Outlaw + IQUL Combo : Review

Hi All,

Today I received a black Outlaw 2.2 and a red IQUL 2.3 mm 40 degree from Cole.
I was so excited that without even waiting for a minute I went to my club's coach to get them cut (I did not want to try my luck with these beauties at all).

My first impressions of Outlaw:-
A very nice Euro/Jap feel kind of a rubber out of the package. It transforms into a spin and speed demon once it goes onto the blade.
I really liked the amount of speed and spin i got out of this rubber. Especially the spin. My serves remained like mysteries to most of my club mates who are pretty used to my serves from Friendship 729-2. 
This rubber really gives you a lot of spin, as compared to Mark V and Friendship 729-2 rubber.
The speed segment is great but i would not call it outstanding. I have played with Tenergy 05 and i feel that Tenergy definitely has more speed. Tenergy 05 is more pumped up in the spin department too. But I guess a rubber that costly ought to perform that way.
Let me clarify this though that Outlaw isn't that far behind Tenergy. With this, i must express my extreme gratitude towards Mr. Cole Ely from www.colestt.com who had suggested me this rubber.
He is a very very nice man to do business with me. I belong to India, so he was supposed to ship the rubbers to india, which he did with such finesse. I received the rubbers in about 10 days flat.
For its amazing price, Outlaw is a definite must try product.
Now let me throw some light on its salient features:-
Short game is awesome.
The amount of spin produced is just too good. For serves also its a very good rubber, as it really spins the ball very hard.
The only negative i saw in Outlaw was the fact that it was a bit difficult to
lift the underspin balls. For the amount of speed and spin built into this rubber, i really thought that lifting underspin would have been a piece of cake with this rubber. But it wasn't. Infact, IMHO a Mark V is easier to topspin back an underspin ball.
It may be because of the lower throw of this rubber. I am not that technically sound to determine the exact reason behind this problem.
I am eagerly waiting for the new Gambler rubber. I don't know the name, but ITTF site shows some new gambler rubbers registered. I hope they have made something faster and spinnier than Outlaw. For the same price band, i would love to buy that piece of rubber.

i ordered both outlaw and IQ from cole too, but i haven't dare to use them yet because i don't feel like wasting them... they look so nice and all.
quick questions:
how would you compare the throw angle of the two rubbers?
would you use a low-throw or high-throw rubber on BH?
i'm still trying to decide whether i should use IQ or outlaw on my FH or BH... i have a sheet of 2.0 black outlaw and a sheet of 2.2 red outlaw and another 2.2 40 deg red IQ...
i'm currently using a very low-throw rubber on FH (i like it fine) and a terrible high-throw red palio tensor for BH that i'm not able to control... i am think of swapping out my red palio for one of the two... IQ or outlaw and use it as FH and use my current low-throw black rubber as BH... is that reasonable?

Hi anubhav1984,
     Thanks for your review. I think you will find lifting the chops is not the rubber but the different throw than you are used to. Outlaw does it all for me. I would give it some more time. Tremendous rubber for the price.

is it outlaw grippy rubber?

anubhav1984 wrote: Hi lu1648 I have IQUL on my BH. Compared to Outlaw, i felt, that IQUL has a lower throw and is surely more controllable on the BH side. It is an amazing rubber and can open any serves like a piece of cake for me. if you like pushing short with your backhand, i guess you better put IQUL on your BH side then. Outlaw will take a lot of time to adjust if you put it on your BH. I would suggest that you get that 2.2 outlaw to your forehand. I haven't tried 2.0 but have heard that it is a tad bit slower to 2.2. Hope this helps!

Thanks a lot for the tips.
can i ask u one more question?
which has more effect on how controllable a rubber is? the difference in hardness or the thickness of the rubber?

You guys really think IQUL is low throw? Compared to Sriver?

I mean, the throw seems more similar to Mark V than Sriver...

which is lighter,outlaw or regular inspirit?

anubhav1984 wrote: My first impressions of IQUL:- I am still indecisive about the performance of IQUL. It sometimes made me feel like the king of the world and sometimes left me begging on the streets. I guess, its about right contact with this rubber. I am a looper on both the wings and hence i usually open long services with a quick spinny backhand loop. This rubber gave me some trouble with opening strong side underspin serves. I must clarify though that i can easily open those serves with rubbers like Donic Coppa JO Platin and Gold. Infact, i feel that all the tensors with built-in speed effect are capable enough of doing that with ease. This again might be something related to the low throw of this rubber. The spin on IQUL is good, but not as great as the Outlaw( I guess I am in love with Outlaw ) The spin on chops was decent enough. Infact, it was good enough to contain my opponents from looping long pushes back. They were easily able to loop back my long pushes made by Mark V, but not by IQUL. I guess, another factor in the above mentioned property could be the fact that my IQUL is still a bit tacky. The speed of this rubber is good, but not that close to Bryce Fx as people suggest. Even this rubber lacks the ability to produce topspins on underspin balls with ease. I tried moving this rubber to forehand and faced the same issue in lifting long underspin balls. I can easily manage to lift a long underspin ball (from inverted rubbers) with rubbers like JO Platin, JO Gold, GKI Euro Chelonz (another Tensor made by ESN). There is definitely no problem with my technique, as the best player at my club, who is a national level player, confirmed to my findings about these rubbers. The speed of this rubber was good, close to mark V i would say. The spin was OK, may be a tad bit better than Mark V. P.S. --> I am comparing both of these rubbers to mark V so extensively because Mark V happens to be the only rubber used by me for a very long period. I was a loyal and ardent fan of Mark V before i played the Outlaw.

If IQUL backspin loop is not as good as the tensor rubber, how do they compare in terms of speed? Any reasons you would recommend IQUL as a BH rubber over the tensor except the fact that it is cheaper? Thanks.

I gotta try this outlaw now.. :(

kelvinyoong wrote: dauntless wrote: I just ordered 2x 2.0 Gambler Outlaw based on these reviews. I will try on Donic Dicon and see how it works as a FH rubber. I will update with my thoughts on this rubber... I am kinda thinking maybe I should have gone 2.2 Yeah i wanted to buy several sheets of 2.0mm from Cole and he advised that it that 2.2 would be better option. 2.0 plays too flat in his view. Cole knows about this better then i do so i took his advice. Can't wait to try out this Outlaw rubber!

Right after I ordered I emailed Cole and asked if he could make the black a 2.2mm hope he gets the email before he packs and ships his stuff

blackhole :-

blackhole :- what is your style of play from backhand? Because if you love fast rubbers i would suggest you go for the 2.3 mm 40 deg UL version of IQUL.

so u din't like the 2.0 mm 40 deg version, did you?

Can you give your views on the Palio HK1997 39-41 that you have listed in your signature?

I got a sheet in black. Had some discoloration (white streaks) on the rubber but i think it just cosmetic. Sheet has a nice sheen and is grippy.

I recently put it on + IQ 2.0mm on an Andrzej Grubba. The click it makes it louder then my IQ.

kelvinyoong wrote: Can you give your views on the Palio HK1997 39-41 that you have listed in your signature? I got a sheet in black. Had some discoloration (white streaks) on the rubber but i think it just cosmetic. Sheet has a nice sheen and is grippy. I recently put it on + IQ 2.0mm on an Andrzej Grubba. The click it makes it louder then my IQ.

Interestingly my one got discoloration too. I thought I was unlucky to get a bad batch. I would not say it is great but I can't flaw it either. The main issue to me is it is too heavy. 179g is too much for a RPB penholder. If I changed to IQUL, it would be 174g in total. As far as I remember, IQUL seems to be faster and more powerful.