XIOM C55 Impressions and Comparison with H3N

[Scarfed Garchomp]

Here in Germany the H3 prov blue is the same price as D09c

Is it that expensive from Aliexpress? Buying from there in the USA the price is nearly half that of aD09C ($45 vs 80)

 

[chiefvevo]

Strange - ive used D09C a lot and none of my sheets are anywhere near as tacky as my C55 sheets.

Brushing works well for me with C55, similar to H3.

it’s still the best alternative to boosted H3 for me.

strangely, my red 09c is tackier by miles than my black 09c.

 

[SlowPower]

Is it that expensive from Aliexpress? Buying from there in the USA the price is nearly half that of aD09C ($45 vs 80)

Its like 48€ but I never bought such expensive rubber from ae because you cant check if its fake or not...

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

Its like 48€ but I never bought such expensive rubber from ae because you cant check if its fake or not...

I don't worry about fakes when buying from Aliexpress because I trust that the seller ratings system is accurate, and I will only buy from the gold metal awarded stores. I trust the highly reputable stores on Ali as much as I do largescale retailers like Paddlepalace, TT11

 

[JJ Ng]

Ok I literally read the whole thread from the beginning to the end. And I have decided to keep my H3 neo blue sponge provincial after reading all that... lol

A few comments:

1) I don't know why. But the H3 blue sponge top sheets are just tackier than orange sponge top sheets. It does not make sense but that's just the way DHS made its rubbers I guess.

2) Now I have tried blue sponge, it will be hard for me to go back to orange sponge. Orange sponge does have more catapult feel to it and I can see why more and more Chinese players are using H3 orange sponge on the backhand side instead of Dignics 05 or other ESN rubbers.

3) I don't like all the hybrid tacky marketing. For example, there is nothing Chinese about Bluestar A1, etc in terms of the top sheet. Out of all the hybrid rubbers I have tried, Dignics 09c is still the most tacky. I would hardly call any ESN hybrids to be tacky. But once my hand is used to H3 blue sponge, I would not touch D09c due to its high throw angle. It will mess my forehand up majorly.

4) The best alternative to H3 blue sponge provincial 39 degree is still Sanwei Target National blue sponge. I don't know what else to say. I will try H3 BS 40 degree once I use up my current supply of 39 degree. STN blue sponge is definitely tackier than H3 BS provincial.

5) Chinese looping using top sheet only. It is what it says. You just use the tackiness of the top sheet to brush the ball lightly so it is a slow, high arcing shot. With H3, you can choose to use the top sheet to "pick up" the ball or engage the sponge. You don't have that choice with say, Tenergy 05. With T05, the ball just shoots out so you rely on the sponge to do all the work for you.

6) I am tempted to try Rxton 9 and LAC. The latter (LAC) I have a sheet lying around from Aliexpress but I have not had a chance to try it yet.

7) I have heard a lot of people commenting on the quality control of DHS and the need to boost. I mean, at the end of day, everyone has a budget. Some can tolerate poor quality control here and there, while others cannot. What if I tell you there is rubber that will boost your rating by 300-400 points and it costs "just" $120 a sheet, and you will beat 90% of your club mates. Would you pay for it? I personally would. However, no such sheet exists obviously. So since my forehand is used to H3 provincial blue sponge, I just don't see the need to EJ over there. Sometimes, good enough is good enough. The rest is just training and getting to know your equipment.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Ok I literally read the whole thread from the beginning to the end. And I have decided to keep my H3 neo blue sponge provincial after reading all that... lol

A few comments:

1) I don't know why. But the H3 blue sponge top sheets are just tackier than orange sponge top sheets. It does not make sense but that's just the way DHS made its rubbers I guess.

2) Now I have tried blue sponge, it will be hard for me to go back to orange sponge. Orange sponge does have more catapult feel to it and I can see why more and more Chinese players are using H3 orange sponge on the backhand side instead of Dignics 05 or other ESN rubbers.

3) I don't like all the hybrid tacky marketing. For example, there is nothing Chinese about Bluestar A1, etc in terms of the top sheet. Out of all the hybrid rubbers I have tried, Dignics 09c is still the most tacky. I would hardly call any ESN hybrids to be tacky. But once my hand is used to H3 blue sponge, I would not touch D09c due to its high throw angle. It will mess my forehand up majorly.

4) The best alternative to H3 blue sponge provincial 39 degree is still Sanwei Target National blue sponge. I don't know what else to say. I will try H3 BS 40 degree once I use up my current supply of 39 degree. STN blue sponge is definitely tackier than H3 BS provincial.

5) Chinese looping using top sheet only. It is what it says. You just use the tackiness of the top sheet to brush the ball lightly so it is a slow, high arcing shot. With H3, you can choose to use the top sheet to "pick up" the ball or engage the sponge. You don't have that choice with say, Tenergy 05. With T05, the ball just shoots out so you rely on the sponge to do all the work for you.

6) I am tempted to try Rxton 9 and LAC. The latter (LAC) I have a sheet lying around from Aliexpress but I have not had a chance to try it yet.

7) I have heard a lot of people commenting on the quality control of DHS and the need to boost. I mean, at the end of day, everyone has a budget. Some can tolerate poor quality control here and there, while others cannot. What if I tell you there is rubber that will boost your rating by 300-400 points and it costs "just" $120 a sheet, and you will beat 90% of your club mates. Would you pay for it? I personally would. However, no such sheet exists obviously. So since my forehand is used to H3 provincial blue sponge, I just don't see the need to EJ over there. Sometimes, good enough is good enough. The rest is just training and getting to know your equipment.

I sampled quite a bit, and still come back to the good old H3 blue sponge.
so nothing wrong with your decision.
I'm sure hundreds, if not thousand have done the same and still back to the same

 

[JJ Ng]

I sampled quite a bit, and still come back to the good old H3 blue sponge.
so nothing wrong with your decision.
I'm sure hundreds, if not thousand have done the same and still back to the same

Lol I agree. Maybe I should take Rxton 9 off my shopping cart on Aliexpress

I tried one sheet of H3 neo National blue sponge 39 degree. I was not that impressed. Not worth the extra price at this point of my training. Provincial blue sponge is good enough. It is still priced quite competitively compared to Dignics 09c which is the only hybrid that is truly tacky.

By the way, other people have posted how the top sheet of C55 looks crappy after a few sessions. You should see some of my H3 BS top sheets. They all look crappy after a few sessions. But some sheets the tackiness stays and the rubber feels amazing. Some sheets the tackiness wears off so I just throw them away (but don't get me wrong, the tackiness still stays for a month or two for those "bad" sheets). It is up to you to see if that fits with your budge or not. By comparison, I think it is worth noting: EJ'ing costs more money then me throwing a couple sheets of H3 BS away here and there. How the top sheet looks does not matter to me. Esthetics has never been important to me; you should see how my rubber looks like after I cut it with scissors. When H3 older version had extreme tackiness, the sheet seemed to age very well and the more beat up the top sheet looks, the more I liked it! But that is the old version. DHS does not make the old version anymore. Back then I was using commercial orange sponge and kept it for a year or so each time. The tackiness just would not die and with each subsequent boosting, the sheet felt more catapulty. And that was $20 a sheet back then. You really cannot beat that durability. I only moved to BS after DHS took the tackiness away from the orange sponge.

 

[latej]

@JJ Ng I'm curious what you'll say about Rxton9. You know we two view the STN differently ;-) I'm done with EJing, Rxton 9 IT IS!

 

[JJ Ng]

@JJ Ng I'm curious what you'll say about Rxton9. You know we two view the STN differently ;-) I'm done with EJing, Rxton 9 IT IS!

Lol I put Rxton 9 back on my shopping cart so I can tell you later.

You are not the only person. I think @TensorBackhand also hates STN.

On the other hand, @Zwill also likes STN as much as H3 blue sponge on the other thread.

That's why I don't really read into other people's impression on rubbers that much anymore. If you know what your hand likes, just keep it. If your hand hates it, then move on.

Finally I am using a cheap $40 Chinese made blade. I like it so much that I have like 8 of them. The forehand rubber is either H3 BS 39 degree or STN. Backhand rubber...I am guilty of EJ'ing so much still on that side. But because the blade is the same, it is much easier for me to figure out my impression of a rubber.

It confuses me when a lot of people like to render an opinion on a couple different rubbers that are put on their main blade v.s. their back-up blade but yet those blades are completely different models! If so, how can you tell? Many people at the club use different equipment and different blades. I would try their set up for a little bit but rarely I make any comments about their set up because their blades are different. It is like comparing oranges to apples at that point. So I just nod my head and go back to my regular set up and refrain from making any comments to my clubmates. A couple clubmates do like my set-up so I will just sell them at the reduced price and go get another $40 blade and put brand new rubbers on it. Not a big deal to me. I boost my own rubbers and I glue and cut my own rubbers. It is second nature to me by now. In addition, if they like the blade that I boosted the rubber on, then they should just get that set-up on the spot and not risk boosting the rubbers themselves.

I just like carbon blades that are fast but not too fast (for example, Timo Boll ALC and Viscaria feel too fast for me). I also like carbon blades that do not vibrate in my hand. Several Butterfly blades have that vibration so I don't EJ Butterfly blades at all.

 

[disaster3]

I sampled quite a bit, and still come back to the good old H3 blue sponge.
so nothing wrong with your decision.
I'm sure hundreds, if not thousand have done the same and still back to the same

I’m getting used to use h3n BS Prov on FH and for now and future I will stick with it. The only different rubber I can get back on FH is T05 on my Boll ZLF because I feel it whenever I will be woke up at night and need to play.
I also tried/tested many rubbers and it was always something which doesn’t suit me. I gave up and don’t want to explore until TT will not change or they will mess with production of T05 or h3n 🤣🤣🤣
On BH side it’s slightly different story but seems that most convenient for me is t19 and I have it on both of my blades and it is similar to t05 on FH, but I was playing D80 and D05 also and it is good to me, too. But it is not yet marriage with t19 but this year I was playing it the most and do not have anything to complain.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I’m getting used to use h3n BS Prov on FH and for now and future I will stick with it. The only different rubber I can get back on FH is T05 on my Boll ZLF because I feel it whenever I will be woke up at night and need to play.
I also tried/tested many rubbers and it was always something which doesn’t suit me. I gave up and don’t want to explore until TT will not change or they will mess with production of T05 or h3n 🤣🤣🤣
On BH side it’s slightly different story but seems that most convenient for me is t19 and I have it on both of my blades and it is similar to t05 on FH, but I was playing D80 and D05 also and it is good to me, too. But it is not yet marriage with t19 but this year I was playing it the most and do not have anything to complain.

T05 is actually a very good rubber
I rate it higher than D05

In fact, today, I think many can do good with T05 or maybe the Hard variant.

 

[chiefvevo]

Here is my full review on C55. I have been playing for 1 month, unironically the most comfortable rubber I have used. I use all the Chinese rubber my whole life and for some reason, C55 just works for me. I am obviously not a national player and c55 is so spinny and so good at blocking. This review might be missing a lot but for me, it will be my main fh rubber from now. I have desperately tried to make h3 all varients to work with me, boosted all sort. Never really make me good until this rubber, a few people from my club tried it and liked it.

 

[haggisv]

T05 is actually a very good rubber
I rate it higher than D05

You and me both!

 

[mcfly]

5) Chinese looping using top sheet only. It is what it says. You just use the tackiness of the top sheet to brush the ball lightly so it is a slow, high arcing shot. With H3, you can choose to use the top sheet to "pick up" the ball or engage the sponge.

oh please. where did you learn the "Chinese" technique to loop with topsheet? Chinatown?

 

[Draycott old man]

My Sheet is 9 weeks old and it's starting to look worn out in the middle of the rubber but my plastic sheet still sticks to my rubber!!! If anything I'm thinking it's getting spinner ever time I use it ! Another positive that hasn't been spoken about much is how good it is at returning service!!! In my opinion a top notch rubber!!!

 

[gianlucamusco]

C55 must be tested in Max version and no 2.1mm, then you can compare it with other rubbers.

 

[AndySmith]

C55 must be tested in Max version and no 2.1mm, then you can compare it with other rubbers.

This seems like a pretty brutal stance to take, but each to their own. Admin - please delete all reviews of the 2.1mm thickness! I jest of course.

Black 2.1 seems to be out of stock in most of my usual places, and I haven't seen a MAX thickness available yet. I see that Xiom advertise 2.1 and MAX, but not seen it in any of the big webstores....

 

[TTLOVE]

I don't understand Xiom, maybe the 2.1mm is their max sponge otherwise there should be a max version on sale.

 

[jammmail]

T05 is actually a very good rubber
I rate it higher than D05

In fact, today, I think many can do good with T05 or maybe the Hard variant.

thats an interesting take - how come? Easier spin? Faster? Softer feel? It does seem more people are coming back to Tenergy after Dignics and it cant just be cost?

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

thats an interesting take - how come? Easier spin? Faster? Softer feel? It does seem more people are coming back to Tenergy after Dignics and it cant just be cost?

if I was to do a direct comparison,
Tenergy 05 is way more allround than D05
its easiest to use and control

D05 arc makes it very difficult to control and I know many players when first testing it, would net the ball more often than not. For elites, I feel D09C is more allround than D05 in that tier of speed and spin.

so in OB space, I feel T05 should be the preferred rubber, and I'm not too far off since Rozena is number 1 in Japan
followed by G1, then D09C then T05 and only then D05 comes in at number 5.
Rozena, G1 is all the T05 like rubbers.

for elite, I know more players using D09C over D05
in fact T05H probably more than D05 too