Under €40 but is it any good? | Xiom Vega X Review

Thudds said:

Can anyone suggest a good blade for this Rubber along the 50-100$ range?

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What are you looking for, off, all? Do you want carbon or all wood blade? You shoud specify more on these details.

epicfacepalm said:

A bit of an OK Boomer moment here. Tackiness, Mark V, Sriver etc. are very outdated these days.

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Not disputing that. But (dismissals aside), that wasn't the point. Perhaps these examples were, indeed, a bit outlandish - although it should be noted that even now Mark V and Sriver are offensive rubbers, albeit moderate ones (not sayin' nothin about Tackiness D or, heaven forgive, C here). Give them to a beginning player and see what happens...

Other rubbers exist, well within that "modern control oriented middle of the road" class — Xiom Musa, Vega Intro, Stiga Evo, Tibhar Rapid, Gewo Neoflexx FT40, Nexy Karis M, that list goes on and on.

But I do maintain that framing rubbers like Rasanter, Rakza 7, Vega Pro as "control oriented MOR" skews reality. They're hot to handle, require considerable skill to use consistently. They're not the outer ditches, but they're not middle of the road either. That's what I'm saying, boomer or no boomer, ok?

epicfacepalm said:

Indeed, I thought the review got most of the main points across. Don't think Dan's ever made reviews where he gets a robot to shoot a ball at a static bat to compare throw angles. Frankly, that'd be pretty boring - clearly that's not Dan's style, and this is reflected in his channel's popularity.



A bit of an OK Boomer moment here. Tackiness, Mark V, Sriver etc. are very outdated these days. I'm really not sure who buys them at all - I'm surprised that the Tackiness range hasn't already been discontinued, but perhaps it doesn't cost Butterfly too much to make them.

The game has moved on substantially, with the reduced spin of the plastic ball accelerating this change in the last five or so years. Research and development has enabled us to get faster and spinnier rubbers like Dignics, Omega, etc. This relegates rubbers that were once considered high end to be now mid-range, like Vega and Baracuda. Vega X is a slight development of Vega Pro, but they're now marketing it in a different way because they have the Omega range.

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There are plenty of "boomers" hailing from speed-glue era who've been well coached in their youth and who can still generate enough speed and spin even with the classics. And they are paranoid about losing touch and and control in the short game and so won't touch tensors or tenergy. Put it this way, technique trumps equipment.

vvk1 said:

And they are paranoid about losing touch and and control in the short game

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Oh, not only in the short game, all over the game ...

Happened to me when I was young, I played an agressive game with allround blade and 1,5 mm rubbers. Heaven forbid trying 2.0.
In retrospect, and looking at how my game has changed after a long break with thicker tensor rubbers (I gained "control", since I gained options - control isn´t just lack of speed, as even manufacturers would have you think), someone should´ve encouraged me to try thickers rubbers and even speed-glueing back then.
It might have benefitted my game.

yoass said:

Not disputing that. But (dismissals aside), that wasn't the point. Perhaps these examples were, indeed, a bit outlandish - although it should be noted that even now Mark V and Sriver are offensive rubbers, albeit moderate ones (not sayin' nothin about Tackiness D or, heaven forgive, C here). Give them to a beginning player and see what happens...

Other rubbers exist, well within that "modern control oriented middle of the road" class — Xiom Musa, Vega Intro, Stiga Evo, Tibhar Rapid, Gewo Neoflexx FT40, Nexy Karis M, that list goes on and on.

But I do maintain that framing rubbers like Rasanter, Rakza 7, Vega Pro as "control oriented MOR" skews reality. They're hot to handle, require considerable skill to use consistently. They're not the outer ditches, but they're not middle of the road either. That's what I'm saying, boomer or no boomer, ok?

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Agreed on this, Sriver can still be used offensively, to an extent (but you could also say that you can use long pips offensively). I guess it's all relative, where Sriver and Mark V are probably on the least offensive end of the offensive rubber spectrum. That said, I don't necessarily think though that reality is skewed, but it is more that the upper limit has stretched beyond what we might have comprehended when we were introduced to the equipment market and had the spectrum set in our mind.

What these brands have really done with these Musa/Intro/Evo/etc. rubbers though is try to create a new market without Sriver in it. They want you to start with these rubbers, then move to Vega X, then to Omega VII. As consumers, probably the most important thing is to recognise that in making recommendations/decisions.

Rwisniewski said:

I've played Vega Pro for a long time. Today I'm gonna try Vega X for the first time and I have a lot of expectations I hope it will be a good change

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Let us know what you think between the two.

Marko said:

What are you looking for, off, all? Do you want carbon or all wood blade? You shoud specify more on these details.

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ALL blade, carbon preferably

vvk1 said:

There are plenty of "boomers" hailing from speed-glue era who've been well coached in their youth and who can still generate enough speed and spin even with the classics. And they are paranoid about losing touch and and control in the short game and so won't touch tensors or tenergy. Put it this way, technique trumps equipment.

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Of course technique trumps equipment. But equipment must complement and enable one's technique and game. A junior looper isn't going to get by with plain Sriver with the plastic ball, whereas someone used to the short game of Mark V might not be able to get used to the bounciness of Omega VII.

But for your average club offensive player, which makes up a very large part of the club player market, they're looking upwards in the market - they always tend towards something faster and spinnier. Their shortlist might range from Vega Intro through to Dignics 05. (Notice I started at Vega Intro, not Sriver.)

These 'mid-level' rubbers are trying covering basically everything that falls between Vega Intro and Dignics 05. Since they're not at the beginner or highest-ends of the market, they're quite naturally (in marketing terms) in the mid-range, even if they were upper end previously.

Marko said:

What are you looking for, off, all? Do you want carbon or all wood blade? You shoud specify more on these details.

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Marko, what are you thoughts on Vega X? What thickness are you using? Have you tried Vega Pro before, if so how does X compare to it and other runners you've tried?

thomas.pong said:

Marko, what are you thoughts on Vega X? What thickness are you using? Have you tried Vega Pro before, if so how does X compare to it and other runners you've tried?

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I haven't tried vega pro, but i have tried asia witch is faster but has less spin and control then vega x. Mxp is the same way. I have tried tibhar genius too, the spin is close considering vega x is newer, and the speed is close, vega x a bit faster. I haven't relly tried a lot of other rubbers (pretty new in the sport), hope this helps.
Edit: I have seen some people ask about arc. It is medium, higher than vega asia and lower than mxp in my experiance.

Thudds said:

ALL blade, carbon preferably

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Any blade you choose, would reccomend to have some flex, not being too stiff. I dont relly know a lot. You can start a thread if you want, there are some members that will know to tell you more. I was just saying you should be more specific with it.

Marko said:

Any blade you choose, would reccomend to have some flex, not being too stiff. I dont relly know a lot. You can start a thread if you want, there are some members that will know to tell you more. I was just saying you should be more specific with it.

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Ah ok thanks, i will do that

Honestly, how many of those who say that plastic ball and Sriver/Mark V doesn't work have played this rubber over some period of time? Did any of you really know what it felt like playing with 38mm and speed glue? (I have and to be honest, the rubbers which for me felt like playing speed glued rubbers were Tibhar Sinus and Nimbus so one of the first generation of ESN rubbers)
I'm always amazed how good Stiga Mendo and Mendo Energy play. I always try new blades with those rubbers.

Satoshi Aida uses Mark V. Enough said really. He would loop the crap out of 99.9999% of this forum’s user base even though he’s a chopper. It’s an amazing rubber that still can be used at a very high level it the hands of someone with skill.

mart1nandersson said:

Satoshi Aida uses Mark V. Enough said really.

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Wouldn´t that be Mark V HPS, with a massively tuned sponge?

Might be true but still miles slower than anything from ESN.

OK, I'm after first training with Vega X and I can share my first impressions with You. Xiom claimed that X is a succesor of Vega Pro and it's difficult to disagree with that. I have no problem to switch from VP to VX and after first shots/blocks I felt like I was playing with this rubber for a long time. It shows that parameters of VX and VP are very similar, but... In my opinion VX is slightly faster and has more rotation that older sister At the same time I felt that control was definitely greater and even more accurately than with VP I could put the ball in the place of the table where exactly I wanted. The opening topspins also works very well and opponents had more problems with them. The block with this rubber is amazing. I had impression that VX is less sensitive to the opponent's rotation than VP. However, with serves I generate more spin than with VP. Other elements like controlled shots or push were played with a tons of control. To sum up- I definately stay with Vega X- the younger sister from XIOM Rubber creates more possibilities in attack while still maintaning great control. Playing with this rubber is pure pleasure and I think I will stay with it for a long time if You have any questions just ask me

Comparison between X and Powergrip would've made this review much more valuable. The rubbers are at the same price point and have similar weight and hardness. They are also close in speed and spin from what I could surmise. Moreover, Dan just reviewed Powergrip a couple of months back so it should be easy to draw some parallels.

My deep suspicion is that the fear that such comparison would alienate sponsors results in these half-baked reviews.

For those who've tried Vega X and the following rubbers, how would you compare it to Vega Japan and Rakza 7? Especially in terms of how dynamic, throw angle and spin sensitive comparison. Spin, speed and control also.

Rwisniewski said:

Playing with this rubber is pure pleasure and I think I will stay with it for a long time if You have any questions just ask me

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What I find interesting: according to your signature you play Dignics 80 on the other side. On a German forum, people currently compare Vega X and D80, find them similar and even prefer the Vega, and that just not because of the cheaper price.

You do not seem to think they are similar at all, otherwise you´d probably replace the costly Dignics with Vega X?

I am afraid on the German forum this is hyped by a few people, and while over here Vega Pro is considered a nice enough, controlled rubber, over there some still think it is a useful alternative to tenergy05 (I think maybe up to 50 % of the tenergy´s power quite similar in playing characteristics, but not more).

So tell me please, Dignics80 and Vega X, how many miles apart?