DHS G888

I find that the choice of a rubber is much more personal than the choice of a blade. Also you cannot ignore the blade characteristics when choosing a rubber. After trying many different set ups on my Stiga Legend, including Hurricane III, Friendships and others, I settled on G888 on both sides. Black 2.2 on forehand and red 1.8 on backhand. The black G888 is durably tacky which suits my style well (Hurricane lost its tackiness in no time). Dwell time is very good for a medium hard + rubber. Weight is also really good as it is a lot lighter than hurricane. The medium hard sponge offers several gears, allowing for short slow spinny as well as long fast curvy balls. Control is superb and you can generate both spin and speed with a good gesture. Mounted on a flexible blade like the Stiga Legend this set up has a lot to offer to the confirmed player. Bear in mind that soft sponges work better on rigid blades like carbon blades, and hard sponges do well on flex blades. If you play hurricane (super hard sponge) on a stiff blade, you'd have to generate enormous power on your own. Not ideal. The same goes with G888, long dwell times and hard sponges are better suited to flex blades. Stiff blades accommodate European rubbers better. Also if your gesture is very short / lazy, you want a European set up. If you have ample movements, you can manage a Chinese hard rubber set up.

This is a very typical example of hard tacky Chinese rubber. The topsheet is hard, and the sponge is medium hard to hard, depending on the version you got (most Chinese rubbers come with different degree of sponge hardness. When purchasing rubbers in China, vendors allow selection of sponge hardness for each rubber. I'm always shocked that European/American vendors do not have this option for Chinese rubbers, leading people to believe Chinese rubbers have very inconsistent playing characteristics, when in fact they might just be getting the same rubbers with different sponge hardness). Anyways, the tackiness can generate a lot of spin as tacky rubbers generally do. So service and touch shots are excellent. The hard topsheet and sponge can create a lot of speed and topspin when looping. Whether you are attacking over the table or looping from far away, this rubber is great. The problem is this rubber's low throw angle, and this is by design. If you know how to use this rubber, the low throw linear shots will ensure the efficacy of your smashes and loops, making them harder to return by your opponent. But this also means the rubber is not forgiving at all. Any small mistakes will result in balls landing on the net or flying off the table. This rubber is not for beginners, and you should definitely not put it on super fast blades without spending considerable time mastering it first. I would recommend pairing this rubber with ALL or OFF- blades. I would rate this rubber 8.5 out of 10, mainly because of its high learning curve and unforgiving nature.

Hard sponge but not dead as 729FX sponge. Great control and ability to play very shot consistency and with great control. Tacky and extremely spinny. Excellent rubber for controlled allround + game.

Very tacky. Ideal for players who thrive on tacky loops.

This is a typical Chinese rubber, hard sponge and top sheet surface with a tacky rubber, as TTCP wrote. I've been using it for about 2 months, tested it and the first impression was that it has a lot of grip and tackiness, generating a lot of spin, which was a surprise, as hard sponge was completely dead and hard to feel the strokes in that condition. I order a pair for myself and boost it with parafine oil in two passes, maybe I should make 3 passes but... Sponge softens a little bit, but it is still hard and FH-only rubber for me, with amazing spin and blocks, smashes, chops and pushes, with great control! Flicks with this rubber are easy and precise, but slow, so you must plan each deployment carefully. Perfect for defense and all-round play style, but I enyoj playing with it, as I like looping and heavy spin stroke exchange...it is hard to control it far from table. I like it and I will purchase another pair...put it on off or off+ blade without hesitation. Additional note: after 2 months boosting effect with paraphine oil wanished, so it becomes dead, and need tuning... tackines is still there.