Rakza 7 - Compared with Tenergy, NEO

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Rakza 7 - debraj's Review

Still unsettled with my FH rubber, and still without a date for release of Vega China, i had been trying different options for upcoming tournament. 

The rubbers i recently tried for FH are:
Globe 999 (sponge PO tuned), globe 999 national (sponge PO tuned), H3 Neo, Thors, Tenergy 05 (light topsheet PO to restore grip), Yinhe Mercury 2, Acuda s1 (light topsheet PO to restore grip), Rakza 7 (light topsheet PO to restore grip). PO=paraffin oil

This time i tried all of them on 729 F1, with Thors as BH rubber, and made sure the weight of the set-up is always 178-181gm.

I gave each set-up at least 2-3 weeks of club play to adjust. Thors, 999, tenergy, acuda s1, got even more time.

I figured for the time being i will stick with the Rakza 7 option. Its a very good rubber for skilled aggressive players who like to dominate spin game, by overpowering opponent's spin. 

Low impact speed (bounciness)
Tenergy 05> palio Thors (used) > Acuda s1> M2> Rakza 7> palio thors (new) > H3 Neo > 999 Nat > 999

High impact speed (power)
 Acuda s1> Thors = Rakza 7> 999 National > H3 Neo > M2 > 999

Ease of generating spin  ( slow strokes) 
in general tacky rubbers were easy to generate spin by brush, tenergy and rakza 7 was easy to generate spin by brush and sponge, and acuda and m2 needed sponge to generate spin

Intensity of Spin
Uptill slow / medium stokes T05 generated more spin than anybody in group, followed by THors, rakza, h3 NEo, 999Nat , m2. On high speed strokes spin rating was Thors>999 national, rakza 7, acuda s1> h3Neo/999.

Short game suitability: in reverse order of bounciness

serves: inferior to the tacky rubbers, but better than the grippy ones... same range as tenergy.

serve return: Amazing easy for a rubber with such high surface grip. 

Pushes:better than Tenergy due to harder sponge, the ball keeps low. greater accuracy in placing the ball, and much much much better drop shots than tenergy. of course H3Neo or 999 are even better than rakza on this.

Loops: Tenergy 05 has a marginal advantage on lifting low balls, not something that you can't adjust to. But Rakza 7 is SPINNIER (yes you are hearing it right) than T05 on faster loops and loop drives. I constantly found my partner having trouble blocking the rakza powerloops, and tenergy slow loops. in powerloops tenergy bottoms out, and doesn't provide that much spin, as Rakza. in slow loops tenergy allows for slower hand movement, and hence easier to play with. In loop-loop rallies, while tenergy is very good, rakza provide much more power and is almost as forgiving as tenergy 05. It is way more forgiving than H3NEo or 999T national, and don't talk about thors.. it's not at all forgiving in loop-loop rally.

Opening Loops: surprisingly I find it easier to open loops with Rakza over the table, the sponge being hard it provides a more predictable trajectory in greater number of shots. Tenergy is also good in this department, but Rakza is almost close to 999 National and H3 NEo in this department. 

Drives and flat hits: Rakza being much faster than Tenergy excells in these 2 departments. it is very easy to put away balls that bounceabove the net by driving or hitting flat. compared to Tenergy 05 rakza feels like cheating when hitting. the only rubber which provides that kind of comfort in hits is Acuda s1... all others are inferior. 

Blocks: Rakza is superior to Tenergy 05... but so is any rubber.I would day tenergy and Palio thors are sometimes a little challenge on out-of -position blocks... and all others mentioned here are very good.

Proximity to table: rakza 7 opens loop well close to table, but it will force you to take a step back and counterloop from mid distance. H3 NEO and Tenergy are very versatile here, while 999T national has very low through which creates a little problem at times.

Decisive speed-spin on loop kill / drives:
in order of decisiveness 
Palio Thors > 999 National > Rakza 7 =  Tenergy 25 > Acuda s1> Tenergy 05 > H3 Neo> 999
Nothing compares with Thors in delivering the lethal blow when opportunity is right, but Rakza and Tenergy 25 are close.

yes i managed to beat some good players recently and planning to sty with Rakza 7 till Nov. However i also should mention, i was thoroughly unimpressed with Rakza 7 when i first played with it. it had some non-linearity... but now that's gone... and it looks like a durable rubber to me.  i will have to find that post and change it.

Those looking for Tenergy substitute, there's no substitute.. but Rakza 7 can perform everything what you expect from tenergy, more or less as proficiently.. sometimes even better.

Edited by debraj - 07/22/2011 at 5:39pm