing then there is no major weakness I would say.
I will update on durability after using it for a couple of weeks.
Moving on to serve return and again straight away I could see the spin was causing problems to my hitting partner, any backspin serves I could load right up and he would dump them straight in the net. He said how much more spin I was producing on my serves and that he had to adjust his bat angle quite a lot compared to the MX-P to return the ball. Going to a long dig from a backspin serve and this rubber to me was probably one of the easiest to open up against backspin I have ever used. If my footwork was good and I put maximum effort I could easily produce massive spin that would win a point outright or cause my partner to struggle to keep it on the table, but even when out of position I could still lift backspin quite easy with a flick of my arm.
I wouldn’t say a negative of this rubber but a compromise maybe, the spin is massive and the touch shots I could keep short and loaded, I felt confident with most shots and that I could control incoming spin easy too but once off the table, especially compared to MX-P personally I found it a little harder to stay in the top to top rallies. I would say that the slightly slower speed and extra spin helped me place the ball where I wanted but It lacked the outright power and speed to out hit my opponent from a couple of metres back. I had to generate the pace from my technique rather than rely on the sponge power. Not a weakness in the rubber for sure just different and maybe the slightly lower throw again, a more upward brush on the ball during counter hits.
I will stick with it for a while and see how durable it is compared to other Evolution rubbers but definitely I am liking the extra spin and touch I was getting. I would recommend people who use MX-P to give it a try, it shines at looping backspin and control is great too and if you stay close to the table whilst playing then there is no major weakness I would say.
I will update on durability after using it for a couple of weeks.
Only bad thing ... it is discontinued, so i am looking for a similar blade now.
Going to try the V6 from Friendship, it has a similar composition so i am hoping for the best.