Yasaka Rakza Z and Rakza Z Extra Hard rubbers

Tango K · Sep 13, 2020

I struggle a little with it too. I had Fastarc G1 before. The Z is clearly easier with push and flicking very short dead ball (as I don’t have space to go forward But simply lifting the ball off quickly). But I struggle with flicking just short but not too short backspin ball (a typical flick that is) as it doesn’t seem to grip. It goes, ok spin, but the power is no longer there.
In the longer end too it seems harder to spin.

But I figure either mostly because it’s quite harder than G1 and I use it for BH, which is much more sensitive to hardness I guess. Or the lower throw makes me feel the need to arc it a little too much.

Kuba Hajto · Sep 13, 2020

Brian Zhao said:
I hear a lot of comparison of Rakza Z to D09C, but honestly the resemblance isn't as much as people say. The Dignics 09C lets you grab the ball and launch it however you want, the Rakza Z has an obscure feeling with much less of that grab feeling.

Have you compared Rakz Z or Z Extra Hard to D09c?

yogi_bear · Sep 13, 2020

Brian Zhao said:
I hear a lot of comparison of Rakza Z to D09C, but honestly the resemblance isn't as much as people say. The Dignics 09C lets you grab the ball and launch it however you want, the Rakza Z has an obscure feeling with much less of that grab feeling.

They are just different rubbers but if you are on atight budget, tje Rakza Z EH is already good enough to use. In fact, it is easier to spin than D09c.

Arkady · Sep 24, 2020

I've tested Rakza Z on my FH, with a Ai Fukuhara Pro ZLF blade.

My overall mini-review:

Tackiness: It's indeed semi-tacky, but not as tacky as usual Chinese rubbers like H3. As soon as I opened the package, I placed a ball on the table, pressed the rubber on it and I was able to lift it for a about 15-20cm something that that cannot be done with European rubbers. I repeated the test after two training sessions and all the tackiness was gone!!! I couldn't lift the ball not even for 2 cm!!!

Speed: I made a bounce test comparing it Dignics 05c and found that it's much less bouncy than Dignics. During drills however, it was faster than I expected but DEFINITELY slower that Rakza 7 and other similar European rubbers.
In order to make a powerful spin, you have to make a full body swing rotating your waist and keep a much more closed angle in your bat. Even in that case however, the effort doesn't justify the result, at least for the average intermediate non-professional player.
Blocking was ok during the drills that you are returning "soft" balls so the spinner can keep a steady pace, but you couldn't put pressure on the opponent like you would want during a match.

Spin: Spin is the area where I'm mostly disappointed... Rakza Z is spinier that an average European rubber, but not as spiny as advertised. Lifting underspin balls requires just about the same effort as any ESN rubber, while short serve returns are just as hard, since the rubber is quite spin sensitive, despite it's tackiness....

As a conclusion, I have to say that I was overall disappointed. What you lose with this rubber, far exceed the gains...

yogi_bear · Sep 24, 2020

Arkady said:
I've tested Rakza Z on my FH, with a Ai Fukuhara Pro ZLF blade.

My overall mini-review:

Tackiness: It's indeed semi-tacky, but not as tacky as usual Chinese rubbers like H3. As soon as I opened the package, I placed a ball on the table, pressed the rubber on it and I was able to lift it for a about 15-20cm something that that cannot be done with European rubbers. I repeated the test after two training sessions and all the tackiness was gone!!! I couldn't lift the ball not even for 2 cm!!!

Speed: I made a bounce test comparing it Dignics 05c and found that it's much less bouncy than Dignics. During drills however, it was faster than I expected but DEFINITELY slower that Rakza 7 and other similar European rubbers.
In order to make a powerful spin, you have to make a full body swing rotating your waist and keep a much more closed angle in your bat. Even in that case however, the effort doesn't justify the result, at least for the average intermediate non-professional player.
Blocking was ok during the drills that you are returning "soft" balls so the spinner can keep a steady pace, but you couldn't put pressure on the opponent like you would want during a match.

Spin: Spin is the area where I'm mostly disappointed... Rakza Z is spinier that an average European rubber, but not as spiny as advertised. Lifting underspin balls requires just about the same effort as any ESN rubber, while short serve returns are just as hard, since the rubber is quite spin sensitive, despite it's tackiness....

As a conclusion, I have to say that I was overall disappointed. What you lose with this rubber, far exceed the gains...

How spinny is spinny for you? I had folks who are hurricane 3 users and still can produce the same spin but a bit faster using the Rakza Z.

ZeroTT · Sep 24, 2020

Any word on the durability of Rakza Z?

Because the durability of the other sticky rubber Dignics 09c is really really poor.
Which is a disgrace because of the 80 Euro price.

Tango K · Sep 24, 2020

Been with it for 2 months but on the backhand and in limited exposure to the table so can’t say it’s been long, but it’s still working pretty well. (Let say 50 hours total and 15 hours on it). Still bouncy, still tacky, still making drum-like noise, certainly not 100% new any more.

What I can say is that it doesn’t degrade by itself over time much (comparing to the notorious MX-P or boosted H3). But if you hit it hard, I don’t know. Chaps like yogi_bear may tell.

Arkady · Sep 24, 2020

yogi_bear said:
How spinny is spinny for you? I had folks who are hurricane 3 users and still can produce the same spin but a bit faster using the Rakza Z.

Let me put it this way:
For me a rubber is spinnier than another one, given the same amount of effort. If a rubber in order to activate it's speed and spin, requires the strokes of Ma Long, then it's not for the average user.

This is exactly the case with Chinese rubbers like H3 you mention: They might be in fact spinier than European ones, but require boosting, impeccable technique, very fast strokes and body rotation, in order to play like that.
But very few non-pro players can utilize them, and that is the reason that they are not so popular among them.

Konrad Bak · Sep 24, 2020

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IB66 · Sep 24, 2020

ZeroTT said:
Any word on the durability of Rakza Z?

Because the durability of the other sticky rubber Dignics 09c is really really poor.
Which is a disgrace because of the 80 Euro price.

How long did it take for the D09C to degrade? when you say really really poor, I don’t get it, I’ve had 2 sheets for 5 months and it’s still performing well, as I’ve said before, if the D09C is degrading it’s very slowly and less noticeable, at least for me, that’s how it seems.

yogi_bear · Sep 25, 2020

Zerott, after a month of usage of 6hrs a week seem to have lost grip by 30%

ZeroTT · Sep 25, 2020

My friend bought the D09c august 2 and after 5 or 6 weeks of training he had to buy a new one.
I admit, we trained more then 10 hours a week but still, his t05 on the forehand was in better shape.

The problem was that the main feature of d09c ,grip and stickiness was all gone after this time.

Maybe we expected too much by comparing it to the regular dignics lines durability ( 05,80 and 64) .
Because D09c is not in the same range as the other Dignics rubbers in terms of durability.

Tango K · Sep 25, 2020

That’s the nature of tacky rubbers. The tackiness is going away faster than anything else, especially if you don’t protect it.

Tango K · Sep 25, 2020

yogi_bear said:
Zerott, after a month of usage of 6hrs a week seem to have lost grip by 30%

Yogi_bear, how is it compared to other rubbers? Can’t equate 6hrs of yours to 6hrs of mine for sure.

zeio · Sep 25, 2020

ZeroTT said:
Maybe we expected too much by comparing it to the regular dignics lines durability ( 05,80 and 64) .
Because D09c is not in the same range as the other Dignics rubbers in terms of durability.

I guess this is an example of priming. Perhaps that's why they don't release D09c under its own model line.

Butterfly has never advertised longer durability for D09c, only D05, D80 and D64.

https://www.butterfly.co.jp/product/dignics/sheet.html

IB66 · Sep 25, 2020

I've kept my rubbers well protected, and because i'm reasonably use to tacky rubbers losing their tack, I don't really think much about it when they do. in fact I found that when H8 lost it's tackiness, that's when it started to really perform!!

Konrad Bak · Sep 26, 2020

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IB66 · Sep 26, 2020

JustANoob said:
I am kind of confused, how does that rubber feel without tack since I thought that tack was the whole point of a chinese rubber ?

For me it still felt the same, which is sort of a contradiction!! It’s not an instantaneous loss of tack, gradually over a few weeks or so. If you play 2 or 3 times a week the change isn’t really noticeable. It’s only when you do a tack test, ie picking the ball up with rubber that you see the difference.

Also a rubber like H3 has differing levels of tackiness, depending what version you get!! What I found was that Standard H3 has loads of tack that lasts well, H3 provincial had less tack which decreased slightly over time, H3 Nat blue sponge had slightly less tack again (marginally) but lost slightly more tack over time. These rubbers were all unboosted. The real change in feel, is when the rubbers are boosted!!

i can only comment on H3, as I’ve not used Rakza in any version, it would be interesting to see how users of other rubbers have noticed the loss of tackiness, and whether this is considered as part of a rubbers durability.

yogi_bear · Sep 26, 2020

Arkady said:
Let me put it this way:
For me a rubber is spinnier than another one, given the same amount of effort. If a rubber in order to activate it's speed and spin, requires the strokes of Ma Long, then it's not for the average user.

This is exactly the case with Chinese rubbers like H3 you mention: They might be in fact spinier than European ones, but require boosting, impeccable technique, very fast strokes and body rotation, in order to play like that.
But very few non-pro players can utilize them, and that is the reason that they are not so popular among them.

I do not think you got my point. The rakza z when people who used h3 could produce spin in the samw level more or less so and required lesser effort due to the rakza z being faster. The eh version is the one that can be as spinny as h3.

Arkady · Sep 26, 2020

yogi_bear said:
I do not think you got my point. The rakza z when people who used h3 could produce spin in the samw level more or less so and required lesser effort due to the rakza z being faster. The eh version is the one that can be as spinny as h3.

What you're saying, actually proves my point:
For the average club player Rakza Z EH might feel the same or even spinier than H3 (while it's obvious that H3 is way spinier), because they don't have the appropriate technique and body mechanics
But if you ask a pro player to test, he will definitely tell you that H3 is way spinier

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