Review Yinhe Moon 12 Blue

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To clarify which rubber we are talking about, because Yinhe has a real good amount of different ones: https://ttnpp.com/store/galaxy-yinhe/1080-yinhegalaxy-moon-12-6.html

Tested and in use on a BTY FZD ALC as a bh rubber.
Testing period: Around 16 traininghours so far.

Sadly rubbers are advertised way too exaggerated or without any information these days. Often with number which mean nothing and confuse more than they help you find a decent peace of rubber. Especially on the Moon 12 information is rare, and the little you might find is misleading and garbage.
Therefore i felt the need to write something about this rubber.

Some basic information first
The rubber just comes in blue color.
You can chose from medium soft and medium hard version (mine is medium soft).
Completely non-tacky.
Pretty light (sadly i failed to remember to weigh the rubber before gluing it, but my setup with BD 2 weighs 186g which is the lightest i ever played).
Medium high throw

Overall impression
This rubber is actually slow. Probably the slowest offensive style rubber i ever played with.
But dont get mistaken, this rubber doesnt feel numb and is not really good for chopping. So what can it give you?
First of all you get a really consistent rubber, with a decent sweetspot and a really good feel. I actually never had this high amount of controll because of a rubber. Because of its softness it really grabs the ball and gives you much time to propperly direct the ball where you want it to go. On top of that you get a huge level of errortolerance. I could counterattack balls with it, i can only sometime hit in the perfect training environment.
Another good aspect of the rubber is, that you can easily create huge amounts of spin. Even slight brushes can get really dangerous, as long as they come over the net^^


Drive
Easy to peform. Naturally with a more controlled rubber i can perform way easier and way more consistent. Because of how well the rubber grabs the ball you can easily redirect a shot and decide how fast you counter the opponents shots.

Block
This is where the rubber actually excells. I often struggle in that department because i usually try to attack everything. Therefore i lack training in blocking things.
But this is the first time i got the feeling of being capable to blockout my opponents.
Additionally this setup is spin insensitive even with the Nittaku premioum 3 star balls i could easily handle loops and hard topspins.

Chops
Yeah as i said above not the best property of the rubber. If you do it slow the ball bounces of too hard, although the rubber is slow enough you lose controll here. You can only work around here by brushing the chops with a fast stroke. The moment the ball penetrates the rubber to deep it will get rough to bring the ball back the way you intended to.

Topspins
This is where the fun starts. Although the rubber isnt really fast itself, the moment you penetrate the rubber, the shots start getting decisively faster. Maybe it is their "max tense" technology or whatever, but by spining and performing harder shots you are still able to compete with faster rubbers like G1 or Vega pro, but only to a certain extent. The high end speed of these rubbers are beyond the Blue 12.

Flicks
There is close to nothing i can not flick with this rubber above the table. Hitting the ball here feels like putting it in your hand and throw it over the table (maybe a bit exaggerated here^^). But be aware that these flicks will be dangerous in terms of that they are quite spinny but far from being fast. You wont be able to hit hard enough with this shot to press the ball into the rubber hard enough to generate good speed.

Loops
That made way more fun than i expected. Even from a distance you can lift the ball and loop with beautifull arcs and great spin. I would advise though to use the wrist with bh moves here, otherwise the shot will become more of a lob to the other side. Easy to bring it over but nothing dangerous for your opponent.
Several of my training partners had huge issues of blocking the loops just because of the amount of spin i could produce with it. Especially because i can swing harder without being scared of shooting way over the table as per usual.


Conclusion
This is not a rubber for higher level players. If your opponents know what to do against spin and are able to move around the table really fast, this rubber wont to the job for you.
But if you want to relearn techniques or you have to develop certrain skills, especially on bh, this rubber will definitly help you do exactly that.
With a slower blade this rubber could even get used by beginners quite fine. It will provide the controll and feeling and therefore the feedback needed to learn.

And one more thing - i tested this rubber for an hour on fh and really hated it. For some reason on fh the sound this rubber makes is damn weird. Beside that it is just too soft for that.
Maybe, just maybe if you only play with your wrist or have a special fh technique anyhow, then you might be able to use it, but i definitly cant recommend it. With my strokes it felt to mushy, just like i hit more with the wood and carbon of my blade than the rubber itself.
 
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Really appreciate the review Attitude!

I ordered the Yinhe Moon 12 Blue a couple weeks ago and it should arrive sometime soon. I currently play with the regular Yinhe Moon (soft) on the BH of a Nittaku Acoustic. I had Fastarc S1 on there previously and it was too bouncy and hard to control for me as a beginner. Regular Yinhe Moon has also given me control and confidence in my shots, so my experience sounds much like your review.

I was hoping the Moon 12 Blue would provide a minor speed or spin increase and the "12" was a newer faster sponge, but I'm guessing that could be just marketing fluffery. I don't mind generating my own power while still developing so I wont' be disappointed if it's just a blue colored version of the original Moon (at $20, it's the cheapest "new" colored rubber I've seen). I'll be sure to come back here and drop a review once I've put some more miles on the original Moon and swap it out for Moon 12 Blue.

Do you have any experience with the original Yinhe Moon, or Yinhe Moon Speed? What about other Chinese BH rubbers like AK-47? When you say it's the slowest of the offensive rubbers you've played with, which rubbers are you comparing it to? Thanks in advance!
 
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Sadly none of the mentioned rubbers.
The chinese bh rubbers i played with were:
H3 37 (boosted)
J3 37
H8 (boosted)
H8-80 37 and 38

Overall they are totally different and with a way greater highend speed. They all react totally different to any shots you can perform. The biggest difference despite the speed would that they all are harder rubber and therefore "react" way faster to the stroke you are performing.
And rubbers like H8-80 and J3 are even bouncier and faster in every aspect.

Edit: I played focus 3 sniper too but that rubber has either not consistent batches or is just bad. Every mentioned rubber is way better in every apsect.
 
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Update:

So i have played this rubber for around 2 months straight and i have gained the most TTR points with it, in quite some time. Now i am above my all time high by around 30 points and lost a single match this season so far.

This was mostly due to its really high control capabilities. Thanks to it i improved my backhand block and openers a lot. I could easily keep myself in many rallies and prepare my forhand loops and finishers.
The only thing that remained a problem is the fact that i have a strong backhand flick and topspin... Well at least usually they are really dangerous in terms of angle and speed. But with this rubber they are just too easy to reach, at least at my level. And if you get used to its spin, the blocks will >always< succeed.

So, as i hit the rubber as little too close to the edge i switched (back) to boosted H8 for more speed in nearly every aspect. As i have tested in some while ago, my bh was in a way weaker state, but now i can definitly make use of that rubber way better. More importantly it is not so fast and uncontrollable as something like a Vega Pro for example.

So to some up some key points of this rubber:
+ Great control (highest control capabilities i ever experienced)
+ Huge room for error (several loops that usually went over the table the way i blocked them, came one the table with this rubber)
+ Good arc, so you can easily flick with it
+ Good spin
+/- High dwelltime because of its softness

- pretty slow. Not unboosted H3 dead/slow but close to 0 bounciness. If you block weaker pushes shots really defensively you wont get them over the net again.

So i would say this rubber is a great backhand rubber for every beginner or overall developing player. You probably wont succeed with it at around 1700TTR/2000-2100+ USATTR as long as your bh is the playmaking side. But if you just need your backhand for control and preparation you could easily use this rubber even way above that level.

Personally i would go back to that rubber anytime again if i wouldnt use my bh that much and would be faster with my legs to bring my fh into my bh side. But often times the floors in several halls are too slippery and bad so i just cant utilize good movement even if i had it^^.
So for now i will test my limits with the H8 and test the Moon Pro in the off season.
 
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Thanks for the update @Attitude. I'm still looking forward to using this once I put some more mileage on my regular Moon soft. Still a beginner and developing my BH loops and flicks, so the safe arc and high control sounds like something I'll really appreciate.

Right now I'm deciding between using a Yasaka Sweden Extra and a Nittaku Acoustic. The YSE feels more stable and easier to control and block with. The Acoustic is a lot more nimble and dynamic. I make more mistakes with it but can loop better with it and get better touch/spin with it. Do you have any opinions on which would be a better blade to use with the Moon 12 Blue?
 
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Thanks for the update @Attitude. I'm still looking forward to using this once I put some more mileage on my regular Moon soft. Still a beginner and developing my BH loops and flicks, so the safe arc and high control sounds like something I'll really appreciate.

Right now I'm deciding between using a Yasaka Sweden Extra and a Nittaku Acoustic. The YSE feels more stable and easier to control and block with. The Acoustic is a lot more nimble and dynamic. I make more mistakes with it but can loop better with it and get better touch/spin with it. Do you have any opinions on which would be a better blade to use with the Moon 12 Blue?

I dont think the rubber matters much here. It more depends on what you want and expect from your blade. Especially those 2 are pretty different in terms of feeling, speed and especially the price^^

As a beginner i actually would stick with the YSE but im a fan of better blades because a well made one give you so much more feedback and feeling you certainly need to develop good technique, moreso if you dont have a coach. In case you have, he or she can correct your errors actively, otherwise you have to feel them yourself and get to know what you made wrong. If your blade feels shit and play inconsistent you wont be able to tell if you made smth wrong or the reason for the error might be the equipment.

Never played the YSE but 2 of my teammates use the Nittaku Acoustic blade and others in my club use different versions of it. They all play pretty aggressive and at the same or above my level but still have the ability to control my shots.
 
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