Review: Galaxy Mars II (v.2)

First of all, thanks go to PingPongHolic10 for selling me my first Mars II 39 deg 2.3 mm at a discount. Second, thanks to TTXOnline for discounting my purchase of 41 deg Mars II rubbers (2.3 mm and 2.0 mm) - but of course my review will be impartial, I promise! 

I will begin with Mars II 39 deg 2.3 mm (Red):

Weight: 66 g uncut, 48 g cut to a regularly sized blade
Tackiness: very lightly tacky, then it goes away after first 2-3 hours
Thickness: 2.3 mm
Hardness: 39 deg (feels more like 37-38)

Here are some pictures

https://picasaweb.google.com/JimT2008/GalaxyMarsII3941

and a couple of pics right here:





There was some tuned-up smell when I opened the vacuum-sealed package with Mars but it was not too pungent - just a regular tuned-up rubber smell. It went away after 2-3 days on the blade, I think...

More on Mars II 39 MAX:

Looping: better than PME Hard, comparable to T-05. I get more loops landing on the table than with Macro Era. Generally, the reason is that Mars is not as springy as PME 47.5 so the same looping motion produces a rounder arc resulting in a somewhat shorter ball. Allows you to loop balls which are quite low or even under the table - with a pretty speedy bounce on the other side. PME is more linear in that regard, probably due to harder sponge.

Driving: a bit slower and more tentative than PME, but at least as good as T-05. With a little adjustment I got used to it pretty quickly.

Serving: as I said before, better than with PME. If you dig into the sponge properly then you will get a very nice spin, with balls bouncing off on the other side with some very inconvenient result for your opponent. Underspin serves are also more dangerous. Quite comparable with T-05 in that regard, even if a player with a very good serving technique could probably get a bit more out of Tenergy rubber, 95% of us won't be able to tell the difference.

Push/slice/short game: very good control in short game. But I needed to adjust my pushes a little since I was used to a quicker bounce. Pushes and slices are spinnier. However, catapult effect in the short game is non-existent - unlike with tensors or T-05 - so don't count on your short push to have considerable underspin.

Blocking/smash/flat game: pretty good for a softer spinnier rubber. Not as good as PME, but then not a lot of the rubbers are... really. Still, in my opinion, at least as good as T-05. Definitely better than almost all semi-tacky Chinese rubbers (even from new generation) I used before.

Chopping: it's OK. Not super great, but OK. Doesn't produce heavy underspin but controls the ball very nicely. If you are doing it from afar you might need to add some oomph to your chops as Mars sometimes (not always) lacks the speed to deliver the ball to the other side simply from regualr downward chop. You will need to add some forward guidance, so to speak.

The most important thing about Mars 2 is persistence. In 2 months, you will be rewarded with bounce and catapult too.

http://www.megaspin.net/store/default.asp?pid=galaxy-mars-v2

richrf wrote: Thanks for the great reviews.  Is this basically a rubber for someone who doesn't want to pay $35 a sheet - the price of PME or something similar, or are there other types of players who may be interested in purchasing Mars II V2. Who  is currently stocking this product?

My main impression from Mars II so far is that it is the most Euro-Japanese rubber of all Galaxy rubbers I have tried so far - Venus, Moon Pro, Sun (I am not even mentioning Apollo which is ridiculously tacky and heavy). However there might be some others out there, I haven't tried them all (and have no intention to do that).

Hardness of 39 degrees plays great for those who do not run far from the table - it got great looping ability, good stopping power on blocking (which will be however rather slow and high throw, unless you readjust your angle and blocking motion). It has very good short game, touch and push/slice. Less superb are - flat smashes/hits and play away from the table. On counter-loops from 3-4 steps rubber can unexpectedly bottom out so you need to watch out for that.

I would certainly recommend Mars 39 in 2.0 even for developing players, but I am sure it will play just fine for up to 2000 USATT level players provided they do not go too far off the  table. Very good, consistent and reliable rubber - no super surprises but with all the pluses that we need in mid-level Euro-Jap offensive rubber and with almost no minuses as I can see.

Summary (for Mars II 39 deg): Moderately fast OFF rubber which is very versatile and reliable. Great short game control which is paired up with fast attack capability and lots of spin when you need it. If you are offensive-minded player who likes controlled attack and close to the table game, and you still use old-style Sriver EL or Mark V but would like to switch to something new and less expensive, this is one great option!

One thing that I do not know - is how long does the tuning last. And despite the fact that the rubber is touted as having a Nanotension sponge (suggesting that it's a special sponge, not a sponge boosted with VOCs), the vacuum-packing and the smell hint at the presence of tuners.

Now - about Mars II 41 deg MAX. My first impression was - oh jeez, this kinda sucks, why don't they have hardness 40, in between this and 39. The thing is that during the first hour the rubber played in a rather hard-sponged manner of PME Hard. I couldn't get the ball to properly dig into the sponge on some counterloops or on opening high-arc loops, push/slice was certainly worse than with 39, and serves were not as spinny.

So I thought why do you need this rubber if it plays the same as PME 47.5 but with tuning which will probably go away in a month or so (unlike tensor sponge of PME which keeps playing more or less the same for a very long period of time).

But as the practice progressed the rubber started to soften up a bit, I gotten used to it and here it is:

Speed: on par with Tenergy and PME 47.5.

Spin: somewhat better than PME Hard. Loses comparison to Tenergy but not by a huge amount. I do not see a nice dip after other-side-of-the-table bounce as I could see with 39... perhaps it will come. So far it is more speed than spin.

Control: on par with PME Hard. The bounce is faster and while still not as crisp as with PME, it is good, well "pronounced", with nice control.

Tackiness: none. Just zero.

Sensitivity: even better than 39 - no comparison with Tenergy which is really sensitive rubber. Imho even a tad less sensitive than PME Hard.

Catapult: still don't feel it. However the problem that I had with 39 - not enough power away from the table or when I quickly put the paddle in front of the coming ball, not having time to execute a proper stroke - that issue went away. As expected...

Throw angle: on par with PME 47.5, low throw rubber.

I will play more with this one - I need at least a week or more and then I will post further impressions. I have also bought a 2.0 version of Mars II-41 - that might be a sought-after perfect compromise for me. We'll see.

I think Galaxy can make you any thickness and hardness within reason, so I wouldn't be shocked at a great deal of variety in their rubbers.

dingyibvs wrote: I think Galaxy can make you any thickness and hardness within reason, so I wouldn't be shocked at a great deal of variety in their rubbers.

Edited by richrf - 12/23/2011 at 4:14pm

In any case I intend to send the cutouts to my friend with a durometer so we will see if the readings are more or less consistent with the stamps. So far, 39 felt more like 37, 41 felt like 39 - but that's just the subjective feeling of mine. Same as Blitz felt to me noticeably (around 2 degs diff) softer than PME Hard but they are both marked as 47.5.

Imago wrote: richrf wrote: dingyibvs wrote: I think Galaxy can make you any thickness and hardness within reason, so I wouldn't be shocked at a great deal of variety in their rubbers. On this subject I get lots of confusing comments from different dealers. Some claim that they are only producing one grade of hardness but are stamping them any way that a dealer asks for.   This is certainly not true. I can hardly feel the difference in 1 degree for Mars 2, but 2 degrees are already a big difference. Yinhe can produce any thickness from 1.5 to 2.4 and any hardness from 33 to 41, provided the quantity ordered is not less than 10 per kind, say, 10 red 1.9 @ 33. And the rubbers ordered are not less than 200.

So you are saying anyone can ask them to produce, say, 40 deg hardness and 2.2 thickness for Mars II as long as they buy 10 rubbers? Or does it have to be 200 but in batches of 10 or more?

40 deg hardness in 2.2-2.3 is the one I would be very much willing to buy. Hopefully TTXOnline or Megaspin will order those. It should be a great rubber - no bottoming out like 39 and no loss of touch like in 41. PLEASE!!

Understood. Perhaps I should play with Red Mars 41 then. Still would be really nice to try 40 deg and see if that is exactly what needed.

Imago wrote: How do you find the black Mars 41?

I have already started writing about 41 - see a few posts above.

zheyi wrote: the softer degree 36.. not sure if they are lighter also.. like a lighter rubber for backhand :) This rubber suitable for backhand?

I liked 39 as a backhand rubber for blocking and short  game but haven't really tried it in all aspects of the game. 41 was unexpectedly slow in short game or blocking, so I quickly turned it around...

Continuing on Mars II 41 deg (Black) - I had two more full-length practices with it

I have used a bit of olive oil treatment on the topsheet trying to make it a tad softer - perhaps it worked, I am not sure. Or maybe it just gotten naturally softer, break-in period is over, I guess... maybe.

Anyways,

Blocking: very good, fast low block. Works better for me than with T-05 or even Karate Hard. On par with PME Hard.

Smash/drive: again, better than with tensors. More or less on par with PME Hard, perhaps better.

Looping: it's getting better. Opening loop still needs work. But counterlooping seems to be better than with PME, I get a little more feeling/feedback when I do that element.

Chopping: needs adjustment. What I liked, however, is when I do it right, it gives me a very controlled low trajectory. But - there is always a but, right - not a lot of underspin when it finally reaches its destination.

Short game: better than with PME. On par with T-05. Good control at the net, nice push and all. Flicks are not as good - it seems that with the short swing it doesn't grip the ball as well as tensors do. Needs some work on my part.

====

Also - about Mars II 39. My clubmate (around 2000 USATT level) liked the topsheet on my Mars very much and asked if he could try and play it. But he plays with softer rubbers (36-37 deg) so I gave him my lightly used Mars 39 deg (which feels like 37), and he promised to play with it and will let me know his impressions.

richrf wrote: Thanks for the update Jim. Are you thinking about switching to Mars II (V.2) or are you suggesting that Mars II (v.2) is a possible low cost substitute for PME or Tenergy? Do you have any videos of you playing so that I better understand you playing style.  Thanks again for the reviews!

I am already using Mars II for the last 3 weeks on my FH instead of PME. First two weeks were with 39 deg but since I am playing a lot of balls further away from the table, 39 is really not the best option for me, so I switched to 41 deg version - for about a week now.

Next on the list - same rubber in 41 deg but in Red to see if Imago is right about Red rubbers being a little softer. That could be the best option for me.

As for videos - there are some on YouTube when I am practicing with PME on FH, Blitz on BH - but I ma not sure if that will give you any kind of insight. I do not look good there at all... I will PM you one of them.

Egghead wrote: Hi Jim, I play with palio macro era(is it the PME??)the 42.5 degree version in MAX thickness on FH. It seems that Mars II 2.3 mm 39 deg is a good sub for me. Do you have any idea? TIA

I wold say that Mars 39 (RED, I am not sure about BLACK - read Imago's comments on this issue) will be just a little harder than PME 42.5. So I would say yes, you should definitely try it out; or perhaps 37-38 deg version?

I intend to send the cutout pieces of all my Mars rubbers to a friend of mine who has durometer to measure the hardness for them. We will see if Imago's suspicion has a real basis under it - and we will see how the measured hardness corresponds to the official one. I promise to post the results as soon as they are in.