Alternative to Nittaku PK50 (and 8-80) ?

[Romson]

Hello,

I am looking for an alternative to Nittaku PK50, I really like this rubber, unfortunatly it is discontinued, so I prefer focus on something easy to find. I already tried the hurricane 8-80 and really like it, it is a spin monster, very linear with awesome control, but when I am tired, I find it a bit less easy to play in comparison of the PK50.

My Ideal rubber will be between the PK50 and the 8-80. If I can find something a little slower and spinnier than the PK50, but a bit more "forgiving" than the 8-80, it would be very nice. I am thinking about rubber like Rakza Z or VJC 07 sticky extra. Is there people who tested these rubbers andc can compare to the PK50 and / or 8-80 ?

Thank you a lot.

 

[jk1980]

I have a funny feeling reading you posting about the Nittaku PK50 Sieger allegedly being discontinued.
Facts are that it was only released in 2020 and that there is no successor to it in Nittakus rubber offering.
Can you or anybody else give a real official statement of Nittaku claiming that they discontinue it ?

There was a notorious german user in a german tabletennis forum that spammed the forum with a lot of really stupid questions and comparisons and that guy that basically has no clue had posted that the PK50 was discontinued. Pressed by other users for his source, he claimed that somebody at the german Nittaku hotline would have told him so. This is basically 2 years or more ago. After him posting it in the german forum some international users seemed to take this as gospel and posted the same thing on tabletennis daily and this probably lead to this whole myth of Nittaku discontinuing the rubber.

If it was discontinued i wonder why i can buy it not only in many shops still, but even on Nittakus official website (without any mention of a discontinuation).

I am open for any real and reliable information other than "i heard so on the 1nt3rn3t".

 

[TensorBackhand]

Hello,

I am looking for an alternative to Nittaku PK50, I really like this rubber, unfortunatly it is discontinued, so I prefer focus on something easy to find. I already tried the hurricane 8-80 and really like it, it is a spin monster, very linear with awesome control, but when I am tired, I find it a bit less easy to play in comparison of the PK50.

My Ideal rubber will be between the PK50 and the 8-80. If I can find something a little slower and spinnier than the PK50, but a bit more "forgiving" than the 8-80, it would be very nice. I am thinking about rubber like Rakza Z or VJC 07 sticky extra. Is there people who tested these rubbers andc can compare to the PK50 and / or 8-80 ?

Thank you a lot.

PK50 already seems really slow to me.

Maybe you could try unboosted Sanwei Target Pro 3, or Double Fish Volant

 

[Jan_]

Goldarc 8 47,5 is a really great rubber. Tons of spin, low speed, great feel, medium throw, easy short game, and it's a tensor, so you can play it even when tired. Goldarc 5 is pretty good too but slower with more control and isn't a tensor. Both are German ESN rubbers.

 

[jk1980]

PK50 is not slow, but it only has medium speed in my opinion. To get speed out of it you need to use quite a lot more body power than your typical ESN rubber, obviously. If we take away the Nittaku hurricane lineup, than this is the most chinese feeling Nittaku rubber that i tested, but still it does have the catapult if activated, but way lower and more linear than any other hybrid rubber on the market.

One rubber that i found similar is Joola Golden Tango PS. That one had similar short game features with perhaps more support and a different threshold when the support kicks in.

 

[piligrim]

Maybe Rakza Z?

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

Gewo Codexx 52 is basically the same rubber, if you can still find it.

 

[Grumms]

Gewo Codexx 52 is basically the same rubber, if you can still find it.

It's available for cheap on AliExpress, 35€.

 

[Brozi]

I have a funny feeling reading you posting about the Nittaku PK50 Sieger allegedly being discontinued.
Facts are that it was only released in 2020 and that there is no successor to it in Nittakus rubber offering.
Can you or anybody else give a real official statement of Nittaku claiming that they discontinue it ?
If it was discontinued i wonder why i can buy it not only in many shops still, but even on Nittakus official website (without any mention of a discontinuation).
I am open for any real and reliable information other than "i heard so on the 1nt3rn3t".

There was a list of discontinued rubbers from nittaku, and the pk50 was mentioned there. But even besides that, you cant find it on Nittakus official website anymore (at least for me, using nittaku.com). Its discontinued on tabletennis11 as well.

 

[kapahoo]

Yeah. Rakza Z. Slightly slower and more linear than PK50 and slightly faster with simliar feeling as 8-80.

 

[jk1980]

Maybe Rakza Z?

Rakza Z is way more easy to activate and faster than PK50 imo.

 

[Romson]

I have a funny feeling reading you posting about the Nittaku PK50 Sieger allegedly being discontinued.
Facts are that it was only released in 2020 and that there is no successor to it in Nittakus rubber offering.
Can you or anybody else give a real official statement of Nittaku claiming that they discontinue it ?

There was a notorious german user in a german tabletennis forum that spammed the forum with a lot of really stupid questions and comparisons and that guy that basically has no clue had posted that the PK50 was discontinued. Pressed by other users for his source, he claimed that somebody at the german Nittaku hotline would have told him so. This is basically 2 years or more ago. After him posting it in the german forum some international users seemed to take this as gospel and posted the same thing on tabletennis daily and this probably lead to this whole myth of Nittaku discontinuing the rubber.

If it was discontinued i wonder why i can buy it not only in many shops still, but even on Nittakus official website (without any mention of a discontinuation).

I am open for any real and reliable information other than "i heard so on the 1nt3rn3t".

Well, I am not sure about that, but I found that on another post :

https://www.nittaku.com/nittaku-news/topics/post-3862

On the list, you can read the PK50. And I saw that TT11 France and TT11 Europe has removed it of their offer ...

 

[jk1980]

I can see a mention of "PK50" inside a pdf aside with just japanese letters, so i dont know what that would actually mean. Might as well mean that they see no point in importing the PK50 to japan anymore, because there is no demand for it (remember it is manufactured in germany).

The notion that PK50 is discontinued is older than 1 maybe even 2 years and back then T11 did still sell it. I probably even bought it from them a few month ago and it is still on sale on their official webpage (for germany that is).

 

[Romson]

Well, thank you all for your propositions.

@kapahoo and @jk1980 you have to agree more seriously, I know feeling is different for each person. But for me it is important to find something that is NOT faster than PK50. PK50 is not slow and I have way enough power with it.

To be precise, 8-80 has the perfect speed for me, my only problem is that the speed is a bit harder to "activate" when you are tired compared to the PK50. So something between both should be perfect.

Nobody try the Victas VJC 07 sticky extra ?

Oh and another important fact, I don't like when feeling is too hard, I like the 8-80 and and the Pk50 for that because even if there are hybrid and a bit hard on paper, they don't feel very hard, they are comfortable to use (to compare, I hate G1, because even if it play very nice, for me it feel too hard like a brick). How is the Rakza Z about feeling ? not too hard ?

Something like a PK50 but a bit slower and even spinnier and linear should be the perfection to me (or in others words, a 8-80 a bit more forgiving, meaning more easy when tired).

 

[Romson]

I can see a mention of "PK50" inside a pdf aside with just japanese letters, so i dont know what that would actually mean. Might as well mean that they see no point in importing the PK50 to japan anymore, because there is no demand for it (remember it is manufactured in germany).

The notion that PK50 is discontinued is older than 1 maybe even 2 years and back then T11 did still sell it. I probably even bought it from them a few month ago and it is still on sale on their official webpage (for germany that is).

Yes but this Pdf is in "discontinued product" page of official Nittaku website so I don't know ... anyway, here in France it become very hard to find so I prefer to switch to something other.

 

[jk1980]

i got a confirmation from the german web page chat support that the rubber is discontinued (original wording "PK50 ist ein Auslauf Belag") and that they only sell whats left in their stock.

update:
Sergej from Tabletennis11 wrote that it is discontinued as well...

i have a pending request with Nittaku germany where i asked them if they plan a successor with similar properties. It's unlikely, but you never know.

 

[Romson]

i got a confirmation from the german web page chat support that the rubber is discontinued (original wording "PK50 ist ein Auslauf Belag") and that they only sell whats left in their stock.

update:
Sergej from Tabletennis11 wrote that it is discontinued as well...

i have a pending request with Nittaku germany where i asked them if they plan a successor with similar properties. It's unlikely, but you never know.

Yes it is confirmed so ... it is a shame because it is a very very good rubber. I don't know why, at the time as every brands has developped their own hybrid, Yasaka Rakza Z, Xioma china guang, Tibhar mk etc ...

 

[ttarc]

Gewo Codexx 52 is basically the same rubber, if you can still find it.

Codexx EL Pro 52 is harder, heavy (>50g cut) and fast if used properly. Nice FH rubber but too hard for (my) BH. Harder to play/to get decent spin/arc than H8-80 37 on BH.

Other rubbers that might work:
Butterfly Glayzer 09C: My red 2.1mm one (99g with package) had just 44g cut. Similar sponge hardness as the Codexx 52 but softer topsheet.
729 Taichi is easy to use but heavy (>50g cut). Depending on preference either the 37 in/39 out (more spin focused) or 39 in/37 out.
729 Battle 2 Soft (37) version might also work (not played myself yet).

If the H8-80 is close to the perfect rubber but just a bit hard too use sometimes I would try to boost it. Seamoon works but has not a big effect.

 

[kapahoo]

H8-80 can also be very heavy. I'd still be using it if it wasn't for the big differences between rubber sheets.

 

[jk1980]

I will try the rxton 7 39 if the next backhand rubber is due, but I also could not resist buying two PK50 just to be safe.