Xiom Vega Korea Review

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Weight: 68-70 grams uncut

Speed: Offensive

Spin: Very High
Hardness: Medium Hard (approx. 47 degrees)

I was surprised that Xiom released the Xiom Vega Korea. The last one they have released was Vega X. Do not underestimate this Vega rubber as I think this is the best Vega variant in the market right because of its balanced spin/speed ratio. The topsheet is very grippy and offers better grip than the Vega X or Vega Japan. The rubber colors I have are magenta, blue and black. I had several of these Vega Koreas and a lot of people have used this variant and were really impressed with the Vega Korea’s performance across different levels. I tested this rubber with Xiom Cho Daeseong and Hugo HAL blades.

So what does the Vega Korea offer that makes it different from other Vega rubbers? Remember the Vega Japan? After so many years I think there are still people who use this rubber because it is very spinny and also one of the best handling and control among Vega variants. This is a mid-range rubber that performs better than a mid-range rubber. A mid-range rubber is defined as a rubber that performs the necessary spin and speed shots but falls short of being a high-performance rubber that is needed by higher level players. The price of the Vega Korea is also very affordable. I think it is about USD40 in my area and is worth every penny. Further tests that I have made me conclude that it is a combination of every good thing from several Vega rubbers like, Vega Europe DF, Vega Pro DF and Vega Japan rubbers.

The Vega Korea is a medium-fast rubber. It is not the fastest rubber in the Vega series but the Vega X. The Vega X’s speed can almost be as good as their premium or top of the line rubbers. The Vega Korea is somewhat faster than the Vega Pro and Vega Europe rubbers due to the improved sponge and tuning agent. Mind you, the Vega Pro and Europe rubbers are more than a decade old already and though they still are very good rubbers to use nowadays, they were designed mainly for the 40mm celluloid ball. As of the present, the slowest rubbers in the Vega Series are the Vega Intro, China and Tour are somewhat the slowest rubbers. I would put the Vega Korea as 2^nd to Vega X’s speed only if you rank the Vega rubbers from fastest to slowest. The speed is not blindingly fast but fast enough. The speed of the Vega Korea is comparable to premium ESN rubbers that were released about at least 3 or 4 years ago. Honestly, the Vega Korea was not designed to be mainly for speed but with a perfect balance of speed and spin with relation to mid-level performance for players that are on the level of recreational or semi-competitive. My disclaimer on this rubber is that if you are a player that is on a national or international level then this rubber is not for you as there are other high-performance rubbers from Xiom. If you are a player that blocks or considered to be an all-around type of player, the Xiom Vega Korea is a great choice. I have a friend who is a former World Police & Fireman Games Champion that fell in love with the Vega Korea as his backhand rubber. He is using the Omega 7 Asia I gave as a forehand rubber with the Hugo HAL blade. The speed is more than enough for most players and can be still good at medium or far distance from the table. The sponge itself is very responsive when you hit through the sponge and responds really well giving you the power you would need depending on your distance.

The spin is also surprisingly high for this rubber. As what I have stated earlier, this is as spinny as previously released high-performance rubbers a few years back and is definitely spinnier than other non-tacky Vega rubbers. It is not only spinny through its being grippy because of the very grippy topsheet but it is also very easy to produce spin because of the combination of topsheet and sponge enables the rubber to easily grab the ball when doing any types of spin shots. I have extensively used this with the Cho Daeseong blade and with the Hugo HAL which is a personal favorite blade of mine for about a month now and aside from my personal observations, the overwhelming response from people who have used this rubber is that it is very spinny, easy to handle and never lacking speed. Supposedly this will be only released in Korea at first because at the time that this rubber was given to me, Xiom was still not sure if they would release this rubber in other regions at that time. Our local Xiom distributor here ordered the Vega Korea and the sales are still really good upon the time of this writing.

Overall, a fantastic mid-range rubber with above expectations performance and most of all the price is great at around 40USD.