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New Stiga Mantra Pro
- Thread starter thomas.pong
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Well I would say aliexpress is like an international taobao.
But taobao is much bigger and lot more stuff on it and cheaper.
But taobao is much bigger and lot more stuff on it and cheaper.
if you guys want to buy stiga mantra pro on taobao, enter "斯蒂卡咒语pro". you should see the mantra pro images. it is currently selling at 170-180 rmb so you can do your conversion and see if it is cost efficient
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Thanks for the heads up. I thought I was getting good deals on Aliexpress compared to Amazon, now comes Taobao at half price compared to Aliexpress.
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Thank you for the heads up. If I can bother you, what would be the chinese characters to type in for, say, Tibhar? And Yasaka? And finally Nittaku?
I don't use Stiga rubber. I am experimenting with some Gewo and Victas rubber. Next is Donic and Joola.
But I think I will be mostly interested in Yasaka Rakza 7 soft and Nittaku C-1 so that's why I asked. I am also interested in getting Tibhar FX-D, FX-P, FX-S, EL-S and EL-P. I do not like MX-S and MX-P. Too hard for me.
I can get these ESN rubbers at 30% bulk discount from TT11 and Dandoy which I trust very much. So the price on Taobao has to be a lot cheaper than $31.5 for me to get interested. Thank you ahead of time!
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Lmao this actually worked, I am fluent in Chinese so I normally just type the Chinese name in the search bar.
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I think it's the same shipping services as Aliexpress. Each item shows whether its available for delivery to your country and its fee. One thing that it doesn't show is estimated time of delivery.
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so is it free shipping? maybe I need to learn to use taobao. Can you provide some links of good rubbers you have seen?
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after restarting playing Table Tennis after 30 years, started with my old setup like Klamper H, Friendship 729 but found the setup not supporting the game due to major changes in technology and ball size. & after trying Rakza series then Hurrucane 8 and then MXP now finally settled down at Stiga Mantra M on both sides of Yasaka Alnade.
& Obviously curious of trying this Pro series
& Obviously curious of trying this Pro series
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All prices in Cad. Take another 23% discount for prices in USD or Euro. You may need a Taobao account to see the links
DHS Hurricane 3 Neo National $62
DHS Goldarc 8 for $37
Stiga Mantra Pro $30
Stiga DNS Dragon Grip $35
729 Battle 3 $32
729 Bloom Power $10
Yinhe Jupiter 3 $13
Palio AK47 $14
Yasaka Rakza 7 and 7 Soft $37
Heavy discouts on Chinese rubbers and little to no discount on European and Japanese rubbers.
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Like I mentioned before I have tried both Mantra Pro M and XH. If I just wanna be lazy and define them I would say Mantra Pro M is like a softer Glayzer, and Mantra Pro XH is a softer D05.
I think the sponge of the Mantra Pros are really excellent, they both feel super deep and have kinda of a Tenergy feel how they "wind up" and then release the ball, but also a Dignics kinda feel how they handle incoming spin. This OCS sponge is good stuff.
The topsheet is superb too. The grip is very good, I tried many ESN rubbers and I don't remember any topsheet being so supple and stretchy but still being strong. For sure G-1 has many of these attributes but it feels weaker and less supple.
It's a pity that these Mantra Pros are pretty expensive in EU, I think both are excellent rubbers and I would choose them any day over a top ESN rubber in the same price range. But I would not choose them over Glayzers or Tenergy and they are almost in Tenergy price range.
They really play very similarly to Dignics and Glayzer but they are much heavier than Butterfly's rubbers. While Glayzer is about 45g cut to Viscaria, the Mantra Pro M is 49g, Dignics 05 is around 49g and the XH is 52-3g on a Viscaria. That ~8g is nothing to sneeze at especially if one has a more heavy blade to begin with.
I doubt the Mantra Pro durability would match the Glayzer or Dignics and if I look at EU pricing Glayzer is cheaper than Mantra Pro...
Who would I recommend it to?
If someone wants a softer Glayzer then Mantra Pro M is perfect.
If someone wants a cheaper and softer D05 Mantra XH is perfect.
Also I would recommend it to players who don't play so many hours per week, maybe like 2-4 hours.
Why?
Well if you buy a top-end ESN rubber that is factory-boosted it will lose its boosted property in a month or two.
These Mantra Pros are not boosted so they will play pretty much the same until the topsheet wears out.
In China these rubbers are dirt cheap, around H3N price range and at that cost they are a no-brainer.
In Europe Stiga's prices are so inflated and just plain fracking high that it makes Butterfly pricing super reasonable.
Their DNAs and the Mantra Pros are way overpriced.
Ps: I played against some super good defenders in HK with the Mantra Pros and while I played pretty well I felt that Mantra Pro just doesn't have the means to make a good modern defender crap their pants. Instead they kinda made me feel like I don't have the penetrating power... But this could be just my fault for not using them enough to challenge modern defenders on my or above my level. Especially on FH I am more used to friction rubbers like G09c or tacky Chinese rubbers.
I think the sponge of the Mantra Pros are really excellent, they both feel super deep and have kinda of a Tenergy feel how they "wind up" and then release the ball, but also a Dignics kinda feel how they handle incoming spin. This OCS sponge is good stuff.
The topsheet is superb too. The grip is very good, I tried many ESN rubbers and I don't remember any topsheet being so supple and stretchy but still being strong. For sure G-1 has many of these attributes but it feels weaker and less supple.
It's a pity that these Mantra Pros are pretty expensive in EU, I think both are excellent rubbers and I would choose them any day over a top ESN rubber in the same price range. But I would not choose them over Glayzers or Tenergy and they are almost in Tenergy price range.
They really play very similarly to Dignics and Glayzer but they are much heavier than Butterfly's rubbers. While Glayzer is about 45g cut to Viscaria, the Mantra Pro M is 49g, Dignics 05 is around 49g and the XH is 52-3g on a Viscaria. That ~8g is nothing to sneeze at especially if one has a more heavy blade to begin with.
I doubt the Mantra Pro durability would match the Glayzer or Dignics and if I look at EU pricing Glayzer is cheaper than Mantra Pro...
Who would I recommend it to?
If someone wants a softer Glayzer then Mantra Pro M is perfect.
If someone wants a cheaper and softer D05 Mantra XH is perfect.
Also I would recommend it to players who don't play so many hours per week, maybe like 2-4 hours.
Why?
Well if you buy a top-end ESN rubber that is factory-boosted it will lose its boosted property in a month or two.
These Mantra Pros are not boosted so they will play pretty much the same until the topsheet wears out.
In China these rubbers are dirt cheap, around H3N price range and at that cost they are a no-brainer.
In Europe Stiga's prices are so inflated and just plain fracking high that it makes Butterfly pricing super reasonable.
Their DNAs and the Mantra Pros are way overpriced.
Ps: I played against some super good defenders in HK with the Mantra Pros and while I played pretty well I felt that Mantra Pro just doesn't have the means to make a good modern defender crap their pants. Instead they kinda made me feel like I don't have the penetrating power... But this could be just my fault for not using them enough to challenge modern defenders on my or above my level. Especially on FH I am more used to friction rubbers like G09c or tacky Chinese rubbers.
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Actually I have swapped the Mantra Pro XH on my Zhou Qihao S-ALC blade with a H3N OS but have not touched my Mantra Pro M on BH side just for a test a few weeks ago. That test was so good that since I have not even touched another blade. I played a lot against SP, LP and of course normal inverted players and the Mantra Pro M is really easy to use.
Actually it is much easier to use than any rubber that I tried, Glayzer for sure is much harder to use, Tenergy is still harder to use. Mantra Pro M feels really soft, but probably on measurement it is as described @ 47deg.
But the sponge and the topsheet are so supple that I have never felt this. Like Tenergy would be the golden standard for suppleness but I think the Mantra Pros have managed to surpass it.
And it's not just soft and supple but it has good bounce, good topsheet stretch, and the grip is excellent.
In fact the sponge and topsheet support are so good that when playing against SP or LP players I need to focus more on keeping the ball not lifting too up and drifting long. I don't know but for me this "built-in" support is really nice since I can focus on placement and ball arc. I don't remember any rubber where I could "successfully and god forbid consistently" backhand!!! loop high quality balls from the floor, out of placement on to the table and still applying pressure on my opponent... Yes literally from the floor. (actually against SP)
I loved the old Mantra H for BH blocking but I love this one too, it's not particularly spin sensitive and has great speed and it eats the ball very well too, so one can kind of do adjustments during block while the rubber holds the ball. But because the sponge is so compressible it can hit down on the wood fairly easily on flat blocks, then it becomes super spin insensitive and fast. Very good rubber for just "elementary" school flat, press down block.
Kind of how like Truls does it. I know he doesn't use this rubber but it is super great for that hit and guys, it's effective.
Also I'm a lefty, and when I play against most SP players (who use SP on BH) I sometimes engage in straight BH BH flat hit rally. Normally most rubbers I have to pay attention to lift a bit or I will hit in the net since SP makes the ball just go down from my rubber. But with Mantra Pro M I don't need to worry about this and I welcome BH-BH flat exchanges. Welcoming is maybe a bit of a stretch since I'm still a bit wary of this but mostly because I have bad experience from other rubbers. I can imagine if I use it for even more I will just get great confidence and seek such exchanges.
Actively countering open up loops is also quite fun since there is the flat and push block Truls style, so that is like a swiss knife tool in the pocket always. In doubt do it!
But it's also possible to counterspin heavy open ups. It's not even difficult, just need to swing with confidence (or recklessly with closed eyes) and the rubber takes care.
For sure it doesn't have that feel when I get it right with Glayzer, since Glayzer will make it feel like I hit the best shot of the decade but Mantra Pro M will put a lot more balls on the table and possibly with greater speed, only that I don't have that epic feeling of greatness. But a point is a point so if I get more with Mantra Pro M I will take that.
Open up and chiquitas are very good too, since it has great girp and a superb sponge. I don't remember a sponge made by any other company so good. The XH sponge is also fantastic. It is durable as hell, after 2 months of use the sponge is the very same as new. Several of my teammates have killed Tenergies faster than that and I have much more power than them.
And that leades me into durability. After 2 months and possibly 100 hours of actual play the sheet has only marks where I touched it with my finger regularly (serve). Superb durablility of the topsheet and the sponge has no boosting tricks and still maintain the same characteristic as new. Clicky, speedy, supple everything is the same.
So @igorponger is pretty correct to hype the OCS sponge from Japan. The latest one is probalby the best I have encountered.
Heck I wish Daiki will make a sticky, friction rubber like D09c with their sponge. That would be so awesome.
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says
former JPEN, now CPEN
says
former JPEN, now CPEN
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how light are the stiga mantra pros u had?
admittedly not rly a big fan of the OG mantra series, had a stiga mantra M two years ago and the topsheet lost grip quickly in a month and soon after oxidized so much to the point where i couldnt really salvage it
but seems like the new pro lineup is promising
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