Glued up the bats (Red XiYing 999 FH/Black Corbor BH and Black Blutenkirche FH/Red Corbor BH) and tried them at the Akron club on Thursday. Overall, the blade is well-suited to a beginner and the rubbers were not much different than 729 rubbers that cost 2-5x as much. Details below if you can handle my vernacular.
Reviewer: 4 years of basement ping pong and 2 years of TT training. I'm still in transition from a really awkward and passive game to more of an allround-OFF game, looping from both wings. USATT is 1300 now but the rating is 6 months old and I have made some improvements to tactics and strokes. But, for all intents and purposes, I'm a 1300 level 2-wing looper wannabe that relies on serves way too much.
61 Second 7W blade: Literally 7 pieces of what looks like Ayous, all of the same thickness, glued together. Heavy vibrations, ALL speed, decent dwell feel. Nice quality, sharp blade edges that needed sanded. Good finish other than that. I can't think of anything else to put here, this blade was bland. Would work very well for a beginner though, it would let them find their game without really directing them to any specific play style.
XiYing 999:
Initial Impressions: 44-45 degree sponge stamping. The sponge was dense but did not feel dead like, say, 729 Super FX. Topsheet was pretty tacky and would hold a ball for 3-5 seconds after a good wipe with sweat and drying on my shorts.
Serving: Very good, as expected. Hard sponge gives good control over serve depth and tacky topsheet gives really good spin.
Pushing: Again, very good for the same reasons listed above. The hard sponge gave great control and I could really load up the spin. My game is evolving away from pushing unless absolutely necessary, but it was nice to know I could push well if need be.
Flicking: I was impressed with flicking. Again, the control was where it shined the most. I couldn't put enough oomph into it to end a point straight out but I could definitely put pressure on to take the initiative and go on the offensive. I did notice I gained more control and the shot was better quality if I dug into the sponge more.
Hitting and Blocking: Probably one of the weaker attributes of the rubber - it does not have the speed to really launch rockets like is necessary for a hitting game. It is also way too sensitive to spin for this. So if you're more of a hitter, there are much better options out there. Blocking wasn't bad, I could control the ball as long as I read the spin on the incoming shot OK. Not terribly fast but fast enough in a pinch.
Looping: This is where the rubber shines. Loops were equally easy to execute against underspin and topspin, and had a whole lotta spin. I could also get enough speed out of the loops to keep on the offensive (when my elephant feet would keep up with me
). The most interesting part about this rubber is that I could vary between a brush loop and a loopdrive almost at will, which I had a difficult time doing with the 999 on Lemon Sponge. I never went more than 1-2 meters from the table, so I can't comment on looping from mid distance. Might try that next time just for shiggles.
Overall: If you play a spin-oriented game and are physically fit enough to get your feet to the ball, this is a really good and extremely cheap (5.80 USD for two sheets) option. Hitters should probably look elsewhere, as should those who have a hard time swinging with >70% effort repeatedly.
868 Blutenkirche:
Initial Impressions: No sponge stamping, but if the XiYing was 44-45 and the Corbor was 40-42, this is about 41-43 judging by feel. The sponge feels dead on this one though. Topsheet is mildly tacky, will hold a ball for a second or two after sweat clean and drying on shorts. I will need to give this one another try, I think I screwed up gluing it (had to hurry to make it to the club in time) and it was really unpredictable. Some shots were great and some were freaking awful. Gave up on it quickly and switched to the Xiying/Corbor racket.
Corbor:
Initial Impressions: Yellow sponge version stamped 40-42, felt softer than 868 and significantly softer than the Xiying. I would call it lightly tacky, about like 2008 XP or LKT Pro XP. The sponge was soft and not horribly bouncy, but not dead feeling like the 868.
Serving: I rely on my BH serves quite a lot (had this rubber on BH) and this did them justice. Not bouncy, so I could serve short and keep it spinny. The light tack helped grab the ball and give decent spin.
Pushing: Very nice, not quite as controllable as the XiYing on the FH but still pretty good. Good spin, not quite like a full-tacky rubber, but still more than sufficient.
Flipping: This rubber flips very well. Light tack keeps it from being too spin-sensitive, but it still generates a good deal of its own spin. I was pretty comfortable with flipping with Corbor because it's pretty similar to my LKT Pro XP on my main setup. I was pretty impressed.
Hitting and Blocking: Decently quick and not horribly spin-sensitive, so it does OK. Not fast enough to support a pure hitting game, but when the rally calls for a drive it does its job. Blocks were good, not fast or spinny enough to be dangerous, but I could control them enough to prevent too strong of a follow-up attack.
Looping: My BH loop seemed to work well with this rubber, with little adjustment from my current setup. Loops worked well against underspin and topspin, and the medium-high throw helped get everything over the net. I stayed within 1-2 meters of the table for the most part, so I can't comment on looping from mid-distance. Speed is decent when looping so I would think it would be good for a control game at mid-distance.
Overall: This rubber is a classic control-OFF rubber. It doesn't particularly excel at anything, but it does everything well enough to develop your game. It should work well on either wing, I just prefer harder, tackier rubbers on FH so I didn't try it there. I would absolutely recommend this to beginners or those that need an all-purpose rubber. I'm interested to see if it is consistent sheet-to-sheet, because if it is, it may have a permanent home on my backhand.
