What Are Hybrid Table Tennis Rubbers and Why Are They So Popular Nowadays?

[Tyce]

I think my shortlist would be G09c, MK hybrid.
I'm sort of OK with Glayzer and Butterfly sponge. MK I tried only shortly, but it very non-impressive in a good way. Shots landed, there was spin, and that was that.

I don't particularly like the feeling of Rakza 7 so I'd probably pick Rakza Z only if the rest wasn't great.

I would also be interested in trying the softer versions of DNA Hybrid because the XH felt very tolerant, but also very 2 geared. The high gear was just still very good to control.

NUZN... I just don't know. Andro can feel great but also completely off at the same time. The fact that there are two different types of NUZN doesn't really help either. I don't like getting basically a different rubber when you change the hardness a little bit.

 

[Haito]

I think my shortlist would be G09c, MK hybrid.
I'm sort of OK with Glayzer and Butterfly sponge. MK I tried only shortly, but it very non-impressive in a good way. Shots landed, there was spin, and that was that.

I don't particularly like the feeling of Rakza 7 so I'd probably pick Rakza Z only if the rest wasn't great.

I would also be interested in trying the softer versions of DNA Hybrid because the XH felt very tolerant, but also very 2 geared. The high gear was just still very good to control.

NUZN... I just don't know. Andro can feel great but also completely off at the same time. The fact that there are two different types of NUZN doesn't really help either. I don't like getting basically a different rubber when you change the hardness a little bit.

All the ESN hybrids are not very tacky :/ I've never been happy with them. They start slipping quite quick. Even when cleaned often. I am not sure, but I think they use softer rubber compounds than Chinese manufacturers.

The big issue with hybrids in general is that people imagine them being quite fast. Xiom C55, Rasanter C53 etc, they are all quite zippy.

Tacky rubbers purpose is to catch the ball with tackiness, this is by nature counter acting the hit zippines. I do not know how to vocalize it. With tacky rubbers I use a bit of a different technique. I can just brush through the ball, it will not sleep, it will not bottom out, but I will be zippy due to top spin :/ With hybrids you need to go deeper into the sponge to get grip, since they are not as tacky.

 

[Tyce]

I'm not really looking for speed, I actually think there's a fair chance that I'm better off playing Chinese, because I can play it very slowly if that's required, but also power up. I like playing with tempo changes myself, it's a great way to get people on edge.
I have tried Chinese but missed a little bit of auto speed, and I have tried tensors but I find the speed curve hard to learn and depend on. Even with sensible tensor rubbers like Glayzer I find myself holding back because I don't trust the response to not overshoot the table. With something like Mercury 2 I see the space to put a little extra movement in, but I can also just dump blocks into the net out of nowhere.

 

[Haito]

I'm not really looking for speed, I actually think there's a fair chance that I'm better off playing Chinese, because I can play it very slowly if that's required, but also power up. I like playing with tempo changes myself, it's a great way to get people on edge.
I have tried Chinese but missed a little bit of auto speed, and I have tried tensors but I find the speed curve hard to learn and depend on. Even with sensible tensor rubbers like Glayzer I find myself holding back because I don't trust the response to not overshoot the table. With something like Mercury 2 I see the space to put a little extra movement in, but I can also just dump blocks into the net out of nowhere.

If you happen to stumble upon LAC or R7 in 37 degrees hardness, I suggest you try them. They might be up your alley.

 

[victormanriquey]

Hybrid MK or Bluegrip S1 was recommended to me by an expert player who has played me.

I've tried Hybrid MK and it was really comfortable to play with, I felt it was slightly slow so it may have been a little worn out. Didn't try for really long, though.

Yeah agreed, and yeah, maybe S1 can work too, is not a bad rubber, same durability as MK i feel.

I had Jupiter 3 Asia 38A on backhand for a while and I liked it a lot, very easy to play with. Didn't boost it myself additionally. I still have that sheet and I plan to wear it out in training instead of giving it away, which says a lot.

Yes agreed, same here!

I played with G-1 on BH for a while and I found it usable but slightly too nonlinear to be ideal. It has this weird character where low speed is relatively fast, mid-speed is slow and then high speed is suddenly a lot faster than I expect. I will definitely keep that sheet around and put it back on some other time whenever I feel like I need that speed.

I ll review the G1/C1 combo next year, need to do a month of play properly instead of some hours here and there with different blades

 

[victormanriquey]

I think my shortlist would be G09c, MK hybrid.
I'm sort of OK with Glayzer and Butterfly sponge. MK I tried only shortly, but it very non-impressive in a good way. Shots landed, there was spin, and that was that.

I don't particularly like the feeling of Rakza 7 so I'd probably pick Rakza Z only if the rest wasn't great.

I would also be interested in trying the softer versions of DNA Hybrid because the XH felt very tolerant, but also very 2 geared. The high gear was just still very good to control.

NUZN... I just don't know. Andro can feel great but also completely off at the same time. The fact that there are two different types of NUZN doesn't really help either. I don't like getting basically a different rubber when you change the hardness a little bit.

Yeah those work, both G09c and MK feel different but they both work, you may wanna try what fits best for you when it comes to gear taste and stroke mechanics MK is as you say, just safe, same-ish G09c, but since you asked for safe I thought of those first hehe

Yeah I'm ok with Rakza 7 but it's not my most favourite feeling or tastw, but Rakza Z feels different though, still Yasaka but different.

DNA hybrid I think the M version is a good rubber amongst many players, so if you have some spare cents, maybe you can try, but don't do XH or H, too much power for what you described.

Nuzn is great but is a tensor with some linearity to it, see it in that way, and then you can see, do I like this vibe or not haha

 

[victormanriquey]

All the ESN hybrids are not very tacky :/ I've never been happy with them. They start slipping quite quick. Even when cleaned often. I am not sure, but I think they use softer rubber compounds than Chinese manufacturers.

The big issue with hybrids in general is that people imagine them being quite fast. Xiom C55, Rasanter C53 etc, they are all quite zippy.

Tacky rubbers purpose is to catch the ball with tackiness, this is by nature counter acting the hit zippines. I do not know how to vocalize it. With tacky rubbers I use a bit of a different technique. I can just brush through the ball, it will not sleep, it will not bottom out, but I will be zippy due to top spin :/ With hybrids you need to go deeper into the sponge to get grip, since they are not as tacky.

ESN is ESN, if you love it people always play it and cannot play chinese or hybrids haha but if you prefer no ESN (like me mostly) because you learnt with the other side of the coin, then it's fine too, both can work, but technique and blade are different, I prefer tacky like you @Haito but when I help players I'm neutral, if they prefer ESN then we do ESN, it's all fine

Hybrids can be fast yes, the helix is fast, C2 is fast, nuzn is fast, but not all are, rakza Z is slow, G09c is slow, MK hybrid is slowish, so you have a bit of all, and certainly chinese hybrids can be slow and controlled, like 8-80 for example

And yes tacky has that, you can brush thinly and upwards and it works, but recently tacky have been moving more into less tacky and more hybrid, hence the new hit-brush trend, and not so much thin upwad-forwards brush of H3 or similar in the past with previous ball.

 

[victormanriquey]

I'm not really looking for speed, I actually think there's a fair chance that I'm better off playing Chinese, because I can play it very slowly if that's required, but also power up. I like playing with tempo changes myself, it's a great way to get people on edge.
I have tried Chinese but missed a little bit of auto speed, and I have tried tensors but I find the speed curve hard to learn and depend on. Even with sensible tensor rubbers like Glayzer I find myself holding back because I don't trust the response to not overshoot the table. With something like Mercury 2 I see the space to put a little extra movement in, but I can also just dump blocks into the net out of nowhere.

Feels like you are describing a linear hybrid on its own thijs, MK really or G09c or even asia jupiter 3, those 3 all fit what you describe, mk more tensor and easier to activate, g09c more high end explosion and less bounce initially and jupiter asia tackier and more demanding, but still very good!

 

[victormanriquey]

If you happen to stumble upon LAC or R7 in 37 degrees hardness, I suggest you try them. They might be up your alley.

Maybe LAC too much for him @Haito ? Unboosted though could work... 🤔 Rxton 5 Id say too slow, unboosted is slooooow, but maybe Rxton 7 yes, I have not tried it Will need to!

 

[Haito]

Maybe LAC too much for him @Haito ? Unboosted though could work... 🤔 Rxton 5 Id say too slow, unboosted is slooooow, but maybe Rxton 7 yes, I have not tried it Will need to!

LAC In 37 it should be fine. Its quite bouncy even without booster. That being said on AliExpress there still might be lingering bad batch of LAC.

 

[victormanriquey]

LAC In 37 it should be fine. Its quite bouncy even without booster. That being said on AliExpress there still might be lingering bad batch of LAC.

Worth a try for that price, thats for sure

 

[navuzor]

ESN is ESN, if you love it people always play it and cannot play chinese or hybrids haha but if you prefer no ESN (like me mostly) because you learnt with the other side of the coin, then it's fine too, both can work, but technique and blade are different, I prefer tacky like you @Haito but when I help players I'm neutral, if they prefer ESN then we do ESN, it's all fine

Hybrids can be fast yes, the helix is fast, C2 is fast, nuzn is fast, but not all are, rakza Z is slow, G09c is slow, MK hybrid is slowish, so you have a bit of all, and certainly chinese hybrids can be slow and controlled, like 8-80 for example

And yes tacky has that, you can brush thinly and upwards and it works, but recently tacky have been moving more into less tacky and more hybrid, hence the new hit-brush trend, and not so much thin upwad-forwards brush of H3 or similar in the past with previous ball.

That is correct, I see a lot of this hit-brush trend too. Tackiness is almost gone even in Chinese rubbers. I bought a 39 H3 OS Provincial this month. Tack was very mild, like almost as tacky as the K3 in this video. I am not exaggerating...

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/what-new-hybrid-rubber.32621/post-438214

I used to play Nuzn 48 before... to me it was a linear tensor, there was nothing hybrid about it, like what @jk1980 mentions in his post below.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/hybrid-rubbers-with-the-most-balanced-properties.38761/post-568229

Also very disappointed with the reformulated Xiom Vega China VM.
The only one left for me to try is Rakza Z as true hybrid. Has anyone bought a sheet recently? does it still come with decent tackiness?

 

[Archosaurus]

I hit a bit with LAC 40A on backhand and it was workable, are the softer sponges a lot bouncier? If so might be a great BH rubber option.

 

[Sherpa]

Yep, bought some Rakza Z EH and it's the tackiest rubber I've seen for a long time

 

[TTpastor]

I hit a bit with LAC 40A on backhand and it was workable, are the softer sponges a lot bouncier? If so might be a great BH rubber option.

I can't find any other LAC sponge than 40A.

 

[Archosaurus]

I can't find any other LAC sponge than 40A.

Me neither, they're all "very hard".

 

[Marvinn8686]

That is correct, I see a lot of this hit-brush trend too. Tackiness is almost gone even in Chinese rubbers. I bought a 39 H3 OS Provincial this month. Tack was very mild, like almost as tacky as the K3 in this video. I am not exaggerating...

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/what-new-hybrid-rubber.32621/post-438214

I used to play Nuzn 48 before... to me it was a linear tensor, there was nothing hybrid about it, like what @jk1980 mentions in his post below.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/hybrid-rubbers-with-the-most-balanced-properties.38761/post-568229

Also very disappointed with the reformulated Xiom Vega China VM.
The only one left for me to try is Rakza Z as true hybrid. Has anyone bought a sheet recently? does it still come with decent tackiness?

Bought a sheet at the beginning of August and it is able to lift the ball for like 2 seconds so it is a lot nowadays. On the other side I have Hurricane 8-80 what is similar (maybe slightly better). I tested Hurricane 8-80 two years ago and it was crazy long lifting like 5 seconds or something - also a less tack on current batches. Anyway 2 seconds for Rakza Z is decent and feels good for me while playing.

 

[victormanriquey]

That is correct, I see a lot of this hit-brush trend too. Tackiness is almost gone even in Chinese rubbers. I bought a 39 H3 OS Provincial this month. Tack was very mild, like almost as tacky as the K3 in this video. I am not exaggerating...

Yep it's true, my provs are good tacky in today's standards, not tacky when compared to 2010 for example.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/what-new-hybrid-rubber.32621/post-438214 I used to play Nuzn 48 before... to me it was a linear tensor, there was nothing hybrid about it, like what @jk1980 mentions in his post below.

It's a tensor with linearity indeed, it has some hybridness to it but what I categorise as hybrid tensors, but if you call it a linear tensor, it's also valid, in the end the result is the same haha

Also very disappointed with the reformulated Xiom Vega China VM.
The only one left for me to try is Rakza Z as true hybrid. Has anyone bought a sheet recently? does it still come with decent tackiness?

I have the feeling that the new Xiom Vega China VM is like a BlueGrip C2 or a Helix Hybrid, that's what comes to me as most similar now that I'm trying it, somewhere there. Rakza Z is still very tacky when compared in today's tackiness degrees.

 

[victormanriquey]

I can't find any other LAC sponge than 40A.

Mine was 40 too @TTpastor and @Archosaurus

 

[victormanriquey]

Bought a sheet at the beginning of August and it is able to lift the ball for like 2 seconds so it is a lot nowadays. On the other side I have Hurricane 8-80 what is similar (maybe slightly better). I tested Hurricane 8-80 two years ago and it was crazy long lifting like 5 seconds or something - also a less tack on current batches. Anyway 2 seconds for Rakza Z is decent and feels good for me while playing.

Yes same here @Marvinn8686 , Rakza Z is decent tackiness, I like it. 8-80 also