After more than 8 months, I played with the Pin Yi Cuifeng bluesponge again today and I was really impressed.
When I first got the 2 rubbers ( 1 in 41-42 and 1 in 39-40 degrees ), around 8-9 months ago, I didnt spend much time with either of them.
Used them in some practice sessions and then I put them in my drawer and didnt bother with them, until yesterday.
I needed a forehand rubber to try on the Xiom AZXi blade that I got to test.
So, I wanted to give these rubbers another try.
Since they both look the same and have no indication of which one is harder, I tried to figure out which one is the softer one by pressing them against each other with my fingers.
They both had a slight inward dome, as you would expect, but not as much as some other rubbers.
I put 1 layer Haifu on the sheet that felt softer to me ( 39-40° ), glued it on the Z side of the blade and gave it a try today.
Played it mostly on Forehand.
This is my evaluation:
- Grippy surface, about as tacky as D09c or some ESN hybrids.
- Hardness was feeling like 50+ degrees, around 53 if I had to guess
- Easy to get speed and power out of it, easier than some other chinese rubbers
- Good spin, better than most non-chinese or hybrids, but not as much as a more tacky rubber such as the Jupiter 3 that was glued on the other side
- A little bit bouncy, similar to other hybrids or D09c
- Very comfortable to play
- Very fun to play
- Dangerous trajectory for the opponent, my partners were looking at their racket as the ball would barely bounce and arc downwards very quickly, and I didnt even have to do much
- Unsure about high/low arc, but it was comfortable after getting used to it during warm up and some matches, I could easily play finishing loops from anywhere
Extra Notes:
It played very well, especially for a rubber that was lying around for almost a year.
I am very impressed by it.
It cost me around 30 Euros in total to get the 2 rubbers including shipping via superbuy.
Unfortunately, superbuy doesnt take Paypal anymore / right now, so that isnt so easy anymore.
At the time, I got a bit disappointed since the surface wasnt tacky and I expected it to be like the H3 as I knew it.
Also, I didnt have the time and capabilities to test rubbers as much as I do now.
My level, skills and technique have improved a lot since then, which also plays a role.
It gave me a good resemblance of D09c, although I cant directly compare the 2 rubbers at the moment.
If anyone can get their hands on some Pin Yi rubbers, maybe you should give it a try.