An Andro Roxon 450 review...

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   What: Roxon 450 max red
Rubber and glue courtesy of Rob. 
Buy Andro Roxon 450 Here
Buy Andro Free Glue here!

Visual Inspection:
Looking at the packaging, it sort of seems over the top. Nice, but excessive. When I opened the packaging, I got a bit confused: there was no tensor protection foil! After a bit of reading the included material, it seems that this "new" tensor doesn't require a protection foil. I was under the impression that the foil was to stop the topsheet oxidising and losing it's grip rapidly, but we'll see how it holds up later.

The topsheet feels very grippy to touch, much more like the Omegas than the previous Andro tensors (plasma) and marginally grippier than the COR2 sheets. The topsheet itself feels quite supple, more flexible than the plasma topsheets too. Pip structure has been changed, the pip is square to the topsheet whereas the COR2 pip has a beveled edge around the base. Sponge density feels mediumish, but softer than the Plasma 430. It also doesn't feel as "dry" as the COR2s. 

The rubber itself is light for a tensor of this hardness, you'd be looking at maybe 3-5 grams less per cut rubber. See my DB for specific numbers.

Bit of an aside, but I preferred andro's old rubber stamp to this new one.

Playing impressions: day 1.
Glued to a Donic Dima Sawtech AR with Andro Free Glue

Despite the grippy topsheet, Roxon doesn't really lend itself well to topsheet brush looping. Too fine a contact and the ball just drops off. This is in contrast to, say, Rocket, where the topsheet grabs the ball slightly better. The difference isn't much, but the Roxon seems to have a smaller margin between grab and the ball dropping off. To get the most out of the rubber, you need to sink the ball into the sponge and topsheet. Once you've gotten that down pat, the ball flings off with an enormous amount of spin and greater speed than previous tensors of this hardness.

Mounted on the Sawtech (which really doesn't feel anything like an AR blade), the roxon throws in a fairly high arc making it quite easy to bash away with consistency. It gave better control than the Rocket and COR2, yet felt like it imparted it's own spin on the ball better than the other two. Over the table play and serving required a light touch to stop the ball throwing long with any decent sort of spin. 

Day 2 (3 days later)
Nittaku Acoustic FL, H3 (glued) and Roxon (Free Glue)

I transferred it over to the acoustic as this was my primary blade. Note that there was minor shrinkage after removal - maybe 1mm. On the acoustic (faster, a bit softer, just as stiff) the Roxon played a bit better. It wasn't quite as bouncy over the table and was easier to put spin on the ball whilst keeping it reasonably short. I expect this would improve with usage.

I encountered similar brush loop issues with the roxon as before, but felt more confident with harder powerloops away from the table. Opening up still felt a bit iffy - I either produced a slow, very high arcing loop with only reasonable spin or a flatter, more direct spin loop was harder to control. The former occasionally dropped off the rubber or fell short whilst the latter sometimes threw too long. As I mentioned before, the margin between these two loops feel smaller than other rubbers. It's my opinion (at the moment) that the Roxon works better with a longer stroke than a short one.

Day 3 (1 week after putting it on)

The topsheet colour has not changed yet.

Day 4 (2 weeks later...)

The topsheet has oxidised somewhat and gone more opaque compared to new. The extent seems slightly less than what other tensors exhibit after 2 weeks without a foil. Grip seems marginally diminished.

Compared to a few other tensors; Tango Extrem, Plasma 430, Desto F2; the Roxon is faster and spinnier across the board yet has slightly better touch than the Tango and Desto. It remains to be seen if the better touch stays as the grip diminishes though. I would have still liked to have the foil, but we'll see how it goes without it.

Durability does seem improved, but I haven't exactly gone around whacking it on things.