Upgrading my Nittaku Fastarc G1.

[Zeen]

hybrid rubbers have a break-in period, which can take up to 5 training sessions, depending on level of factory boosting, rubber shelf time, among others.
I had a sheet of Omega VII China Guang which was fine out of the box. The second one I bought needed two weeks of breaking in, and two seperate boosting procedures to be playable.
Kind of dumb, and makes you question how bad QC and shelf time actually is, but that's the reality.

 

[kindof99]

Upgrade on performance and money: D05

 

[Choosikick]

Deleted them because I had an insane experience I cant explain. Well ill try.
I have my own martial arts Dojo next to my house where I teach many classes in the mornings. In the afternoons its TT time instead. I had some loooong matches that evening and was tired. Finally the rubbers arrived after 1.5 months of waiting that night. (first pair of sheets got stolen by customs. I live in south america. Im scandinavian). Spend the evening gluing and regluing the G1 on wifes racket and K3 on mine. Skipped dinner. It was getting dark. I wanted to test it out. We played. I swear to god it felt like a DHS rubber to me. totally dead. not even much spin. After 20 min I just dropped it and got so disappointed. I was like wtf? all the reviews? Am I insane? the G1 is way better etc.
This morning I was still upset. finally I had some time today to try it out again. I think I must have been hallucinating yesterday because its just not the same rubber today. I washed it. cleaned it. maybe some layer of something got off? I have no explanation for this but its completely different now. Its fast spinny and amazing. better than my G1. best setup I ever had so far. I dont know what happened last night but its not even slightly close to being the same experience. Maybe I was too tired to engage the sponge late at night? dont know.
1 take home message I had was to not evaluate anything in just 20 min. and give it a chance to be played in I guess. And especially if your tired and hungry dont use it. Despite that I am still tripping on how different it feels now.
I still feel insane haha.
So thats the story
still learning here.
p.s. another thing. after my own personal experience I realize several things about listening to others when they recommend and dont recommend equipment:

1) people are often emotional and not actually able to neutrally observe the experience and usage of the equipment. In my case, expectations followed by disappointment.
2) some rubbers and blades actually require a really good player to appreciate. I suspect there are too many low level players having high level opinions about equipment they shouldnt even use. In my case I couldnt feel the K3 and it was shit because of ME. Today with fresh new energy I can see what it can do when I actually go for it and play proper.
3) this is what makes me suspicious about those cheap chinese rubbers and blades. (I bought some to test out when they arrive) I think lower level players cant feel a difference. How many high level players are out there recommending some 10$ rubber? Or a 30$ blade? I truly hope they exist as I hope these cheaper options actually do what people say they do. But I dont know the level of these people and their play.
Thats why I will try it out for myself and ordered few blades and rubbers.

Anyways, long story short, one need to try only take advice from experienced people when it comes to choosing equipment.

I had the same story at the beginning with G1. The first training session I was disappointed with this. At the same time, I took a friend’s racket with old G1s and couldn’t believe that they were the same rubber, how much better the old rubbers were.
Regarding K3. I tried it on a friend’s racket and immediately didn’t like the high release angle. How do you like this?
Many Chinese rubbers do not work without a booster and sometimes without oil. Have you also ordered a booster?

 

[Choosikick]

Upgrade on performance and money: D05

Backhand or forehand? For some reason, many people in our club prefer D80 instead of D05.

 

[kindof99]

Backhand or forehand? For some reason, many people in our club prefer D80 instead of D05.

D05 is good on either side. D80 for backhand only

 

[Cadoia]

hybrid rubbers have a break-in period, which can take up to 5 training sessions, depending on level of factory boosting, rubber shelf time, among others.
I had a sheet of Omega VII China Guang which was fine out of the box. The second one I bought needed two weeks of breaking in, and two seperate boosting procedures to be playable.
Kind of dumb, and makes you question how bad QC and shelf time actually is, but that's the reality.

I wish someone told me this beforehand as I thought I was going crazy. It literally felt like a unboosted DHS without tackiness and spin. I was wtf? is this pro rubbers? I got so depressed its funny thinking back. Now its so fast I need to play insanely clean technically speaking. Cant chill with this rubber.

 

[Cadoia]

I had the same story at the beginning with G1. The first training session I was disappointed with this. At the same time, I took a friend’s racket with old G1s and couldn’t believe that they were the same rubber, how much better the old rubbers were.
Regarding K3. I tried it on a friend’s racket and immediately didn’t like the high release angle. How do you like this?
Many Chinese rubbers do not work without a booster and sometimes without oil. Have you also ordered a booster?

Yes I learned from this experience to never judge a rubber until several weeks time of playing it. G1 needs 10 hours or so I believe.

So glad you asked about the K3 angle as it tells me im not the only one observing how high it is.
Here is what I see: you play somewhat slow shots to somewhat slow balls your playing ONLY the rubber. You play little harder or much harder, sponge is getting involved and its like a totally schizophrenic personality change in the rubber. There is no in between. If any rubber should be called mr. jekyll and mr. hyde it should be this.
So I love the sponge and how it plays. Its less arc and lots of spin and insane speed. very secure placement. However I cant play that hard all the time. Im not a pro 22 year old. I get tired too quick.
I play the rubber part only its totally different. arc high. throw high. in slow game I overshoot the table non stop. even rubber only has 2 personalities.... it shifts from totally dead, and very spinny but still slow.
Funny part is I loose to bad players who play slow. Put me up against an aggressive attacker I play like im in godmode.
I know its all me and if I was a better player and understood the dynamic of what I am dealing with here better I am sure I could use this insane amount of gears offered. Its my first hybrid. Most likely will be my last. I think my playstyle is for full blood ESN rubbers.
The G1 and many other rubbers has similar situation but with a much smoother "grey zone" of transition. I can feel when what kicks in. Im WAY more consistent with G1.
I think Pro's knows how to handle K3 and its just that advanced.
My retired pro friend tried it and he LIT up. Smiled and had fun. but also had a hard time controlling it. He said he would need to get used to it. I never seen him struggle with a rubber this much. He plays anything usually.

In a way im kind of glad this is the situation. It would suck if I simply loved this rubber and couldn't live without it. It last short time and cost an arm and a leg. So the next few months its my rubber and Ill learn from it as much as I can. Learning to feel the equipment and overcome its challenges. I think there is something to be said about this. Some value.
good experience. Not a keeper. Its clearly for very high level players.