Review Yinhe Moon 12 Blue

[Attitude]

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.

 

[turbozed]

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!

 

[Attitude]

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.

 

[TensorBackhand]

I hope you try the Moon Speed 53.

From what Ive gathered, this rubber performs incredibly well.

 

[Attitude]

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.

 

[turbozed]

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?

 

[Attitude]

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.

 

[turbozed]

Just to add to this thread, my sheet of Yinhe Moon 12 Blue was 60g uncut and 44g cut to a 157x150mm Sanwei Fextra 7.

I only got to use it for a little bit, but I can confirm BH blocks with it felt very easy. Passive blocks fell very close to the net and lost speed resulting in an awkward half-long ball for my partner to return. Changing the angle a bit and adding power landed the ball closer to the backline. Not much speed in the blocks but lot of control so block placement would be its point winning advantage.

I can also confirm the high throw. It throws much higher than regular Moon (soft sponge). Moon 12 Blue feels like it gives me more control than regular Moon with which I'm often clipping the net or sending the ball long. Blue seems to find the table much easier. Have not practiced loops against backspin or flicks yet but looking forward to it.

I'm looking to develop my BH strokes and gain confidence in using a variety of them, and I'm hoping this one will allow me to do it. I've played Fastarc S-1, Fastarc C-1, and Yinhe Moon previously on BH.

 

[Vrael]

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

hi, could I ask You for detailed comparsion of all those rubbers (boosted and not boosted etc) ?
As You saw in another topic on this forum I am considering moving away from jpn/euro rubbers on my bh and this review of moon 12 blue sounds really good. I am/was also around 2100 USATT raiting (or at least that is what I was told here some time ago), but the only thing I can do with my bh is block, chop-block, chiquita etc, I have huge problem with long serves to my bh (no spin, side spin etc).

Is the moon 12 the only rubber with quite soft topsheet on this list ? What would be the 2nd "easiest" to use rubber from this list ? I was also considering Jupiter and big dipper, but maybe some hurricanes are also ok ?

 

[Attitude]

hi, could I ask You for detailed comparsion of all those rubbers (boosted and not boosted etc) ?
As You saw in another topic on this forum I am considering moving away from jpn/euro rubbers on my bh and this review of moon 12 blue sounds really good. I am/was also around 2100 USATT raiting (or at least that is what I was told here some time ago), but the only thing I can do with my bh is block, chop-block, chiquita etc, I have huge problem with long serves to my bh (no spin, side spin etc).

Is the moon 12 the only rubber with quite soft topsheet on this list ? What would be the 2nd "easiest" to use rubber from this list ? I was also considering Jupiter and big dipper, but maybe some hurricanes are also ok ?

At that level i would probably go for something that is at least capable of a little bot more speed. Moon Blue 12 is great but lacks tremendously highend speed. That is the main reason i moved away from it so smth a bit more speedy.

So i would advise to either get the moon blue 12 for a certain duration to learn and develop the needed techniques or go for either Moon Pro (which i am using currently). It is kinda the same as H8 but softer and a bit easier to use especially unboosted.

J3 is probably the hardest to use because it has a flat arc which makes it a huge pain to flick and loop with it. Defense is okish but overall not recommendable.
H3 boosted (and only usable boosted for what you need it) is a bit hard to use in terms of technique. But it is highly rewarding. The main reason i put it away was, that the commercial version varies way too much and the provincial is too expensive in my country. Besides that, the arc is great, speed is awesome if required effort is matched.

H8-80 doesnt require boosting and doesnt do that much different if boosted. So more of a thing of preference. This rubber is probably the one with the most bounce and is nearly as fast as H3/8. But actually for most ppl 8-80 will feel faster because you dont need to do that much to reach higher speed shots with this rubber. Spin is on par with H8 and H3 and all 3 are a bit higher than the moon version.

I would stay away from jupiter and big dipper rubbers for bh, for what you are trying to learn. Those rubbers wont give you the feedback needed and by far not enough support required to help you learn the techniques you want.

Hope i could help you with that.

 

[turbozed]

At that level i would probably go for something that is at least capable of a little bot more speed. Moon Blue 12 is great but lacks tremendously highend speed. That is the main reason i moved away from it so smth a bit more speedy.

So i would advise to either get the moon blue 12 for a certain duration to learn and develop the needed techniques or go for either Moon Pro (which i am using currently). It is kinda the same as H8 but softer and a bit easier to use especially unboosted.

J3 is probably the hardest to use because it has a flat arc which makes it a huge pain to flick and loop with it. Defense is okish but overall not recommendable.
H3 boosted (and only usable boosted for what you need it) is a bit hard to use in terms of technique. But it is highly rewarding. The main reason i put it away was, that the commercial version varies way too much and the provincial is too expensive in my country. Besides that, the arc is great, speed is awesome if required effort is matched.

H8-80 doesnt require boosting and doesnt do that much different if boosted. So more of a thing of preference. This rubber is probably the one with the most bounce and is nearly as fast as H3/8. But actually for most ppl 8-80 will feel faster because you dont need to do that much to reach higher speed shots with this rubber. Spin is on par with H8 and H3 and all 3 are a bit higher than the moon version.

I would stay away from jupiter and big dipper rubbers for bh, for what you are trying to learn. Those rubbers wont give you the feedback needed and by far not enough support required to help you learn the techniques you want.

Hope i could help you with that.

Have you played with Moon Pro long enough to enlighten us with an indepth review? Seems to be a rubber that I hear talked about in places like Eastern Europe and Indonesia, but not with not in English speaking forums.

 

[Attitude]

Have you played with Moon Pro long enough to enlighten us with an indepth review? Seems to be a rubber that I hear talked about in places like Eastern Europe and Indonesia, but not with not in English speaking forums.

Give me 1-2 more weeks. Ive used it for around 8 hours now and i have several issues with it. Some of them could be due to me using it wrong, therefore i want to test it some more before i write anything indepth about it.

What i can say is, that it is somewhat similar to H8 boosted, but with a grippier feeling. Arc is quite decent and it has a medium throwangle. Gripping the ball with blocks, loops and flathits feels quite nice and is therefore ez to execute.
I mostly struggle sometimes with flicks, and brushloops oder topspins and i cant really tell until now if it is me who is too dumb to execute it propperly with that rubber or if it is the rubber which can quite get a hold of the ball for some reason.

I will let you guys know more when im done testing it. I will probably put it together as a review with Moon speed 53 which was kind of a dissapointment actually.

 

[Vrael]

So i would advise to either get the moon blue 12 for a certain duration to learn and develop the needed techniques or go for either Moon Pro (which i am using currently). It is kinda the same as H8 but softer and a bit easier to use especially unboosted.

Thanks a lot. I am just starting to discover yinhe brand (was almsot always playing with esn or jp rubbers). Do You boost Moon Pro ?

What about fh rubbers ? I like dignics 05 and would like to keep some trampoline effect (just not as big), but have a little more dwell and sticky topsheet. I saw some good reviews of big dipper, but how does it compare to big dipper 2,3 and 4 ? Also Could You compare them to Jupiter 2 and 3 ? Thanks for all Your insights. I am not looking to decrease the cost of the rubbers, just searching for something that fits me the best, so if dignics 05 turns to be the best I will stay with it, but I want to explore yinhe before that. I tried H3 40 national with booster, but for me it was too dead. I am not very fit, but have fast arm speed, so I want the rubber to do some work for me when I am out of position and have the nice clicky sound like the old speed glued rubbers had

 

[TensorBackhand]

Thanks a lot. I am just starting to discover yinhe brand (was almsot always playing with esn or jp rubbers). Do You boost Moon Pro ?

What about fh rubbers ? I like dignics 05 and would like to keep some trampoline effect (just not as big), but have a little more dwell and sticky topsheet. I saw some good reviews of big dipper, but how does it compare to big dipper 2,3 and 4 ? Also Could You compare them to Jupiter 2 and 3 ? Thanks for all Your insights. I am not looking to decrease the cost of the rubbers, just searching for something that fits me the best, so if dignics 05 turns to be the best I will stay with it, but I want to explore yinhe before that. I tried H3 40 national with booster, but for me it was too dead. I am not very fit, but have fast arm speed, so I want the rubber to do some work for me when I am out of position and have the nice clicky sound like the old speed glued rubbers had

Big dipper and jupiter 3 are both very good. Tackier than dignics and a bit less bouncy.

More spin and power on the topend.

 

[Vrael]

what are the differences ? Also forgot to add h80-8 to that list (as fh rubber, not bh)

 

[TensorBackhand]

what are the differences ? Also forgot to add h80-8 to that list (as fh rubber, not bh)

Jupiter 3 is tackier. Both are quite fast and hard.

I think Jupiter has a higher throw angle as well.

Overall they are quite similar though. Both are hybrid style rubbers.

 

[Attitude]

Thanks a lot. I am just starting to discover yinhe brand (was almsot always playing with esn or jp rubbers). Do You boost Moon Pro ?

What about fh rubbers ? I like dignics 05 and would like to keep some trampoline effect (just not as big), but have a little more dwell and sticky topsheet. I saw some good reviews of big dipper, but how does it compare to big dipper 2,3 and 4 ? Also Could You compare them to Jupiter 2 and 3 ? Thanks for all Your insights. I am not looking to decrease the cost of the rubbers, just searching for something that fits me the best, so if dignics 05 turns to be the best I will stay with it, but I want to explore yinhe before that. I tried H3 40 national with booster, but for me it was too dead. I am not very fit, but have fast arm speed, so I want the rubber to do some work for me when I am out of position and have the nice clicky sound like the old speed glued rubbers had

No need to boost the Moon Pro. It is quite good as it is.

Sorry but you try to compare some 14€ rubbers to one of the most expensive high end professional rubbers and you want nearly the same, just not that high amount of tensoreffect.
BD wont give you that either way.

Havnt played J2, but J3 has a pretty bad arc and is not really comparable either to D05 imo.

So while checking what you have played and didnt work out for you and what you want in your FH rubber i would suggest playing either H8 or H8-80 depending on how much power and softness you want.
I would go for 38° for those and if it is too bouncy you can pick the H8 and go your way up the hardness scale.

Overall if you want to keep it simple without boosting just pick H8-80 on both sides. 37° for bh and 38° for fh and you should be good to go.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

No need to boost the Moon Pro. It is quite good as it is.

Sorry but you try to compare some 14€ rubbers to one of the most expensive high end professional rubbers and you want nearly the same, just not that high amount of tensoreffect.
BD wont give you that either way.

Havnt played J2, but J3 has a pretty bad arc and is not really comparable either to D05 imo.

So while checking what you have played and didnt work out for you and what you want in your FH rubber i would suggest playing either H8 or H8-80 depending on how much power and softness you want.
I would go for 38° for those and if it is too bouncy you can pick the H8 and go your way up the hardness scale.

Overall if you want to keep it simple without boosting just pick H8-80 on both sides. 37° for bh and 38° for fh and you should be good to go.

These cheap rubbers are good, until a certain level of play.
There after, the spin and speed and reliability/consistency at top gear will lack against D05 and co (I agree, you can't compare).
I have yet to find a high level player that would even classify a BD or J3 etc as "soso" rubber.

H8-80 is actually a very good rubber. However, with its topsheet, you would need to brush the ball correctly, otherwise it will be more difficult to generate the arc, and will net more balls. But that is a good thing to learn technique, and once brushing correctly, it is very spinny.

 

[turbozed]

These cheap rubbers are good, until a certain level of play.

I've probably got a long ways to go before I reach this certain level of play that you're referring to but can you elaborate?

In your opinion, up to what level can a player use these budget $10-$20 Chinese rubbers from Yinhe, Sanwei, 729, etc without it being a limiting factor (for instance, what USATT level)? Is a cheaper H3 alternative like 729 Battle II a mediocre rubber in the eyes of higher level players?

 

[Attitude]

These cheap rubbers are good, until a certain level of play.
There after, the spin and speed and reliability/consistency at top gear will lack against D05 and co (I agree, you can't compare).
I have yet to find a high level player that would even classify a BD or J3 etc as "soso" rubber.

H8-80 is actually a very good rubber. However, with its topsheet, you would need to brush the ball correctly, otherwise it will be more difficult to generate the arc, and will net more balls. But that is a good thing to learn technique, and once brushing correctly, it is very spinny.

True. Around 30€ though you can actually can get decent rubbers which can at least compete with highend level rubbers to a certain extent.

Yep i had this "arcissue" somewhat with my fh, but not with my bh. At some point i will even go back to H8-80 until i am capable to deal with these faster rubbers and need even more speed and bounce. For now i am fine with the speed the Moon Pro or the boosted H8 can provide me.

@turbozed: If you cant or dont want to invest in better rubbers the mentioned ones can do kinda fine until around 17-1800 USATTR i would say. Depending on some opponents you will struggle with those because of their inconsistency and the lack of overall quality capabilities.
For example a teammate of mine is using BD with around 1400 USATTR and he can propperly openup rallyes and can control the shortgame with it. But it is far of a danger for me (being around 1900) because it can spin but cant generated tremendous amounts of spin. The arc is flat and i can just keep my racket next to the bounce of the ball and it will get fast back to my teammate. And if he tries to continously loop the rubber will fail him at some point (if he doesnt fail himself before^^) because of its inconsistency, small sweetspot, low speed and poor arc.