Skyline TG2 Provincial Blue Sponge

vik2000 · Oct 27, 2019

ZJK ALC. Hardness 39. One thing I forgot to mention is I had it boosted with 3 layers of Falco, which I normally do for all my Chinese rubbers.

I might give this rubber another try on Acoustic or Long 5. I generally prefer Chinese rubbers on these two blades than ZJK ALC.

bobpuls · Oct 27, 2019

This is good point to mention blade and boosting ...
I have it on custom off+ blade .. 5+2 inner force composition with limba on top .
2 layers of seamoon applied

alas26 · Oct 28, 2019

vik2000 said:
ZJK ALC. Hardness 39. One thing I forgot to mention is I had it boosted with 3 layers of Falco, which I normally do for all my Chinese rubbers.

I might give this rubber another try on Acoustic or Long 5. I generally prefer Chinese rubbers on these two blades than ZJK ALC.

I’ll be using it on my Acoustic as well (no boosting).

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alas26 · Nov 11, 2019

So my initial impression of this (in 40 deg. 2.2 vs. Skyline TG2 NEO, on Acoustic C-Pen) is:
-top sheet is a bit less tacky but still very grippy.
-rubber shares linear characteristics up until higher output shots (> 80%), the linearity goes out as the rubber feels very fast but stable In this region.
-higher throw
-more spin potential
-promotes more of a drive to drive-loop stroke, so more open angle

i definitely need more time with the rubber to fully adjust as I am shooting things rather far with miss strokes. It’s definitely confidence inspiring at hard shots but it’s damn exhausting! The sponge is very dense!

i don’t see myself switching over to it fully as I think I haven’t reached the potential of my NEO set up yet. So for now, it’s just a back up and used for training.

I’ll report more once I get more time with it.

midway2k · Nov 17, 2019

I have been playing TG2 for the past 12 years with Red, black, Neo and regular versions and different thicknesses and hardnesses, and I decided to try the blue sponge province TG2 a few months ago. I had the 39 Degree 2.2 and i didn't like it at all. The top sheet is not tacky enough, the amount of tack is similar to hurricane 8 which I also don't like. The blue sponge on a regular H3 would increase the dwell time but with the TG2's firmer top sheet the effect is minimal, and the power is less than the older commercial orange sponge versions. So the overall impact is the power/spin of close to the table drive is significantly reduced, and the margin for error is small because the ball will go right into the net when you are a little out of position (which happens all the time). Serve/receive is also harder due to the reduced tackiness.
I tried using it with W968, Fang Bo and Fang Bo X and the only blade that makes it somewhat playable is Fang Bo X, but only in practice. It's not good for games due to all the issues mentioned above.
I have also noticed reduction of tackiness of many rubbers from DHS, and the only ones that I like now are province and national H3 which are still tacky as before. They can lift a ball up at least a foot when facing down, and the newer TG2 and H8 can only lift up like an inch.

vik2000 · Nov 17, 2019

I agree with what you said. Honestly this was the worst rubber I had spent my $ on. I plan to reboost it and glue it onto Long 5 to see if I'll like it any better than when it was on ZJK ALC.

SFF_lib · Nov 17, 2019

[/COLOR said:
midway2;296066]The top sheet is not tacky enough

vik2000 said:
I agree with what you said. Honestly this was the worst rubber I had spent my $ on. I plan to reboost it and glue it onto Long 5 to see if I'll like it any better than when it was on ZJK ALC.

Lucky I hold off my EJ urge not to spend the money

Zeen · Nov 17, 2019

midway2k said:
I have been playing TG2 for the past 12 years with Red, black, Neo and regular versions and different thicknesses and hardnesses, and I decided to try the blue sponge province TG2 a few months ago. I had the 39 Degree 2.2 and i didn't like it at all. The top sheet is not tacky enough, the amount of tack is similar to hurricane 8 which I also don't like. The blue sponge on a regular H3 would increase the dwell time but with the TG2's firmer top sheet the effect is minimal, and the power is less than the older commercial orange sponge versions. So the overall impact is the power/spin of close to the table drive is significantly reduced, and the margin for error is small because the ball will go right into the net when you are a little out of position (which happens all the time). Serve/receive is also harder due to the reduced tackiness.
I tried using it with W968, Fang Bo and Fang Bo X and the only blade that makes it somewhat playable is Fang Bo X, but only in practice. It's not good for games due to all the issues mentioned above.
I have also noticed reduction of tackiness of many rubbers from DHS, and the only ones that I like now are province and national H3 which are still tacky as before. They can lift a ball up at least a foot when facing down, and the newer TG2 and H8 can only lift up like an inch.

Thanks for your observations. I noticed that h3 blue sponge provincial had lower throw than normal h3 and thus was afraid tg2 blue's throw would become lower as well, so I didn't want to try it.

What in your opinion is currently the best version of tg2 / the best seller?

bobpuls · Nov 17, 2019

Imho the best one is definitely the national version, but not the neo version. The neo sponge is not for me.

alas26 · Nov 17, 2019

Zeen, in my experience, the TG2 Provincial Blue Sponge version has a higher throw than the TG2 neo commercial version. The arch is more pronounced, but it kicks hard.

TG2 Neo has a flatter trajectory overall.

Zeen · Nov 18, 2019

alas26 said:
Zeen, in my experience, the TG2 Provincial Blue Sponge version has a higher throw than the TG2 neo commercial version. The arch is more pronounced, but it kicks hard.

TG2 Neo has a flatter trajectory overall.

Weird... I'm positive H3 BS has lower throw than any other H3 variant, so I wonder how it works in TG2's case.
Anyways BS might be a bad idea for reboosting, so service life is even lower, which makes me even more afraid of possibly liking it. Sometimes there are national versions available for a similar price, so if anything then probably that.

alas26 · Nov 18, 2019

Well, I’m only one person with my own style, so maybe it differs from person to person. In the end, I don’t like the higher price and, let’s say, difficulty to obtain this rubber compared to the commercial variants- so I’m not really committed to learning this rubber with the intensity I train on the TG2 Neo. Until I really start to bottom out more often than I like on TG2 Neo, I’m not changing the sponge.

The only other scenario I see myself changing to provincial or national rubber/sponges is if I ever reach such a high level/rating to where the extra speed is needed to inch over my opponents, then maybe I’d consider it. I’m a looong way from that.

Zeen · Nov 18, 2019

alas26 said:
Well, I’m only one person with my own style, so maybe it differs from person to person. In the end, I don’t like the higher price and, let’s say, difficulty to obtain this rubber compared to the commercial variants- so I’m not really committed to learning this rubber with the intensity I train on the TG2 Neo. Until I really start to bottom out more often than I like on TG2 Neo, I’m not changing the sponge.

The only other scenario I see myself changing to provincial or national rubber/sponges is if I ever reach such a high level/rating to where the extra speed is needed to inch over my opponents, then maybe I’d consider it. I’m a looong way from that.

Yeah, same here. I suspect maybe BS is worth it when you need the extra elasticity once you need more than 39 deg for counter looping hard shots. But that might already be pro level.

midway2k · Nov 18, 2019

Zeen said:
Thanks for your observations. I noticed that h3 blue sponge provincial had lower throw than normal h3 and thus was afraid tg2 blue's throw would become lower as well, so I didn't want to try it.

What in your opinion is currently the best version of tg2 / the best seller?

Unfortunately I haven't found it out yet. I am still playing with the last piece of old stock commercial NEO TG2 that is still very tacky. I have also experienced 3 sheets of commercial NEO TG2 that are barely tacky, so it's like a lottery.
What I know for sure is I don't like the Province TG2 BS. Given the issue of the current TG2s, I am probably gonna switch to national and provincial Neo H3 BS 40 deg/2.15, which are still very tacky (at least the ones that I played with).

alas26 · Nov 23, 2019

Zeen said:
Weird... I'm positive H3 BS has lower throw than any other H3 variant, so I wonder how it works in TG2's case.
Anyways BS might be a bad idea for reboosting, so service life is even lower, which makes me even more afraid of possibly liking it. Sometimes there are national versions available for a similar price, so if anything then probably that.

I had a think about this again, and probably the harder sponge contributes to the higher throw. The top sheet is the same, but potentially there’s less dwell due to the harder sponge so the ball bounces out quicker and this the trajectory is higher. Of course at higher impact shots you get more dwell and spin- but I still think the overall trajectory is higher. Probably a much higher ceiling before bottoming out too.

I really need to compare more. I’ll report back after some training with it again.

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Zeen · Nov 23, 2019

alas26 said:
I had a think about this again, and probably the harder sponge contributes to the higher throw. The top sheet is the same, but potentially there’s less dwell due to the harder sponge so the ball bounces out quicker and this the trajectory is higher. Of course at higher impact shots you get more dwell and spin- but I still think the overall trajectory is higher. Probably a much higher ceiling before bottoming out too.

I really need to compare more. I’ll report back after some training with it again.

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Good to hear. My impression is that a harder sponge throws higher on thin brush loops and higher/longer on powerful shots, but lower for anything in between. Looking forward to further analysis

SFF_lib · Nov 24, 2019

For those of you who dislike the newer DHS rubber with half-tacky topsheet, Neo TG2 is still as tacky as back in 2008. Just put 3 layers of booster and it will actually perform a very descent job. High spin potential than H3 provincial for sure.

The last stock I bought was in 2018 and it was still tackier than my H3 provincial.

Zeen · Nov 24, 2019

I keep coming back to tg2, the control just inspires confidence. Great for people with long arms

SFF_lib · Nov 24, 2019

Zeen said:
I keep coming back to tg2, the control just inspires confidence. Great for people with long arms

Yes because you need to hit hard most of the time to unleash the deadly spin and speed.

alas26 · Nov 25, 2019

Anyone else have some direct input on comparing TG2 provincial to TG2 NEO? I’m curious to see if my thoughts are similar or differ.

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Skyline TG2 Provincial Blue Sponge

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