Renanos Hold review.

This will be brief, but there is little info out there about this rubber and I think very highly of it so I want to "spread the word". This will also be my 2nd-to-last review for a long time. The last review will come in a couple weeks--after I have spent some more time with a new secret bit of awesomeness. 

Anyway, for now: Renanos Hold.

It is awesome.

Very spinny, excellent speed, extremely controllable, and a very good feel. I'm currently using it in red, max, on my forehand. I recently switched from XIOM Omega IV Asia. I'm still using O-IV Pro on my backhand because it's working out great for my game. The Asia has very nice feel and good control but was missing some spin for my taste. I got a good deal on some Renanos Hold so I figured I'd try it out since its "shtick" is that it's supposed to be quite spinny. And it is. In fact, I've provided a totally-arbitrary-and-not-drawn-to-any-meaningful-scale graph, um... "thingy" in order to illustrate my opinion of it's spin producing abilities:



The above graph is sure to draw derision, arguments, laughter, etc., from many members... and I must say: I don't care.

It is just a convenient (and informal) way for me to convey my experience with these rubbers (all of which I've used rather recently, except Anti) regarding their spin. Renanos Hold stands near the best of them, but it's control and feel are better than all of the upper level rubbers listed above, in my opinion.

Renanos Hold is:

Very spinny
Very linear (so predictable and responsive--it does whatever I ask)
Quite fast
Has an excellent feel
Very controllable in the short game (not bouncy)
Not terribly susceptible to opponent's spin
Good for brush loops, power loops, drives, and smashes
Just puts the ball on the table effortlessly

And because I'm sure the question is coming: If anyone is looking for a replacement for Tenergy that is more forgiving (but slightly less spinny and a touch faster, and with a lower but not low throw) then I would suggest Renanos Hold. That's just me. Your mileage may vary, your technique may vary, your demands, perceptions, and patience may vary... etc, etc, blah, blah blah.

For those interested, it happens to be on sale at Paddle Palace right now for $39.95, FYI. But that's not meant to be a plug. Feel free to order from wherever you prefer.

I know there are those who say "equipment doesn't matter" and there are parts of that principle with which I utterly agree. But when someone finds some equipment that perfectly suits his or her game then good things can happen. Since using this rubber, I've been regularly beating some 1700+ players at my club. Prior, that occurred only rarely. More balls on the table, more threatening spin, better short game, etc.

Anyway, take it or leave it. Try it or don't. I just wanted to say something about it because there's not much info on it and I think it's a great product.





Edited by Anton Chigurh - 02/14/2011 at 1:00am

ohhgourami wrote: Thanks for the review.  Is it lower throw than T64?  Harder or softer?  Lighter or heavier?

I haven't used T64 in quite some time, but if I'm remembering correctly:

-Similar throw, Renanos Hold perhaps slightly lower.
-I don't know if it's actually harder (as in, durometer measurement) but it feels... different. T64 has those pips that are spaced slightly further apart which gives it a softer feel even though the sponge is the same as T05, for example. So I'm guessing they're close in actual hardness but Renanos feels slightly harder due to the top sheet. If you've tried Hammond Pro Beta, it's similar in feel... but spinnier and a hair slower in performance.
-Weight is probably comparable.

Again, these are my best "guesstimates" based on a fairly distant memory of T64. I played with some T64 a couple weeks ago but it was for about 5 minutes. It was months before that when I actually tried it "for real".

It definitely has better control (less catapult, more linear).

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

For me, it lacked the catapult when counterlooping so I gave up. Other than it's spinny, decent speed, very good grip and Japanese. 

My level is not that high. It's just that I'm lazy, I believe it's good if you commit to the stroke. But I'm so used to rubbers that have good catapult. Renanos Hold plays a bit like Chinese compared to Tenergy or other similiar ESN offerings.

The Renanos Hold must play nothing like the Renanos Brights.  The Bright series of Renanos were crazy bouncy.  I absolutely hated how bouncy they were.  I read the descriptions of Renanos Hold and they do sound nice, but the Renanos Bright Soft was the one that had absolutely no short game. 

Thanks for the review Anton, lots of direct info.

Do you think max and 1.9 make a big difference?

I played this rubber with my club member's TSP. He used it for his BH, but I would love to use it for the FH to replace my Chinese rubber H3, TG2, etc. After giving up on the search of prov or national versions of these Chinese rubbers, I started to play with ESN and Jap rubbers for my Chinese style FH, e.g. bigger stretched arm looping. Renanos Hold is one of these can replace glued H3. I have been reading about this one in Chinese web sites as well. This is my next EJ rubber for my FH. Thanks for sharing.

I would like to second Anton's review of Renanos Hold. I have been championing this at my club for sometime and I am 100% set that this is my backhand rubber. This rubber is VERY linear compared to something like Tenergy or ESN Tensor-insert-name-here and while it can create a very powerful spinney loop when you swing hard, it has superb control in the short game and is not bouncy like Tenergy (if you drop a ball on a paddle with Tenergy and one with Renanos Hold, you will see the difference).

I think what really makes the classic rubbers (Mark V, Sriver, H3, etc) so classic is their linearity. You can go anywhere from the slowest shortest dropshots to the massively spinney forehand loopdrives and everywhere inbetween. I think Renanos Hold captures that linearity and that classic predictability better than most of the new rubbers on the market.

peter79 wrote: Anton could you please compare Renanos Hold speed with Omega IV Asia and Pro?

Oops... you said "speed". I didn't see that at first and wrote a long comparison of both.

In terms of speed alone, I'd say that Renanos Hold is potentially faster but you have to work a little harder for it. Not like with the harder tacky rubbers, by any means... it's certainly easier to produce speed than Neo H3, for example. But there is also no Tenergy catapult there to "help" you. In the middle gears the Omegas feel faster because they don't require as much effort due to the catapult. But when I'm allowed to let a winner rip at full force, the Renanos Hold is faster.






Edited by Anton Chigurh - 02/16/2011 at 3:36am

peter79 wrote: Anton, Have you tried H3 National tuned with Parafin Oil? It's totally different from Provincial, more speed, more spin too.

Not sure he has but I have with a much more powerful tuner than paraffin oil 
Definitely much much more spin and speed

.

Edited by BeaverMD - 12/28/2022 at 9:12am

peter79 wrote: Anton Chigurh wrote: Oops... you said "speed". I didn't see that at first and wrote a long comparison of both. In terms of speed alone, I'd say that Renanos Hold is potentially faster but you have to work a little harder for it. Not like with the harder tacky rubbers, by any means... it's certainly easier to produce speed than Neo H3, for example. But there is also no Tenergy catapult there to "help" you. In the middle gears the Omegas feel faster because they don't require as much effort due to the catapult. But when I'm allowed to let a winner rip at full force, the Renanos Hold is faster. Anton, Have you tried H3 National tuned with Parafin Oil? It's totally different from Provincial, more speed, more spin too.

It's also illegal. Have you tried Sriver with 12 layers of speedglue? Way different than Sriver with regular glue

dragon kid wrote: Anybody try it on the BH?

I took it off the forehand of my shakehand blade and put it on the backhand of my SuperCpen blade (which has Thor's on the forehand). I will try it out tomorrow and let you know what I think. I imagine it will function quite well there.

BMonkey wrote: dragon kid wrote: Anybody try it on the BH?  I finally wore out the sheet I've had on my backhand. Just ordered another

So how does it play there? have you tried with Andro Hexer by any chance? how do the two compare?

Anton Chigurh wrote: dragon kid wrote: Anybody try it on the BH?  I took it off the forehand of my shakehand blade and put it on the backhand of my SuperCpen blade (which has Thor's on the forehand). I will try it out tomorrow and let you know what I think. I imagine it will function quite well there.

Hoping for some good news