XIOM Vega Japan Review

Wait until you are over 50 y.o. and have joint issues.  And yes, I can tell the difference past a certain weight.  It's like an inflection point for me.  Anything lighter is fine and I probably can't feel the difference in small weight changes - anything heavier is not fine, and after that point, I probably can't tell the difference in small weight changes.

JacekGM wrote: 128YinYang wrote: Updated first post. The review is done!! Any questions, I will answer as best I can  Thanks, good review. How does the vega japan behave for spinny serves?

Serves are top-notch, very effective and easy to produce. Much easier to get heavy spin serves with control out of it than most tensors, imo...

Ok let me see if I understand this correctly. The sponge hardness itself is between M2 and M1 but with the soft topsheet it feels like it's between M2 and M3.

GeneralSpecific wrote: Ok let me see if I understand this correctly. The sponge hardness itself is between M2 and M1 but with the soft topsheet it feels like it's between M2 and M3.

You're on the right track. But the big difference is that while the feel overall might be around M2 or softer, the behavior and speed is much different than any of them. M3 feels soft and plays as such, but Vega Japan has an overall medium feel (somwhere near Baracuda/M2, imo), but plays with the intensity of a hard-sponged tensor like M1 or Vega Pro, while creating more spin than and higher throw than Vega Pro (spin similar to M1/T05, etc.), but much easier to generate.

Wow, sounds really great. Now I just need to know how the durability lasts. I've heard bluefire has poor durability so I'm on the hunt for a new backhand rubber that can last me a while.

I think Bluefire's durability is great, it's just that the rubber kinda loses a lot of its sting after the tuner wears out after 2-3 months...That's the downside.

Do we have any idea whether or not Vega Japan is factory tuned? I'm wondering if there is a tuning effect that is going to wear off after a few weeks. 

Ray wrote: crackfst wrote: why are people so obsessed with light rubbers. as if anyone could really tell the 5 gram difference from a 170g and a 175g racket... Exactly.

ckhirnigs113 wrote: Do we have any idea whether or not Vega Japan is factory tuned? I'm wondering if there is a tuning effect that is going to wear off after a few weeks.

Yea, I'm quite sure it's tuned since it has that "smell"

Not much you can do about that, since pretty much EVERY new ESN rubber has it....

The Xiom guy I spoke to last Saturday got back to me today regarding Vega Japan. The sponge is 45 degrees. Same as Europe. 

 I used couple of Vega Europes and I know it's 42.5,it must be Omega I guess.btw I'm new to forum so hi to everyone.

Rich215 wrote: What ever the sponge hardness is for the Vega Japan.....it's starting to sound like the new Adidas "Top Secret/Tenzone Ultra"  rubber?     Anyone try both yet?

Yes, I have both. And they are like apples to....gorillas. They are absolutely nothing alike. As far as I know, most of the testers for the the TenZone Ultra agree that it is a step down from newer ESN rubbers in terms of everything (speed, spin, bounciness, grip, spin sensitivity, etc.). However, its main feature is that of its control and insensitivity to incoming spin. Basically, a few of us compared it to a lightly speed-glued Mark V. It has the control and sweet feel of an unglued classic rubber (Sriver, Mark V, Coppa, etc.) with more speed and spin. Basically, if you took a Mark V and ramped up all of its characteristics by 15% and still kept the control and feeling the same, you'd have Tenzone Ultra (IMO). This is why i am keeping it on my BH.

Put simply, Vega Japan is a very high-end rubber designed to rival the "latest and greatest" tensors/ESN rubbers (Bluefire, Evo, etc.) and it certainly delivers a top-notch performance. For the price of it on tabletennis11, it can't be beat (except by buying 2 Bluefires from Tibi, though I prefer Vega Japan).

As for reviews on Vega Japan, I have only heard little from other members who have posted a few brief comments in this thread, so there is not a lot of feedback running around on Vega Jap right now. However, you can read my updated first post for the full review.....

Any more questions, lemme know

128YinYang wrote:   Any more questions, lemme know

Scorpnox wrote: 128YinYang wrote:   Any more questions, lemme know Is it better than EVO EL-P or Tenzone SF?

I have not played EVO, and I have played only the regular TenZone, not SF version. It is considerably different from TenZone, as topsheet is softer and more elastic, and so is the sponge.

crackfst