Yasaka Rakza series, which rubber for what, what is each one like compared to others?

[Robin0910]

Hi, there are quite a few rubber in the Rakza series: 7, 9, X, Z, XX

I’ve heard 7 is Jack of all trades,
9 is like Tenergy 64, low throw angle and fast
X has the highest throw angle(?), also the hardest but most grippy being non-tacky
Z is hybrid
XX completely new, know nothing about...

If you know more about the rubbers feel free to comment and enlighten me and other visitors

 

[TensorBackhand]

Somebody let me borrow a totally new Rakza Z, so I will test it today. But just from bouncing it, it seems quite slow and tacky.

 

[TackyForehand]

Here are some objective data for you to consider regarding weight, grip, hardness, and bounce:
Rakza 7:

Rakza 9:

Rakza X:

Rakza XX:

Rakza Z:

 

[TensorBackhand]

Yeah, I somehow found the Rakza Z quite unimpressive. I felt the Bluegrip S1 was a lot better. Rakza Z feels very dead, very slow. It's hard to get much attack going from the backhand side. It is quite spinny and grips the ball well. I hit something like 20 BH opening loops in a row before I missed. So it does grip the ball quite well, but its just slow.

 

[JJ Ng]

Hi, there are quite a few rubber in the Rakza series: 7, 9, X, Z, XX

I’ve heard 7 is Jack of all trades,
9 is like Tenergy 64, low throw angle and fast
X has the highest throw angle(?), also the hardest but most grippy being non-tacky
Z is hybrid
XX completely new, know nothing about...

If you know more about the rubbers feel free to comment and enlighten me and other visitors

It depends on what rubbers you are used to. I like to talk about rubbers in comparison to each other. Otherwise it is kind of a meaningless discussion. For example, what is the definition of jack of all trades?

So I have used Rakza 7 soft, Rakza 7 regular, Rakza X soft and Rakza X.

I have played the most with Rakza 7 soft and Rakza X soft. In fact, Rakza 7 soft is one of my three main rubbers on my backhand (the other two being C-1 and Xiom Vega Asia right now).

Top sheet is not tacky but very grippy. One of the best ESN top sheet out there. The other ESN rubber top sheet that is as grippy as Rakza is G-1. For example, I am fooling with Xiom Vega series right now and its top sheet is not as grippy as Rakza 7/X and G-1.

Top sheet is very durable. You can get many months play out of Rakza 7/X regular/soft.

Sponge for the soft version is very soft but springy and catapulty. I would say Tenergy fx series has the most catapult effect. Revolutions series follows that. Then the next set of catapulty rubbers would be Rakza 7 soft and Rakza X soft. So Rakza soft series are more catapulty than Xiom Vega series, Rasanter series and Fastarc series.

Rakza 7/X regular compared to Rakza 7/X soft, is a bit like Tenergy 05/64 regular compared to Tenergy 05/64 fx. Harder sponge so top speed is more powerful. But at lower impact, the soft/fx version actually shoots the ball out faster. So it depends on what you like! I like the soft versions right now on my backhand.

I feel that Razka X is slightly faster and has therefore lower throw angle than Rakza 7. They are very very similar rubbers. My hand will take less than two minutes to adjust between Rakza 7 and Rakza X.

Rakza 9, I heard, is harder and not as popular. I have not bought a sheet of that at all.

Rakza Z, please see TensorBackhand's review.

Rakza XX very new. I have no idea either.

 

[Robin0910]

Thank you. These videos would be very useful if they had English subtitles though

 

[Crillo]

Thank you. These videos would be very useful if they had English subtitles though

On Youtube you can autogenerate english subtitles!

 

[Robin0910]

It depends on what rubbers you are used to. I like to talk about rubbers in comparison to each other. Otherwise it is kind of a meaningless discussion. For example, what is the definition of jack of all trades?

So I have used Rakza 7 soft, Rakza 7 regular, Rakza X soft and Rakza X.

I have played the most with Rakza 7 soft and Rakza X soft. In fact, Rakza 7 soft is one of my three main rubbers on my backhand (the other two being C-1 and Xiom Vega Asia right now).

Top sheet is not tacky but very grippy. One of the best ESN top sheet out there. The other ESN rubber top sheet that is as grippy as Rakza is G-1. For example, I am fooling with Xiom Vega series right now and its top sheet is not as grippy as Rakza 7/X and G-1.

Top sheet is very durable. You can get many months play out of Rakza 7/X regular/soft.

Sponge for the soft version is very soft but springy and catapulty. I would say Tenergy fx series has the most catapult effect. Revolutions series follows that. Then the next set of catapulty rubbers would be Rakza 7 soft and Rakza X soft. So Rakza soft series are more catapulty than Xiom Vega series, Rasanter series and Fastarc series.

Rakza 7/X regular compared to Rakza 7/X soft, is a bit like Tenergy 05/64 regular compared to Tenergy 05/64 fx. Harder sponge so top speed is more powerful. But at lower impact, the soft/fx version actually shoots the ball out faster. So it depends on what you like! I like the soft versions right now on my backhand.

I feel that Razka X is slightly faster and has therefore lower throw angle than Rakza 7. They are very very similar rubbers. My hand will take less than two minutes to adjust between Rakza 7 and Rakza X.

Rakza 9, I heard, is harder and not as popular. I have not bought a sheet of that at all.

Rakza Z, please see TensorBackhand's review.

Rakza XX very new. I have no idea either.

Thank you.
I really wonder what Rakza XX is like since Falck uses Rakza X and therefore he may change it(?)

 

[TensorBackhand]

Today I tried Rakza Z extra hard. I liked this one much better than regular. It gives the ball a chance to counteract the tackiness and produce some power.

 

[brokenball]

I stick to Rakza 7 because it can generate any kind of spin or speed other paddles can. I buy my Rakza 7 from tabletennis11.com where they usually have a buy 4 for the prices of 3 sale. I also buy for my practice partners.
Rakza 7 provide a very good value.

I do buy different Rakza 7 for my FH and BH. For my FH I buy Rakza 7 2mm and Rakza 7 max soft. For my BH I buy Rakza 7 1.8 or 2mm.

BTW, you don't want a rubber that is too fast relative to the spin. If the rubber is too fast the ball will not drop enough due to gravity and the Magnus effect to stay on the table.

For some reason the TT rubber manufacturers feel the need to make new rubbers even though they are pretty much the same. The COR has limits of 0 to 1 and the ball will limit the top end to 0.9 even if the rubber is total elastic. There is such a thing as too slow or too fast.

 

[JJ Ng]

I stick to Rakza 7 because it can generate any kind of spin or speed other paddles can. I buy my Rakza 7 from tabletennis11.com where they usually have a buy 4 for the prices of 3 sale. I also buy for my practice partners.
Rakza 7 provide a very good value.

I do buy different Rakza 7 for my FH and BH. For my FH I buy Rakza 7 2mm and Rakza 7 max soft. For my BH I buy Rakza 7 1.8 or 2mm.

BTW, you don't want a rubber that is too fast relative to the spin. If the rubber is too fast the ball will not drop enough due to gravity and the Magnus effect to stay on the table.

For some reason the TT rubber manufacturers feel the need to make new rubbers even though they are pretty much the same. The COR has limits of 0 to 1 and the ball will limit the top end to 0.9 even if the rubber is total elastic. There is such a thing as too slow or too fast.

Good to know that you switch back and forth between Rakza 7 2mm and Rakza 7 max soft on your forehand.

I am still trying to improve my backhand with Rakza 7 soft 2.0mm. When done, I will probably upgrade it to Rakza 7 soft max sponge. Then eventually hopefully get to Rakza 7 regular. I think all of us play table tennis a bit differently. If Rakza 7 soft max sponge gives me plenty of power, I don't foresee the need to eventually upgrade to Rakza 7 regular. We will see.

Right now I played the last two sessions at the club with Xiom Vega Asia max sponge on my backhand. I feel that Xiom Vega Asia is less springy and catapulty than Rakza 7 soft 2.0mm. But my backhand seems to like it very much as well. So we will see. If I stick with Xiom Vega Asia, then if I want more power then I will upgrade it to Xiom Vega Pro v.s. Xiom Vega X.

 

[brokenball]

I have played with Xion Vega Pro on my FH. My uncalibrated senses think it is a little slower than any Rakza 7 but it is still a good rubber if you stay close to the table.
I have a preference for thinner rubbers on my BH since I do more hitting than looping. Think about it. Your hit the ball with your BH a foot and a half in front of you but hit with the FH by your side. That extra 1.5 ft makes a big difference in the ability to loop the ball and also the FH loops have an extra 1.5 ft for the ball to drop so if you play close to the table, you are mostly hitting with the BH.

 

[JJ Ng]

I have played with Xion Vega Pro on my FH. My uncalibrated senses think it is a little slower than any Rakza 7 but it is still a good rubber if you stay close to the table.
I have a preference for thinner rubbers on my BH since I do more hitting than looping. Think about it. Your hit the ball with your BH a foot and a half in front of you but hit with the FH by your side. That extra 1.5 ft makes a big difference in the ability to loop the ball and also the FH loops have an extra 1.5 ft for the ball to drop so if you play close to the table, you are mostly hitting with the BH.

I think for Xiom Vega Pro, Xiom likes to advertise it as "Tenergy 05" equivalent. Do you think that is a over-exaggeration?

I have played with Tenergy 05 fx but I have not used a sheet of Tenergy 05 regular. I highly doubt that Xiom Vega Pro is that catapulty, compared to Tenergy 05.

Yes I agree with you. I think Xiom Vega Asia is less catapulty than Rakza 7 soft. I have a strong suspicion that Xiom Vega Pro/X will be slightly less catapulty than Rakza 7 regular as well.

 

[S-Pin]

I have a strong suspicion that Xiom Vega Pro/X will be slightly less catapulty than Rakza 7 regular as well.

Vega X is way more catapulty, bouncier and faster that Rakza 7.

I used to play with Rakza and loved it, but then tried GoldArc 8 and never looked back. One thing I didn't quite like with R7 was a rather low throw to my liking. Rakza 7 is easy to play - both for you and your opponent.

For my game GA8 improves on R7 in pretty much every department including the higher throw and overall better ball quality. It requires more work, but it's more penetrative.

I put Vega X on my Ludeack and it was good, it's more in a GA8 league rather than R7, but feels softer than GA8, the ball sinks deeper, it's bouncier, easy to generate spin, but there's less composure in top gear where GA8 excel. Vega X it's more like a slightly toned down Tenergy.

Put Rakza Z on my Ludeack and wasn't impressed at all, it's a bad match - very slow and dull with a crazy high arc. Put it on a cheap Sanwei hinoki/carbon blade and it was much better, faster and more direct.
Rakza Z is all about rotation, topspins are nasty and feel much faster than flat hits which are just slow. Short game, open ups and serves are excellent as expected. But for 2nd, 3rd balls you need to apply a lot of power into topspins with full swing and forget about smashing. I guess RZ is for fast carbon blades with a lower throw, but that's just me.