729-08 reviews here please!

I know I'm always asking for reviews, but that's because I am somewhat able to control my EJ virus(wow!). I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one wanting more reviews of it also! SO I'd like to have more details concerning its spin, its hardness and on what blade you were using the rubber. Would a med hardness wood blade be ok for it? Or would a softer/harder suits more?

everybody is asking but none gives answer. I was fed up with the situation around 729.8 so I made an order. 20USD for chinese rubber is quite a lot but still - if you are so curious, buy it, try it.
I will have mine this week. Im gonna write something, some day.

thanks for the replies guys. The thing about the hardness is very helpful though, anyone can confirm this?

my 08 47 degree feels harder than my h3p 40.... not as tacky. faster.

I found out the 729-08 comes in two versions. one is the one which said Strongly Bounce or something... The other, I forgot. I'll have another look later at the magazine at home...

I know for sure it comes in 45,47, and 49 degree hardness. 

I dont know which hardness Zero Pong has it in...but their package is different than what I got direct from a authorized 729 seller in China.  Zero Pongs calls their version  "Pre Tune".  Their package looks slightly different than mine with the 2 logos under the rating #'s at the top area.  My sheets are Black 49 hardness and Red 45 hardness, both with the same DHS orange colored sponge.


Zero Pongs pic  




Package I have

rokphish wrote: my 08 47 degree feels harder than my h3p 40.... not as tacky. faster. I found out the 729-08 comes in two versions. one is the one which said Strongly Bounce or something... The other, I forgot. I'll have another look later at the magazine at home...

Strongly Froward and Strongly Bounce in case someone doesn't pick it up from the pictures.

tomas.gt.....  i think what we are seeing here is simply 2 different packages.  One is for export, and the other is for China sales only.  My package came from a Chinese seller.

I just changed to 729 08 for >1 month now, using AVX J-aramid carbon blade. The looping arc can be high if executed especially from mid table. For short game it is quite good. I found it  effective in BH flick.

IMHO,however, the combination of the blade and this rubber (47 degree and 2.15mm) is a little too fast to me. 

i kept forgetting to take the picture of the magazine where it shows two DIFFERENT packagings, not just the wording of Forward/Bounce...

 

tomas.gt wrote: bbkon wrote:  Liu shiwen is using whale now so what? TI dont need  to use the same equipment  as the pros do. If Liu shiwen uses whale instead of 729-8, this does not mean that whale is better for me. Liu shiwen would beat me with hardbat, anyway. because of the hardness of my sheet (49 written, 45-46 real - imho) I am going to put it on allwood rather flexible blade, in my case lighter softer and more flexible violin of my two violins. I guess It could work with stiga OC well. If it sucks on violin,  I might try it on korbel... or something else.

I use 729-08 on my 2 blade, Ishion and Mizutani Jun.  08 plays better on Ishion but not on Mizutani.  It really take time to get used to for 08.  It has a lot of spin on Ishion and the speed is good too.  No luck on Mizutani.  For the price, 08 is worth for it.

Finally the review comes.

I got 729-08 at 49deg. and with the label "strongly forward". Black sheet, 70grams uncut.
For gluing it on my nittaku violin I used water based donic vario clean glue.
The topsheet is quite sticky, it is able to hold the ball for a while when new. After cleaning it can still pick the ball, but only for a short time. Topsheet is not as thick as the other 729 topsheets usually are. The orange sponge feels hard to me.
My first impressions from the play:
knocking in - slow. Damn 729, it is slow again. It flew from my racket at rather high arc when knocking in FH to FH. I started to hit the ball harder and trajectory changed  - lowered. That was quite confusing, soft hit=high throw, harder hit=low throw. It led to unforced errors at the beggining. However on the second training it was OK.
Looping was surprise. To be honest I have expected rather low throw rubber. But this rubber has high (long) trajectory. No way as low as dhs H2 or dawei inspirit. It is quite easy to loop over and over again at slow lower speed. When looping I felt control, real control over it.
But still I couldnt manage to pull out strong forward and agressive loop or loopkill like it is possible with H2.
Serving is amazing. This rubbers has lot of spin possibilities. CHoping is possible as well.
Driving the ball, flat hitting, to spin the ball - the rubber can do it.
The worst thing about 729-08 is to block with. I would say every passive stroke is a weakness.

After a week I realized that there is huge difference in playing characteristics according to the usage of the sponge. When hitting softly or brush looping, it is slow, produces high throw. The topsheet produces slow shots and high trajectory over the net. When hard sponge comes to play, everything is faster and flatter. As the sponge is hard, it needs an extra power to force it to produce this speed and low trajectory. I needed some time to adjust.
The bad thing still remains - blocking. To block a topspin ball at the table, it is acceptable. Incoming spin helps to put it over the net. To block no spin or only small amount of topspin - when the opponent is smashing or driving - it is pain. I need to add forward movement in order to place it over the net. Sometimes, when I am in stress and bad position - surprised by the opponent - I dont have time for this forward movement. So passive strokes - not good.

My the most favourite 729 rubber is, probably, glued higher 3. Speedgluing is forbidden now so I was searching for something...anything ;)
Now I feel 729-08 has everything I need. It could be my fulfilled dream to have higher topsheet on hard sponge. For looping it plays like higher. The hard orange sponge enables to smash and drive better than higher. The tackiness makes the blocks worse than with higher, but makes services bettter than higher.

I keep going on with 729-08 on my FH on nittaku violin, together with dawei IQ on my BH.

Is it THAT slow? I'm still waiting for mine to arrive but I still don't know if I should glue it on a fast composite blade or a 7-ply(maybe even 5) all-wood blade...

Nutriment6464 wrote: Is it THAT slow? I'm still waiting for mine to arrive but I still don't know if I should glue it on a fast composite blade or a 7-ply(maybe even 5) all-wood blade...

I think 729 rating (11 for speed) is right. But hard sponge gives you enough power when needed. You should try it on every blade you have ;)
FYI I expect this rubber to become faster as the topsheet wears down. After 1 month it could be fast enough.