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Reactor Rubbers
Reactor is a good and cheap Chinese Table Tennis brand but it is not as well known compared to mainstream Chinese rubbers like Sanwei, RITC, DHS and Yinhe.
I had a considerable amount of the older versions before polyball was fully implemented. I went back to check and test the rubbers again because of the polyball
usage and also newer versions have come out in order to cope up with the ball material change. I also tested the hardness and found out the best hardness is
Medium hard or around 47 degrees.
Corbor
Weight: 62 grams
- this is the most basic rubber in the line of rubbers from Reactor. This is the entry or beginner level rubber where you can learn your basic strokes strokes.
The rubber is considered tacky. Its sponge is that of a yellow-orange sponge found commonly on cheap rubbers. This is comparable to RITC 729 Tackspeed 200
rubber wherein it can give you very good amount of spin with some speed. During the time I was still using celluloid, I found this rubber to be very slow and this is even
slower with polyballs. The spin is still good and when you know how to brush the ball properly, the rubber can be a good looping rubber. It needs 2-3 layers of boosting oil.
In my case, I used Falco Long booster on it and found a good amount of speed added to it. Still, it is either a beginner's rubber or when you really want to use it you need a carbon blade
or any other composite blade to compensate for the slow speed. The Corbor has a medium to high throw when looping. It can also chop defensively due to its all or def+ speed and
good amount of spin.
Tornado
Weight: 55 grams
- the faster version of the Corbor and with a lower throw. It is supposedly a good alternative to rubbers like LKT Rapid Speed and Power due to this rubbers having a fragile topsheet and
has the tendency to separate from the sponge. The spin is also good but adjustments need to be made on the angle of the bat since the throw is low. Speed is faster than the Yinhe Mars 2
but the Tornado feels a bit more firm. This is another rubber that needs boosting even at the time the celluloid balls are still being used. It is a good intermediate rubber but I believe it needs a fast
all wood blade or better yet a composite blade to compensate for its low speed.
Ckylin
Weight: 61-62 grams
- I think this is one of the best Chinese rubbers under 12-15USD. This rubber is faster than most unboosted Chinese rubbers and the spin is very good. There are 2 or 3 versions of this before the new one came out. The one I am fond of using before was the upgraded version of the blue sponge. The older blue sponge version has a slower sponge while the new one has a firm and springy sponge.
I was one of the first to have the upgraded blue sponge because at that time the packaging for the Ckylin was not even finished yet that they had to send me the rubber in just a plastic packaging.
There is a big difference between the red and black versions. The black has a lower throw and I find it softer and slower than the red one. It is common among Chinese rubbers but the red Ckylin in particular is a very good rubber because it feels springy and if I compare it to the Yinhe Big Dipper, it can be as fast if not faster. The red version feels lightly tacky only and in a far distance you can mistake it as a Bluefire rubber. People who have used it boosted say that it is like a Bluefire rubber. It is meant to be boosted. With the red and black boosted, the red one seem to be a better rubber. This is also the feedback of a lot of players who have used the red and black Ckylin rubbers. The best hardness for the rubber if you would use it as a forehand rubber is medium hard or 47.5 degrees. The Ckylin has
medium high throw with high amount of spin. It feels like more of a hybrid rubber than a true Chinese rubber. Again, this is best suited for carbon or any other composite blades and can be used even by
advanced level players.
Tornado V5
weight: 60 grams
- This is the polyball era version of the Tornado. The topsheet seem to be almost the same but the sponge is entirely different from the older version. It comes with factory tuning. You can smell the factory tuned sponge the moment you opened the packaging. The version I had was considered as soft at about 47 degrees but feels like 42-45. This is even before boosting. I was not satisfied with the factory tuning so I boosted the Tornado V5 with 2 layers of Falco Booster. The sponge is absorbs well. I think I made too much boosting because the sponge got thicker than the usual 2.2mm. The Tornado V5 is very bouncy for a boosted Chinese rubber. If I compare the tuned neo and non neo H3, I would say the V5 is faster by a small margin. The sponge is a milky white non porous sponge. It reminds me of the sponge of the RITC 729-3 with pink Japanese sponge. It was a very good sponge and also was fast especially when glued. The V5 at 42 degrees can be a good backhand rubber because it can block well and also counter well. The spin is good where both the grippy topsheet and soft sponge grabs the ball on a good level producing very high amount of spin. For speed comparison, the V5 can be as fast as the Ak-47 rubber from Palio but I think this can offer more spin. Again, if you find a 47.5 degree version of this, the harder sponge would be a better rubber for the forehand. The throw is slightly higher compared to the original. A hitting or smashing style can use the V5 with a soft sponge because the rubber can smash the ball pretty good. The soft sponge allows a good amount of compression of the ball and at the same time the ball does not hit the net unlike other Chinese rubbers which have problems smashing.
Ckylin Pro
Weight: 61 grams
- The new Ckylin Pro has some improvements over the old version of the blue-sponged Ckylin. There is also some factory tuning present on the Ckylin Pro's sponge like the Tornado but it retains its porous sponge. Still it looks like nothing has changed much from the outside. When I played with it, I tested it using the Prospin blade which is a very fast blade (balsa-carbon, speed is like that of Gergely) and the Premium ALC blade which Achoomai, a fellow former who owns Pingponghouse Store in Bangkok has sent me. I also boosted it because I know it needs additional boosting and the red rubber like its old counterpart is much better compared to the black one. I do prefer also the 47 degree version of over the other softer versions of hardness because you have less balls hitting the net and it also offers more spin if you brush the ball with. Again, it behaves more like a hybrid euro rubber rather than a Chinese rubber especially the red version. Topsheet is more grippy than tacky and the topsheet grabs the ball with no problem. This needs a good skill of brushing to fully use it since it is still a Chinese rubber but it is easier to use compared to the Hurricane 3 especially when you are smashing high balls and spin driving wherein it forces you to compress the sponge more. The speed is off- for the Ckylin, probably a little bouncier compared to the old one in which I have also boosted. I think the Ckylin Pro is one of the best cheap rubber in the market. Other Chinese rubbers in its price range seem to perform below its level and it is much less expensive than Hurricane 3. When you compare the performance of the unboosted Big Dipper and Ckylin, they would seem to go toe to toe but the price difference big. Ideally red should be the forehand rubber at medium hard sponge hardness. When I used this in my Premium ALC blade, it worked really good and the speed gives you enough to attack with power plus good amount of spin. This is ideal for close to the table play. When I attached it to a very fast blade, it was very easy to control and the spin never decreased. So if you have a very fast blade but lack the fund, the Ckylin Pro can be a good alternative to use.
Reactor is a good and cheap Chinese Table Tennis brand but it is not as well known compared to mainstream Chinese rubbers like Sanwei, RITC, DHS and Yinhe.
I had a considerable amount of the older versions before polyball was fully implemented. I went back to check and test the rubbers again because of the polyball
usage and also newer versions have come out in order to cope up with the ball material change. I also tested the hardness and found out the best hardness is
Medium hard or around 47 degrees.
Corbor
Weight: 62 grams
- this is the most basic rubber in the line of rubbers from Reactor. This is the entry or beginner level rubber where you can learn your basic strokes strokes.
The rubber is considered tacky. Its sponge is that of a yellow-orange sponge found commonly on cheap rubbers. This is comparable to RITC 729 Tackspeed 200
rubber wherein it can give you very good amount of spin with some speed. During the time I was still using celluloid, I found this rubber to be very slow and this is even
slower with polyballs. The spin is still good and when you know how to brush the ball properly, the rubber can be a good looping rubber. It needs 2-3 layers of boosting oil.
In my case, I used Falco Long booster on it and found a good amount of speed added to it. Still, it is either a beginner's rubber or when you really want to use it you need a carbon blade
or any other composite blade to compensate for the slow speed. The Corbor has a medium to high throw when looping. It can also chop defensively due to its all or def+ speed and
good amount of spin.
Tornado
Weight: 55 grams
- the faster version of the Corbor and with a lower throw. It is supposedly a good alternative to rubbers like LKT Rapid Speed and Power due to this rubbers having a fragile topsheet and
has the tendency to separate from the sponge. The spin is also good but adjustments need to be made on the angle of the bat since the throw is low. Speed is faster than the Yinhe Mars 2
but the Tornado feels a bit more firm. This is another rubber that needs boosting even at the time the celluloid balls are still being used. It is a good intermediate rubber but I believe it needs a fast
all wood blade or better yet a composite blade to compensate for its low speed.
Ckylin
Weight: 61-62 grams
- I think this is one of the best Chinese rubbers under 12-15USD. This rubber is faster than most unboosted Chinese rubbers and the spin is very good. There are 2 or 3 versions of this before the new one came out. The one I am fond of using before was the upgraded version of the blue sponge. The older blue sponge version has a slower sponge while the new one has a firm and springy sponge.
I was one of the first to have the upgraded blue sponge because at that time the packaging for the Ckylin was not even finished yet that they had to send me the rubber in just a plastic packaging.
There is a big difference between the red and black versions. The black has a lower throw and I find it softer and slower than the red one. It is common among Chinese rubbers but the red Ckylin in particular is a very good rubber because it feels springy and if I compare it to the Yinhe Big Dipper, it can be as fast if not faster. The red version feels lightly tacky only and in a far distance you can mistake it as a Bluefire rubber. People who have used it boosted say that it is like a Bluefire rubber. It is meant to be boosted. With the red and black boosted, the red one seem to be a better rubber. This is also the feedback of a lot of players who have used the red and black Ckylin rubbers. The best hardness for the rubber if you would use it as a forehand rubber is medium hard or 47.5 degrees. The Ckylin has
medium high throw with high amount of spin. It feels like more of a hybrid rubber than a true Chinese rubber. Again, this is best suited for carbon or any other composite blades and can be used even by
advanced level players.
Tornado V5
weight: 60 grams
- This is the polyball era version of the Tornado. The topsheet seem to be almost the same but the sponge is entirely different from the older version. It comes with factory tuning. You can smell the factory tuned sponge the moment you opened the packaging. The version I had was considered as soft at about 47 degrees but feels like 42-45. This is even before boosting. I was not satisfied with the factory tuning so I boosted the Tornado V5 with 2 layers of Falco Booster. The sponge is absorbs well. I think I made too much boosting because the sponge got thicker than the usual 2.2mm. The Tornado V5 is very bouncy for a boosted Chinese rubber. If I compare the tuned neo and non neo H3, I would say the V5 is faster by a small margin. The sponge is a milky white non porous sponge. It reminds me of the sponge of the RITC 729-3 with pink Japanese sponge. It was a very good sponge and also was fast especially when glued. The V5 at 42 degrees can be a good backhand rubber because it can block well and also counter well. The spin is good where both the grippy topsheet and soft sponge grabs the ball on a good level producing very high amount of spin. For speed comparison, the V5 can be as fast as the Ak-47 rubber from Palio but I think this can offer more spin. Again, if you find a 47.5 degree version of this, the harder sponge would be a better rubber for the forehand. The throw is slightly higher compared to the original. A hitting or smashing style can use the V5 with a soft sponge because the rubber can smash the ball pretty good. The soft sponge allows a good amount of compression of the ball and at the same time the ball does not hit the net unlike other Chinese rubbers which have problems smashing.
Ckylin Pro
Weight: 61 grams
- The new Ckylin Pro has some improvements over the old version of the blue-sponged Ckylin. There is also some factory tuning present on the Ckylin Pro's sponge like the Tornado but it retains its porous sponge. Still it looks like nothing has changed much from the outside. When I played with it, I tested it using the Prospin blade which is a very fast blade (balsa-carbon, speed is like that of Gergely) and the Premium ALC blade which Achoomai, a fellow former who owns Pingponghouse Store in Bangkok has sent me. I also boosted it because I know it needs additional boosting and the red rubber like its old counterpart is much better compared to the black one. I do prefer also the 47 degree version of over the other softer versions of hardness because you have less balls hitting the net and it also offers more spin if you brush the ball with. Again, it behaves more like a hybrid euro rubber rather than a Chinese rubber especially the red version. Topsheet is more grippy than tacky and the topsheet grabs the ball with no problem. This needs a good skill of brushing to fully use it since it is still a Chinese rubber but it is easier to use compared to the Hurricane 3 especially when you are smashing high balls and spin driving wherein it forces you to compress the sponge more. The speed is off- for the Ckylin, probably a little bouncier compared to the old one in which I have also boosted. I think the Ckylin Pro is one of the best cheap rubber in the market. Other Chinese rubbers in its price range seem to perform below its level and it is much less expensive than Hurricane 3. When you compare the performance of the unboosted Big Dipper and Ckylin, they would seem to go toe to toe but the price difference big. Ideally red should be the forehand rubber at medium hard sponge hardness. When I used this in my Premium ALC blade, it worked really good and the speed gives you enough to attack with power plus good amount of spin. This is ideal for close to the table play. When I attached it to a very fast blade, it was very easy to control and the spin never decreased. So if you have a very fast blade but lack the fund, the Ckylin Pro can be a good alternative to use.
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