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Review: Xiom Vega Europe |
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LOOPMEISTER
Platinum Member Joined: 11/13/2008 Location: U.S.A. Status: Offline Points: 2486 |
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Posted: 01/14/2010 at 12:46pm |
Review: Xiom
Vega Europe Rubber, red, max thickness.
Quick Review Very soft sponge and grippy topsheet with tall pips. Softer than Tenergy. Softness on par with Renanos Bright Soft, Bryce Speed FX, Palio Macro Era soft, etc. Extremely good spin and power on loops. Not quite as much spin as Tenergy, but with a noticeably lower throw and less reaction to spin than Tenergy. The soft sponge is great for brush looping/control looping. Drawbacks: its not as fast flat hitting as it is angled hitting like looping. And this isn't much of a drawback, but it will add vibration/power to whatever rubber you have on the other side. Euro has the most performance you will get for the price. If you like high performance, soft sponge rubbers, this is a good rubber to try. I highly recommend it as a bh rubber, although it works great on both wings on fast composite blades. Lets call it a |
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LOOPMEISTER
Platinum Member Joined: 11/13/2008 Location: U.S.A. Status: Offline Points: 2486 |
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In-Depth Review
Initial Impression: My sheet uncut weighs about 62g. The sheet feels a little bit jiggly like Tenergy. The Vega Euro topsheet isn't as grainy as Tenergy but it feels more coarse than rubbers like Bryce Speed FX, Sriver G3 FX, etc. It feels very grippy. The black sponge shows through the red rubber slightly, giving it a completely different look than any rubber I've seen. The pips are large. They are smaller than T25 pips, and spaced closer together. I'd say the pips are a cross between T25 and T64. And they are tall like T64. (But this is a different rubber than Tenergy, so these comparisons are trivial.) Vega Euro has the porous sponge like Tenergy but its much softer. I use 2 thin coats of Haifu water-based glue. (The thin, milky white stuff that smells like amonia.) I also just let the rubber flop down onto the glued blade face, and then rub it down. I don't roll it on or stretch in on. Cutting the rubber confirms my thoughts that the sponge is softer than Tenergy, but the rubber topsheet is not as easy to cut through as Tenergy. Just by bouncing the ball on the blade (BTY Photino), Vega Euro feels much softer than any Tenergy rubber. It also has a pronounced click sound. It sounds similar to T25. I would say the sound is more pronounced than any Tensor related rubber I've tried. It feels slower than Tenergy when bouncing the ball flat. With angled bounces and the rubber shows much more power, and it has very good mechanical spin. It is more reactive to spin than any Tensor related rubber I've tried, but not quite as much as a Tenergy. Enough to make you think this will be a spinny rubber. I'm impressed so far, now I just need to hit with it..... Performance: BH Loop- Very spinny with good control and power. Nice soft sponge catapult feeling but without the high-throw you would expect from a spinny soft sponge rubber. I would say this is Vega Euro's biggest plus. I don't like high throw rubbers on my bh (who does?), and I definitely wasn't spraying balls off the table with Euro. Good confidence hitting loops. The soft feeling sponge is especially nice on controlled opening loops and looping against backspin. BH Couterdrive- The BH drive takes a little more adjustment with this rubber. Compared to the spin and power demonstrated by Euro with the loop, you need to be conscious about contacting the ball a little harder than you would expect on more open face shots. It seems the real power of the rubber comes from angled rebound, and I found the ball going into the net a few times on flat controlled drives. And although the sponge is soft and the topsheet is very grippy, I had to use more force when attempting to flip/brush loop a short dead ball serve. A minor detail, but worth noting. BH Blocks- Blocking heavy topspin loops right off the bounce is very easy. (provided you are in the right place!) Finding the right blade face angle felt very natural. Euro will send your opponent's loops back with control and enough power to force them to half-hit the next shot. BH pushes and service return- Vega Euro is nowhere as reactive to spin as Tenergy, but service return and pushing can/will take some getting used to. (Especially if you are used to passively directing your opponent's heavy spin with varying depth and placement.) The direction the ball goes when reacting to spin is predictable, but pushes and angled blocks/pushes against a serve seem to fly farther and with more spin than expected based on the feeling from other types of shots with this rubber. Once I became more active and started to impart my own spin on pushes and serve returns, I gained more control, and I started to hear that "squeaky" sound the pro's stomp their feet to hide. Long-Term Performance: Durability- I hit the table with the edge of my blade and splintered the blade, but the rubber survived without even a scuff. I also noticed the durability of the topsheet when I was cutting the rubber. (Still need to test the long-term durability.) |
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lildudejds
Gold Member Joined: 02/27/2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1503 |
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You're in for a treat! Playing it on your FH or BH?
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Nexy Hannibal
Tenergy 05 Tenergy 05 FX |
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LOOPMEISTER
Platinum Member Joined: 11/13/2008 Location: U.S.A. Status: Offline Points: 2486 |
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Yep I'm excited. For my own practical purposes I'm looking at it as a bh rubber, but I will of course flip it to give my feedback as a fh rubber. I've used soft tensor rubbers on both sides before, so who knows?
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manyaku88
Super Member Joined: 06/01/2007 Location: Romania Status: Offline Points: 259 |
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i'm just getting ready to go play, i am bouncing the ball around and the squishy speed glue like sound seems to be gone, but it spins more, hmm hope i am just sleepy, will post again today after i play
i glued the rubber exactly a week ago, i had similar experiences with the older tensors, they get harder, i was hoping this one does not, well, will play and see |
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Blade: Bty BalsaCarbo X5 FL
FH Bty Tenergy 05 2.1 BH: Palio Aeolus 45* 2.2 |
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speaquinox
Gold Member Joined: 03/19/2007 Location: Turkey Status: Offline Points: 1742 |
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I tried Vega Europe for about 1 hour today. I chose Europe since I
wanted a softer feel, maybe a bit more control. Here's my initial
impression.
My blade is a Butterfly Korbel, pretty mainstream blade with allround and offensive capabilities. I used both sides Max thickness. I didn't weigh the the sheets, but I can say they're medium to medium light just by comparing to other rubber combinations on the same blade. Sponge is black, even under the red topsheet. It's probably a first. Looking cool Sponge is a bit softer than Tenergy, Genius (same generation Tensor from Tibhar). Topsheet is quite grippy, a bit less then T05, more than Roundell, any previous gen. Tensor, all Stiga Boosts, Tibhar Genius etc. Bouncing on the paddle, strangely, bounce height is quite low with deadish feel compared to most built in glue effect rubbers. However the grip is very nice, it's evident. The throw seemed a bit lower than T25 (combined with Acoustic, that paddle was ready on hand when trying the rubber). However this feel can also be produced by the less catapult of Vega. It's slower than any Tenergy version, Platin, Boost TX etc. Not much glue feel, sound or "click". Just some during relatively harder shots. Spin is very high (again a bit lower than Tenergy). You can produce slow spinny brush loops or hardloops with mechanical spin easily. When the sponge kicks in, speed increase is also significant. Power is there for finishing the point. I did not have the chance to test the powerlooping abilities so I won't comment on that for now. But countering is really nice with very good spin and control. Short game is extraordinarily good. Vega has one more lower gear compared to all Euro/Japan stuff out there. I didn't feel this comfortable with any new gen rubber before. I maybe exaggerating a bit since my trial is quite short but Vega is really good for short game. Pushes, serves are great with very nice back/side/whatever spin you want. Since it's not that bouncy, it feels very natural. As an initial verdict, I can say Vega is a very good allround offensive rubber. Major strengths are spin and short game. |
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Innerforce ALC, Glayzer / Rozena
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Hans Regenkurt
Silver Member Joined: 08/12/2005 Location: Germany Status: Offline Points: 826 |
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I agree with speaquinox almost about any thing. However, we didnt expreinece the lack of sound - it was on a Yasaka Ma Lin carbon blade.
The arc of loops is very good - I could land anything on the opponent's side. A very good allround rubber indeed, just as speaquinox described it. In a word, it is a perfected version of Plasma Women or Sonex JP Gold because it is harder and feels faster and more direct than the aforementioned two rubbers. Compared to a glued up Hammond Pro alfa on a Stiga two speed all wood balde it is palpably slower, unfortunately. So maybe it is the speed of a Sriver FX glued. To clarify my rating of speed: in my opinion no manufacturer has managed to produce a rubber that is uquivalent to a speed glued Bryce and other top speed products. But they have managed to come close to glued Srivers and the likes. All in all, it is a very good rubber, definitely good for the backhand, and for the forehand too, if your tactics is based on outplacing the opponent rather than blast them off the table. |
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Rich215
Premier Member Joined: 02/28/2008 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3488 |
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Hans or others that have tried the Vega Euro....does it at all feel like Higher 1 but more firm?
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Hans Regenkurt
Silver Member Joined: 08/12/2005 Location: Germany Status: Offline Points: 826 |
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I havent played with Higher so unfortunately have no idea.
Compared to LKT Silver Dragon it is slightly softer, but only slightly. |
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kelvinyoong
Silver Member Joined: 10/23/2008 Location: Malaysia Status: Offline Points: 771 |
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What is the main difference between Vega Asia vs Vega Euro and Vega Pro?
Are they all using the same topsheet but with difference sponge densities? |
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Andrzej Grubba AN
Sriver 2.1 Sriver 1.9 |
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Thaidog
Gold Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1661 |
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Euro has the softest sponge, Asia and Pro have a hard sponge, Pro's topsheet is more spinny than Asia's. |
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Timo ALC FL
Tibhar Grip S MAx Tenergy 64 FX National 2.1mm He never boosts... of course he never had to... |
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jackass22
Super Member Joined: 04/24/2009 Location: Slovakia Status: Offline Points: 209 |
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What is softer rubber :baracuda(genius,xplode,hexer) or xiom vega europe ?
Thx |
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manyaku88
Super Member Joined: 06/01/2007 Location: Romania Status: Offline Points: 259 |
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genius is the only one i have not hit with yet, but from the rest, europe
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Blade: Bty BalsaCarbo X5 FL
FH Bty Tenergy 05 2.1 BH: Palio Aeolus 45* 2.2 |
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jackass22
Super Member Joined: 04/24/2009 Location: Slovakia Status: Offline Points: 209 |
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thx manyaku88 ,
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wfwfitz
Gold Member Joined: 04/02/2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1475 |
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How do the Xiom Vega series compare to Xiom Zeta?
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Wfwfitz
Xiom Axelo Xiom Sigma Pro Red and Black Butterfly Amultart Tenergy 05 Black and Red 64 |
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Hans Regenkurt
Silver Member Joined: 08/12/2005 Location: Germany Status: Offline Points: 826 |
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I further tested the Euro and i have correct myself on the speed issue. I tested it in 2.0 mm and it is only slow on slow impacts. When you start playing a little harder it produces nice fast shots with excellent arc.
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speaquinox
Gold Member Joined: 03/19/2007 Location: Turkey Status: Offline Points: 1742 |
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I've decided to keep using the Vega Euros on both sides and ordered another couple as backup. Even though the glue feel is less compared most new gen rubbers, the spin and short game comfort helped my decision. May try on other blades though.
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Innerforce ALC, Glayzer / Rozena
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ichobi
Member Joined: 10/11/2008 Status: Offline Points: 34 |
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Hey speaquinox , I am using Korbel ST too and really interested in this rubber. How does it match up with Korbel? I don't like too fast equipments. Do you think this set up will be good for learning proper loop? I am an intermediate level player and seeking rubbers to replace my dying Mark V. Also how do you like to have the same rubber on both side? Does it give you more consistency in feel and control?
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speaquinox
Gold Member Joined: 03/19/2007 Location: Turkey Status: Offline Points: 1742 |
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Vega Euro and Korbel match quite nicely, however I strongly recomment sticking to Mark V. It's still one of my favourite rubbers and it's one of the best for beginners/intermediates. You'll improve a better stroke and learn to create better power in your shots.
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Innerforce ALC, Glayzer / Rozena
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jackass22
Super Member Joined: 04/24/2009 Location: Slovakia Status: Offline Points: 209 |
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try please somebody compare spin and speed vega europe with baracuda(,xplode,hexer)
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speaquinox
Gold Member Joined: 03/19/2007 Location: Turkey Status: Offline Points: 1742 |
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I've used Tibhar Genius for a month or so. I guess it should be similiar to Hexer and Baracuda. Compared to Euro, Genius has less topsheet grip, less spin on slow strokes (serve, push, slow brush loop etc.), is a bit harder, faster and definitely springier. Spin harder loops are probably same. Genius has better glue feel.
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Innerforce ALC, Glayzer / Rozena
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jackass22
Super Member Joined: 04/24/2009 Location: Slovakia Status: Offline Points: 209 |
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Hm, baracuda has very little catapult and very little glue effect(I like it) and you are saying, that vega has more less catpult than genius(very similiar as baracuda), so vega must by very good control.And spin on genius is very good so i will try xiom vega europe :).
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TSuBaSa
Gold Member Joined: 10/01/2003 Location: Turkey Status: Offline Points: 1147 |
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Today I've played for 10 minutes with clipper + vega europe. Its very spinny I must say. Spinny as tenergy. Its bites the ball really vell. I think topsheet is very firm or dense and sponge is medium soft. Topsheet is not soft but its not fast either. There is little "fresh glue"feel in it. But its really spinny and if you swing a bit harder than it becomes alive. So that rubber has a lot of gears... Its slow when you want it to be but its fast enough if you swing harder.
Serv, push and oppenning topspins are much better than anyother tensor. It feels like a slower tenergy64. I really liked it. Maybe the only downside is there is not much ball feeling and click sound. Genius,nimbus, f3bigslam are softer and there is more ball feeling... |
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Nittaku Tenaly Acoustic Inner Carbon
Joola Rhyzer Pro 50 & 45 |
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manyaku88
Super Member Joined: 06/01/2007 Location: Romania Status: Offline Points: 259 |
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i agree with TSuBaSa on everything except for sound
it has a strong click sound, does not come as easy as with bigslam or xtra but it's there, louder than platin or T64 |
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Blade: Bty BalsaCarbo X5 FL
FH Bty Tenergy 05 2.1 BH: Palio Aeolus 45* 2.2 |
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jackass22
Super Member Joined: 04/24/2009 Location: Slovakia Status: Offline Points: 209 |
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Genius is softer than xiom vega europe? .. i dont believe.
Are you sure? |
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TSuBaSa
Gold Member Joined: 10/01/2003 Location: Turkey Status: Offline Points: 1147 |
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Feels like softer... Because there is more clicking sound... Vega's topsheet is firmer thats for sure but I dont know about their sponges... Genius was on a all+ blade and vega was on a clipper so I'm not sure but there was more ball feeling with genius...
ps:that was my 10 minutes experience, speaquinox knows better these rubbers... |
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Nittaku Tenaly Acoustic Inner Carbon
Joola Rhyzer Pro 50 & 45 |
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jackass22
Super Member Joined: 04/24/2009 Location: Slovakia Status: Offline Points: 209 |
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nothing bad , but 10 minut is very short time on testing rubber.
What do you think people, which rubber is unforgivable (baracuda(hexer, genius, xplode) or Vega europe) ? I read in topic xiom vega pro, that vega pro is very very very unforgivable rubber. What about xiom europe? Please can you compare angle (throw) between xiom vega europe and baracuda(genius,hexer, xplode). thx |
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TSuBaSa
Gold Member Joined: 10/01/2003 Location: Turkey Status: Offline Points: 1147 |
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Vega is not that springy and its not that super fast so it offers good control BUT it reacts to your opponent spin. So if you dont have any problems dealing with spin then its good.
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Nittaku Tenaly Acoustic Inner Carbon
Joola Rhyzer Pro 50 & 45 |
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jackass22
Super Member Joined: 04/24/2009 Location: Slovakia Status: Offline Points: 209 |
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I need comparing(every rubber (pimple in) reacts on opponent spin). I need comparing with baracuda...
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bozbrisvegas
Premier Member Joined: 09/27/2008 Location: Behind you Status: Offline Points: 3728 |
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im still confused that aussietabletennis will not stock the euro version, they said they already have enough similar rubbers in stock!
Dam and official retailers abroad say we won't sell cross the world where there is already a dealer...
mmmmmmm
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