Looking for a Fh Rubber

[Nash77]

only my humble opinion - (I haven't been playing for that long).

I can tell you're really trying to improve and you invest A LOT of time writing posts and analyzing equipment. I think you said you've been playing for 5+ years already.

In my opinion, after watching your video - I would suggest doing anything possible to either find a coach or start playing with better players on the regular.

It's not really about the equipment (even if your current setup isn't ideal), and the way to get significantly better is not by spending a lot of time debating on the forum.

IMO what will really help you a lot more is :

1. Coach
2. Better playing partners
3. More training.

If you can combine all 3 - great. But even 2 of them can really help you make a jump.

Personally I had very little theoretical knowledge when I started playing, alot less then you do.

But I found the best players I could and played them as much as I could. And it worked for me.

 

[MORTtheORT]

It is the T05 time!!!!! I have just transitioned from the D09C, to the G1 and now I am new to the T05...finding it ridiculously easy to attack and understand all the talk about it. I went 1.9mm so I still have control as I adjust to catapult sponge.

Since they are serving half long, you should be able to attack with the T05 as it is built for it. My experience is that is generates speed and spin automatically and in your video anything that stays low of the end of the table you tend to play a passive shot. The T05 will give you the speed, spin and net clearance so you can actually attack these balls with good safety.

 

[victormanriquey]

yes and I am only confident with d09c if I know what type of ball am getting and in matches I just don't so to compensate that I want a more forgiving rubber instead until I can work on reading the ball and trajectory better.

I do still think d09c fits my playstyle age and technique. I can fully use this rubber in drills but just not in matches. So I want to move to something that gives me more confidence

Yes I fully understand and can agree to what you say here. Plenty of alternatives to 09c that fit your description, so a matter of finding yours, I can help if needed, check your DMs

 

[piligrim]

In my opinion, after watching your video - I would suggest doing anything possible to either find a coach or start playing with better players on the regular.

The problem is better players don't want to play with lower level player. They also want to play with better players

 

[NextLevel]

The problem is better players don't want to play with lower level player. They also want to play with better players

That's why everything costs money in life. Many people would not take jobs they don't want to take otherwise.

 

[Zwill]

The problem is better players don't want to play with lower level player. They also want to play with better players

I think this is probably true but also foolish. I see many players with great form and play do amazing against similar players. Then they get a 3 level lower push pips player and they fall apart. Or they get a 2 level lower similar style player and the lower level player does awkward things do to their ack of skill and the higner level player can't comprehend it.

I think high level players must play with lower level players so they get awkward balls. If they practice awkward balls they won't miss those agains better players as much. Might make a difference between winning or losing.

 

[piligrim]

I think this is probably true but also foolish. I see many players with great form and play do amazing against similar players. Then they get a 3 level lower push pips player and they fall apart. Or they get a 2 level lower similar style player and the lower level player does awkward things do to their ack of skill and the higner level player can't comprehend it.

I think high level players must play with lower level players so they get awkward balls. If they practice awkward balls they won't miss those agains better players as much. Might make a difference between winning or losing.

You talking about tournament game and I am talking about practice. Usually people practice with someone around same level. Maybe there is examples 2000 player practice with 1500 but it would be very rear

 

[Zwill]

You talking about tournament game and I am talking about practice. Usually people practice with someone around same level. Maybe there is examples 2000 player practice with 1500 but it would be very rear

Well I'm talking about practicing with lower players so one is prepared in higher level tourments against lower level balls. Because every now and then even FZD will fart out a totally noob ball and if you are prepared for that you will slap FZD on his ass at that moment. If you are not prepared you will get slapped.
Most players are not FZD so they will release more noob balls. I say better practice to slap those balls. Who to practice those with? With noobs.

 

[chandyrandy]

Confidence vote for glayzer 05 both sides, easier to activate that g1, good lifespan, short game is still easy (I'm using an accoustic so that might help).
Main con is that the rubber is fragile

 

[ThePongCommenter]

It's hard to get advice from the general public. With that said, I think if a lot of people are saying the same thing, especially if many of them have gone through similar things as him, he should at least give their advice a try instead of just constantly arguing with them. It's really looking like he's more looking for affirmation than advice at this point.

Yeah getting advice on a forum where most people are anonymous is definitely a gamble, but since that is the one he has clearly chosen to take in a very intense way, he would probably be better off not exhausting all the people who have tried to help. I am also not sure if his end goal is to truly be openminded and try new things or just have people tell him that what he's thinking is all right, and whether he has taken this approach because he doesn't have access to coaching or just doesn't want to spend the money.

 

[PenHoldSandro]

Based on the first video, (I'm not good at equipment tips) but I think some sort of Tensor/Hybrid will do well. MX-P may be a good option, considering that your stroke is small with quick reload time (forgot the term lol).

 

[MORTtheORT]

I honestly don't understand the h3 technique vs esn rubber technique. Care to explain further?

I also have no coach and h3 is even more exhausting to get good quality shots (tried it on my W968) and I had better time with a d09c instead. it was h3 blue 39° 2x boosted. Sponge feels so dead. Like I don't even know if I activate the sponge because there is no "kick" from the sponge to give me that feedback like a d09c for example.

So no I don't think I wanna go that route. Atleast not this season.

T05...1.9mm and all your problems will go away.

H3 is all about power transfer from your own body as where the general esn rubber is more about helping you generate power. This changes your technique as you will need more body engagement with the H3.

IMO you want the rubber that helps....T05 will allow you to play the game you are trying to play. Max version one day, but for now 1.9mm will give you the power, spin and control to win matches today. A T05 1.9mm is going to give you so much more power and spin then you are currently generating on that D09C max and it will do it easily and automatically for you. You will overpower backspin easily, no more of these little dap shots you do for long low balls....you will unload on them, sending a low, fast and very spinny missile back.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

Dear OP,

All road eventually leads to Rome, when will you submit to your deZyre?

 

[blahness]

Imo the true liability in OP's game is the BH, not so much the FH. Not sure how changing FH rubber will do much.

 

[Wakkibatty]

I'm not a coach's armpit frankly, but I do know quite a bit about how blades and technique interact.

I'd like to offer you my own perspective (for whatever it's worth) as a blade maker.

Based purely on your comments and videos, I suspect:

- your current set up has too much catapult -based speed, or

-your earlier learner set ups had too much catapult derived speed.

Either way, my instincts is equipment issues are definitely at least part of your problem.

Your FH stroke mechanics frankly aren't the worst I've seen, but they are also not creating all the power & spin for you they potentially could.

What seems most clear to me is there's a disconnect / inconsistency between your body mechanics and the ball's trajectory during both practice and play, and you seem to be relying on your FH rubber too much to provide both return speed and quality (those tentative FH block shots during play, the variable FH loop trajectory height & length during training, and your slightly late timing on the FH loop (making contact almost beside your body instead of slightly in front of you) are all telltale signs to me of you trying to accommodate your Dignics high levels of rubber catapult by modifying your stroke technique).

I.e.: In other words, it appears you've possibly learnt some bad habits that you now need to un-learn, or at least modify.

- your instinct to change to a more linear set up feels right to me. Going by your comments however, you are still wedded to catapult-based speed in your game, which is most likely a big part of the problem.

I therefore recommend you merely reduce your current set up's catapult speed considerably, rather than eliminate it all together.

--In addition to getting a really good technique coach (the most important change you can make!!) I suggest you at least consider the following equipment changes as well.

- Keep the Peter Korbel blade for now, it's a good blade for this particular exercise.

- team it with a far more linear FH rubber, that has only *partial* catapult/tensor-like bounce & speed.

- Choose a rubber which also has medium to mid-high density sponge, and a Topsheet that still has good spin potential.

- Dead H3 sponge may be too drastic a change -- you really need to find a mid point between H3 and Tensor sponge that gives you a larger margin for error.)

- Consider choosing something more towards the H3 side of the equation though, rather than on the ESN tensor side, or in the absolute middle. If the rubber is too springy, you won't modify your stroke as much to add power and finesse it's currently missing.

- Avoid high throw rubbers. You need to transfer power forwards a bit more I suspect, and bring your FH arm swing vector a bit more in line with the ball's trajectory. High throw rubbers are safer yes, but you need to be more aware than you currently seem to be, of what your arm, bat, weight shift and body rotation are all doing to the ball's trajectory, velocity and rotation. High throw rubbers help remove the need to be discriminating with your technique. Lower throw rubbers however tell you right away if you're doing something wrong.

- In terms of price and haptic feedback levels, cheaper, lower mid-tier, all-round & semi-linear Chinese rubbers are your friend here

A few possible options include:

---- 729 Focus 3 in max
---- Tuttle Beijing 4 in Max
---- Loki Rxton 3 Pink or Blue in Max (Maybe even a Rxton 3 Pro, but I suspect that will be too slowand H3-like for you. The R3Blue is probably the best option out of these due to its extra pop from the sponge).

Other possibilities include:

- Yasaka Rigan Spin in Max (a really brilliant top sheet! Fantastic Spin, Moderate speed, very good control, plus it bottoms out reasonably easily, which is possibly a good thing for you right now, as you need to be a bit more aware of what's happening at impact)

- Xiom Vega Europe / Pro / X (but nothing faster that the X! Again, it's your stroke that needs to do the heavy lifting in terms of generating quality, not your rubber.)

- Yasaka Rakza 7 (yes I know - I read your comments on this rubber -- some may say it's still too fast. But it's a high quality option regardless. Once you get your FH power generation a bit more aligned behind the ball (ie: more along its approach vector) the R7 should be plenty fast enough.

As you seem to be looking to the rubber to provide stroke quality, I suspect this means that with your forehand, you're probably always chasing just the right timing point, and just the right amount of brush on your FH loops. Am I correct?

Given the speed of the game however, this is a flawed model -- It's impossible to modify your timing quickly enough to adjust to every return. Your tentative reaction to sudden speed changes on your FH would support this -- in such circumstances you don't know how hard to hit the ball, as you're not certain where it will land.)

If your FH stroke technique is ingrained properly however, and your reflexes are on point, then tempo changes like these by your opponent aren't such an issue. Once these changes are made, your returns will land advantageously on your opponent's side of the table anyway, and will do so long before you've even realise you've hit a return.

Once you get your stroke dynamics right, *both* ball timing and gauging the right levels of brush become largely instinctive -- but right now your game and comments suggest you're miles away from that.

All these equipment suggestions I've made are meant to facilitate you making some FH stroke adjustments, as opposed to boosting performance.

I really suspect (as do several other posters) that you need to consider being far less focussed on taming/maximising your FH rubber. Instead, you should get far more in touch with letting your rubber augment the natural power and quality that should be inherent to your game.

Long story short, there are countless other similar / more linear rubbers you could try really... but the brand and make of rubber you choose are partially irrelevant, as it's not about the rubber.
As a player, you're not there augmenting your rubber's inherent spin and speed potential -- it's always the other way around.

In my opinion, what matters most with your rubber choice right now, is that it helps you adjust your stroke, by:

---- having catapult speed a good site lower than you get with Butterfly / ESN , and;

--- it's sponge should be on the denser side: this sends more feedback through your Korbel down to your hand, which allows all the deep-tissue / haptic / proprioception neurons located in your hand, arm, and shoulder to get more sensory feedback about ball impact forces via the blade;

- plus you still need a little catapult effect to the rubber, so that the changes aren't too drastic to adjust to... as this can also potentially act against your development.

...all the rest should be largely immaterial.

The extra feedback and sensory-data these sorts of rubbers will provide you, can help your senses better integrate your FH stroke and power generation motions with your ball impact dynamics, and thereby use the former to influence the latter.

Hope this helps. Good luck with it 🙂

 

[MORTtheORT]

The problem is better players don't want to play with lower level player. They also want to play with better players

That's not good. It appears too many clubs are overly focused on internal competition/fixture over the true competition of open tournaments or leagues.

 

[Zezima]

I'm not a coach's armpit frankly, but I do know quite a bit about how blades and technique interact.

I'd like to offer you my own perspective (for whatever it's worth) as a blade maker.

Based purely on your comments and videos, I suspect:

- your current set up has too much catapult -based speed, or

-your earlier learner set ups had too much catapult derived speed.

Either way, my instincts is equipment issues are definitely at least part of your problem.

Your FH stroke mechanics frankly aren't the worst I've seen, but they are also not creating all the power & spin for you they potentially could.

What seems most clear to me is there's a disconnect / inconsistency between your body mechanics and the ball's trajectory during both practice and play, and you seem to be relying on your FH rubber too much to provide both return speed and quality (those tentative FH block shots during play, the variable FH loop trajectory height & length during training, and your slightly late timing on the FH loop (making contact almost beside your body instead of slightly in front of you) are all telltale signs to me of you trying to accommodate your Dignics high levels of rubber catapult by modifying your stroke technique).

I.e.: In other words, it appears you've possibly learnt some bad habits that you now need to un-learn, or at least modify.

- your instinct to change to a more linear set up feels right to me. Going by your comments however, you are still wedded to catapult-based speed in your game, which is most likely a big part of the problem.

I therefore recommend you merely reduce your current set up's catapult speed considerably, rather than eliminate it all together.

--In addition to getting a really good technique coach (the most important change you can make!!) I suggest you at least consider the following equipment changes as well.

- Keep the Peter Korbel blade for now, it's a good blade for this particular exercise.

- team it with a far more linear FH rubber, that has only *partial* catapult/tensor-like bounce & speed.

- Choose a rubber which also has medium to mid-high density sponge, and a Topsheet that still has good spin potential. (You need that firmer sponge bed to create more feedback in your blade for your CNS / proprioception to latch onto as you correct your stroke. Soft and/or bouncy sponge will create more spin and speed, but will also interfere with the blade feedback your CNS is going to need. Dead H3 sponge may be too drastic a change -- you really need to find a mid point between H3 and Tensor sponge that gives you a larger margin for error.)

- Consider choosing something more towards the H3 side of the equation, rather than on the ESN tensor side, or in the absolute middle. If the rubber is still too springy, you won't modify your stroke as much to add all the power it's now missing.

Avoid very high throw rubbers. You need to transfer power forwards a bit more I suspect, and bring your FH arm swing vector a bit more in line with the ball's trajectory. High throw rubbers are safer yes, but you need to be more aware than you currently seem to be, of what your arm, bat, weight shift and body rotation are all doing to the ball's trajectory, velocity and rotation.

- In terms of price and haptic feedback levels, cheaper, lower mid-tier, all-round & semi-linear Chinese rubbers are your friend here: A few possible options include:

---- 729 Focus 3 in max
---- Tuttle Beijing 4 in Max
---- Loki Rxton 3 Pink or Blue in Max (Maybe even a Rxton 3 Pro, but I suspect that will be too slowand H3-like for you. The R3Blue is probably the best option out of these due to its extra pop from the sponge).

Other possibilities include:

- Yasaka Rigan Spin in Max (a really brilliant top sheet! Fantastic Spin, Moderate speed, very good control, plus it bottoms out reasonably easily, which is possibly a good thing for you right now, as you need to be a bit more aware of what's happening at impact)

- Xiom Vega Europe / Pro / X (but nothing faster that the X! Again, it's your stroke that needs to do the heavy lifting in terms of generating quality, not your rubber.)

- Yasaka Rakza 7 (yes I know - I read your comments on this rubber. But it's still a quality option. Once you get all your FH power generation a little bit more aligned behind the ball (ie: more along its approach vector) the R7 should be plenty fast enough.

As you seem to be looking to the rubber to provide stroke quality, this means with your forehand you're probably always chasing just the right timing point, and just the right amount of brush with your FH loops.

Given the speed of the game however, this is a flawed model -- It's almost impossible to modify your timing quickly enough to adjust to every return (your tentative reaction to sudden speed changes on your FH would support this -- in such circumstances you don't know how hard to hit the ball, as you're not certain where it will land.)

If your FH stroke technique is ingrained properly, and your reflexes are on point, then tempo changes by your opponent aren't such an issue. The ball will land in an advantageous spot on your opponent's side of the table anyway... before you've even realised you've hit it.

Once you get your stroke dynamics right, *both* ball timing and gauging the right levels of brush become completely instinctive -- but right now your game seems miles away from that.

All these equipment suggestions I've made are meant solely to facilitate you making FH stroke adjustments, as opposed to boosting your performance.

I really feel (as have other posters) that you need to consider being far less focussed on taming/maximising your FH rubber, and instead get far more in touch with letting your rubber augment the natural power and quality that should be inherent to your game.

Long story short, there are countless other similar / more linear rubbers you could try... but the brand and make of rubber you choose are partially irrelevant, as it's not about the rubber.

As a player, you're not there augmenting your rubber's inherent capacity for spin and speed -- it's always the other way around.

In my opinion, what matters most with your rubber choice right now, is that it actively helps you adjust your stroke:

All that really matters with your rubber choice right now IMO is that:

---- its catapult speed needs to be a good site lower than you get with Butterfly / ESN , and;

--- it's sponge should be on the denser side, so that it creates more feedback vibration through your Korbel, and the deep tissue / haptic / proprioception neurons in your hand arm and shoulder get a bit more feedback data via the blade appropriately;

...all the rest should be largely immaterial.

The extra feedback and sensory-data these sorts of rubbers provide can help your senses better integrate your FH stroke and power generation with ball impact dynamics, and thereby use the former to influence the latter in a match.

Hope this helps. Good luck with it 🙂

Thank you for the input. I agree with what you said. Maybe I worded it badly in some comments but thats exactly what I was talking about. The Problem with H3 was I didn't feel it (only hear? it I guess - but I am bad at that) if I hit good or not.

This is from december. My first session on working my fh technique. I was playing with my old blade (w968) and peter korbel for the first time. In the description I wrote some good shots I did and it was mostly with d09c and with g1. Not h3 and not d80.

Back to your feedback: I have no clue about the rubbers you mentioned. I just randomly found

XIOM's long-time bestseller, Vega Europe , now in hybrid style.
The VEGA EUROPE H was developed for players who prefer softer rubbers. With a 45.0° sponge, it provides improved control and stability.
The Chinese-style top rubber is slightly sticky, but has more spin and feel than the classic top rubbers.
It offers perfect ball feedback and ensures reliability in every game situation.
"Sticky for Everyone!"
The versatility and balanced playing behavior of the VEGA EUROPE H make the entry into hybrid technology a pleasant surprise.
Recommended for advanced players who want more precision and control.
Colors: Red / Black
Sponge thickness: 2.0 mm / MAX
Sponge hardness: 45°

and got interested since its also hybrid (closer to d09c?) but the soft more controlled version?

I can't comment on the chinese ones you wrote.

I agree with all of this:

- your instinct to change to a more linear set up feels right to me. Going by your comments however, you are still wedded to catapult-based speed in your game, which is most likely a big part of the problem.

I therefore recommend you merely reduce your current set up's catapult speed considerably, rather than eliminate it all together.

--In addition to getting a really good technique coach (the most important change you can make!!) I suggest you at least consider the following equipment changes as well.

- Keep the Peter Korbel blade for now, it's a good blade for this particular exercise.

- team it with a far more linear FH rubber, that has only *partial* catapult/tensor-like bounce & speed.

- Choose a rubber which also has medium to mid-high density sponge, and a Topsheet that still has good spin potential. (You need that firmer sponge bed to create more feedback in your blade for your CNS / proprioception to latch onto as you correct your stroke. Soft and/or bouncy sponge will create more spin and speed, but will also interfere with the blade feedback your CNS is going to need. Dead H3 sponge may be too drastic a change -- you really need to find a mid point between H3 and Tensor sponge that gives you a larger margin for error.)

- Consider choosing something more towards the H3 side of the equation, rather than on the ESN tensor side, or in the absolute middle. If the rubber is still too springy, you won't modify your stroke as much to add all the power it's now missing.

Avoid very high throw rubbers. You need to transfer power forwards a bit more I suspect, and bring your FH arm swing vector a bit more in line with the ball's trajectory. High throw rubbers are safer yes, but you need to be more aware than you currently seem to be, of what your arm, bat, weight shift and body rotation are all doing to the ball's trajectory, velocity and rotation.

I have been playing high throw rubbers all my life I think. Which made me loop on top of the ball a lot instead of hitting the ball. I had watched a video about this. Basically I was trying to get over the ball with a very closed racket angle. Right now I am working on looping with an open bat but since activating the sponge is still hard the balls fly out I also have the tendency to loop more upwards than forwards (slowly understanding that I make the arc lower if I loop more forwards)

So yeah I will keep Korbel and now need a rubber like that. More linear, lower throw, less speed but not completely dead sponge as h3. Can we limit the rubber choices to like 1-3? I am still a bit overwhelmed with that many different ones. Maybe you can tell me the differences?

https://www.schoeler-micke.de/sale/belaege/ if this page sells it even better since we get discount aswell so its cheaper for me to test it. I can even go and buy 2 then.

 

[Zezima]

Also watch this part of the video. This is the best player but he is a youth teacher same rating as me now:

Here I am looping with different gears/speed basically. (1 to 5) starting from very slow and then getting faster and faster

 

[Wakkibatty]

Thank you for the input. I agree with what you said. Maybe I worded it badly in some comments but thats exactly what I was talking about. The Problem with H3 was I didn't feel it (only hear? it I guess - but I am bad at that) if I hit good or not.

This is from december. My first session on working my fh technique. I was playing with my old blade (w968) and peter korbel for the first time. In the description I wrote some good shots I did and it was mostly with d09c and with g1. Not h3 and not d80.

Back to your feedback: I have no clue about the rubbers you mentioned. I just randomly found

and got interested since its also hybrid (closer to d09c?) but the soft more controlled version?

I can't comment on the chinese ones you wrote.

I agree with all of this:

I have been playing high throw rubbers all my life I think. Which made me loop on top of the ball a lot instead of hitting the ball. I had watched a video about this. Basically I was trying to get over the ball with a very closed racket angle. Right now I am working on looping with an open bat but since activating the sponge is still hard the balls fly out I also have the tendency to loop more upwards than forwards (slowly understanding that I make the arc lower if I loop more forwards)

So yeah I will keep Korbel and now need a rubber like that. More linear, lower throw, less speed but not completely dead sponge as h3. Can we limit the rubber choices to like 1-3? I am still a bit overwhelmed with that many different ones. Maybe you can tell me the differences?

https://www.schoeler-micke.de/sale/belaege/ if this page sells it even better since we get discount aswell so its cheaper for me to test it. I can even go and buy 2 then.

Thanks for the reply.

Honestly, I feel that Occam's Razor should be the order of the day here: ie -- the simplest solution is most likely the right one.

My advice is find yourself a sheet of Loki Rxton 3 Blue, try it for at least 3 months on your FH side, and see how you go.

I would also only practice your FH drive with it for the first month at least, and only start looping with it in the second half of the trial period, once you're far more used to it. It's a great rubber IMO, but it's also VERY different to your current Dignics.

Why this rubber, and why this method?

- it has pretty dense sponge, and should provide you lots of good quality feedback on a Korbel.

- it has LOTS more catapult than a standard H3, but also has a LOT less catapult that every top-line tensor out there.

- It's spinny, it's versatile, and has no obvious flaws in its capabilities.

- It's a surprisingly fast rubber when you get your technique right, and it spins like a right mofo when you get your brush right. Just like with an H3, these things never really bottom out, they only move the ball faster, and add more spin. Unlike with a H3 however, their baseline catapult speed is still pretty high considering the harder-than-average feeling it's sponge has.

-It's right in that catapult sweet spot I described earlier -- i.e.: its genuinely closer to a H3 than a Tenergy, but it's still somewhere towards the middle of that spectrum between the two.

- It's pretty low throw. Not as low as H3, but definitely low enough that it will force you to adjust your loop. It will also force you to hit more forwards if you just drive with it for just a month or so, . Then when you try looping with it later, you soon realise executing an effective (and destructive!) FH loop with it, is a hugely similar stroke to FH driving with one... Which is exactly how it's supposed to be.

- It's moderately tacky, but it's moderately fast sponge gives it a distinctly more hybrid-like playing feel, unlike a bog standard H3.

- It has roughly similar levels of tack to a Dignics, so it's friction point should still feel pretty familiar to your sense of touch.

- If you keep it very clean and away from oxygen between matches, then it's a long lasting and hard wearing rubber. I find one sheet can last you up to 6 months of regular play (at least 60 hours of hard hitting... It lasts far less however if you don't look after it however).

- If you transfer your weight properly with it during FH loops, it is a viscous, wild, attacking predatory beast of a rubber that can genuinely compete with rubbers twice it's price!

- If you *don't* weight transfer however, it's more like a large grumpy snarling dog standing behind a fence (ie: it has plenty of attacking potential, but it doesn't really scare anybody until you learn to let it off the chain. In other words, it will keep your FH technique honest and give you instant feedback during mistakes, but it also won't completely bury you for your technique errors. If your opponents are struggling against it, then you're doing something right.... And If they're not wrestling with the spin and speed, then you're doing something wrong.

- It is just utterly ridiculous value for money as far as rubbers go. It's not just pretty affordable, it's downright bloody cheap by every measure. If you don't like it, you've only spent less than €25 euro, including postage. Using it even just for a week will teach you a hell of a lot about what your money can get you in real terms.

- Most importantly it will allow you to still compete and have fun, even as you are learning and adapting your FH game.

There are many, many other rubbers out there could will do an equally good job. An R3Blue however will do exactly the same thing as they will, without also costing you anything remotely substantial. So why spend more than you have to? At best it's potentially a partial solution to your problem, at worst it's a harmless experiment that cost you chicken feed.

For someone in your situation, the R3Blue is genuinely a no-lose, no-brainer option worth trying. It's good enough to impress most players right out of the wrapper, and is good enough to have you genuinely competing and going toe to toe with your opponents.... Assuming that is, that you personally have technique that's good enough to bring out the best in it.

You can find them for sale on Aliexpress, Alibaba, or on countless other SE Asian TT retail websites out there. Otherwise try looking up some of the many R3 Blue reviews from European players that exist on YouTube.... Some of them are bound to have some online sales affiliate links in the comments.

Don't even bother about trying to shop around to get the lowest price you can on one -- just find a store you've heard of that stocks them, and buy one from there. You'll still be able to pick up four of them for the same price as a Dignics.(Shopping around for a cheaper R3Blue is a bit like shopping around for a cheaper box of matches, or a cheaper HB pencil - sure you can do it, but why would anyone ever bother?

PS: some of the older stock of R3 Blues had QA issues, but in my experience at least those were all fixed ages ago.

PPS: If you can't get an R3 Blue, get an Rxton 3 Pink instead. It's essentially the exact same rubber, with the exact same features. The only differences it has to the R3 Blue are its colour, it's marginally softer sponge, it's marginally lower catapult, and it's marginally lighter weight. Everything else about it is exactly the same (frankly the R3 Pink is are one of my all time favourite FH rubbers to use, and I say that based entirely on its performance, playing feel, spin and speed... The fact it is also dirt cheap is frankly irrelevant, and has nothing to do with imy love of it whatsoever... Game recognise game! 😎😎😎

 

[Wakkibatty]

Also watch this part of the video. This is the best player but he is a youth teacher same rating as me now:

Here I am looping with different gears/speed basically. (1 to 5) starting from very slow and then getting faster and faster

As a follow up to my earlier comments, here's a YouTube review of the R3 Blue along with its stablemate, the Loki Arthur China, as made by a european-based player (video is in french but has English subtitles)

Spoiler alert -- it basically says all the same things I did (eh... It's nice to have some independent verification nonetheless, so you know I'm not just blowing smoke here 😎)

Both the rubbers in this review are excellent IMO, but the LAC is more expensive and a bit less forgiving than the R3B I find.

Given that the LAC is only marginally better but still twice the price of the R3, and given it is also a bit more tricky to use IMO, I don't recommend it in your case quite as highly as I do the R3B... (But it is still an excellent rubber regardless).

Note the French gent in this review video is using a very hard and very fast carbon blade as a test bed.
This is an excellent choice for the R3B frankly, as the blade's hardness helps unlock the R3B's full attacking potential.
That said it should still perform very nicely on a Korbel as well, just with slightly less explosive speed due to the difference in their hardness and stiffness.

Note this gent has a very vertical loop stroke like you do, but the R3B's throw angle is still pretty low regardless. Note also that the rubber is no slouch in terms of spin or speed, and control is still excellent... All this despite its ridiculously low price tag.

How this all helps... Enjoy! 🙂