The Hybrid MK and MK Pro are excellent additions to Tibhar’s rubber range. They offer a crisp feeling and are more stable than the popular Evolution MX-P rubber, and a touch more dynamic, but less spinny, than the Tibhar Hybrid K3 rubber. I can’t help but think that the blocking master, Vladimir Samsonov, would have loved to play with the MK rubbers during his active career. Read the full review here.

Recently, I compared two Xiom rubbers, i.e., the Vega Pro H and the Omega VII Guang China. The Xiom Vega Pro H is a supremely predictable offensive rubber, whereas the Xiom Omega 7 Guang China is a hybrid rubber that leans closer to traditional European/Japanese style rubbers than Chinese rubbers. Read the full review here.

The Nittaku Goriki Kaisoku is described as an inverted rubber that has short-pips-like characteristics, and being recommended for smashing, flat hitting, and driving. Sounds crazy, right? But is it true? Find out in the full review here.

I am very excited to announce this exclusive The Pong Professor equipment review, which is on my backhand rubber, i.e., the Spinlord Waran II short pips. I have received many questions about this rubber over the past couple of years. Check out the video or the full written review. 

The Vario AC is a 5+1 ply blade tailored to offensive players that want different playing characteristics from the two blade sides. The FH side has a koto outer ply with a layer of aramid carbon immediately below it, while the BH side has a limba outer ply but no carbon layer. Watch the video for my test report. 

The OSP Immune Ox Classic was originally designed for defensive players using regular inverted rubbers on the faster FH side and no-sponge pips on the slower BH side. I found it to be an interesting and versatile blade that can be used by modern defenders, close-to-the-table push-blockers with ox pips, aggressive BH pimple-out players using spin-offensive strategies in their FH, and two-winged loopers valuing control and spin over speed. Watch the video for full details. 

As my followers will know, I use Waran II short pips in my backhand. While they are fabulous, at times I wish they have a stronger disruptive effective. This motivated me to try out the Gipfelsturm. According to Spinlord, the pips are longer than those found in most long pips rubbers, but supposedly have playing characteristics that are similar to short and medium pimpled rubbers, but with a stronger disruptive effect. Is this true? Check out the video. 

Keeping rubbers free of dust and dirt is essential for optimal spin generation and consistency, but did you also know that the topsheet deteriorates through prolonged exposure to air? Rubber protectors and blade boxes can slow down this process, but wouldn't it be great if there was a product that could clean a rubber and revert mild oxidation if it had already occurred? In this video, I cover a couple of "household" approaches towards this end, as well as an inexpensive easy-to-use professional product that I have been using for several years now with outstanding results. The product? Revolution #3 Rubber Cleaner and Rejuvenator. It is very effective at not only cleaning the topsheet, but also bringing life and tackiness back to it. A couple of drops ever so often, wipe dry using your hand, and that's it.    

How do you best protect your table tennis blade from moisture? There are many sources of moisture: ambient humidity, sweat, and most notably, water-based glues. Moisture can soften a blade and change its playing properties over time, as well as causing the outer plies to splinter when removing rubbers. In this video, I evaluate five different products that can be used to seal your blade, i.e., a tailor-made table tennis sealer, two polyurethane sealers, and two oil-based products.    

The Butterfly Dignics 09C is a linear rubber that allows a mix of strategies to be utilized. It excels at high impact driving shot types from close to the table and mid-distance, i.e., loop drives, counter drives, pancake-type flicks, and aggressive blocks, while also offering good control in the short game. Players who predominantly execute soft and spinny topspins, will prefer the Tenergy 05 instead. Also, the lack of a strong catapult, means that players must expect to use considerable physical effort when playing far from the table. This is a top-end rubber that will appeal to advanced, expert, and professional players. 

The Butterfly Tenergy 05 is a bouncy rubber that excels in topspin-oriented game styles. As a FH rubber, it is best suited as a looping machine from mid-distance but can also easily be used as a FH rubber by modern defenders far from the table. Its characteristics render it particularly useful as a BH rubber, as it facilitates flicks and loops. The soft and bouncy nature of the T05 will render short game, counter-driving, and aggressive blocking a little challenging for some players. 

For more details and comparisons between these two rubbers, read the full written review and/or watch the video reviews 

I am very impressed with the Tibhar Bernadette Szocs Signature 1 blade. More than any other 7-ply blade that I have tested, the Szocs 1 strikes the “right” balance between power, subtle stiffness, catapult effect, and dwell time, to allow for powerful and controlled looping, a precise short game, and high consistency when blocking. 

Watch the video review and read the detailed review i wrote for Tabletennis11.com.