Recommendations for a soft controlled BH-Rubber?

[JJ Ng]

@JJ Ng,

I have just ordered a sheet of Vega Europe DF. FH I plan to use Baracuda. These rubbers will go on to my other 10mm one ply. Will I be a happy lil'lad?

I think so. You have been using Butterfly Flextra. So Vega Europe DF and Baracuda should be faster than Flextra but not too fast. I think you will be happy!

 

[Jan_]

Donic bluestorm z3 is pretty good, fast but not sensitive to spin, like, at all. But it does die relatively quick if you play daily.

 

[AdamTT]

No, it just means that you should have realistic expectations of what a softer rubber will and won't do for you.

The few I mentioned, especially the Rakza 7 Soft and Vega Euro DF, are very popular soft rubbers. They're proven performers in their category, but they're not going to play hugely differently to the three you've already tried.

The fundamental issue for you (as a "fairly new player who is still developing") isn't about one soft-to-medium BH rubber versus another soft-to-medium BH rubber—it's about learning to read and respond to incoming spin, and using a reasonably 'forgiving' setup while you're learning.

Personally, I'd suggest you might be better off with a good quality 5-ply all wood blade for a while. Any of these blades may help your development better than using a carbon blade will, at least for a while:

• Butterfly Korbel (the European version, not the Japanese version)
• Xiom Offensive S
• Neottec Voodoo Classic
• Donic Persson Powerplay (this isn't, strictly, a 5-ply blade, but it's a good option for you to consider)
• Yasaka Sweden Extra
• Tibhar Lebesson

It's not necessarily that your Innerforce Layer ALC is too fast for you (though it might be), it's that the presence of a reinforcing fibre 'mutes' the feedback to your hand and makes it more difficult for you to feel the difference between when you play a good shot and when you play a poor one. Basically, you'll probably learn slower with your Innerforce blade than you will with an all wood blade.

I have the Xiom Offensive S blade listed above, and the Vega Europe DF on my backhand and love the set up. Great touch with this set up and it's not too spin sensitive, but like others mention, it's all about training and practice to neutralise spin

 

[Gozo Aruna]

I think so. You have been using Butterfly Flextra. So Vega Europe DF and Baracuda should be faster than Flextra but not too fast. I think you will be happy!

@JJ Ng,

I only notice this very recent, like today. My shoulder is tight and slightly sore. I realised that is perhaps due to me using Flextra on my FH. Being a super soft rubber, I had to use extra power to stroke the ball and I speculate if I continue with Flextra on FH, I may develop repetitive stress injury on my FH shoulder.

As such, if I may ask, on my 10.5mm one ply, should I use Vega Europe or Rozena in lieu of FH Flextra? Perhaps a little added tensor to assist in the power generation process.

I specifically mentioned the above two because I have them in my drawer. Thanks JJ.

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

@JJ Ng,

I only notice this very recent, like today. My shoulder is tight and slightly sore. I realised that is perhaps due to me using Flextra on my FH. Being a super soft rubber, I had to use extra power to stroke the ball and I speculate if I continue with Flextra on FH, I may develop repetitive stress injury on my FH shoulder.

As such, if I may ask, on my 10.5mm one ply, should I use Vega Europe or Rozena in lieu of FH Flextra? Perhaps a little added tensor to assist in the power generation process.

I specifically mentioned the above two because I have them in my drawer. Thanks JJ.

From memory you are already somewhat familiar with Rozena, so I'd bet its a safe choice to go with

 

[JJ Ng]

@JJ Ng,

I only notice this very recent, like today. My shoulder is tight and slightly sore. I realised that is perhaps due to me using Flextra on my FH. Being a super soft rubber, I had to use extra power to stroke the ball and I speculate if I continue with Flextra on FH, I may develop repetitive stress injury on my FH shoulder.

As such, if I may ask, on my 10.5mm one ply, should I use Vega Europe or Rozena in lieu of FH Flextra? Perhaps a little added tensor to assist in the power generation process.

I specifically mentioned the above two because I have them in my drawer. Thanks JJ.

Agree with @Scarfed Garchomp

I can say with confidence that Rozena is more catapulty than Vega Europe. So it is up to you. If money is not a problem, then start with Vega Europe for a little while and then upgrade to Rozena shortly if you don't like Vega Europe enough. But if you don't want to waste a rubber and you want something more catapulty then I agree with just going straight to Rozena and you can put Vega Europe to use another day or sell it to a clubmate.

 

[_ak]

I'd like to praise Rozena. Played with 2.1 red on BH couple of sessions and matches, very reliable rubber. Feels soft but not super soft.

It's not slow but slower than GA8 47.5 for example, still OK for BH smash. Not super spinny but spinny enough.
Push, flick, block, drive - everything is not superb but fine. Perhaps I am used to a bit firmer rubbers so my usual stroke on BH opener produced quite low and deep ball without dropping balls to the net, it's sponge seems to be easily activated, the same stroke with GA8 produced slower ball with higher and shorter arc, my sweetspot seems to be around 45 degrees ESN on BH. What else would you need if you don't have powerful BH, especially with such price?

Can't really compare it with Vega Europe, last time played with Vega ~10 years ago with celluloid ball, it felt a bit too soft to me.

 

[JJ Ng]

I'd like to praise Rozena. Played with 2.1 red on BH couple of sessions and matches, very reliable rubber. Feels soft but not super soft.

It's not slow but slower than GA8 47.5 for example, still OK for BH smash. Not super spinny but spinny enough.
Push, flick, block, drive - everything is not superb but fine. Perhaps I am used to a bit firmer rubbers so my usual stroke on BH opener produced quite low and deep ball without dropping balls to the net, it's sponge seems to be easily activated, the same stroke with GA8 produced slower ball with higher and shorter arc, my sweetspot seems to be around 45 degrees ESN on BH. What else would you need if you don't have powerful BH, especially with such price?

Can't really compare it with Vega Europe, last time played with Vega ~10 years ago with celluloid ball, it felt a bit too soft to me.

Rozena is a good rubber. It just feels "safe" on the backhand side. Not sure what else to say about it.

It is not spin sensitive because the top sheet is not tacky. But I don't it is less spinny or tacky than say Barracuda, Fastarc C-1, BlueFire M2, etc. I think Rakza 7 and Rakza 7 soft are a bit more spinny than Rozena.

But honestly unless they are Chinese rubbers, those rubbers' tackiness and spinniness are all the same to me.

 

[_ak]

Rozena has very attractive price among eurojap rubbers. In my local stores it's on par with Vega Intro (34.90 eur), other Vegas are 5 to 10 euro more expensive, Rakza, Hexer are 50