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Xiom Vega Asia DF Review |
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AndySmith
Premier Member Joined: 11/12/2008 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 4378 |
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Posted: 05/16/2016 at 6:49am |
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Toy time.
Vega Asia DF, black, 2.0mm, 59.62g uncut. Sponge is noticeably softer than Omega V Asia, pip spacing is wider, grip feels just as high, and it's 8-9g lighter too. Looks good! I'l try to give it a good session tonight and report back.
Edited by AndySmith - 05/17/2016 at 4:09am |
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AndySmith
Premier Member Joined: 11/12/2008 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 4378 |
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Had a few hours with this on my FH last night.
The main point is - it's much softer in play than I'd imagined. I remember the original Vega Asia being obviously hard sponged (47.5?) with a very soft topsheet. This has a very different feel, and I can believe the reports of the sponge being 42.5. The topsheet feels a tad harder than the original Vega Asia though, but certainly not enough to justify the "hard" label Xiom has put on the packet. Spin is quite high, it's a bit bouncy but the top speed is quite muted and restrained. The throw on drives is medium, but hard shots wash out pretty quickly and a lot of my bigger, brushier loops had a very low arc. This really doesn't suit my FH at all, but those with a less brushy stroke who prefer softer, lower throw rubbers would like it more I'm sure. For a period of time I twiddled the bat and used it on my BH, and it was much better for me there. The combination of good topsheet grip, moderate bounce, reasonable top speed (low-ish catapult) gives a safe but effective result. If I had to compare it, I'd say the sponge was half way between Acuda P3 and P2 in terms of hardness, but the topsheet is a bit harder and feels more stable on loops to me (apart from big shots where the bottoming out is obvious). I liked P2 a lot but just couldn't get used to some of its quirks - this is like P2 but with a slightly bouncier (and softer) sponge, slightly higher throw, and lower top speed. It also felt a bit like a "mini" Omega V Europe to me (softer, lower throw, not as fast but easier to use).
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BB-Big
Member Joined: 08/14/2014 Location: Thailand Status: Offline Points: 70 |
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How is it compare to Vega Euro DF?
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AndySmith
Premier Member Joined: 11/12/2008 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 4378 |
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Harder sponge, similar-ish topsheet (I think the pips are slightly shorter on the Asia DF). There's less catapult on the Asia and I find it much easier to use due to linearity and ease of spinning up on softer shots. Asia also feels a bit slower in the top gears, which is surprising. I'm going to get a few more bats setup for next week's session to do some more direct comparisons.
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Olio
Super Member Joined: 03/27/2012 Location: UK / France Status: Offline Points: 237 |
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Thanks for the review Andy.
It looks like I will stick to my vanilla Vega Asia on my BH for now then. Spinny, linear, powerful when needed, durable and cheap... XIOM has done a great job with the Vega series on the whole, and I hope they're not about to mess it up with "upgrades". |
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BB-Big
Member Joined: 08/14/2014 Location: Thailand Status: Offline Points: 70 |
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Thanks for your quick and clear answer Andy. |
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AndySmith
Premier Member Joined: 11/12/2008 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 4378 |
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Yeah, I do wonder what the thought process is at Xiom about the DF rubbers. They aren't just a mild remix of the originals in terms of construction. It could be that they're looking to specifically reproduce the playing behavior of the originals though - so the DF versions when used with the plastic ball play similarly to the originals with celluloid. Even so, the feel is very different and I think it's a good idea to not expect things to be identical if you switch to DF. They're good rubbers though!
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carmelomaf
Silver Member Joined: 07/18/2009 Location: Munich Status: Offline Points: 920 |
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I played 4/5 years ago for long time on Viscaria the Vega rubbers, Vega Pro on FH and Vega Asia on BH.
I changed the rubber to Evolution or Rasant because of spin(Vega Asia) and durability(vega pro) Now there are new Vega DF version but if look to the Xiom Web Site i see no big improvements Today i bought the Omega V Tour DF, in the passt i tested the no DF version. Let`s see ;) Edited by carmelomaf - 05/24/2016 at 5:57am |
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Tibhar MX-P 50 Max| BTY Boll ALC FL | Tibhar MX-S Max
an Italian playing TT in Germany |
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AndySmith
Premier Member Joined: 11/12/2008 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 4378 |
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Had another session last night with Asia DF. I still can't get over how soft it is - Xiom could have easily called it Europe DF, Europe DF could have been Elite DF, and there would be room for harder sponged versions to be called Pro and Asia higher up the range.
It's a good utility BH rubber for me. The moderate catapult and reasonable speed make it super easy to use, and the throw stays fairly medium/low regardless of what you do to the ball. The topsheet has good grip but is a bit floppy - on softer loops the ball landed safely but much shorter than I anticipated, like the topsheet doesn't snap back with the force I'm used to. On harder hits the ball stays low and nasty, but the speed isn't huge. All told, it works better when close-in.
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AndySmith
Premier Member Joined: 11/12/2008 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 4378 |
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Are we sure that this is a new rubber? I wonder if it's just new packaging. Will be great to know if the topsheet has any mention of DF.
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carmelomaf
Silver Member Joined: 07/18/2009 Location: Munich Status: Offline Points: 920 |
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it could be just a new packaging i'm going to check the topsheet in the evening |
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Tibhar MX-P 50 Max| BTY Boll ALC FL | Tibhar MX-S Max
an Italian playing TT in Germany |
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AndySmith
Premier Member Joined: 11/12/2008 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 4378 |
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Fank yoo! |
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carmelomaf
Silver Member Joined: 07/18/2009 Location: Munich Status: Offline Points: 920 |
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on the topsheet there is no mention of DF
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Tibhar MX-P 50 Max| BTY Boll ALC FL | Tibhar MX-S Max
an Italian playing TT in Germany |
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Crowsfeather
Super Member Joined: 08/03/2013 Location: Thailand Status: Offline Points: 448 |
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DF is next to the word ASIA, take a close look.
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I'm no longer an EJ and I'm proud .
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AndySmith
Premier Member Joined: 11/12/2008 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 4378 |
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He was talking about his sheet of Tour.
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4ugustu
Super Member Joined: 12/31/2010 Location: Brazil Status: Offline Points: 121 |
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Sponge has big porous like bluefire M series?
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4ugustu
Super Member Joined: 12/31/2010 Location: Brazil Status: Offline Points: 121 |
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Andy, It sounds like you're describing bluefire jp03.
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AndySmith
Premier Member Joined: 11/12/2008 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 4378 |
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There are some similarities, but the topsheet is very different. Asia DF has this squashy topsheet, like Acuda Blue/Rasant Beat (bit harder than those though). JP03's topsheet is more elastic and less...flaccid for want of a better word. JP03's catapult is more obvious and kicks in earlier.
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4ugustu
Super Member Joined: 12/31/2010 Location: Brazil Status: Offline Points: 121 |
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what about the sponge? It is porous are big like bluefire M series? or porous are small like bluefire jp01/jp03?
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AndySmith
Premier Member Joined: 11/12/2008 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 4378 |
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Pores are big - bigger than JP03, along the same lines as JP02 (I've just compared the three against each other - really need to do an eBay clear out soon).
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Crowsfeather
Super Member Joined: 08/03/2013 Location: Thailand Status: Offline Points: 448 |
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Oops!! Sorry guys !!
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I'm no longer an EJ and I'm proud .
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kindof99
Premier Member Joined: 02/07/2014 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4230 |
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Tried Asia df and Euro df on a Stiga Infinity VPS S blade and like them. The control is even better than Rasant on a Barwell fleet.
Vega Euro df on back hand can do everything too. To me, the speed is good enough to finish a point, and sometimes, the returned ball scared my opponent a little bit if I used a little more power. I like Vega Asia df better than the Vega Asia rubber for the harder top sheet.
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wanchope
Super Member Joined: 03/08/2017 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 296 |
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Is this 2.0 vega asia df (59.62g) even lighter than a 2.0 hammond beta (61g)?
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Barwell fleet, Omega 7 Pro & Fastarc S1
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Dream1700
Super Member Joined: 12/02/2017 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 410 |
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is Vega Asia DF very similar to Vega Europe?
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Fraziel66
Member Joined: 08/28/2017 Location: Glasgow Status: Offline Points: 53 |
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Interesting. I fancy trying a slower soft tensor without a tenergy price tag. So this one has a medium throw? which would suit me fine.
Anyone know about the Vega Euro DF and what the throw angle is like on that one? I can't find a review on that. If there is one and anyone knows where it is could you post a link. thanks
Edited by Fraziel66 - 02/08/2018 at 10:06am |
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emihet
Platinum Member Joined: 09/22/2009 Location: Oregon Status: Offline Points: 2315 |
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thanks for the review
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Viscaria, Ma Long 5, Old Clippers, BTY Ovtcharov and Various Custom blades
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Fraziel66
Member Joined: 08/28/2017 Location: Glasgow Status: Offline Points: 53 |
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I am a little confused re the sponge hardness. On a typical chinese hardness scale 42 would be soft would it not? My Friendship 729 focus III snipe is 42 and is pretty soft, so 37.5 would be very soft but if it was on ,say, the Butterfly or european sponge hardness ratings, 42 would be hard and 37.5 medium soft.
Can you compare the softness ratings with a butterfly equivalent so i can get an idea what i am dealing with and which one to consider? thanks
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