New rubber from yasaka. Shining Dragon

Remarkable that there isn't any information about it on the official website, only a picture of the package can be found. Google doesn't come up with much either.

I guess Yasaka doesn't spend as much on marketing as some other brands?

Originally Posted by Tompa8888

Se the following link (its in swedish but you can u google translate)
http://www.ttex.se/sv/gummin/10254-y...ng-dragon.html

Or just click on "Svenska" in the top right and select English

Ouch......almost 58 EUR is a lot of money for a rubber. More expensive than Tenergy :S

Originally Posted by P1ngP0ng3r

Or just click on "Svenska" in the top right and select English

Ouch......almost 58 EUR is a lot of money for a rubber. More expensive than Tenergy :S

Yeah the price is quite the chock but they will probably do a discount quite soon. Yeah i saw that the link on their homepage didn't even work, Their IT team must be really on the budget side

yikes it's pretty expensive

It's available in my local club store for 36 Euro (http://tt-store.eu/yasaka-shining-dragon)
Maybe I'll have a chance to try it these days if the club owner glues it for testing

Ok, so I've tried the rubber for one training session on a Victas Fire Fall FC blade and I have very mixed feelings about it.
It's a very strange beast with a soft topsheet and a hard sponge. And it's not very tacky.. I would say it's slightly tacky.
What I didn't like:
Throw angle is low.. very low. I prefer rubbers with high throw angle. Loved the DHS Hurricane series (H2 with the old glue and H3 with the new glue) with their high throw.
Topsheet is soft and the sponge - hard. That's a very strange combination. Because of this I couldn't generate a lot of spin on my pushes and serves(I couldn't figure out the right contact type on the serve: if too thin then not much spin, too thick - the serve was long and the spin was moderate.. Just couldn't figure it out ).
What I did like:
The feeling of the rubber is nice because of the soft topsheet.
When you hit harder (more usage of the sponge) the rubber is great - fast, with a lot of spin.
Because of the low throw and the good speed countering a slow spinny loop was a peace of cake - you just kill it.
When I played against a friend of mine and he was using the rubber I felt the same - not a lot of spin coming at me when the play was over the table but the topspins were very spinny and pretty fast.
In conclusion:
The rubber has a great feeling and speed on harder strokes and good control but I couldn't use it effectively over the table. Great counterattacking weapon. IT'S NOT LIKE A CLASSICAL CHINESE RUBBER AT ALL. The throw angle is low and the touch game is.. ok. Nothing like with H3 Neo for example.
I've played with it only for one training session so I can't guarantee the readers will feel the same about the rubber.

Originally Posted by v100ev

Ok, so I've tried the rubber for one training session on a Victas Fire Fall FC blade and I have very mixed feelings about it.

Very nice review v100ev!!
I think it would be great if you could give us insight on how Victas Fire Fall FC plays such as touch, block, drives or whether if its fast/slow, stiff/soft.
This would really help everyone and give a better understanding on how this rubber plays.

Thanks for your first impressions v100ev.
Soft topsheet and hard sponge reminds me of Adidas P7, which I really liked. Although it seems that the P7 generates a lot more spin (compared to your first impression of the Shining Dragon that is.)

Originally Posted by v100ev

on a Victas Fire Fall FC blade and I have very mixed feelings about it.

You should probably try it on a different blade. That one is super hard and off++. Try it on a less hard one.

Originally Posted by Tompa8888

You should probably try it on a different blade. That one is super hard and off++. Try it on a less hard one.

Fire Fall FC is definately not OFF++. I own this blade and it's OFF at the most.

Originally Posted by P1ngP0ng3r

Fire Fall FC is definately not OFF++. I own this blade and it's OFF at the most.

Sorry, i mixed them up with the victas fire fall VC. =)

So I had a chance to play a second time with this rubber on the same blade(about 40 minutes - some elements + sets with my friend).
It felt faster (I think the sponge broke(like more of the chinese rubbers do)). Because it was not my first time playing with it I was able to adjust the angle(closed the angle on pushes, and opened it more when rolling the ball with slight topspin) of the racket so the touch play over the table became better - with more spin and more control. I still had some real problems with the throw angle on slow loops but no problems on the loopkills I managed to spin the serve better by using a type of serve that I use when I play with soft rubbers(let the ball stay on the rubber longer when serving).
My opponent had problems reading the spin on my loops(it's a classical situation when you play with a chinese rubber and use a chinese type of stroke on topspin) - so in this regard(countering and opening) the rubber really seems similar to other chinese rubbers(the opponent thinks there's a lot of spin on the ball but there isn't, and sometimes there is ).
Tried a few times playing with it on the BH side - felt easier than on the FH(I didn't see that coming)
This second time playing with the rubber didn't change a lot about my conclusion about the rubber from the first time.
But I would really like to try the rubber on a different blade cause it felt that the Victas FC is not the right blade(too stiff for my liking) for the rubber.

Thx for the update v100ev.
Still have some doubts on this rubber. Wondering how such rubbers (Shining Dragon, Stiga Genesis, etc) would play on a WSC for example.

Yes very expensive, especially considering it's made in China! Made in China is certainly not necessarily bad, but the cost to make it would no doubt be considerably less, which should be reflected in the retail price IMO.

Shining Dragon is available at ttmode.com for the same price as RD

http://www.ttmode.com/index.php?rout...h=20&filter=12

tt-store.eu ---> 36€

--> 32 Euro

http://www.stalotenisui.lt/index.php...ory&path=20_69