I got a red "ultramax" sheet for my backhand from the Bluestorm Pro.
I am not going to beat around the bush with it or bullshit about it either.
I got it since some Japanese blog/vloggers have been saying it is very good and honestly some shore A and O measurements suggested it has a similar topsheet and sponge hardness as Tenergy 05. While being a thin top sheet ESN rubber I kinda believed the objective measurements but it is not like Tenergy 05.
Sure I trust the measurements but it doesn't feel as soft and supple as Tenergy 05.
Another aspect is that some ESN rubbers I can get for free. This was one of those... I am a cheap-ass bastard always looking for the best cost-performance rubbers.
And another very huge aspect is that from all the ESN made rubbers this seemed to have the most air bubble vs sponge material on guoqiuhui:
http://www.guoqiuhui.net/Home/Goods/details/goods_id/3117
I guess V>22 is very similar while having a taller pimple structure so I guess V>22 is a bit faster, less spinny and has a softer feeling.
But while I can get the Bluestorm Pro for free I can't say the same for V>22...
I am not a huge Donic fan myself, when I was young I had one Donic blade and it was crap, never tried their rubbers, never really felt anything positive about them to be honest. Sure recently I had a Donic Bluegrip C2 which is a pretty OK rubber if someone is looking for a Hurricane 3 blue sponge with an European-Jap twist to it. I can recommend it with all my heart to those people.
One thing I recently discovered about Donic is that for the "same tech" ESN rubbers they are the cheapest and they are the earliest adopters.
Like Donic makes their Bluegrip C2 or Bluestorm Pro and after other brands release their Tibhar K3 or Victas V>22 etc... and the other brands usually have some surecharge for those.
Do I believe Tibhar K3 is better than Bluegrip C2? With all my heart yes, I think K3 is much superior. But I don't honestly I don't know where the difference comes from since if you look at guoqiuhui.net and compare C2 and K3 I wonder what difference one sees except the sponge color.
Zwill pull your poop together, tell us about the Bluestorm Pro.
Well in my country it costs about 40-45 EUR for starters. I mean I don't know how that translates to other nations but Rasanter R53 or even Gewo Nexxus Superselects are more expensive. V>22 is about 15EUR more.
It really is competing with plain-ass MX-P and Victas V>15. These rubbers are pretty good but at least 6-7 years old tech. If anyone knows me I have been loving V>15 and that will not change. That rubber is great, in some aspects it is better than Bluestorm Pro.
Let me try to tell you what are the best parts of the Bluestorm Pro.
1, not too heavy. Ultramax cut to a modern Joola blade head size which is about 158x150mm is about 51g, cut to a Viscaria head it should be 50g. Sure, not light but not 52-3g either like MX-D or whatever.
2, you don't need ultramax? No problem go for 2.0mm. Do I think it is sufficient for most players on backhand? Absolutely and you can save a few grams too. Maybe on backhand it has some advantages over ultramax.
3, It's not boosted? I know some have reported that Bluestorm Pro has its tits boosted off. Seriously? I might have gotten a sheet that's not or the booster has evaporated already? I did not see any residue nor booster smell inside my packaging.
4, Sponge has very large pores and the walls between the pores are very thin. I don't wanna go on a
@brokenball rant here since that would be out of my character but let me just say as much "air" (gasses on normal temp and altitude) are more compressible than foam or booster liquid. (come on BB I hope you read it and can give me some credit)
5, Ok, let's dive into more fun stuff that non-pro players can't chew. I have tried this sheet on the 31st of March on my Joola Trinity blade what is an outer carbon limba top since I was assuming it will be like T05 and I liked T05 on that blade the most. Well it worker pretty well to be honest. I think this rubber works the best with outer carbon blades, I would not pair it with inner carbon. The rubber always wants to make the ball spin. I don't know why, it's kinda like dignics it makes the ball spin even when you really don't want it. It's just how it is... You hit it flat and it makes the ball rotate without permission. Are you like me and you are trying to fiddle around with racket angles for optimal grip and spin/speed? Yeah, mate, screw that BS, just hold the racket naturally, heck you can just hold it vertically and flat hit the ball and the rubber will spin the ball. It's really so simple.
For me, this took off the strain from my wrist immediately. I can just play naturally.
6, The spin it makes just naturally swinging it is really disgusting. I don't know how it does it but I just naturally let my arm go upwards and a very high-quality spin and fast shot comes out of it in the end. I can't even try to explain this but it is very much like dignics. But I think it's easier than dignics.
7, I said I paired first with a limba top layer outer carbon blade, well since it makes such a good arc and spin I was like I can do with a harder and stiffer blade. So I glued it on my Zhou Qihao S-ALC blade which on can imagine is like a Super Viscaria blade. Yup, the harder and faster koto top ply was not giving me any problems at all. Hell it was giving me more direct speed and easier open ups...
8, So I was talking about March 31st as first time I tried it. Well the very same night after trying it I removed it from my Trinity blade and stick it on my Zhou Qihao S-ALC blade. And 1st of April, (today) was match day. Now normally this is something that you don't do. You don't use a rubber you only played with for maybe 2-3 hours before, and you don't use it on a different blade you have tried it on before for 2-3 hours. Well I sure did...
And I am fracking glad I did since my impression was spot on, for this rubbery you need a hard and stiff blade under it. It is fantastic for blocking, fantastic from lifting underspin, fantastic for keeping the rally going and maybe add some spice to it.
Hard to explain it's flat bounce it's not much, you do a bounce test maybe it's like G-1, you do a spin test and you feel like D05 is like 15cm behind. Hard, stiff blades are good for bounce since they make the ball fly, and this rubber makes the ball spin if you hit it with the slightest of angle. It is truly unprecedented.
It might be like D05 but easier to use.
9, blocking? Oh boy, so where to begin. It's not very spin sensitive, you can block very spinny loops that are slow. You can control it very well, like I said it's nor very bouncy on a normal bounce test, so if it's just a slow but very spinny loop you can control it surprisingly well.
If it's a fast kill shot or fast open up loop you can also control it super well. I feel this is the area that this rubber shines a lot and where it gets it's "PRO" name. It can handle pro's shots super well with a hard and fast and stiff blade. You can block it back very well and place it as you wish and with a Super Viscaria type blade you have options, you pull your racket back in the last minute to sponge up the speed or rather push on it to increase it. It's great variety.
10, over the table touch... Yeah, it's really good. On soft balls it's not bouncy, but if it's a soft and spinny ball it can under chop it really nicely. I think serve receiving with is is about as it good it gets if you are a "pro".
Sure if you use pips on backhand then this won't be your cup of tea to replace it...
10+1, durability, hmmmmmmmmmmmm. I think it will be very solid. Sure I know ESN rubber have shit life except for G-1 and V>15. I think this one will be great as well. Glue can be removed very nicely even though the sponge has huge and consistently huge pores. But the sponge feels really dry too out of the package.
Zwill, no one cares about BH, why are you talking about BH only for this rubber?
I think it sucks on FH. It spins without my permission, on my FH I don't like that. I don't feel my own hitting power with it on my FH. On my BH I don't even want to feel my own skills that much lol. If my rubber can correct me then it is welcome.
Thin topsheet on FH is too weak? Not sure about this but it's a theory. I am now using the Tibhar K3 on my forehand and I think it works well enough, but sometimes I feel it is a bit soft???
I don't want to complain too much about it but maybe the Joola Dynaryz ZGR @ 57 deg will be more suitable on FH unless until then ESN cooks up something then, or I just use D09c...
TL;DR
Bluestorm Pro is a well priced backhand rubber.
