3 out of 5 rating for Sriver FX
When you could speed glue, NO rubber out there would soak up the glue like this thing. It was king of the hill hands down world standard.
Now that we don't glue up, it is an entirely different animal... Kinda like a really weak one with no fangs.
This rubber will perform (hard to say that with a straight face) well on any blade you slap it on. It will, if you clean it and maintain it, last WAY longer than any Japanese rubber you ever owned. Speed is SLOW medium. Gears is a word this rubber pioneered back in the day and it holds true. Compared to modern rubbers, you will at the end of the day feel very disappointed in the top end of this, it doesn't have much, however, that allows you to hit harder and if you know how to do that, you can lay the smack down and still land it.
Sriver is an allround control rubber that will do every stroke well, but not exceptional. The mushy soft sponge is for those who want a more forgiving rubber (usually BH side) that will still topspin with control and allow some error, yet still land it. There is still a place in modern TT for such a category of rubber and BTY innovated a legeend in this category. 40 years of use in the TT world will attest to it.
Many pundits will recommend this rubber on an ALL+ blade and call it a day and true, that will get the job done for the beginning player who wants a controllable rubber to alow him to grow the fundamentals.
This rubber is best used with a player with TOUCH who values the ability to VARY the spin with control and placement. Such a player will boss points without hearing the Villiage people sing "Macho Man".
