I was curious whether Victas has come up with something really new this year. I have no way of knowing whether this rubber is any similar to Xiom's Omega VII Pro but the two rubbers' descriptions coincide with regards to the lighter weight and there seem to be some other common points.

I tested it in max and I was a bit afraid that it was going to be a week rubber because its uncut weight was only 62 gramms (171x171). When I held it and shook it it seemed to be more elastic than standard ESN rubbers which added to my reservations. The sponge looks like it is a standard porous white Victas sponge, nothing special here. Unfortunately we only managed to put it on a custom-made ALL blade that is very light and slow so do not regard this test as complete, I will definitely try it on a faster OFF blade in the coming weeks. No tuner was applied onto the rubber.

After just a couple of hits my doubts went away quickly and I was pleasantly surprised by its power. It's hardness is about the same as other ~47 degree rubbers but it works strikingly differently compared to the usual German rubbers.

Some key differences to other ESN rubbers (Donic Bluestorm Z1, Z2; Gewo Nexxus 48, EL Hard 50 and 53; Tibhar MXP; Joola Dynaryz):

- it bites the ball a lot more than any of the above

- in its original state, it is spinnier on loops than any of the above

- loops can have a greater arc than from any of the above

To my mind, ESN rubbers have been alike in the recent years: they achieved speed through a flat trajectory with spin levels not as high as Tenergy 05. With the Victas V11 Extra, there seems to be change, which I welcome. While with most ESN rubbers you had to be a bit more careful not to hit the ball into the white of the net, the challenge is he reverse with the V11E: you have got to pay a little extra attention not to hit long. It is not difficult to do though.

It looks like it is a very enjoyable rubber if you have good looping technique and footwork. I would not recommend it to anyone who cannot handle Bluestorm Z1 or the likes.

Speed: I would say between Donic Bluestorm Z1 and Z2, maybe closer to Z1

Feel: its extreme bite sets it apart from most current ESN rubbers, I think it is more reliable

Short game: perfectly doable

Spin on slow loops: I hazard to say that is slightly spinnier than than the rubbers I listed above

Spin on faster loops: I hazard to say that is slightly spinnier than than the rubbers I listed above

The tradeoff for these  good qualities is that it is a bit slower than a Z1.

V>15 Extra is the best BH rubber I tested so far, better than my previous Goldarc 8 50°. 

V>11 Extra seems interesting if it can generate a bit more spin than V>15E.

It's unclear from your review whether you've tried V>15 before, but everything you're saying about V>11E can be said about its bigger brother as well. I've been using V>15E for many months now (2 years to be exact) and I love it for its crazy spin and linear behavior. 

My 2600-level coach said one time that V15 is right there between a H3 and T05 in terms of spin. 

In what context? When used by him, or yourself? On looping, on the full range of shots? Have heard that it is still not as spinny as 05 so curious about this.

I had a sheet of V15 some 3 years ago and I also know a coach who uses it on his BH with a layer of Falco Long on a Viscaria but his FH is still T05FX. He used to play in Italy and Austria as a pro about 20 years ago. He had T05FX on both sides but since Butterfly's prices have risen to the levels of an alternate reality he decided to get something good but a lot cheaper.

Maybe some people remember Tibhar's white sponged rubber, 1Q-XD. They launched it around 2013-14 but for an unknown reason they let go of that line of product and they kept pushing the MX-series instead. The 1QXD is very similar to Victas's V15. Funnily enough, Tibhar's ITTF registration number of 1Q is 015. Victas never dealt with MX-type of rubbers and I have a feeling they have reserved for themselves the formula of 1QXD.

So I agree that the V15 is a good rubber but there is nothing to mystify about it. One of my teammates uses it on his FH on a Fang Bo carbon blade. It is controllable, not too springy but spin levels are the same as other German rubbers. I personally prefer MXP over V15E.

V15E vs V11E:

My teammate says he prefers the V15, because it is more direct. The ball does not draw such a high curve over the table and therefore he finds it more suited to his game.

Arc on loops: V11E > V15E

Speed: seems more or less equal but let's say V15 is faster because of the directness

Topsheet stiffness: V15E > V11E

Spin on FH slow loops: V11E > V15E

Spin on FH power loops: more or less equal

Please bear in mind that they cater for different strategies and they require a somewhat different stroke because the V15E is more direct.

Hans, could you please stop these reviews. It's forcing me to spend money that I don't want to spend.

.

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Comprehensive, well presented review as always.

Thanks for your review

I have read somewhere that the idea behind V11 is to be a lighter version off V15 with similar performance.

Weight is something that is always a concern for me, and I'm glad that they released a good rubber that is on the light side.

Same here. I used to play with Tenergy 64 in the past but the price became a reason to change to something more affordable.

MXP has been around forever. It has been "refreshed" recently with the launch of MXP50.. but it's the same old MXP topsheet. 

IMHO, and again this is my experience and YMMV on your blade(s)  V15 has a lot more topsheet grip than MXP, both when new and after some wear.

I think overall it's good to see various perspectives on rubbers but everyone's skill/preference is different so your own experience may be very different from what you read.

Notfound, this may have gotten buried by a wave of replies but hope you could fill in some more details on this - thanks.

I used to be a Tenergy 05 user myself before I switched to Victas. Since he played against me , and regularly -- yeah the feedback was my loops were more spinny than when I was using the 05.

As I was testing some rubbers several months ago I asked another coach (2500+) to loop with 05H and V15 back to back (my blades) and I recall having more trouble blocking Victas loops. Again, just a minor observation.

Having said that... I am of the strong opinion that past certain level (say 2000) you can play with just about any modern rubber (05, MXP, R50, H3, Ryzer, etc) and you will be equally successful.  

yup this is not good information for EJ but this is perfect point of view.

choose hardness that you like, choose blade that you like and you shouldnt think too much

in my perspective in Poland there is a lot of players that use tenergy (more special kick and arc than rotation or durability) and they have AL type butterfly blade which throw is high= Timo Boll Spark, Innerforce Layer AL, Bazelart, so they have hard to win with better players but they don't loose with worse players or players with similiar level

The topic is about Victas V11. I really like this brand but they rise price and for me this is not the best option but  I will probably buy  sheet
because this is first exclusive brand in my eyes  and marketing is very important.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD8xUg1yvn4" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD8xUg1yvn4

Here is another one... The reviewer is also pretty high level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXk2hvjks" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXk2hvjks

http://https://www.victas.com/ja_jp/journal/item/attraction_of_v11extra" rel="nofollow - http://https://www.victas.com/ja_jp/journal/item/attraction_of_v11extra

It's in Japanese but easily translated with Google Translate.

I play with V15 Extra 2.0mm (both sides) on a Victas Koki Niwa Wood blade. Total weight is 185g and it's slightly too heavy for me so logically, I am waiting for the V11 Extra.

Got an opportunity to test V11 Extra on a Def blade (Tibhar PWD) so not exactly comparable with my blade but I think I got a good idea about V11 Extra.

The weight difference is extremely noticeable. The V11 Extra 2.0mm black uncut was 58g and estimated at 40-42g cut (bigger blade size). That's close to 10g lighter than each of my V15 Extra sheets!!

Overall, I found the feel to be very slightly harder (harder sponge but softer sponge) but the V11E sheet was brand new so that may explain it.

V15E and V11E are better as BH rubbers (lower throw).

V11E has less power so the trajectory is slightly higher but is shorter (vs V15E).

V11E topsheet seems to grip the ball better; it reminded me of V01 Limber.

Playing with a fast 7ply blade, V11 Extra will be a great choice for me in order to shave at least 10g with two sheets without losing speed.
Definitely my next rubber!

Thank you for the kind words Hopefully I won't chase anyone into going broke

nv42 wrote: So is the v11 similar to the latest gen thin topsheet rubbers?

No, if you look at their thickness scale, they offer 2.0 and max, instead of the 2.1 and max+ for the thin-topsheet stuff.

The V11 is different. I will try to  summarise the difference between it the likes of Bluestorm Z1 and Z2 (I use these usually) but I could mention R47 or Joola's Rhyzer 48:

Z1 / Z2 / Rasanter 47 / Rhyzer 48: they are springy rubbers, have some bite (a bit vague sometimes) but they are not really accurate and spin is not the easiest to get out of them at low impact (this is where Butterfly products beat them). Their topsheet is softer compared to Joola Dynaryz AGR or Rasanter 48.

Rasanter 48 / Dynaryz AGR: not so springy rubbers, their bite is much more predicatble, a lot easier to get spin out of them at low impact. Their topsheet is harder to the group of rubbers above. The Joola AGR specifically can have 15% more top-end speed when boosted compared to a boosted Z1.

The V11 Extra: not so springy, the bite is excellent compared to the lot above, it gives you significantly more possibilities in terms of placement and loop trajectory. Maybe 10% less direct compared to a Z1 or V15 but the gains outweigh this.

I will be able to test out the V11 on a fast ALC blade in two weeks hopefully, there will be a Z1 on the other side. I will report back then.

 Glad to see that the new joola agr and the victas v11 have better topsheets compared to the last gen, those thin soft topsheets dint enable much on softer brushier shots.

Also, I quite like how the gewo nexxus 53H plays compared to most of the older thin topsheet tensors I've tried, would you say the agr and v11 have similar or better topsheets overall? ( particularly for brushy strokes). 

Thanks

This is slightly offtopic since OP posted re V11E not V15, but I can tell you V15E (right out of package) does not need any boosting. It has plenty of power even on DEF blades. It is quite linear i.e. catapult is not extreme on slow shots but there is definitely plenty of it when you loop properly with power.  

After ~3 months it starts lacking power and you can boost it some but that usually means it's time to replace it due to the topsheet wear anyway. 

hope this helps.

p.s. i am around ~2000 usatt and use it on a def blade.

The Nexus HARD EL 53 is a disappointment to me. I found it not to be better than the 50 and in general, I do not see the benefits of the 53 degree sponge. My answer may not be relevant to you because I boost all my rubbers. The only exception is the rubbers I test for the first time.

With that in mind, I think both the AGR and the V11 surpass the Nexus 53.

I can make some comparisons to the Andro Hexer Powergrip I had on my regular set up and Tibhar MXP which I was using previously.

In terms of the bite or grab of the topsheet, it sort of sits halfway between the recent thinner type top sheets and more traditional ones. It was certainly very easy to generate my own spin with, I didn't find it quite as easy to lift backspin with compared to Hexer PG, but that could just be down to adjusting to the rubber.

Overall I think this rubber has an enormous amount of potential for people wanting high performance but lightweight rubbers, it will be interesting to see how well it lasts, but recent ESN rubbers seem to have been quite good in that regard, so hopefully this will be the same.

Thank you for this nice write-up. Just out of curiosity, assuming you played with the V>15 Extra too, what are your thoughts on the two compared to each other? 

Sorry, I haven't tried V>15 Extra.

An update on its durability: unfortunately it is poor. Two of my teammates who are regular users of Donic Bluestorm Z1 and Z2 and Victas V15 Extra have found the V11's durability to be half of a Z1 / Z2 / V15E or even less. One of them used it on his FH and the sheet softened up and lost so much power that it requires a huge stroke to  produce a shot of medium quality. They boost all their rubbers btw.

He is planning to go back to V15 on his FH.

I wouldn't say I have found it to be as bad as you describe, but the performance does seem to drop a bit after a few weeks. I don't boost, so perhaps that is why it is more extreme for your team mates?

If the performance doesn't deteriorate any further, then perhaps a MAX, rather than a 2.0mm would have been a better choice for me. 

Agree... Victas rubbers don't boost well. I have gone through a ton of V15s over the past few years and the sponge usually goes before the topsheet. I try to boost it just to revive it back to life but it brings it back for maybe another week or so and then the sponge goes dead again.

For comparison, if you boost a dead MXP, it again plays like a decent rubber for weeks.

In the sharpened state to 152x160 mm, both covers weigh the same 43.5 g. That is, about 4-5 g less than the Nittaku Fastarc G1, which I tested in the summer.

Speed:Luckily, what I was most afraid of didn't take place on my boards. V > 11 played on grubba all+ and spark off boards- controllable with slightly higher speed. Personally, I would put it in the category OFF i.e. fast spin rubber.

SPIN:This was a real good for the manufacturer, the ball bites into V > 11 like a pit bull and does not let go.The first topspin to the chope is the strongest side of V > 11 Extra.Big rotation, I can play it freely or push it at will. The flight curve is similar to that of the Fastarc G1, only slightly flatter.Thanks to the higher catapult and counterspins with V > 11 Extra played further away from the table, they have the necessary punch. So contraspin is another domain of this cover.

Control:Thanks to the harder sponge makes the V> 11 extra lower arc than the Fastarc G1, but it's not as significant a difference as I expected.Another prima feature of V > 11 is slightly different behavior in passive and active balls.

Katapult:It's not as different as hybrid covers, but it's nice when service and reception don't pop up.

Block/Conter:weaker side V > 11 Extra,because of the resoup top and the little catapult, you need to watch these strokes and you can't play them so automatically.

(English subtitles).  He’s an excellent player and demonstrates how he tests a rubber.  The rubber is also compared against V>15 Extra (the red sheet)

https://youtu.be/GD8xUg1yvn4" rel="nofollow - https://youtu.be/GD8xUg1yvn4

I came across and watched this video months ago... and w/o translation it tells me nothing. His loops are spinny no matter which rubber he uses.  

The creator of the video noted that English subtitles were added on 2020/07/28

I see the subtitles (white text in black box at bottom of video).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD8xUg1yvn4" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD8xUg1yvn4

I'm sorry that the video wasn’t helpful.

All the best in your search.

I watched it back when it first came out and didn't understand a thing.  no subtitles back then. Watched it again today, with subtitles... very nice! My guess is v11 is released to go after Rozena while v15 competes against Tenergy.