The sponge hardness is medium soft and it is closest to the Donic M3 Bluefire but overall hardness seems to be a bit more firm by a notch or two.

Tibhar Evolution FX-S Review

The Tibhar FX-S is a soft but very bouncy rubber. I paired it with the Paul Drinkhall Series blades alternately and I found it bouncy immediately after testing a forehand to forehand and backhand to backhand drive. It is fast, that I can say, and at times it is faster than the original FX-P.

The difference in speed between the 2 rubbers is not that big. In fact, some people would just say that the speed of the FX-P and FX-S are just about the same. The FX-S being a rubber with soft sponge, would need to have its sponge compressed more to fully utilize it in its speed and spin.

If you are used to using Chinese rubbers or rubbers that are considered medium hardness to medium hard ones, you would need to adjust with the FX-S since brushing the ball against the rubber requires you to compress the sponge more. When you do smashes it is very easy to do so because of the soft sponge.

How It Plays

It sounded loud when I was smashing high balls with it but being a soft rubber, it has its limitations on doing very strong smashes. The soft sponge will allow you to have strong smashes but up only to a point and this is a common occurrence among soft rubbers. If you would apply more power, it is possible for the rubber to bottom out.

On chops or pushes above the table, it was above average. It was spinny but not as spinny as the EL-S. It was easy to flick and do drop shots. When you do spinny loops with the FX-S, you would need to compress or hit through the sponge and then brush the ball to fully produce spin. The rubber itself is spinny but this is the thing that you need to do with a soft sponged rubber.

The throw was low. In fact, it was only enough to clear the net. I had to do with some adjustments wherein I had to open my bat a little more and hit more through the sponge. At most, the spin of the FX-S is comparable to that of the Donic Bluefire M3 and nothing more.

Aside from smashing, the other redeeming quality of the FX-S is that it is a good blocking rubber for both forehand and backhand. It blocks well near the table and more so away from the table. You could block heavy topspin attacks with it easily. The soft sponge is not sensitive to incoming spin so the ball does not react much to the topsheet.

Conclusion

At most, I would recommend the Tibhar FX-S to players as a backhand rubber. Maybe new players can use this as a forehand rubber but as they progress, they would need to choose a harder and better rubber for the forehand.

Buy The Rubber

You can buy Tibhar Evolution FX-S rubbers from Tabletennis11.com. They have great prices and offer free shipping worldwide on orders over €70.

• Buy from TableTennis11.com for only €37.42

If you enjoyed this Tibhar Evolution EL-S review, you might be interested in reading Ben’s popular article Tenergy 05 Alternatives & The Best Table Tennis Rubbers, which is available on his Expert Table Tennis blog. And don’t forget to check out all of our other Table Tennis Rubber Reviews as well.

Have you used Tibhar Evolution FX-S rubbers yourself? What did you think of them? Please share your experiences and leave a review below in the comments.

The post Tibhar Evolution FX-S Table Tennis Rubber Review appeared first on Equipment Junkie.

Much has been said about the EL-S rubber and a lot of people who have tried it have been comparing it to the Butterfly Tenergy 80 rubber. The EL-S has a lighter color compared to the EL-P and the sponge of the EL-S has bigger pores.

Tibhar Evolution EL-S Review

The Tibhar Evolution EL-S is a great improvement over its young brother, the EL-P. The EL-P had complaints from players in the past. I used it when it first came out and in comparison, the EL-P sometimes lacks the bounce and feels dead when you are hitting the ball. This is the common complaint of those who have used it.

The EL-P has good speed when you first use it however after a few weeks you can see a great decline in both bounce and spin. Other players swear that it lacks the speed. The spin is very good and it is unanimously agreed that the EL-P is a very spinny rubber but lacks the punch. The FX-P and MX-P are different because they are very bouncy. The EL-P at best can be compared with the MX-S in terms of speed but a notch or two above it.

The Bigger, Better Brother

The Tibhar Evolution EL-S is such a great improvement wherein the rubber now is very bouncy and fast while maintaining the spin of its predecessor. In fact, it is even spinnier when you attack with it.

If you compare the speed of the EL-S to other rubbers, I would say it is as fast as a Donic Bluefire M2 but feels harder on the impact of the ball. It is also as fast as Tenergy 80.

For smashing high balls, the EL-S feels a lot better compared to the EL-P wherein when you hit the ball and compress it against the sponge, the spring and bounce are there and you can really smash well with the said rubber. Even though it is fast, the control is there.

The Tibhar Evolution EL-S is much easier to control compared to the MX-P or Butterfly Tenergy 80 due to two reasons…

1. The EL-S is not as fast as the MX-P. It is a few notches lower in terms of speed compared to MX-P. It was designed not to be a replacement of the MX-P but rather it was designed to be a rubber for advanced players who wish to have control while having good speed and good spin.
2. It is not as spin sensitive compared to Tenergy or typical Chinese rubbers.

In terms of spin, the EL-S is very spinny and almost the same level as the MX-P but in stronger shots, the MX-P is still spinnier. The EL-S spin is still below the level of Tenergy 05 but is pretty close to it. The EL-S produces a very heavy underspin when you are doing spinny pushes or serving with it.

The topsheet is almost tacky and is very grippy at the same time. It is ideal for doing drop shots because the ball handling is quite good. You can also do flicks against short balls and seldom have errors with it.

Most of all, when attacking with loops or loop drives, the EL-S is already satisfying in terms of spin and its good speed. It is even better compared to the Donic Acuda series. It’s like you merged the Baracuda with its spin and the Bluefire M2’s speed but it has more to offer. It also has a better feel and control.

Conclusion

Overall, this is one amazing rubber wherein it is controllable but at the same time the spin is great and speed is sufficient enough for players wanting an attacking rubber. It is indeed a great alternative to Tenergy 80 or 05 due to its lesser price.

Buy The Rubber

You can buy Tibhar Evolution EL-S rubbers from Tabletennis11.com. They have great prices and offer free shipping worldwide on orders over €70.

• Buy from TableTennis11.com for only €37.42

If you enjoyed this Tibhar Evolution EL-S review, you might be interested in reading Ben’s popular article Tenergy 05 Alternatives & The Best Table Tennis Rubbers, which is available on his Expert Table Tennis blog. And don’t forget to check out all of our other Table Tennis Rubber Reviews as well.

Have you used Tibhar Evolution EL-S rubbers yourself? What did you think of them? Please share your experiences and leave a review below in the comments.

The post Tibhar Evolution EL-S Table Tennis Rubber Review appeared first on Equipment Junkie.

Arriving in a dark blue package the description on the back simply states, “Samba 19 possesses good feeling, good sound, and good grip.”

JOOLA SAMBA 19 REVIEW

Here is Paddy and Dan’s full video review of the Joola Samba 19 table tennis rubber…

Please read on for even more details and for links to buy the rubber from Tabletennis11.com!

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Straight out of the package and the rubber is relatively soft compared to other top-level attacking rubbers on the market today. This was expected but I had a slight concern prior to testing the Samba 19 that it would be a little too soft – like some Joola rubbers in the past – and would struggle for speed.

Thankfully, Joola Samba 19 did not appear to be as soft as I had feared and was quickly stuck on and ready to go. The Samba 19 has a harder sponge than Stiga Calibra LT but is not as hard as Tenergy 05 by Butterfly.

SPEED & SPIN

One of the main areas in terms of performance for any rubber is the speed. If you had to compare Joola Samba 19 to another rubber for speed then it would have to be Tenergy 05 FX. It doesn’t quite possess the speed of Tenergy 05 but still has considerable speed.

Spin is another main area of performance as being able to generate enough spin whilst playing is vital during table tennis. During the initial inspection of Joola Samba 19, prior to gluing it on, the top rubber sheet hadn’t seemed to have as much friction as other attacking rubbers such as the Victas V>15 Extra and Xiom Vega Japan that we previously tested.

This was shown again whilst playing with the Samba 19. Even though it was possible to place enough spin on the ball to play topspin shots, it didn’t generate large amounts of spin as easily as V>15 Extra or Vega Japan had.

As with speed, Joola Samba 19 matches up similarly to Butterfly Tenergy 05 FX in terms of the amount of spin produced.

CONTROL & FEELING

Where the Joola Samba 19 starts to differentiate from Tenergy 05 FX is control. The control felt whilst playing with Samba 19 is varied and not as high as 05 FX. Whilst blocking or playing softer topspin loops the control is about the average level you would expect from a top-level rubber. However, when you start to play more aggressive attacking shots the control felt starts to decrease.

Due to the softness of the sponge, the rubber absorbs a lot of the impact and the ‘feeling’ of the shot doesn’t travel through to the blade meaning the amount you actually feel as the bat strikes the ball is limited. The more attacking the shot the more this lack of feeling on the blade is noticed compared to other rubbers.

THROW & ARC

The softer sponge does help when you wish to produce a lot of ‘throw’ on a topspin shot. It’s possible to keep the ball on the bat a long time and to ensure the shot arcs a lot. The high and long trajectory obtainable means you can catapult the ball onto the table from a range of distances.

This also means, however, that slight miscalculations in timing and technique can cause the ball to catapult a long way away from the intended target and can take a bit of getting used to, especially on the backhand side.

SPIN SENSITIVITY

As for sensitivity to incoming spin, Samba 19 is a mixture. The catapult effect means that topspin shots from your opponent can regularly strike your racket and travel a long distance; however the less grippy top rubber sheet means that on shots such as service return the rubber doesn’t grip the ball as much and the spin of the serve doesn’t take effect as strongly.

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES

To summarize the main strengths of Joola Samba 19 you would have to mention its ability to open up at the start of a rally. Although it doesn’t produce masses of topspin it generates enough to consistently arc the ball up and over the net off of a backspin push.

Another strength to highlight is the rubbers ability to keep the ball in contact with the rubber for a longer time. This helps to increase the trajectory which is required if attacking from mid-distance to the table.

The main downside of Samba 19 is the control aspect. Whilst blocking or playing with the backhand side especially, the ball catapults off the rubber in a rather unreliable and inconsistent manner.

COMPARISONS

Two different popular rubbers currently on the market spring to mind to compare Joola Samba 19 to. The one which has been mentioned in this review is Tenergy 05 FX, although the 05 FX possesses more control than Samba 19.

The other rubber would be Xiom Vega Europe. It is a similar hardness of sponge to Samba 19 and the only variant between the two is that Vega Europe is able to grip the ball and produce more topspin on loops.

WHO IS IT FOR?

If you had to describe the type of player that Joola Samba 19 is best-suited to you would have to say the sort of player who is attack-minded but not close to the table, flat out attack.

It’s best-suited to someone who likes to loop the ball but does so from mid-distance from the table, relying on a long and high trajectory to return the ball to the opposition.

CONCLUSIONS

Joola Samba 19 is currently on sale at Tabletennis11.com for just under €43. This represents decent value for money as it comes in slightly cheaper than some rubbers it’s competing against however the lack of control compared to the rival rubbers have to be considered against the savings in money.

THANKS TO TABLETENNIS11.COM!

Once again, we would like to thank Tabletennis11.com for sponsoring this review and providing us with the rubbers to test.

• Click here to buy Joola Samba 19 from Tabletennis11.com for €42.90

Tabletennis11.com are one of our favourite online table tennis retailers. They have fantastic prices and offer free worldwide shipping on orders over €70. You also get an extra 25% off if your order is over €250!

The post Joola Samba 19 Table Tennis Rubber Review appeared first on Equipment Junkie.

Whilst many, if not all, table tennis manufacturers include scientific terminology to describe what their rubbers have to offer, the synopsis for Vega Japan states it contains “Internal mechanic boost of hyper-elasto IMB generation” – which seems a little bit over the top!

XIOM VEGA JAPAN REVIEW

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Currently retailing on Tabletennis11.com at just under €36, it definitely ranks towards the cheaper end for high-level attacking rubbers.

The Vega Japan possesses quite a hard sponge along with a rubber sheet that has high levels of grip. This means that it is able to generate both speed and spin with relative ease when I start to topspin which, thanks to the grip, are consistent and do not occasionally slip off the rubber in any way.

FULL REVIEW

Due to the combination of the hard sponge and high friction rubber sheet Vega Japan is obviously aimed at players who like to play with an aggressive, attack-minded style of play.When you start to attack first is when the qualities of

When you start to attack first is when the qualities of Xiom’s rubber really stands out. If I got my opponent onto the back foot I could be confident in the knowledge that each shot I played would have the speed and spin required to keep them on the defensive and me in control of the point.

I found that the Vega Japans were most efficient whilst close to mid-range to the table and the rubbers were most effective during opening up off a backspin ball or whilst re-looping the ball. Again, these areas are strong due to the high level of grip that the Vega Japan has.

Where the rubbers come up short is when the user is not on the front foot during the rally. If I was forced to block at all due to my opponent getting an attacking shot in first, then I felt that I lost some feeling during the block. Because of the hardness of the sponge the ball would often drop into the net.

These same downsides are present in greater terms whilst completely on the back foot during a rally. If I was too far away from the table and had to either lob or ‘fish’ the ball back I found it very hard to judge the distance correctly to return the ball. Hard rubbers don’t provide the user with the feeling required to play too far away from the table or in too much of a defensive style.

SERVE & RETURN

Service and return, along with touch play, is another strength for Xiom Vega Japan, however.The grip available means that during touch-play I could easily place enough backspin on the ball to keep it short and low over the net. This actually means that the previous point about how the rubbers fall a bit short whilst blocking or being on the back foot in a rally are not experienced as often as they might otherwise be as being able to consistently keep the ball short and low means that I was able to keep my opponent from getting the first attack in more often than not and instead get an attack in first, myself.

The grip available means that during touch-play I could easily place enough backspin on the ball to keep it short and low over the net. This actually means that the previous point about how the rubbers fall a bit short whilst blocking or being on the back foot in a rally are not experienced as often as they might otherwise be.

If I am able to consistently keep the ball short and low, I am also able to keep my opponent from getting the first attack in more often than not and instead get an attack in first, myself.

Service is a strength due to the same reason that touch play is. The friction of the rubbers ensure that whichever spin is desired can be placed on the ball in considerable amounts and also that the ball is kept low over the net and short on the opponents side of the table.

The Vega Japan grips the ball consistently and, therefore, I was confident that the same service action would produce the same serve each time, as opposed to having to worry if the rubber would grip hold of the ball the same way it had the serve before.

CONCLUSIONS

To conclude, Xiom Vega Japan is a rubber that I feel is definitely towards the top-end of rubbers in terms of performance. The Vega Japan really shines when attacking from not too far away from the table.

The downsides whilst blocking or being more defensive are considerable, so it’s important to consider your style of play prior to choosing these rubbers.

But, if you are an attack-minded player who is always looking to attack early during a point then these rubbers would serve you very well indeed.

THANKS TO TABLETENNIS11.COM!

Once again, we would like to thank Tabletennis11.com for sponsoring this review and providing us with the rubbers to test.

• Click here to buy Xiom Vega Japan from Tabletennis11.com for €35.90

Tabletennis11.com are one of our favourite online table tennis retailers. They have fantastic prices and offer free worldwide shipping on orders over €70. You also get an extra 25% off if your order is over €250!

The post Xiom Vega Japan Table Tennis Rubber Review appeared first on Equipment Junkie.

I have to admit that I haven’t used Stiga rubbers since the 2010/11 season. As a student, I was fed up of paying so much for Tenergy 05 and decided to try out Stiga Calibra LT. Unfortunately, I really didn’t like them and reverted back to my old Tenergy instead. I feel like a lot of players have had similar experiences with the Stiga rubbers of late because I don’t know many players in the UK who use them.

From what I can tell, Stiga are trying with the Airoc series of rubbers, to create something that plays more similar to Tenergy or ESN Tensor rubbers. By that I mean; quite fast, good spin and a medium to high throw angle. That’s the kind of thing I’m after, and that’s why I was so excited to try the Airoc Astro rubbers.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The packaging is really nice (if that’s the kind of thing you’re into). I only say that because I really dislike the design work on a lot of table tennis rubbers – too many colours and patterns – but Stiga have done a really good job with Airoc Astro.

The rubber has a blue sponge and is made in Japan. It has a lot of “stuff” too; Oxygen Capsule System, Trans Tension Sponge, Built-In Speed Glue Effect, Long Trajectory, and APS Technology. I have to admit, I’m not sure what all of that means, but it sure gives you the impression that a lot of work has gone into the research and development of these rubbers!

I have been playing with the Stiga Airoc Astro rubbers on my Timo Boll Spirit blade for the past couple of weeks and while I don’t think I will be switching away from my beloved Tenergy 05 just yet I was really impressed with them. Stiga have got much closer to what they should be producing.

STIGA AIROC ASTRO M

As I am used to playing with medium-hard rubbers, I was most looking forward to trying out the Airoc Astro M. The speed was good, the spin was okay and the rubber gave a fairly high arc when looping. I was pretty satisfied with it.

The one problem I encountered was pushing. I kept pushing everything into the net! I’m not really sure why but if I went for a push, using the bat angle I would use when playing with Tenergy, the ball seemed to stay really low. The same thing was happening with backspin serves and I put a few of them into the net. I think this was all just adjustments that needed to be made when using the rubber because the next time I used them I didn’t notice this anywhere near as much.

I do get the impression that spin still isn’t perfect with the Stiga rubbers, but these seem to be much more suited to loopers than previous rubbers (like Calibra) which were super fast and great for hitters, but struggled with loops and open-ups.

Overall, I would give Airoc Astro Medium 7/10. It is a good rubber but still a little way behind Tenergy, in my opinion.

CONCLUSIONS

It’s great to see Stiga moving in the right direction and they have now produced a rubber that the majority of Tenergy users could play with (with a few adjustments) without noticing too much difference. It has taken brands like Stiga about five years to catch up with Butterfly but it appears that they are making strides now.

I decided to do a joint review, instead of one for the medium version and another for the soft version, because I found the rubbers to play in a very similar way. I wonder if I was given them blind if I would even be able to tell them apart? Anyway, I felt like the soft version worked better than the medium version. If in doubt, I would pick the soft one.

Stiga Airoc Astro is best when used a step away from the table for looping. It really excels on these types of stroke and in particular open-ups where you allow the ball to drop just a bit before contact. If you are the type of player who likes to take your time and take the ball a little after the peak of the bounce then I think you are really going to enjoy these rubbers.

Stiga Airoc Astro was weakest on counter loops and anything off-the-bounce. It just didn’t seem to give you the same feeling and consistency as something like Tenergy. I felt like I couldn’t trust it 100% to do what I wanted it to do when I was taking the ball early.

I also had a few issues with backspin. I put a lot of pushes into the net, I found touching a bit of a struggle, and had similar problems working out the correct bat angle for serves. This got better over time and as I got used to the rubber but I don’t remember ever having these kinds of issues when first trying out Tenergy.

• Stiga Airoc Astro M is available for €49.90 from TableTennis11.com with free worldwide delivery on orders over €70.

You can read my review of Stiga Airoc Astro S here.

If you have used Stiga Airoc Astro M yourself and have anything to add to this review, please leave a comment below.

The post Stiga Airoc Astro M Table Tennis Rubber Review appeared first on Equipment Junkie.

I have to admit that I haven’t used Stiga rubbers since the 2010/11 season. As a student, I was fed up of paying so much for Tenergy 05 and decided to try out Stiga Calibra LT. Unfortunately, I really didn’t like them and reverted back to my old Tenergy instead. I feel like a lot of players have had similar experiences with the Stiga rubbers of late because I don’t know many players in the UK who use them.

From what I can tell, Stiga are trying with the Airoc series of rubbers, to create something that plays more similar to Tenergy or ESN Tensor rubbers. By that I mean; quite fast, good spin and a medium to high throw angle. That’s the kind of thing I’m after, and that’s why I was so excited to try the Airoc Astro rubbers.

First impressions

The packaging is really nice (if that’s the kind of thing you’re into). I only say that because I really dislike the design work on a lot of table tennis rubbers – too many colours and patterns – but Stiga have done a really good job with Airoc Astro.

The rubber has a blue sponge and is made in Japan. It has a lot of “stuff” too; Oxygen Capsule System, Trans Tension Sponge, Built-In Speed Glue Effect, Long Trajectory, and APS Technology. I have to admit, I’m not sure what all of that means, but it sure gives you the impression that a lot of work has gone into the research and development of these rubbers!

I have been playing with the Stiga Airoc Astro rubbers on my Timo Boll Spirit blade for the past couple of weeks and while I don’t think I will be switching away from my beloved Tenergy 05 just yet I was really impressed with them. Stiga have got much closer to what they should be producing.

Stiga Airoc Astro S

I didn’t have high hopes for the soft version because I never use soft sponge rubbers, but once I started using it I immediately preferred it to the medium version.

I’m not sure what it is or how to describe it, but the soft version just feels better (and that’s from someone who doesn’t like a soft sponge). It reminded me of when you try a Chinese tacky rubber on a soft sponge and it just feels horrible and doesn’t work at all. Chinese rubbers generally work better with a harder sponge. This was like the opposite. The Airoc Astro topsheet just worked better with the softer sponge. It felt like I got a lot more out of it. More dwell time. More of a ‘click’.

Another aspect of the Airoc Astro S that surprised me was its ability to get the ball over the net even when you took it really late. I was going for some loops where I was a bit out of position and let the ball drop too low and I would play a loop and watch open mouthed as the ball somehow managed to just clear the net.

I could tell that the rubber is designed to be used slightly further away from the table than I am used to playing. It felt nice when I took a step back, let the ball drop a little and relaxed. It wasn’t as good at counter-topspins up to the table.

Overall, I would give the Airoc Astro Soft 8/10. I preferred it to the Medium version and would be happy to play with it on both sides, although I reckon others would view it as more of a backhand rubber.

Conclusions

It’s great to see Stiga moving in the right direction and they have now produced a rubber that the majority of Tenergy users could play with (with a few adjustments) without noticing too much difference. It has taken brands like Stiga about five years to catch up with Butterfly but it appears that they are making strides now.

I decided to do a joint review, instead of one for the medium version and naother for the soft version, because I found the rubbers to play in a very similar way. I wonder if I was given them blind if I would even be able to tell them apart? Anyway, I felt like the soft version worked better than the medium version. If in doubt, I would pick the soft one.

Stiga Airoc Astro is best when used a step away from the table for looping. It really excels on these types of stroke and in particular open-ups where you allow the ball to drop just a bit before contact. If you are the type of player who likes to take your time and take the ball a little after the peak of the bounce then I think you are really going to enjoy these rubbers.

Stiga Airoc Astro was weakest on counter loops and anything off-the-bounce. It just didn’t seem to give you the same feeling and consistency as something like Tenergy. I felt like I couldn’t trust it 100% to do what I wanted it to do when I was taking the ball early.

I also had a few issues with backspin. I put a lot of pushes into the net, I found touching a bit of a struggle, and had similar problems working out the correct bat angle for serves. This got better over time and as I got used to the rubber but I don’t remember ever having these kinds of issues when first trying out Tenergy.

• Stiga Airoc Astro S is available for €49.90 from TableTennis11.com with free worldwide delivery on orders over €70.

You can read my review of Stiga Airoc Astro M here.

If you have used Stiga Airoc Astro S yourself and have anything to add to this review, please leave a comment below.

The post Stiga Airoc Astro S Table Tennis Rubber Review appeared first on Equipment Junkie.

As a junior, I played with a number of Stiga rubbers, but they have been a big let down over the past five years and it’s only recently that they have started to get their act together again with the Airoc series. The German ESN tensor rubbers (such as Bluefire by Donic) are all pretty good, but in my opinion, not quite up to scratch with Tenergy. So, a couple of years ago I all but gave up my search for a cheaper alternative and accepted that I would be paying £50 per sheet of rubber for the foreseeable future.

TIBHAR EVOLUTION MX-P

Then, in a podcast interview with England’s #1 Paul Drinkhall, I was introduced properly to the Tibhar Evolution MX-P rubber. Paul signed a sponsorship deal with Tibhar and Bribar Table Tennis back in March 2015 and I have to admit I was skeptical that he’d have moved away from using Tenergy.

Butterfly Tenergy rubbers are used by the majority of professional players and it isn’t unheard of for a player to claim publicly to use their sponsor’s rubber whereas, in fact, they are secretly using Tenergy. I had a sneaking suspicion that Paul might still be using Tenergy rubbers, unable to break the habit of 7+ years.

That wasn’t the case, though. Here’s what Paul had to say…

“A lot of people ask me, “Are you still playing with Tenergy?”, and when I tell them I’m using the Evolution MX-P they sort of laugh and look at me as if I’m lying, but I don’t see the great issue.”

“I think it’s a little bit of a mental thing. If you give a player a rubber, with no branding on it, and said, “This is Tenergy”, they’d immediately think the rubber was good.”

“As soon as a signed with Tibhar I changed to the MX-P and I didn’t really feel much difference and actually, I prefer it to Tenergy. I quite enjoy the look on people’s faces when they’re playing with the Tenergy and they see that I’m playing with MX-P and I’m beating them.”

“Both me and Samsonov play with it, so hopefully people will open their minds a little bit and try it because it’s cheaper and it’s just as good, if not better.”

And, if you’d like to, you can listen to that interview in full here.

I’d heard a few good things about the Evolution series over the years but, having tried plenty of other Tibhar rubbers in the past, I wasn’t expecting it to be that similar to Tenergy. Speaking to Paul changed my mind, though. I knew that he wouldn’t be playing with anything less than a top-class rubber and I immediately wanted to get my hands on some Tibhar Evolution MX-P!

Thank you Bribar

In the UK, Bribar Table Tennis is the main distributors of Tibhar products so I reached out to them to see if they could hook me up. They did. I had two sheets of Tibhar Evolution MX-P through my letterbox within a few days.

I’ve been using them for ten weeks now – world’s longest rubber test?! – but I absolutely love them and I’ve finally found the time to write up my thoughts and, hopefully, turn a number of long-time Tenergy users to MX-P fans.

Before I get started, I’d just like to say that Bribar currently has Tibhar Evolution MX-P rubbers on sale for £34.50 a sheet. This is an absolute bargain and considerably cheaper than Tenergy 05 – which is £44.99.

Bribar also has a brand new website (which looks really good) and have a special offer where you can buy Paul Drinkhall’s exact bat (Drinkhall Power Spin Carbon blade  with Evolution MX-P rubbers) for just £124.99.

Basically, check them out! They are going above and beyond with their offers at the moment.

the review

What I’ve realised, since rediscovering the Tibhar Evolution rubbers is that “Evolution” is Tibhar’s version of “Tenergy”. Obviously, they don’t explicitly state that anywhere, but it’s abundantly clear.

Tibhar love their Evolution series of rubbers so much that they’ve given them their own mini website!

Tibhar Evolution MX-P is the Tenergy 05 of the series. It’s the fastest, has great spin, a fairly hard sponge, and suits a close-to-the-table topspin game.

As I open the packaging it all looks very good.

• The MX-P sponge looks almost identical to my Tenergy 05 sponge.
• The topsheet has a very similar look and feel – only very slightly tacky and matte.
• After gluing the rubbers to my Timo Boll Spirit blade, I try spinning the ball on them and the angles and amount of spin seem identical to Tenergy. No adjustment needed.

I can’t remember when I first tried them out now (it was about 10 weeks ago) but all that matters is this…

1. I loved them.
2. I could do everything I wanted to with them – with practically no adjustment necessary.
3. I haven’t taken them off since.

My Tenergy 05 rubbers are now lying loose in my bat case while the MX-Ps are firmly attached to my blade (and my heart – awwww).

I could break down the speed, spin, control, durability etc.  – but who really cares about all that? The takeaway is this…

MX-P is pretty much identical to Tenergy 05 and much cheaper!

If you’ve been playing with Tenergy 05 for years, and would like the same quality of rubber for £10+ less per sheet, you need to make the switch to Tibhar Evolution MX-P. I have switched, and I can’t see myself going back.

This is what I’ve been looking for for all these years – a rubber that can truly replace Tenergy – and I’ve finally found it.

The Stats

I wasn’t going to bother with this bit, but I know that some of you enjoy this kind of thing, so here goes…

• Thickness = I’m playing with MX-P on both sides in 2.1mm thickness (which is the maximum).
• Sponge = The sponge is medium-hard, exactly like Tenergy. I love it. Not too hard like a Chinese rubber but certainly not soft either.
• Weight = I didn’t weigh the rubber (I need to remember to do this in future as I know some of you like to know exact weights) but I would say it is fairly heavy, like Tenergy 05.
• Speed = I don’t boost, but I found this rubber to be plenty fast enough without it. Equal to Tenergy 05, again.
• Spin = Great spin on loops, serves, all strokes really. Open ups are easy too.
• Control = Not difficult to control at all. Perhaps slightly better for blocking/controlling than Tenergy even.
• Throw Angle = I found it to be slightly lower than Tenergy 05, but still plenty high enough (I like a high throw rubber).
• Durability = Ten weeks of using this for playing and coaching (average of five times a week) and it is still great.

And this is what Tibhar have to say about their rubber. Every brand has a different system – so it isn’t that helpful, but it looks pretty!

Reviews from TableTennisDB

TableTennisDB is always a good place to check if you want to read honest reviews of table tennis equipment written by players from all over the world. Here are a few reviews from users on there…

“Plays like a boosted T80.” – Killerspint

“The best Tenergy 05 alternative for me.” – marcbackhand

“A cheaper price with Tenergy experience.” – declarewarwithmyth

“Can’t add more than below comments. Better than Tenergy 05.” – qvoliszz

“A couple of pros in my club have changed from Tenergy 05 to this.” – OlleOst

Conclusion

This is easy…

Tibhar Evolution MX-P ≥ Butterfly Tenergy 05

[≥ means “greater than or equal to” if you’ve forgotten everything you learnt in high school maths]

I never thought I’d say it. I had all but given up hope. But here it is. A Tenergy 05 alternative that is everything I’ve spent the past five years searching for.

I would like to say another big thank you to Bribar Table Tennis for providing me with the rubbers to test and review. Thanks, guys!

BUY THE RUBBER

You can buy Tibhar Evolution MX-P rubbers from Tabletennis11.com. They have great prices and offer free shipping worldwide on orders over €70.

• Tabletennis11.com: Only €44.90 per sheet, with free worldwide shipping.

You might be interested in reading Ben’s popular article Tenergy 05 Alternatives & The Best Table Tennis Rubbers, which is available on his Expert Table Tennis blog. And don’t forget to check out all of our other Table Tennis Rubber Reviews as well.

Have you used Tibhar Evolution MX-P rubbers yourself? What did you think of them? Please share your experiences and leave a review below in the comments.

The post Tibhar Evolution MX-P Table Tennis Rubber Review appeared first on Equipment Junkie.

Before I get started here is a bit of context that you might find relevant.

• I am an attacking player that largely uses Butterfly equipment. I have been playing with Butterfly’s Timo Boll Spirit blade and Tenergy 05 for the last 3-4 years. I will be making a lot of comparisons between TenZone Ultra and Tenergy 05 as that is what I’m used to playing with.
• Adidas sent me a free sheet of TenZone Ultra and their Avenger Carbon blade to try out and review. I am not working with them financially in any way and have no reason to promote or advertise their products besides to provide value to my readers.
• I have tried the TenZone Ultra rubber on their Avenger Carbon and my Timo Boll Spirit blade and have been using it for about two weeks. I decided that I should use it for a while and let myself get used to it instead of just using it once or twice.
• I am not an expert equipment tester and I’m not usually one for switching equipment regularly (I prefer to find a set-up I like and then stick with it) but I do understand differences in equipment and I’ve played for long enough to be able to compare and contrast different rubbers.

I had hoped to get a video review for the TenZone Ultra rubber and I even wanted to get the opinions of some of the top juniors at the English Schools Finals in Doncaster a few weeks back. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, so this will just be a text based review. I will try to be as detailed and clear as I can be and…

I’m excited to announce that I have just order a full HD Sony camcorder from Amazon this morning and videos will be on their way soon!

On with the review…

First impressions

On first inspection of the rubber I thought the topsheet appeared very similar to Donic Bluefire. It had that same matt look and colour. The sponge was very light with quite large pores. The pimple structure seemed to be very similar to my Tenergy 05 but the sponge was probably slightly softer.

The ‘rubber positioning system’ gave me some amusement. Basically, they have three squares on the rubber that line up with the famous Adidas three stripes on the blade handle. I guess it does make it slightly easier to ensure the rubber is attached completely central but it was just the fact that they called these three squares a ‘rubber positioning system’ that made me laugh.

The first time I used Adidas TenZone Ultra was on their Avenger Carbon blade. I wasn’t used to the rubber or the blade so naturally I didn’t really get on with it. In particular there were three things that stood out;

1. Speed: It was a very fast rubber. In my mind faster that Tenergy 05 and I wasn’t really expecting that.
2. Throw Angle: The throw-angle was definitely lower for TenZone Ultra than Tenergy. This meant that a large number of my topspins were going off the end of the table and I found it hard to adjust.
3. Countering: Every now and again it would feel like I had caught the ball just right on a topspin or counter-topspin and the ball would really ‘fly’ out of the sponge. It was hard to describe but felt pretty good.

I decided to switch the rubber onto my Butterfly blade for the full review.

TenZone Ultra Videos

Before I continue with my review here are a few videos produced by Adidas. I have to say it’s great to see such a big company such as Adidas investing in table tennis. I believe this will definitely be good for our sport in the long run.

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQvAHQWGY54[/tube]
[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcb-J_ucQGU[/tube]
[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDveKN3frT4[/tube]

My Review

I will breaking my review down into the three characteristics used by Adidas; speed, spin and precision. Actually, they use four with the fourth being ‘tolerance’ but I have no idea what this means!

Speed

As I’ve said already, I was initially surprised by the speed of TenZone Ultra. I was sure it was faster than my Tenergy 05 (but then again my T05 is a fair few months old now). After using it a few times I got used to the speed and was struggling to notice a huge amount of difference between my red TenZone Ultra and my black Tenergy 05. I either got used to it or it started to lose some of it’s ‘zip’ after a couple of weeks.

I did notice the extra speed every now and again on certain ‘off-the-bounce’ or counter-loop shots. I think this is due to the slightly softer sponge. Tenergy 05 has a hard sponge which means that it doesn’t really absorb the ball and then shoot it out again. Adidas’ TenZone Ultra does this and it does it well. It feels great when you get the timing right and feel the ball fly off your bat! It seems that Matt Hetherington noticed this too because in his review he wrote;

“The TenZone Ultra is a third ball rubber I felt, it’s great for making a snappy a fast paced third ball opening attack and can be used to hit some thundering attacking balls. It has a very crisp sound to it, much like a flat ball shot.”

I tried TenZone Ultra on my backhand and forehand and thought it was perfectly acceptable on both. The extra speed and less spin makes it ideal for punching on the backhand. Switch it onto the forehand and it performs well for your topspin-topspin rallies away from the table.

Spin

I have to admit I was a little disappointed by the lack of spin this rubber produced. As far as I’m concerned this is it’s major weakness. I feel that the topsheet of the Tenergy rubbers is better suited to creating spin. I haven’t used many other rubbers recently. I guess the spin is better than the Stiga Calibra rubbers I used a while back. Calibra was even more suited to fast flat hitting (neglecting spin). Tenergy, I feel, does a good job at balancing speed and spin, while TenZone Ultra is probably somewhere in the middle.

As I mentioned earlier, the throw angle of TenZone Ultra is slightly lower than Tenergy 05 and this meant that the rubber struggled when ‘picking up’ ball low backspin balls that are just dropping off the edge of the table. I also found that it performed slightly better if I took a step away from the table, as I was finding it hard to get the ball ‘up and down’ quick enough when up to the table.

If you like to play slow, spinny open-ups I think you will get on with TenZone Ultra. I tend to go for more powerful and flatter open-ups and therefore the throw angle didn’t really help!

Precision

TenZone Ultra is great for precision (aka control) largely due to the fact that it’s not that spinny. I found it great for blocking and was impressed by its accuracy. This is definitely a big strength as many of the newer rubbers can be difficult to use, especially for developing players. I think that most players will be able to use TenZone Ultra easily and effectively.

I used it for some blocking exercises with a practice partner and really enjoyed it. I was also able to use a bit of wrist and play a ‘kicky’ off-the-bounce counter-topspin to great effect. It seems that the rubber is great off-the-bounce and great away from the table but not so good for mid-distance or picking up any ball that’s dropping.

Short play was comfortable and very similar to Tenergy 05 when touching, pushing and flicking. I don’t have much else to say about it. It did exactly what I expected it to do.

Conclusion

To sum up TenZone Ultra I would say that it’s “an easy-to-use Tenergy alternative that performs well in all areas but lacks some of the spin and high throw angle of its overpriced competitor”.

It may be a little bit faster than Tenergy 05 (but not much), it may be a little bit softer than Tenergy 05 (but not much), it may be a little easier to control than Tenergy 05 (but not much), it may be a little bit less spinny than Tenergy 05 (but not much, actually it is a fair bit less spinny).

I wrote a post looking at some alternatives to Tenergy 05 before and I now feel that TenZone Ultra must be up there as one of the best. The slightly softer sponge might make it most similar to an FX equivalent. Not quite as good but I bet it’ll be a tad cheaper.

Personally, I do like Adidas TenZone Ultra. I like it quite a lot! But being a hardcore Tenergy user for the past few years I doubt it’s done enough to change my buying habits. It’s not even a question of price. Right now I feel that Tenergy 05 is the best rubber for my game so I’m going to continue to use that even if it does bankrupt me!

To find out more about Adidas TenZone Ultra, and to buy it for $64.95 per sheet, head on over to Megaspin.

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