Difference in Loki Pro Rubbers

[K.K]

hey, i wanna try out some stuff and bought loki rxton 3pro.

i am currently playing vega pro H on FH and really like the spin i can generate and the ease of use in serve and return. but somehow it doesn't work as good in hard shots maybe due to the soft sponge of 48°. when i started tabletennis i played exclusively with chinese rubbers and started my club time with friendship battle 2 before i switched to nittaku g-1. i played with that rubber for many years till i tried out some hybrids and finally started to play vega pro H. now i want to go deeper into chinese style rubbers so i bought loki rxton 3 pro. sadly the topsheet is barely sticky, kinda less than vega pro H and also really soft. i will try it out today and give feedback if you want.

but now i would like to know what difference there is between the other pro rubbers like 5pro and 9pro.

what difficulties i'll find with playing something like rxton 9 pro 39°?



thanks for help!

 

[K.K]

forgot about my gamestyle on FH. i have good spiny pendelum serve, mostly pure backspin or with nospin/sidespin variations to set up a 3rd ball attack and possible open up. 70% i will open up with spin and placement and make a lot of points due to people misjudging the amount of spin and then easy follow through or direct point because ball flies out of the table. or i stand perfectly and then finish the point with a diagonal loop kill, that rarely comes back. if i play against a defender i will try to rally not too long, because i don't feel to comfortable in the mid-distance. my backhand is also pretty good but i win points here more with speed and angles then with spin.

 

[tackyfh]

but now i would like to know what difference there is between the other pro rubbers like 5pro and 9pro.

what difficulties i'll find with playing something like rxton 9 pro 39°?

5pro and 9pro are closer traditional chinese style rubber, especially the latter. 5pro are quite hard (41d) while 9pro comes in 39 and 40d. In terms of feeling, 9pro has a feel like H3 but more lively and easier to hit through while 5pro feels like battle 2

 

[K.K]

thanks for your answer! i tried rxton 3 pro today and it really suprised me. it behaved kinda like a normal older generation tensor rubber but with a harder 50° sponge and no catapult effect whatsoever. it had a really high trajectory so my first loops went straight out. i adapted and then i really liked that rubber. really easy to play in an open game or while warm up and enough speed and spin to win points. but what sadly put me off: there was no tackiness... so when i went to matchplay i had some trouble with open ups, receive and smaller movement strokes. normally i brush the ball and get a good feedback and hold by the tackiness, then get enough spin to at least create some hesitation or a high ball by the receiver, or i have a tensor rubber and get some amount of catapult to fire off the ball even with an easy stroke, but nothing in here. kinda worst of both worlds in that case. any stroke that you don't go into the sponge or fully commit will be a weak ball or a miss. not my type of style. but i can totally recommend this rubber! i mean for that price? i got it for 3€ incl. shipping on an aliexpress sale, so i would say WTF that is a good rubber for that price. if i would still play untacky topsheets i would just boost it and get something like a cheap Tibhar Hybrid MK.

so i definitly will try out Rxton 9 Pro in 39°!
if it has the same kind of speed, a little lower arc and a tacky topsheet it could be exactly what i need

 

[lodro]

but what sadly put me off: there was no tackiness..

WHAT ?????? 😲 R3 pro has become recently my favorite FH-rubber. I could not believe it when I read that it has no tackiness. So i just quickly took the clear protective plastic of one of my blades and did the old : " lift the ball trick"...........it took 10 seconds before the ball fell back on to the table. This rubber has tons of grip and/or tackiness or stickiness....................but then Loki is of course well known for their lack of consistent quality.

i definitly will try out Rxton 9 Pro in 39°!
if it has the same kind of speed, a little lower arc and a tacky topsheet it could be exactly what i need................

I would not bother, these 2 rubbers have got nothing in common. 😂

 

[K.K]

oh really? that would make a big difference, since my rxton pro 3 can hold the ball as long as my vega x
if i could get it in a tacky version than i would definitly play it! then also wouldn't bother boosting because it has enough speed as is.

what is the difference to rxton 9 for you?

 

[K.K]

with that kind of inconsistency i would normally hold myself back with buying something from that brand again, but then i had clubmates that played donic bluegrip C2 and had sheets with crazy tack and the next sheet barely tacky at all. the difference is they paid 40€ and i paid 3€ so maybe i give rxton pro 3 another try

 

[mattlamperouge]

with that kind of inconsistency i would normally hold myself back with buying something from that brand again, but then i had clubmates that played donic bluegrip C2 and had sheets with crazy tack and the next sheet barely tacky at all. the difference is they paid 40€ and i paid 3€ so maybe i give rxton pro 3 another try

My Rxton 3 Pro is tacky.. All the R9 i have even more tack. R9 has different topsheet and denser sponge, completely different beast.

 

[TensorBackhand]

My Rxton 3 Pro is tacky.. All the R9 i have even more tack. R9 has different topsheet and denser sponge, completely different beast.

I think I understand what he means though. Loki topsheets are tacky, but kinda slippery at the same time. Rxton 3 Pro, Rxton 5 Pro have the same kinda smooth and slippery topsheet, while being tacky.

Sanwei and Double Fish and Friendship topsheets are grippier.

 

[K.K]

you are right that the topsheet is kinda weird and slippery, but i still get good grip and can generate a lot of spin. it has just no tack. so you don't get this little bit of holding sensation in smaller strokes that you even get with mildly tacky german rubbers and that makes them so controlled for me.

@ mattlamperouge and lodro: can you pick up a ball with rxton 3 pro?

and thanks for the explanation to r9! so you think it is way harder to play in that sense?

 

[mattlamperouge]

you are right that the topsheet is kinda weird and slippery, but i still get good grip and can generate a lot of spin. it has just no tack. so you don't get this little bit of holding sensation in smaller strokes that you even get with mildly tacky german rubbers and that makes them so controlled for me.

@ mattlamperouge and lodro: can you pick up a ball with rxton 3 pro?

and thanks for the explanation to r9! so you think it is way harder to play in that sense?

Mine could while clean and stored (i dont have it anymore a clubmate uses it), but thats just a trick at this point and not a proper test in my opinion... my Reactor thunder could lift the ball after a long use time (sweetspot looked worn) but R9 cant and it feels better spin and grippier while playing, no slips and overall better quality balls.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

My Rxton 3 Pro is tacky.. All the R9 i have even more tack. R9 has different topsheet and denser sponge, completely different beast.

Pro is actually provincial version
while R9 national is national version

 

[TensorBackhand]

Pro is actually provincial version
while R9 national is national version

I personally found Rxton 5 Pro to be worse than regular Rxton 5.

The Rxton 5 Pro had a softer sponge and was really quite slow. I find the regular Rxton 5 gives more stability and spin and power after both are boosted.

 

[K.K]

@TensorBackhand ok so maybe i try a rxton 5 too! but i think i‘ll go first with rxton 9 and from there on i‘ll get a general overview of chinese rubbers - i hope so at least

 

[K.K]

today i had a chance to visit a tabletennisstore that had a lot of different rubbers that you can test on your own bat on a court right next to the store. so i left rxton 3 pro on one side and put bluegrip c2, tibhar k3, codexx el 52 and another tacky rubber that i forgot the name of because i really didn‘t like it at all (i just remember that it was the softest one with 50•)

was really interesting that i liked C2 the most and that despite it‘s 55 degree sponge was the most controllable for my game of play. tibhar k3 was a bit to fast and felt a bit dry, or kinda like i do only play with the sponge… like the topsheet would be super soft or something like that. but besides that it was also really nice and super controlled. codexx played dirty because it had amazing grip and felt nice in warmup and also the receive game (had the best receive game for me) but was the worst in open ups for me. all the other were super easy in open ups compared to codexx. i mean i had some balls were it was super easy and quite normal like i would play with my normal rubber and then some balls that were just so low that it went into the net without a clear feedback. i couldn’t understand it‘s behavior, felt like an easy ball to throw away and then it went into the net. no problem with the other rubbers. so the best for me was C2!

now i am really curious to try the rxton 9 and see how it plays compared to those rubbers?

 

[Grumms]

I personally found Rxton 5 Pro to be worse than regular Rxton 5.

The Rxton 5 Pro had a softer sponge and was really quite slow. I find the regular Rxton 5 gives more stability and spin and power after both are boosted.

Did you measure it? My Rxton 5 was 42º and the Pro was 44º.

 

[TensorBackhand]

Did you measure it? My Rxton 5 was 42º and the Pro was 44º.

yeah I measured it, and Rxton 5 Pro felt quite soft. I think it was like 48d. I didn't like it.

Rxton 5 was a bit harder, but still not as hard as I want.

 

[lodro]

Rxton 5 was a bit harder, but still not as hard as I want.

which part is not hard enough for you , the sponge or the top rubber ????

 

[K.K]

44 degree in chinese scale? wow that must be a brick

 

[Grumms]

Shore C Durometer measurement. I'll make a post someday with measurement of dozens of rubbers. The initial indication by the manufacturer is never relevant.