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Hi Community,
I tested the new XIOM Jekyll and Hyde C55 today. As someone who has been using H3N, and only H3N, for quite some time now, I feel like the new C55 is worth talking about.
Introduction: The J&H C55 is XIOM's latest flagship rubber and has been marketed for quite some time now as a Chinese Sticky Rubber that is easy to use. This rubber is being used by Hugo Calderano and its supposed to be developed with the help of AI, though these are just typical marketing phrases. The packaging is really nice and the rubber came covered with a plastic sheet.
The weight of the rubber was 72-73g according to my scale. Cut to my Hugo Calderano HAL (157x150), the weight was 52g. Thickness was 2.1mm.
I did a bounce test at home and noticed that the C55 was quite sticky out of the box. The ball bounced about 3 times when I let it fall down onto the rubber then laid flat, similar to a new sheet of H3 Neo Provincial Orange Sponge. Also, the feeling from just bouncing the ball was very close to H3N, if it had been a blind test it would be hard to tell.
Regarding stickyness, I was able to lift the ball but not hold the ball in the air. I have seen new H3N being less sticky than the C55, but also have sheets of H3N that were just as sticky or slighty more than the C55.
The sponge of the C55 looks really dense, almost like a chinese sponge. There are barely any pores visible. Also, the grip of the C55 is unreal, it is easily and I mean easily the most grippy ESN rubber I have seen, it felt like hurricane-levels of grip.
Field Test:
Mind you I only did 1 session so far with rubber, for about 3 hours. In this part I will compare all my impressions with a Hurricane 3 Neo Provincial, 40 degree Orange Sponge. I typically boost my H3N with 2 layers of regular haifu.
I started with typical warmup, driving the ball the feeling was very comfortable to me. There was a loud clicking noise, and the ball was definetly faster than with my H3N. Driving was way more fun with the C55 because you can just hit the ball and it goes over the net, with H3N the ball often goes into the net if you miss the timing so you tend to go over the ball a bit.
Doing topspins on block, I had so much fun. The feeling was so close to my H3N, but faster. It is definetly faster and the trajectory was longer. I didnt really have to adjust anything, I just used my regular technique and power input and the ball went on the table. The clicking noise got so loud and I had a huge smile on my face because using this rubber in topspin play was addictive. I will say though, I felt like H3N provided more kick for sure. You guys know the feeling when you hit the ball well with hurricane, the ball sticks to your rubber with so much dwell then launches out, I couldnt get that exact feeling with the C55. Also, scooping half-long balls was better for me with hurricane and more spinny, cuz you can brush the ball with so much spin it goes over the net barely with a low arc but is extremely dangerous.
However, in open topspin play , the C55 had basically same levels of spin like hurricane for me but was alot easier to play. It is still a rubber for players with good technique but hurricane is too demanding sometimes, the C55 gives you more speed even if your biomechanics for that particular shot were not perfect while still providing that extreme spin if you brush. And, the best part for me was, the feeling of spinning the ball and hitting into the sponge felt very similar to hurricane, so no uncomfortable feeling bothered me and I didnt have to adjust anything. My partner had alot of problems with my topspins today, he is used to high levels of spin but today with the combination of extreme spin and speed it was rough.
Blocking: What can I say, infinitely better than my hurricane. With h3n you need to do active blocking mostly, passive blocking works but the ball will be slow and kinda float / be high, it feels bad. With the C55 you can even use passive blocks just like using another ESN rubber and its so stable, I actually enjoyed blocking on the forehand again.
Serve / Receive: Well I didnt practise serving alot today, but my serves were worse than with hurricane. I dont blame the C55 though, it just has a bit more catapult when serving and I wasn't used to, so not too fair of a comparison. Receiving and pushing felt actually really good, I wouldnt say better than hurricane because it excels in that department, but the C55 was really really good and I liked to go for aggrressive returns with it. What worked better with the C55 were active forehand flips, which is a bit harder to do with hurricane for me, the C55 again was more forgiving.
Chopping: Obviously you dont really chop with this kindof rubber, but I tried it for fun, it worked very well.
Backhand: I used the C55 briefly on the backhand, was not for me, I either couldnt produce speed / spin or I overshot when I used more power. Of course this is user error, but my BH is just used to spring sponge or non sticky ESN (I use D05 atm). You need to be very skilled to use this on BH
Final Thoughts: This rubber is a beast and if you are a Hurricane user, this is a real alternative. I am not saying its better or worse, but for me it plays like a very well boosted 40degree Hurricane 3 Neo that is more forgiving. I tried many other rubbers on my forehand, mostly from flipping my bat or trying out the racket of club mates. D09c, G09c, D05, Omega 7 Asia, Rakza Z, etc. etc. These rubbers are all great , with amazing levels of spin, but one thing is lacking: The feeling when driving and topspinning the ball, it was too different from hurricane and it felt mushy / not comfortable, because I got used too much to the Hurricane sponge.
The C55 for me feels like a real alternative because the feeling when you play is very close to hurricane. And at least for me personally, "feeling" makes a big difference, i want to feel comfortable and not get distracted by a strange feeling. Actually I thought I can never use another rubber on the forehand, not because other rubbers are not good or spinny or fast, just because the feeling of ESN and Spring Sponge rubbers are too different from the Hurricane Sponge, and I couldnt get used to it.
Anyway, in the end, the most important question will be: how is the durability?
Because the rubber is quite pricey, it needs to perform well for a long time to replace my hurricane.
One last thing, the packacking states that "Contact with the ball can leave white marks on this special rubber. It is a natural change which does not affect the performce". Indeed I noticed some white marks even after the first session today, so lets see about the performance next time I use it.
This was a long read so thank you for sticking around. If requested, I can update this post after I used the C55 again.
Cheers
I tested the new XIOM Jekyll and Hyde C55 today. As someone who has been using H3N, and only H3N, for quite some time now, I feel like the new C55 is worth talking about.
Introduction: The J&H C55 is XIOM's latest flagship rubber and has been marketed for quite some time now as a Chinese Sticky Rubber that is easy to use. This rubber is being used by Hugo Calderano and its supposed to be developed with the help of AI, though these are just typical marketing phrases. The packaging is really nice and the rubber came covered with a plastic sheet.
The weight of the rubber was 72-73g according to my scale. Cut to my Hugo Calderano HAL (157x150), the weight was 52g. Thickness was 2.1mm.
I did a bounce test at home and noticed that the C55 was quite sticky out of the box. The ball bounced about 3 times when I let it fall down onto the rubber then laid flat, similar to a new sheet of H3 Neo Provincial Orange Sponge. Also, the feeling from just bouncing the ball was very close to H3N, if it had been a blind test it would be hard to tell.
Regarding stickyness, I was able to lift the ball but not hold the ball in the air. I have seen new H3N being less sticky than the C55, but also have sheets of H3N that were just as sticky or slighty more than the C55.
The sponge of the C55 looks really dense, almost like a chinese sponge. There are barely any pores visible. Also, the grip of the C55 is unreal, it is easily and I mean easily the most grippy ESN rubber I have seen, it felt like hurricane-levels of grip.
Field Test:
Mind you I only did 1 session so far with rubber, for about 3 hours. In this part I will compare all my impressions with a Hurricane 3 Neo Provincial, 40 degree Orange Sponge. I typically boost my H3N with 2 layers of regular haifu.
I started with typical warmup, driving the ball the feeling was very comfortable to me. There was a loud clicking noise, and the ball was definetly faster than with my H3N. Driving was way more fun with the C55 because you can just hit the ball and it goes over the net, with H3N the ball often goes into the net if you miss the timing so you tend to go over the ball a bit.
Doing topspins on block, I had so much fun. The feeling was so close to my H3N, but faster. It is definetly faster and the trajectory was longer. I didnt really have to adjust anything, I just used my regular technique and power input and the ball went on the table. The clicking noise got so loud and I had a huge smile on my face because using this rubber in topspin play was addictive. I will say though, I felt like H3N provided more kick for sure. You guys know the feeling when you hit the ball well with hurricane, the ball sticks to your rubber with so much dwell then launches out, I couldnt get that exact feeling with the C55. Also, scooping half-long balls was better for me with hurricane and more spinny, cuz you can brush the ball with so much spin it goes over the net barely with a low arc but is extremely dangerous.
However, in open topspin play , the C55 had basically same levels of spin like hurricane for me but was alot easier to play. It is still a rubber for players with good technique but hurricane is too demanding sometimes, the C55 gives you more speed even if your biomechanics for that particular shot were not perfect while still providing that extreme spin if you brush. And, the best part for me was, the feeling of spinning the ball and hitting into the sponge felt very similar to hurricane, so no uncomfortable feeling bothered me and I didnt have to adjust anything. My partner had alot of problems with my topspins today, he is used to high levels of spin but today with the combination of extreme spin and speed it was rough.
Blocking: What can I say, infinitely better than my hurricane. With h3n you need to do active blocking mostly, passive blocking works but the ball will be slow and kinda float / be high, it feels bad. With the C55 you can even use passive blocks just like using another ESN rubber and its so stable, I actually enjoyed blocking on the forehand again.
Serve / Receive: Well I didnt practise serving alot today, but my serves were worse than with hurricane. I dont blame the C55 though, it just has a bit more catapult when serving and I wasn't used to, so not too fair of a comparison. Receiving and pushing felt actually really good, I wouldnt say better than hurricane because it excels in that department, but the C55 was really really good and I liked to go for aggrressive returns with it. What worked better with the C55 were active forehand flips, which is a bit harder to do with hurricane for me, the C55 again was more forgiving.
Chopping: Obviously you dont really chop with this kindof rubber, but I tried it for fun, it worked very well.
Backhand: I used the C55 briefly on the backhand, was not for me, I either couldnt produce speed / spin or I overshot when I used more power. Of course this is user error, but my BH is just used to spring sponge or non sticky ESN (I use D05 atm). You need to be very skilled to use this on BH
Final Thoughts: This rubber is a beast and if you are a Hurricane user, this is a real alternative. I am not saying its better or worse, but for me it plays like a very well boosted 40degree Hurricane 3 Neo that is more forgiving. I tried many other rubbers on my forehand, mostly from flipping my bat or trying out the racket of club mates. D09c, G09c, D05, Omega 7 Asia, Rakza Z, etc. etc. These rubbers are all great , with amazing levels of spin, but one thing is lacking: The feeling when driving and topspinning the ball, it was too different from hurricane and it felt mushy / not comfortable, because I got used too much to the Hurricane sponge.
The C55 for me feels like a real alternative because the feeling when you play is very close to hurricane. And at least for me personally, "feeling" makes a big difference, i want to feel comfortable and not get distracted by a strange feeling. Actually I thought I can never use another rubber on the forehand, not because other rubbers are not good or spinny or fast, just because the feeling of ESN and Spring Sponge rubbers are too different from the Hurricane Sponge, and I couldnt get used to it.
Anyway, in the end, the most important question will be: how is the durability?
Because the rubber is quite pricey, it needs to perform well for a long time to replace my hurricane.
One last thing, the packacking states that "Contact with the ball can leave white marks on this special rubber. It is a natural change which does not affect the performce". Indeed I noticed some white marks even after the first session today, so lets see about the performance next time I use it.
This was a long read so thank you for sticking around. If requested, I can update this post after I used the C55 again.
Cheers
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