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Whether the rubber being relatively slow is a negative depends on your perception - it is faster with a lower throw than Donic Baracuda, but is definitely a high throw rubber. IT is not as fast as Tenergy 05/80, but the increased control on blocks and in the short game will be sufficient compensation for the right kind of player. The topsheet is extremely strong and supports the strains of brush looping extremely well, so you could almost play with it like a Chinese rubber if that is your preferred looping style, though it is much faster and definitely an Euro rubber if contrasted with anything tacky.

I like it because it supports a loop everything style at the lower levels. I pretty much try to loop even the most ridiculous balls when using this rubber because I trust the grip not to slip under pressure. Definitely should be revisited by more people in the plastic ball era. Now my favorite rubber of all time. The ball moves faster and breaks more than the harder sponged rubbers I usually prefer and I don't lose enough when brush looping to miss the hard sponge.

Hi everybody,

After played with Tibhar CCA7 for 2 weeks, I'd like share the review of this brand new product of Tibhar. Here's my review :

Note : The setup I've been using is Tibhar CCA7 with Tibhar Evolution MX-P rubber on both sides.

Before I'm playing with Tibhar CCA7, I used Nittaku Barwell which also a 7-plies all wood blade. Surprisingly, it doesn't take too much effort for me to adjusting with Tibhar CCA7. Usually it will take 1-2 months for me to get along with new blade and although it's only an all-wood blade, this blade doesn't lack of speed at all. I can kill the ball easier with Tibhar CCA7 (also thanks to Evolution MX-P rubber). The amount of dwell time also really great. I can generate a lot of spin easily even with Evolution MX-P rubber which has the hardest sponge of the Evolution series.

Short game is also really important in modern game and I think this blade also excel in this part. I can control the short game better than before. The combination of touch and spin are very good. One of my favourite stroke is backhand flick and with Tibhar CCA7 I can execute backhand flick with a very great balance of speed & spin.

When looping using Tibhar CCA7, I feel the ball really sink into the blade. It's like using 5-plies blade but with more speed on it. I don't need to put much effort in looping backspin ball. Counter-topspin very solid from close & mid distance. Sometimes, I also like to fish & lob the ball and when using Tibhar CCA7 my lob get more precise because the amount of feels that the blade produce, give me more confidence in fishing & lobbing game.

The downside of this blade is in passive blocking game. When I did some passive blocking, the ball came to the net really often. To fix this, I need to give more forward action so the ball can go to the other side of the table.

In my opinion, Tibhar CCA7 will suit for offensive & all-round player, especially looper who needs a good speed without lacking too much control. Passive blocker won't like to use this blade.

I'm loving it on my backhand! Great control even in the aggressive attacks

Here is some background about myself to give some more perspective on my review. I've played for about 2 years and have just started going to local tournaments. I am unranked but ridiculously passionate about table tennis and strive to become a great player. I read and research everything related to the game that I can find. With that said - here is my review.

I love the Rising Dragon rubber. It's by far my favorite of my 4-5 various rubbers I've used.

I struggled with my short game for a long time until I got these rubbers. Playing short pushes feels very natural and comes with ease - which of course makes returning service much easier. It produces a great amount of spin on my top spin shots which has helped my backhand improve immensely.

The throw angle of the rubber does make it difficult to hit flat shots. I'm still getting used to hitting a flat forehand smash after about 2-3 months of playing with these rubbers. I also struggle making shots when I get backed away from the table. Making a strong attack from mid court requires great precision and a very accurate stroke.

This is a fantastic rubber for both FH/BH. Ill say BH is better.

Pros
Control and blocking is great. Short game is excellent and flicks/punches are easy. Serves are spinny and shots are powerful and fast

Cons.
Despite being the softest in the evolution series, it feels more like medium.
Its slightly more difficult to lift underspin as the topsheet is not as grippy for the loops. But easily adjusted and is easy after that. Just need more effort
Loses power after mid and far distance. This is due to medium throw angle and diffulty of lifting

Conclusion
Great close to the table rubber especially for the BH. lacks power in mid-long distance even with JM ZLC. Great for punching and flicks as well.

It should be good for training conditions. Meets the dimensions as required by ITTF. Cracks easily after 2 or 3 days. Spin quality is average but fell and lift while looping is below average

Highly recommendable for beginners and intermediate players. Found the blade consistent with overall contact. Again satifies the need of beginners in terms of spin generation while serving, looping the ball. The blade is highly durable, having been using it for more than a year. No cracks yet. Feel is quite above average for the prize. got a feeling that this blade would last forever.

Speed and power are not of top quality. Hence, I found difficulty for loops away from table against stronger players. Again, Medium hard rubbers does the job for basic loops and fore hand drive. Not ideally suitable for short games over the table like flick and chiquita.

I am using Gewo Nano rubber. Couldn't find it within the review options. i am intermediate player and this rubber had accompanied from the past year. Highly durable and great spin quality. I have been using this rubber for my forehand. I am satisified with the overall performance. I like to loop a lot and this rubber does the job by providing excellent spin and control. Feel is great but overall i feel the speed is compromised to an extent when compared to spin quality.

The butterfly tenergy 05 is still one of the top choices for players who are searching for maximum spin. Because of being not too hard the rubber has an overall good control.
For optimal control i would recommend using an ALL+ or an OFF- blade, because then its just losing a bit of its speed but not of its spin. Because of the good grip with the rubber, serves are really spinny to perform with it. The only really major problem is the price, which is 56,90€ in Germany.

Was one of my first tensor-like rubbers, back then i used on my fh in 2.0.
Good for developing ALL+ players, speed and spin are adequate but not wow. Certainly no rubber for people who want to kill it as fast as possible, but for someone who relies on good rallies.
The control when playing passive is very good and so from a good placed block or chop you get opportunities to take over and put your opponent under pressure.
In many ways a smaller brother to Acuda S3 in my opinion.

Had my first hit with these last night...... Very underwhelmed by the ball.

First Impression:

It has a weird metallic surface to it - It feels quite thick and heavy in the hand (and on the bat!).

Spin generation was very poor!

Reaction shots would typically be hit low/short due to the sheer weight of the ball.


After an hour of solid play, I wouldn't recommend this ball at all.

Durability seemed solid because it was such a solid ball - But it's so heavy, it wasn't an enjoyable experience!

Amazing control and spin, good speed. Maybe it would be better to T05.

Yasaka Rising Dragon Max FH, Xiom Omega V Asia Max BH

At last find my permanent RPB BH Rubber, The RASANT BEAT !!! This rubber packs more speed, spin and also control when compared then the Powersponge version. The soft green sponge is very good for my BH. Easy direct blocking and Drives.

I have to confess that i was expecting more from this rubber !!! i had tenergy 64in my forehand and the tenergy 64-FX in backhand and the diference between rubbers was HUGE!! I simply couldn t play my favourite type of game so i tried the other combination(tenergy 64-Fx in forehand and the tenergy 64 in the backhand) and I could play much better but the lack of spin simply made me trade for the tenergy 05 and the results where a lot better !!!

Cornilleau is, to my eyes at least, a really small brand which is really under rated! This season I played with Airoc Astro M on my fh and I have to say that I was very pleased with it. Only thing that bothered me with it was durability which was pretty low. That was the reason why I looked for new rubber for next season. Luckily my practice mate plays with Cornilleau and I was able to test his old rubbers. I´m playing in second highest league in my country and my win/loose ratio is 50/50.

First of all this rubber is FAST and has really grippy, thin and elastic/soft top sheet. Overall Astro M and Ultimum 47.5 has quite similar playing characteristics (you can look my review of Asrto M) so swiching to TU was really easy.Target Ulitums speed is a bit higher than Astro M but the main difference between these rubbers is spin. With new ball, especially Nittaku premium, I can generate a lot more spin with TU than Astro M. TU´s throw angle is medium.

Serving
Grippy and elastic topsheet allows me to generate a lots of spin to my serve. It is also really easy to keep serve low and short. On the other hand I can get really nice kick to my fast and slow kick serves. Since serving is my main weapon and I get lots of straight points with my serve I really love TU and it´s properties in this department.

Blocking
Eventough TU is really fast and grippy it is quite insensitive to incoming spin. That makes blocking quite easy.

Short game
Becouse of elastic, thin and grippy top sheet TU feels quite comfortable in short game. I´m able to recieve short serves short whit nice spin quite easily. I have to say that whit Astro M I was able to keep my returns short a bit easily but I wasn´t able to generate as much spin with it compairing to TU. Flips are not strongest part of my game but I feel that those are a bit easier to execute with TU that Astro M.

Looping/driveing
When I´m looping I can generate lots of spin without maximum effort. I can control my loops really well. Lifting under spin is quite easy and when I´m at the right position I can loop hard opening loops with cood control. When I´m of the position lifting under spin with slow and spinny loop works really well with TU.

Counter loops and drives of the bounce needs good timing becouse TU is a really fast and springy rubber. I have had to close my racket a bit more on counter drives compairing to Astro M but when timing is right I can execute couterloops and drives quite nicely. Counterlooping from mid/far distance are really easy to execute without maximum effort.

Passive play
I really aggressive player so I can´t really say much about this but due to high speed/control ratio of TU I would say that this is quite good rubber for passive play.

Over all I think that Target Ultimum is really under rated rubber (meaning really few poeple are using it). It is fast and spinny rubber with good control. However I think that you need a solid technique and decent touch if you want to unleash the full potential of this rubber. I can warmly recomend this rubber all of you who are looking for a rubber for aggressive attacking game. I have played one season with Rhyzm, one season with Donic JP02, one season with Astro M and tested T05, T80 and T80fx and I have to say that to me Target Ultimum feels clearly the best rubber of all these speed spin and durability wise.

Cheers,
Tommi

I buy this rubber because of 4 barometers. That is Lightweight, Green Sponge, Softer Rasant than the Turbo version and Control. Well, in my opinion is not to good in my FH. Maybe because of the low throw angle but good for close open loops. I use it on my BH and its awesome.

Hi All!

I had the opportunity to play with this rubber for more than six months now, usually 8 hours a week including routine training, free play and competitive events. I used it on two blades Donic Waldner World Champion '89 and Butterfly Liu Shiwen on my BH (MX-P on FH). I tried the rubber unboosted and boosted too.

First of all the tubber has a nice faint red small pored sponge that is medium hard. The topsheet feels grippy but not tacky. The rubber has a medium throw with a tempo, but the dwell time is very nice. I would love to say that it is comparable to the Donic Bluefire M2 rubber. To compare them I must say, that EL-P is a tad faster, less dwell, lifts less, bit more harsh and lower delltime. To compare it to the Butterfly Tenergy 64 I can clearly say, that T64 has a bit more control and a softer feel, yet the speed is the same. This feeling is due to the EL-P-s harder topsheet maybe. To clarify the scale of these differences, that I highlighted, they don't really matter if you are playing a spin oriented attacking game. When it comes down to passive play and fine touching the ball M2 behaves the most forgiving, while EL-P is the less forgiving, but to point it out again if you hit your balls with average technique these differences will not matter.

Blade selection is an important factor for a rubber and vica-versa. EL-P is working fine on flexible blades like Liu Shiwen and does not feel mushy on stiff blades like Waldner World Champ '89. I could try Donic Ovtcharov Senso Soft Carbon with hard walnut outer veeners, but I don't want to cut my rubbers to small head size.

When we speak of durability, my etalon is MX-P and older sheets (2010) of Tenergy 05-s. With this routine I mentioned I could play a year and a half with occasional re-boostering the sheets happily and effectively. Well EL-P wears off a tad faster, when the top layer of the rubber sheet gets used. This time some boosting has to be done, and at the same time the rubber surface most be given a thin layer of oil, to regain some grip. After treatment the sheet is ready to go for 2-3 months.

Well, Butterfly's marketing machine is at it again. The days of the celluloid ball are gone and we all need to move on. Butterfly promised us a ball that closely resembles the balls in the good ol days and they failed miserably in my opinion. Yes the ball is more consistently round, but that is about the only improvement I think they achieved. Out of the box, the ball sounds terrible, bounces incredibly high and feels light on your blade. The ball wears out fast and as a result, the high bounces quickly become unpredictable as the ball starts to skid on the table. As the surface of the ball wears, it takes a considerable amount of effort to grab the ball with your rubber. I guess if you are only using a ball for one match in a tournament, you would be fine, but don't expect to get a lot of quality play out of this $2.50+ ball. I'll stick with the Nittaku or the XuShaoFa for now.

The TPE nature is an amazing blade for the mid distance looper. It has several predictable gears which allows you to change the arc, spin, and speed at will. I have been blown away by this blade and am continually surprised by how versatile it is. The blade is perfect for the matches when you want to open, but it also excels at blocking and counter looping. I have 3 and I plan on using them for a very long time! (I'm currently using this blade with Joola Max-P on forehand and backhand)