Nexy Karis M and M+ reviews

Karis M - Red - 2.0mm

Karis M+ - Black - 2.2mm

I don't think that there isn't much point covering the same ground as above for M+, but if anyone wants more detail here then please ask.  Essentially it's the same topsheet on a harder sponge of course, but the hardness is a fair whack more.  I found the spin on brush loops to be higher but the throw overall to be lower.  Speed is higher in general (and seems to be much higher on faster blades, whereas regular M didn't seem to give the same jump in speed), and although the character remains very linear the middle gears are less "flexible" - what I'm trying to convey is that M+ doesn't have the same degree of usability in middle effort shots because the arc stays lower for the same effort.  M+ retains the Karis standout of easy play and stability, especially on counters (really easy to hit through spin, given enough height to work with), and performs better for punches, but the extra speed and hardness is gained at the loss of some of the magic middle gear fluidity (I can't think of a better description for it).  Whereas it's hard to think of direct comparisons with M, I feel that M+ has more in common with other highly linear, hard-sponged, direct-playing rubbers like Acuda Blue P1 Turbo.

All that said, at this stage I had a slight preference for M+ on my FH wing over M simply because I'm used to harder sponges on that wing and everything that comes with them.

Note - following the review section above is a record of the initial sessions I had with Karis and my stream-of-consciousness thoughts about the rubber as time went on.  Hopefully it will add background and detail to the summery review above, but if you aren't interested in how things unfolded then please stop now and do not read on - I do not want to waste your precious time.

Out of the packet there is a slight dome, no obvious tuning smell but a moderately sharp rubbery/chemical smell, and the quality is very high (only odd thing is that the M+ is quite a bit smaller than the M when uncut).  Karis shares the dome and smell with other rubbers I've used from the same factory - Airoc, Samba 27.  They're both slightly lighter than ESN or Butterfly equivalents in the same class, but they're not featherweights by any means.

Although there are some similarities with stablemates like Airoc (the sponge being the main thing), the topsheets are totally unlike anything I've seen from this factory before (I haven't tried some recent releases though).  They don't have the shiny finish of the Airocs and have good grip right from the start of a finger rub.  The red sheet looks a bit dull in colour in comparison with ESN/Butterfly, but top quality regardless.

They're easy to cut but I find the slight dome makes fixing to the blade slightly more awkward than, say. recent ESN rubbers which lay totally flat.  It reminds me a little of the slight dome you get with older-gen ESN like Aurus or Rakza 7, which I also found needed a touch of care when slicking down.

A quick bounce test is interesting - the difference between M and M+ is large with M+ being quite a lot harder overall than M.  Spin test is very, very promising with both sheets showing excellent grip and high rotation on wristy brushes.  The black M+ seems a bit spinnier to me (and more reactive to the spin of the dropping ball), but that could just be the sponge hardness helping out in a simple test like this.

I decided to go with the blade I've been using most recently - the Zoom Balance.  It's a fairly stiff 6.2mm thick allround+ blade, medium/soft feel, limba outers, 92g, solid.  Regular rubbers are 402 Limber on BH and Omega V Asia on FH.

During warm up it becomes obvious that both M and M+ aren't the fastest rubbers out there.  This is fine for me - my regular setup isn't massively fast, and these compare well enough for me.  But as someone who has already taken a step away from catapult monsters like MX-P, and from jumpy, highly-reactive spin freaks like T05, I already know which side my bread is buttered.  Karis falls right in my target zone for controlled attack in terms of speed, but people who are used to the fastest rubbers out there should know that this is a small step down in raw speed.  Karis has a lot of excellent properties itself though, so if speed is the only issue then a blade change could be an option.  If you're already using MX-P on a Schlager Carbon and can't abide the thought of going any slower then stay away from Karis (and from most other rubbers, and from me you nutter).

During a session of mixed training drills, the obvious headline that jumps out from the page is "intuitive, balanced, well-mannered".  It's really quiet hard to make this rubber do something unusual, surprising or extreme.  This also means that it isn't pushing into any areas of extreme performance either - no enormous catapult to help you from distance with your lazy half-stroke, no ludicrous grab to put massive spin on a ball you mis-hit because you were out of position.  But it certainly does enough, and offers more than enough performance for someone at my average level to get any job done.  

At this early stage, I'm very impressed with both M and M+.  They sit in an area of the market where there aren't many quality options IMO, and it's certainly the best of the bunch I can think of.  If you take the slower ESN crowd (Musa being the obvious example), Karis feels far less "capped" in terms of overall performance while still being just as easy to use in the short game.  Of course, Karis is more expensive too.

I didn't really want to use Rubicon with Karis so early because I didn't want to introduce a new blade to the equation as well.  But in between this second session and the first, I put my regular setup onto Rubicon and spent a few hours with it and established enough of a baseline to get comfortable in my mind.  For the purposes of the reader - Rubicon is lighter than the Zoom Balance but ever so slightly faster and a touch harder on initial impact.  I'll be doing a Rubicon review later on of course.

But anyway - I went to a small local-ish tournament this weekend and took Rubicon with Karis M on BH, but kept OVA on FH for the sake of safety.   It was an interesting event, and the official UK supplier of Nexy was there sponsoring it and running a stand (http://www.ppong.co.uk/) , so it was interesting for several reasons.  The chap who runs it is a super nice guy, a pretty high level player, won the group 1 event and was using karis himself, so it was a regular karis love-in.  He sold a fair few sheets of it as well.

I was in the group below (2 of 5), and did much better than I had anticipated (5W 2L, joint second position overall).  What stood out to me about Karis in this situation was how it seemed to help me in unfamiliar surroundings against players I'd never seen before.  It has very few rough edges in how it plays - if any.  So when you're not 100% sure about the situation you get a lot of margin for error.  I feel that, in comparison with recent rubbers I've used, it helped a lot with service return (against unfamiliar opponents), tight play, and (most importantly on the day itself - a few good choppers were there) for opening up against backspin.  Karis's nature is such that when I don't get an opener quite right, instead of the ball going long or into the net, I get a sort-of high return that still lands on the table.  Sure, some of those got chewed up, but some didn't and overall my "idiot" error rate was much lower than usual.  At the same time, some of my openers were really good and I don't feel like I had to make any sacrifice to gain the error reduction.  Maybe, maybe, my blocking wasn't quite as good as usual, and I had to be a bit more active when taking an empty ball on from mid-table (lack of low-end catapult), but it was very minor.  Karis encourages you to be more active and progressive anyway - I found myself attacking serves more often and lifting "riskier" (in my mind) backspin simply because it was that bit harder to mess it up in comparison with my usual setup.

M and M+ on the Levi Basalt, which is my Viscaria-type equivalent (bit softer, bit slower, but much faster than the Zoom Balance or Rubicon).  3 hour session, drills followed by practice matches.

Nothing much to add about this experience over and above the earlier sessions apart from the basic speed of course.  What I found interesting here is that M was still excellent for me - still very manageable, lively in the middle gears in a nice way, good arc and spin for effort strokes, very easy to use in the short game, with "enough" speed (certainly enough for anyone I would say now it's on a faster blade).  The additional basic speed, plus M's easy-going low-gear nature, makes this setup amazingly good for opening against backspin with power, and the setup becomes very solid for loop-reloop from half distance too.

I was surprised by M+ here though - whereas M felt reasonable and balanced (pumped up by the blade in a sensible, understandable way), M+ felt much faster than on the previous blades.  With me coming from slower setups these days, playing closer in, and with an emphasis on controlled offense, M+ was obviously too much on the Levi for me.  M would do a great job on both wings for an aggressive two-winged looper on a fast-ish blade for sure, and in terms of how the overall setup played it compared very well to something like a Bluefire M2 - I'd say equal in spin, slightly lower throw, but far easier to use and more forgiving.  The rubbers are very different, but can be used for a similar game style of generic two-winged loop attack, if you catch my meaning.  Whereas M+ felt too hard and low catapult for that style of play, but too fast for my close-in play too on this blade.   It felt like it would suit more of a hard-hitting, counter-attacking style, although I did feel that it brush looped well in this session too.

PM sent.

Sure.  Some rubbers as well as blades play better on day 1 than they do on day 5 and it is important to some people as well.  Without making first day notes, some things escape memory.

Do you have any video of your play?  I find that people who do tend to be far more polite when talking to others on the internet.

I get this, but Baal is an obvious counterexample.  I don't think the issue is sensitivity to change but whether the value prop of Karis makes sense to the person evaluating it.  Most of these players, to be fair, were not at a level where feeling safe under a barrage of loops was their main problem and they probably didn't have mature enough technique to fully embrace the impact of equipment change.  The ability to open and win the point at their level was probably of higher value and they felt having more spin to open trumped the ability to block.  They also felt that they used Tenergy to get to their level and were reluctant to change.