Friendship/729 Aurora

729 Aurora is possibly the cheapest rubber with the best performance, if you like catapult-effect style Euro/Japanese style rubbers. Friendship has now finally reached the "Champions League group stage" of TT rubbers. (More on the way with Friendship 729 Battle!) The click sound of Aurora is not as high as e.g. Stiga Magna TS, in fact it is not loud at all, contrary to product description The previous reviews sum up Aurora well. Its price nothing short of amazing considering the performance. If you don't care about brands and are a price conscious amateur player with an aggressive attack style, please give this thunderous rubber a go. It is definitely both a FH and BH rubber. Congrats to 729!

Red:42deg, uncut mass:66g (There are also 40degree) 729 Aurora (42deg) RED is a typical BH rubber, very consistent, medium throw and low spin sensitivity. Aurora is a tensor rubber, same spin and attack speed than Acuda S2, but slightly less grip and lower throw! Awesome, rock steady block, same or better than Acuda S2! The sponge eliminate the incoming spin and sends the ball, where you want. Easy and precise opening loops, with very good feedback. Aurora 42 RED hardness and dwell time is closer than Acuda S1. The sponge is less and better controlled catapult effect than Acuda, and need for run-time the revival. If durability is good, maybe I'm not mistaken, Aurora is a best buy rubber (16-18 dollar), one of the easiest to play. This is not factory tuned rubber, like other new tensor, but lively small bubbles sponge (like Acuda S1), the lower throw angle is expected. Presumably, others will also tune (booster or speed glue), to eliminate this drawback. I also tried and succeeded, the throw was improved high enough for forehand. AURORA/AURORA(tuned: speed glue)/ACUDA S2/ACUDA S1 Top speed: 9/10/9/10 Throw: 5/6/6/7 Spin (opening loop, serve) 8/9/9/9 Spin (powerloop) 8/8/7/9 Spin insensitivity: 9/10/8/8 Hardness: 6/6/5/6 Block: 9/10/9/8 Versatile: 9/10/9/8 Due to the less tacky and grip, therefore more similarity a mildly tuned Bryce, than new tensors. But a speed glued or oil tuned AURORA is a more versatile, reliable and consistent than glued Bryce! Perhaps owing to the greater weight. (test: fast carbon blade) Update: Black (42) is same weight (uncut: 66g), softer topsheet, better grip and higher throw, the harder red topsheet maybe requires the softer sponge (40deg) or to soften with oil. Aurora 42 is similar hardness as Focus III snipe 46, easier opening loop with higher spin, but top speed is lower without tuning Durability is excellent, after about two months of usage, no visible wear and damage (each time reglued), no shrinkage, same grip.

This is a specialist rubber for players that know what they want not for beginners to learn BH chopping with. I would not recommend this for any over the table chopping game. The closer to the net the worse this fast and furious rocket launcher gets. I would recommend Super FX 1.5mm for all round BH game or Sanwei Gears or any general purpose rubber for the new TT player. This is a specialist rubber for specialist players and they are the players that give such a high marks to this rubber. Just thought someone should say that or we will get the wrong type of players spending their money on it.

Can you please tell me where to buy this rubber?

I ordered this rubber mainly based on reviews I found here, and because it seemed to fit my playing style well. I turned out to be a huge disappointment. I guess my rubbers (both FH and BH) came from a bad production batch or something. After only about 2 hours of play some huge blisters started to form on the FH rubber and some smaller blisters on the BH. The rubber was seperating from the sandwich. Now when I start peeling at the edge it is clear that the rubber is very loosely attached to the sandwich. Too bad because it seemed a good rubber, but I'm not ordering it again.