Latest reviews

Pros
  • Comfort
  • Aestetics
  • Grip and weight
Cons
  • Price
I have had these shoes for 2 months, they are comfortable , great for doing movement exercises , I train 5 days a week so they are hard wearing. Would recommend, shame about the price but they are the best shoes on the market.
Comfort
10
Grip
9
Durability
8
Weight
6
Pros
  • High Spin
  • High Control
  • Medium Catapult
Cons
  • Spin Sensitive
  • Slow
  • Requires Effort
This is one of the best looping rubbers out there with a very high grip topsheet. It is a good Tenergy 05 precursor and up to even the USATT 2400 level can replace Tenergy if the focus of the looper is on doing specific things. While it is a relatively slow rubber, it is still an offensive rubber. The benefit of relatively slow rubbers like Baracuda is that the lack of catapult makes the linearity of the response to a power stroke easier to predict. This is very helpful when drive looping the ball.

The rubber is spin sensitive enough that one still has to learn to play actively with it, but it is similar enough to Tenergy 05 in that department, though Tenergy requires a better touch because of the power of the spring sponge.

The catapult makes it harder to hit winners from behind the table and to engage in topspin rallies away from the table. However, for someone who plays closer to the table and tries to win more of his points with short game control, Baracuda is a better choice than many rubbers if the player is not practicing often enough to radically improve their touch and timing. Depending on how you play and what you do, I would recommend it to anyone with a looping stroke or who wants to loop between 1200 and 2400 USATT on either forehand or backhand. That said, it requires effort only to generate pace - the spin is easy to generate and blocking is controlled once the racket angle is set.

It also works well with some boosting though the speed isn't radically improved.
Speed
8.5
Spin
9.5
Durability
8.5
Control
8
Pros
  • Comfort
  • light
Cons
  • Expensive
It is comfort and light for me. But it may be a bit expensive though it is worth for it.
Comfort
8.3
Grip
7.3
Durability
7.5
Weight
3.6
Pros
  • Good for my bh
  • Lots of spin
  • Fast
As the pros and cons stated. Good for my backhand. It is very spinny and fast.
Pros
  • for competition
Cons
  • Expensive
  • easy to break
  • slow
Unforunately, this is the ball for competition, we must use it though the ball is a bit slower.
Roundness
6.6
Hardness
4.4
Speed
4.4
Durability
4.6
Pros
  • spinny
  • good speed
  • good arc
The best forehand rubber I have tried out of the following : rasant powergrip , rasant, tibhar aurus, yasaka rising dragon, xiom omega 4 pro, xiom omega 5 tour, tibhar 1qxd, h3neo, skyline tg2 neo ..
Fastarc G1 incorporates the best qualities of the above rubbers :
1. tackiness like 1qxd (this helps a lot over the table short game, server receives, pushes, lifting underspin balls in a controlled manner without overshooting edge of table, sidespin-hook topspins)
2. spin/grip like rasant power grip (provides great spin when brushing looping as well as when you engage the sponge in close/mid/far distance game)
3. med-hard sponge like aurus (not too hard, but not also medium like rasant... this allows you to start engaging the sponge relatively closer to the table, without fear of ball overshooting due to high throw of rubber, or ball rushing to the net due to med-low throw...... the med-hard sponge also ensure adequate power from all usual playing distances)
4. med-high throw angle like rasant (helps in clearing the net easliy from close/mid .... )
5. blocking is also good like xiom rubbers .. no issue in this aspect
6. speed like omega v tour(not overly fast, but good enough for most playing distances .. a 9.1 types speed rating)
from the look, feel, and daily playing experience, it seems pretty durable as well !! Totally satisfied !! Highly recommended !! I m using it as FH on DHS long 5 blade, with tibhar 5Q+(power update) on BH. Great combination.
Speed
9
Spin
9.5
Durability
9.8
Control
9.2
Pros
  • Fast
Cons
  • Bouncy
  • Cpen blocking
Using it on Cpen backhand and find it very good. Very easy to hit small stroke fast balls with rpb. I find it a little hard to block with it (still learning) because it bounces very much. I bought mine 2nd hand. Maybe new is even better! I havent tried the other tenergies.
Speed
10
Spin
8
Durability
7.5
Control
7
Pros
  • Cheap
  • Good allround
Cons
  • Heavy!
  • Durable
This is a nice rubber for beginner and a little more. Very durable but also very very heavy! Makes a click sound when hit hard.
Speed
7
Spin
8
Durability
10
Control
8
Pros
  • Hard hit Click
  • Spin
Cons
  • Bouncy
  • Glue removal
A soft japanese rubber. I havent used this rubber very much. Ive used it as a backhand rubber for my cpen technique and find the throw a little low for my taste (T64 works better for me). I have also experimented with it using it on cpen forehand attached on a galaxy N-9 blade. This rubber compared to Skyline 2 allows me to have a more upward stroke that I like. Because this is a soft rubber I dont think it is very good for forehand because it bottoms out easily with hard stroke.

Hard to remove glue due to the soft sponge.
Speed
7.5
Spin
8
Durability
7
Control
8
Pros
  • Fast
  • Light
  • Cheap
Cons
  • Hard to loop wit
  • Small head Cpen
This blade is very fast with stiff feeling and very low weight (cpen). I have a hard time pairing rubbers with it. I found it good with short pips but then I need to glue a very heavy rubber on the backhand side to make it heavier and more balanced.
Speed
10
Control
6
Hardness
8
Durability
7.5
Used it on the BH side on Tibhar Samsonov Force Pro.
Makes a loud sound when you hit hard.
Needs a little effort in blocking.
Deep pushes are very spinny.
When you connect the ball well, It goes like a rocket(very spinny and just fast enough to get you points)
Best suited for tactical players who like to set up points and not for those who like to win points by finishing the ball as early as possible.
Speed
6.1
Spin
8.7
Durability
9.2
Control
9.2
Pros
  • Fast
  • Cheap
  • Hitter blade
Cons
  • Worse looping
  • Small head Cpen
This is a fast all wood blade that workd best for hitters. I am using a cpen version and the weight is only 78g. I think this blade is too fast for cpen using unless you are using soft european rubbers or short pips. With chinese rubbers I cant land the balls on the table very well. Maybe its just my technique.
Speed
9
Control
6.5
Hardness
10
Durability
10
Good balls. Feels Similar to Xushaofa, but breaks a bit easily than Xushaofa.
Roundness
7.2
Hardness
7.3
Speed
7.3
Durability
7.8
Very good balls. they are durable and have good playing characteristics. However they just break in a second if you hit it with the edge of your racket very hard.
Roundness
9
Hardness
7
Speed
7.5
Durability
9
Pros
  • Good control
  • not expensive
  • Any rubber fits
Hi

I bought this blade over two weeks ago. Before that I have been using Primorac off- and I would like to compare it to it. The blade is faster but still maintaining good amount of control. This blade is an OFF-/OFF. It is not the fastest blade but if you don't always loop then it is a very good choice. The price is in my opinion very good as it is not very expensive especially for the quality they give you. The edges are sanded giving nice feel. The blade fits wide range of rubbers. I use Vega Japan and Europe and they play well. I use the straight handle and it is comfortable to use. Your hand feels free. Some people say that the problem with it though is that it is not the most durable though. For now I am fine.

It is a good choice for anyone. It might not be the best for a beginner but it depends on the person. Any questions just ask.
Speed
8
Control
9.3
Hardness
5.1
Durability
7
Pros
  • Feeling
  • Control
  • Spin
Cons
  • Price
  • rubber dependant
I decided to buy it when i got my hand on an Acoustic Carbon. This blade is amazingly controlable yet fast and spinny, i got an urge to know how tis lil brother would perform.

I wasnt impressed at first, when knockin ball on bare wood. I wasnt impressed too when i glued Omega IV Asia and Fastarc S1. Did not have confidence in FH strokes and neither on my BH, the feeling wasnt right.
I DO was impressed when i glued pair of rakza 7. The feeling is just a bit harder than my Nittaku Avalox P500, but more consistent, more pace. It had that dwelly dwelly feel, like time stops when you swing.
And it is strange since im used to play with either hard rubber 47+ and soft rubber 42- but it didnt go well.45 degrees is the magic number i think.

I does has a good amount of vibration but not exaggerated, sweetspot is ok. This blade really excels in short game and close to table loop and loop drives, it goes wherever you want. It is also very easy to vary the spin, due its high dwell and throw, i can close or open my bat without risk performing the same swing.Despite being a 5ply blade relatively thin, it has linear characteristics.

Does it worths the money? Yea. If you have a good budget and want more feel than performance, totally go for it, you will fall in love.
If budget is shorter and want more performance than feel, there is a bunch of 5plies that does it like Nittaku Avalox P500, Avalox P500, Xiom offensive S, Korbel, Infinity VPS V, Yasaka Extra/sweden, YEO, Latika and many others. The main competitor to Acoustic is the OSP Virtuoso- and as aint that impressed with acoustic, you should check OSP first ;)
Speed
8
Control
9
Hardness
4.5
Durability
10
Pros
  • Sweet Spot
  • Consistent
Hi,
I was able to play Carbonado 190 thanks to Stiga's lottery on facebook. I amvery glad for the opportunity.
The first thing I noticed was the low throw (even with t05). It is perfect block/punch blade. My first top spins where landing behind the table, that blade is really fast, but very consistent. My flips from bh had a lot of power, almost like full swing top spin. I am not playing with that blde bcause it is too fast for me and weights too much. I am used to ~84g blades. I would reccomend that blade to really avanced players. While I had no problems with keeping the ball on the table with Innerforce ZLC, the first balls with Carbonado where often too long, but if You can controll that monster it is really great weapon.
Speed
9.5
Control
7.5
Hardness
8.5
I used it for 3 consecutive months. it is very durable and good for practice and competitions.
Pros
  • good quality
  • good control
  • powerfull
For certain players this is a very(!) nice blade. You might be able to find it in variable weights; mine is 84 grams which is pretty light for such a powerfull blade.

It is fast and it has a nice look. I did hit the table a few times and it doesn't show any dents. I played with it for almost a month, changed rubbers a few times and no damage yet, so durability is good. It is a hard and flexible blade. It's a good blade for looping.

I would recommend it to a controlled looper that likes something light but powerfull.
Speed
8
Control
8.5
Hardness
7
Durability
9
Pros
  • good quality
  • good control
  • very durable
Cons
  • low spin
  • not enough tack
It's a good rubber, but it's different than Hurricane 3 (neo or not). It's not as tacky, so less spinny. It's also softer.

The bottom line is, you can do many things with this rubber; control is very good. In comparison with H3 it misses the ultimate kill shot. This might result in more matches won, but still, the ultimate kill shot, it is a very nice feeling.
Speed
7
Spin
6
Durability
9.5
Control
9.5
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