Donic Baracuda stick or twist?

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Hey guys,

I hoping for some advice here ;)

I have been using Donic baracuda Big slam on both BH and FH - with an Innerforce ALC blade. I love the spinny feeling and above all that characteristic pop of a sound when spinning the ball.
My HUGE problem is receiving serves - I tend to lose a good number of points per game because of that. Is there a rubber that is less sensitive to incoming spin (especially on serves) but that can allow me to continue spinning the ball? I was thinking of switching to Tenergy 80? I do not know if that is a good choice??
 
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Well maybe someone who's played with both would be the best deal for you, so if NL reads this im sure he could answer more precisely. IIRC he played with both.

But until then i'll try to helpout. See, i haven't played with the Barracuda nor did i play with Barracuda big slam, but i've had the Acuda S2 on my racket for a session of 2 hours, but tore it off after that session 'cause i found it too bouncy for my likes.
Its so called catapult effect just came too surprisingly and not linear. So after that session i went back to my old Bluefire M2 for a week, and then switched to T05.

But since you seem to have trouble reading spin i hear very good things about Xiom Vega Pro. Maybe you can find someone who uses it and lets you try it. I've also had a hit with Baal's Karis M which was also very easy to handle.

But then again there are NO SHORTCUTS in TT and it will help your game much more if you would learn reading spin better, so changing rubbers might not be the best solution to fix your problems when receiving spinny serves.
Rather try to find a good server and try practicing with him a lot. And i really mean
A LOT

Good luck.
 
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I agree with what you say Suga. The only problem is that I found the Baracuda topsheet to be extremely spin-sensitive. I think the only comparable rubber would be T05 in terms of spin-sensitivity. I have played with rubbers that are supposed to be sensitive to spin (Vega Pro, Fastarc Series, MX-P, Tenergy 80, Rakza 7) and none of them came close to the Baracuda in this aspect.
 
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Thanks a lot guys,
it sounds like I am going to try Ten 80 then. We'll see how it goes.
As far as reading spin, even if I know precisely what kind of ball is coming I STILL find it hard to return serves. I think the Baracuda is just too sensitive for me. But again, on the flip side, I love that popping sound when doing top spin with the Big Slam.
 
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For a like for like replacement you would look at Tibhar Genius Sound and Andro Hexer Powersponge, as these along with Barracuda are from the same generation and share many characteristics. See the comparison of the three in the harder sponges here: https://www.tt-spin.de/tibhar-genius-vs-donic-baracuda-vs-andro-hexer/(use google translate on Chrome browser). I found T80 underwhelming and not very 'clicky', it's good but not worth the money as there are plenty of cheaper alternatives, Rozena is closer in hardness to Barracuda Bigslam. Genius Sound or Optimum Sound gets my final vote for a direct replacement.
 
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