Yinhe Qing Pro-FX

ATTENTION this rubber has no ittf approvement. The larc number doesn't exist. This rubber is only on aisan market available. You can buy this long pimples in 3 versions. 1.9, 2.1 and 2.5 mm long pimples.

Qing Pro-FX is a reformulation of the original Qing that Yinhe claims is better for the plastic ball. This does not appear to be available anywhere outside of the Asian market, and I purchased my sheets through a Taobao proxy. Be careful when purchasing, as some sheets have been treated and are thus illegal. My review is for the untreated "competition" version in OX (there is no version with sponge to my knowledge). There are a few notable physical differences. The topsheet itself is much thinner than the original and is more translucent. The word "special" is written under the ITTF code, which is the same code as the original "49-010", despite this technically being a different rubber. The pips are also slightly larger, and a bit more flexible, and they appear to be the same distance apart as the previous version. Although I was a fan of the old Qing for its versatility it had a few drawbacks. The pips were rather stiff, which was good for my style because I hit the ball in rallies rather than block, however it struggled against high speed balls because there was little forgiveness. This similarly made chop blocking a bit harder as well and required a bit more effort, especially compared to a rubber like Grass D. Tecs or Curl P3-a where blocking is almost effortless. These problems don't exist with the Pro-FX version, as the added flexibility allows the ball to sink in more. When executed properly you can generate dangerous chop blocks close to the table against high velocity balls. The greatest benefit here is the slightly larger pips have made hitting even easier, and my backhand hitting is more consistent than it has ever been. Durability remains to be seen, and this was a huge draw back of the old version, sponge or not. Yinhe claims the durability has been improved using a new German manufacturing process. The new Qing Pro-FX is a huge upgrade over the old version, and I hope European and Japanese stores that carry the old version begin stocking this version.