Xiom Vega Europe DF

Hello everyone! I've just purchased a couple of Xiom Vegas: Asia DF and Europe DF, both have "max" thickness. After a couple of Butterfly Flextras (2.0mm) these feel really fast! It's like there are lots of little springs in there instead of sponge
Very grippy surface, very springy sponge - these rubbers are NOT for beginners. You MUST play with it making topspin after topspin after topspin, the rubber seems to be not suted for simple pushing (the ball goes way too strong and far at first). But all of these feelings may be just because of my beginner's manner of playing. I'm sure I'll get used to it. Europe DF should be fine. Asia DF is faster and harder to get used to.
Speed: 7.5 - maybe more, maybe less, Idk. Europe DF is certainly faster than my old Flextras.
Spin: 8 - the new rubber always gives more spin than when it gets older. I have little experience to judge but in comparison with Butterfly Flextra 2.0mm Europe DF gives more speed as well as Asia DF.
Control: 7 - maybe I consider "control" to be different thing but to my mind the ability to play some blocking defence with this rubber is poor. But to be fair I haven't got used to it yet so I may misjudge it.
Durability - Idk. Let's make it "7.5" for now.
When I get used to it I will write something more.

Xiom Vega Europe DF Rubber
Weight: 58 grams uncut, 42 grams uncut
Sponge Hardness: 37.5°
Hardness: Soft
Speed: Medium
Spin: Medium/High
Blade used: Xiom Vega Tour blade (Dan), Xiom Stradivarius blade (Tom)


Written Review

Initial

The Xiom Vega Europe DF rubber was released in June 2016 alongside the Asia DF Rubber. The rubber uses Xiom’s signature black sponge and has a glossy topsheet. We've noticed this type of grippy surface in a lot of new rubbers post celluloid ball era.

The Xiom Vega Europe DF is the newest rubber in the VEGA series, with the DF standing for Dynamic Friction Technology designed for the plastic ball. This technology was also used on the Omayga 5 rubbers. The Vega Euro DF are slightly softer than their predecessor Vega Asia and Vega Europe rubbers.
The sponge hardness on the Vega Europe DF feels very soft and is similar to the Rasant Beat rubber which is 37.5 degrees.

Topspin

You can feel right away that the Vega Europe DF is a very soft rubber and is softer than the original Vega Europe. Although a soft rubber, the impact is very stable and has an impressive loud sound on contact.

Tom found the trajectory a little higher with Europe than the Asia, which gave him more safety in his shots. Both rubbers produced consistent topspins on both the forehand and backhand side.

With this rubber we found you need to brush the ball with a lot of precision on strong shots to get the ball to dip onto the table. If this was not met the ball could fly out quite easily.

Speed

In the rally I could generate a fair amount of speed in my shots and enough to put the opponent under pressure. These rubbers are not designed for sheer power however, and would fall in the in the all round offensive category.

Open ups and Spin

A big plus point of the DF rubbers are that they are both very spinny. The grippiness of both of these rubbers mean that they both produce considerably more spin than the the original Xiom Vega rubbers. The new tech that XIOM have used with these certainly act well with the plastic ball. When playing against backspin the Europe felt more easier to lift backspin than the Asia. The slightly softer sponge had greater dwell which helped generate high spin on the ball.

Flicks

The softness of these rubbers allow for superb control especially in the short game. For example, backhand flicks were easy and I had a high room for error especially on 4th ball attacks.

Away from table
This control can be seen in the video when myself and Tom took a few steps away from the table. The rubber gave great safety in our shots with a high arc and not requiring huge amounts of effort.

Conclusion

Xiom have definitely designed rubbers that have a good ratio between spin, speed and control but are slightly more towards the controlled side. Both the new Xiom Vega Df rubbers are packed with control and posses a topsheet that grips the ball producing lots of spin. As mentioned previously the major advantage with this rubber is its ability to stay in the rally with ease.

The rubbers are not too responsive to spin and are very easy to play with due to sponges softness and stable topsheet resulting in high safety in your strokes.

If you are looking for more spin and slightly more arc in your strokes we would recommend the Vega Europe DF. The ball really soaks into the sponge producing lots of spin and acceleration. The Vega Asia DF is slightly harder and a touch faster than the Europe DF, suited for players who want a slightly more direct trajectory.

The Vega DF rubbers are also both excellent when blocking and receiving spinny balls.We would recommend Vega Europe and Asia DF rubbers for developing players looking to improve their stroke efficiency and shot quality. Or for players who want a spinny well controlled rubber without the extreme speed of high end fast rubbers such as the tenergy 05 or tibhar evolution mxp. Xiom have created a well balanced offensive rubber and is a good addition to their rubber selection.