5 out of 5 rating for Evolution MX-P
My first review
Its the second set of MX-P I bought. Like many people I'm used to play with Tenergy both side, and boosted Tenergies are for me the "benchmarks" of today's rubbers.
Opening :
Nothing special about the packaging, packed like most of todays rubbers (Tenergy, Calibras...), no additional protective sheet is provided by Tibhar like it is with the Nimbus rubbers for example.
The Sponge is red/Orange, with very big bubbles (like bluefire M1 turbo sponge).
The topsheets are glossy. The rubbers are heavy (73gr uncut, 50gr cut to usual butterfly shape).
Topsheet and sponge are very flexible and elastics, no tack. The overall combination looks medium/hard, a touch harder than T05.
The rubbers were mainly tested on my Butterfly Kong Linghui Special blade (special made blade), pictures here :
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2015/14/1427724200-kls1.jpg
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2015/14/1427724196-kls2.jpg
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2015/14/1427724201-kls3.jpg
Rubbers have been tested also on all the blades you see below, feel free to ask anything about the potential combination you consider :
No booster or any kind of tunning was used
Warm Up :
You will immediately feel a huge catapult effect with the mx-p, the rubber feels very linear, the innerpower of the rubber feels rather accessible.
Very good feeling, solid feel, not as hard as you would expect i think, meaning that the dwell time is particulary good with mx-p.
Forehand topspin :
It is my best stroke, my principal source of points during competitive matches.
You will immediately notice the very high throw angle of the rubber and that the catapult on topspins is huge. Rubber is linear and predictable despite huge catapult effect.
Good touch provided by the racket permit to easy adjust your stroke.
The spin and speed are generated quite easy. The rubber can be used close to table as well as mid-distance.
Close your racket for countertopsins, nearly "as much as you can".
MX-P really shines against backspin balls, making a strong a fast topspin agaisnt backspin balls is realy easy, just as easy as making a classic openning loop with lot of spin but slow.
Just go for the power topspin on backspin balls.
Backand topspins :
Backhand topspin is not my best stroke.
With MX-P I was able to make strong and fast topspins against backspin balls. It is one of the very few rubber permitting me to do this.
Most of my errors were because I didn't close enough my racket, the result is that the MX-P is realy good for topsins over the table, even on backspin balls.
The rubber won't make you the new FZD or ZJK with awesome backhand topsin over the table, but it will make you better on that very popular stroke.
Blocks :
Once you get adjusted to the high throw, you will love the MX-P for any kind of blocks.
The rubber doesn't forgive technical errors like other rubbers can (lets say for example ; T80 and Calibra Tour M, those rubbers are less sensitive to incomming spin than MX-P).
Serves :
So far, one of the best rubber I ever used for serves. The hard topsheet has awesome grip. You will love the rubber when it come to serves.
Serves returns :
Just like with blocks, the rubber doesn't forgive technical errors as much as other rubbers can.
The rubber is sensitive to incomming spin, you will "break" the incomming spin easy if the serve is long, with a FH or BH strong topspin, or even with a BH over the table topspin.
But you will need strong technic to keep your returns low and short or to realize regular flicks.
The rubber will remind you T05, requires a good technic and anticipation on passive serves returns.
Other things and some comments :
I didn't tried the rubber on a all wood blade, but the rubber felt amazing on IF AL which is not far from a 5 ply all wood blade, with limba outer and very good flex (picture here
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2015/14/1427724201-ifal1.jpg ).
Tenergies felt, to me, really akward and inert on IF AL, like losing their "spring sponge" on flexible blades, it is not the case with MX-P and the rubber remains fast and "springy" even on flexible blades.
The rubbers are really heavy, you might really dislike it even if you enjoy the rubber.
This is my second pair of MX-P's. Durability is top end. Since I can't stand playing with an "almost not new" rubber, MX-P can last me 6 weeks (to compare, a T80 last me about 3-4 weeks). The lose of speed and spin is very linear and pretty slow, you will enjoy the durability of MX-P.
I hope you enjoyed this review, I'll try to answer your questions if you have any.