I can shortly compare it to Latika cause I played one session with the same rubbers on them. First, my Barwell is only 80 gr  -  unexpected light but good for my current set up with quite heavy rubbers. The handle is thicker than Latika's one, with my small hands I prefer Latika here. And it's smooth, really. Grip tape is required but it thickens the thick handle and change a blade's feeling a little. So, it's faster than Latika but more definitely it is more POWERFUL. I mean that for all outpowering elements as block, counterdrive, drive, smash  - it's much better. And I can add here a BH loop. It was a way juicy than with Lat. And stable. A little less control and fh loop ability  - I guess usual trade off between 5 ply and 7 ply. Another point for all who want to speed up their setups  - my current setup is for permanent pressure on the opponent, while you are playing active, your fit is good  -  you're are better than used to be, but when the fuel is about over  - lights off ...I' ve gone through two tournaments with it and suffered many unexpected losses in the end of both. Latika was way better for keeping ball on the table.

About Ludeack and Clipper  - I never used them, only a couple of shots with Clipper. From the look at the ply's structure I assume that Barwell is Clipper with harder outerply - others plys look identical  - especially those noticable two red(rose) inner plies :)  

I'll stay with it for a while and if I'll keep to lose my club rating I'll switch to Latika with these rubbers, or will put my old Bryce + Nianmor on Barwell.  Unfortunately, I cant still get out nothing special from DHS H3 Neo National. May be not enough skill and power from me. And not enough feeling from it. I can't figure out why it's 4 time pricier than BW II.

I'm 36 year old fh-oriented attacker, based on the Debraj video's (only!) I should  be 2000+. Not the hardest way to get USATT rating, isn't it? :)

   

           

Hi Peter, I can see that you have changed from H3 NEO National to Fastarc G-1, could you please tell me which one of these rubber creates more spin and which one is faster? And does the Fastarc G-1 have a tacky topsheet? Thanks.

Can you compare it to the current latest Fastarc C1 ?

u can't really brush loop due to the hardness and taut topsheet though the topsheet is not as hard as bluefire. it requires 2100+ level looper to play well unless you're physically quite strong, otherwise you'll miss catching the spin on occasion. 

it's like a mix of hurricane and tenergy. speed and spin are very close to tenergy. accel at close range is faster than tenergy like sigma 2 pro but off the table, it is slightly slower. power and feeling is like hurricane. it only comes in max 2.0 but it's nearly as fast as 2.1 tenergy so this rubber is quite fast. 

if u need more power in your shots, this will help you. there's no need to twiddle to smash. the drawback is that high arc looping is more difficult due to the increased speed:spin ratio and hardness.

overall, i will not be sticking with G-1 as my fh rubber

** update: after ~20 hrs in, the rubber has softened a bit and much more comfortable now but still a bit tough to counterloop with. played a 2400 today and won ~80% rallies off the table so G-1 is *ok* after awhile. the hardness made mishits hard to adjust on the fly unlike with a softer rubber where you can adjust the shot mid-stroke with touch and almost always went off the table. it took a lot of concentration to keep the ball in bc it was so fast and the hardness was hard to make touch adjustments so you pretty much had to hit it spot-on correctly (less leeway for error).

it's a little too expensive outside of japan $55 vs $35 where it would be a nice bargain per the cospa (other than 30% off bulk purchase from TT11), but the durability and quality of these rubbers are quite good considering. i'm now on ~70 hrs on the G-1 and it still has 70-80% life with little visible wear. there is very little fraying on the edges that it looks new until now (though my fh accuracy has improved tremendously. now at ~0.75" radius circle in the center like a pro )

i think durability is noticeably higher than tenergy but i haven't been power looping as much, practicing close range topspin counters more often lately or medium power loops at most. spin has gone down, speed has gone up.

Whereas the G1 is something very different its like a cross over between a H3 neo and a tensor. It is quite hard, not reactive to incoming spin, doesn't have a lot of catapult, the throw is very high and it is best for close to the table play unless boosted.

Finally the C1 even more different from the 2 above. It behave completely like a German rubber, it is a little bit harder that the S1, throw is quite low, it can bottom out at times, not reactive to incoming spin, extremely easy to block spiny balls.

All 3 rubbers a very spiny almost like tenergy 05!

S1 reminds me a lot Stiga boost TS. C1 and G1 works very well on BH for blocking and putting tons of spin on opening BH loop. Also it is not too much impacted with incomming spin. Very good rubbers altogether.

Here we go again... people, stop this forehand/backhand rubber distinction - just describe the rubber's properties and post your video/stroke if you are that concerned about how other players will use it.

So you reckon my review could NOT be reliable?

I consider T05 as being linear when looking at power input to speed output ratio. I do not see T05 as a bouncy or "catapulty" rubber, but it is a fast rubber. Some of the ESN rubbers (e.g. Vega Europe but I have not tested all of them) react in a very non-linear fashion which means that they are very slow (and appear very controlled) on low power input shots (like slow pushes or light counters) but then all of a sudden they explode and generate high speed on stronger power input. I do not like that personally but understand that some people do.

Of course you are right to some extend but I was not comparing T05 to a Barna pimpled rubber.  I think that a T05 plays a lot more linear than most of the ESN rubbers which are much more bouncy or "catapulty".

I have G1 (Cpen FH) and S1 (Cpen RPB and SH BH). G1 is harder, but far from Chinese hard. Pretty linear including speed and throw. S1 on the other hand is quite explosive as some said. Very soft to the touch and full on glue effect when hitting hard. Very fast and high throw. Not quite an easy to handle RPB rubber for me. Fits better as shakehand backhand. Also works great for forehand if you like it soft.

 

I played a few weeks with it unboosted and it produces very spinny loops (slow/medium speed, high arcing), excellent short game and serves, but I had to work hard for speed. Feel was a bit dull also with the hard sponge.

 

Boosted it with a medium thick layer of Falco long and - wow! The rubber came to life. The sponge boosted beautifully to give controllable speed when sinking the ball into it, plus excellent feeling of contact. I could still choose when to engage/not-engage the sponge so the short game did not suffer at all, slow loops where still easy. The power delivery is very linear when boosted - great control.

 

After some time using it, the best shots I was producing where using a semi-brushing and driving stroke that produced insane arc and speed. A full-blooded swing with side spin/top spin would bend away from opponents and hit the barriers, all in the blink of an eye. Some of the best loops i've hit have been with this rubber. Snappy, crisp, powerful.

 

Just to add my 2 cents worth, I find Tenergy to be one of the least linear rubbers. It's either touch shots for the short game which are fine, or all out attack to maintain control of the ball. Any stroke inbetween, the catapault of the sponge takes over the shot and adds extra speed. A lot of balls go long with Tenergy unless a high level of touch is maintained. I know many people that have tried Tenergy, love their loops with it, and then give it away because controlling the ball is more difficult than most other rubbers.

 

Fastarc G1 was definately better in this regard, I could play any speed of loop I wanted with equal control and predictable output. Can soft block and punch block with equal ease. Good on FH and BH by the way.

 

I wore my sheet out and went back to T80 because my sheet of fastarc weighed 52g - too heavy for my liking. Maybe I just got an unusually heavy one! Don't know. If I could get 2 sheets at 46-47g each I would be all over it like a rash.

 

Think i'll get another sheet anyway.

 

@distantstar

2. G-1 was easier to spin with but s2p's max spin is higher i think - the kick is bigger. 

3. G-1 is easier to control the arc. s2p's trajectory comes out more linear with a longer trajectory as it's faster.

both can be played close though S2P would be more suited to speed(attacker/topspin counter) and G-1 to spin control (3rd ball attack/controlled looping). 

this is true. i liked it though bc when new, 47.5 deg is quite hard. i prefer it most after a few days. i think that happens to all esn rubbers though. same with VP, S2, BF, etc. after awhile, they get noticeably softer. otherwise, like mentioned above, boosting will liven it up and make it easier to grip. i did prev. but decided not to this time bc boosting makes it too fast and i don't want both sides tenergy-like (coming from h3 fh). my technique has also improved since and while difficult, i can loop as it is right off the bat. it is very "unforgiving" though.

+2 on that.

Likewise, I just figured for myself lately what really works best for me in my game. For a while I've been inclined of using semi hard rubbers on my FH as I find more power in them on all of my offensive strokes and that soft rubbers feel mushy and weak. I had been dependent of rubber's ratings and relied deeply upon their strength in hope that my power loops would be at the utmost level and have always high hopes I would be a strong counter looper from far off the table.

Well, I found out just lately, that my fh actually plays very well and a lot better on softy rubbers that I've always thought mushy. Of course we all know they are a lot easier to play with, but I never thought I would actually like playing with it and likewise feel so content.. I didn't even wanted to try them at all, not a chance.  I've always felt that my game would be weak and I won't play as challenging to my opponents.

Sounds interesting. I've read from a review at OOAK forum that it's fast like the FastArc S1 but spinier. I've used S1 and I myself could say it was blazingly fast. and so now Alheig, darn when am I gonna stop from Ejieng..