First Review: Butterfly Spin Art

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Hi, just got a single Butterfly Spin Art rubber today, 2.1 mm, red. I thought I make you guys curious for the review which I will add tomorrow (review below the pictures, there will probably be some follow ups to the review).

First impressions when just bouncing the ball:
Harder than T05 by quite a bit, and also slower. Mildly tacky.

Here some pics:

I played with the new rubber today, two trainings about two hours each. On the other side of the blade, I used T05 2.1mm for the first session, and a brand new sheet of DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.15mm for the second session. So I will basically try to give a comparison between these rubbers. I have never played before with Spin Art (obviously) and DHS H3 Neo (National Version).

What I will write here are of course my personal impressions after only four hours of exercising, so I may be mistaken considering certain statements, and others might feel differnt.

Is the Spin Art better than the T05? Yes. No. Maybe. Better than the H3 Neo? Probably.

Weight:
I missed to weight the rubbers, but the Spin Art has about the same weight as the T05 (my blade is 184 gr with T05 both sides, 183 with T05 and Spin Art, and 177 with Spin Art and H3 Neo.

Speed:
The T05 is the fastest rubber by far, and Spin Art is notably faster than H3 Neo.

Hardness:
The Spin Art is the hardest by far.

Tackiness:
Spin Art and H3 Neo are similar. You can lift the ball when the rubber is brand new, when it will fall off after a bit less than a second or so. After first cleaning with your hand, the obvious tackiness is gone. However, Spin Art still plays tacky. It never happened to me that the ball did slip on the rubber, soft blocks of slow loops with loads of spin worked just fine. No slipping of the ball, never, at least when the rubber is still as new as mine.

Catapult:
The T05 has the strongest catapult effect by far, but the Spin Art has still a much stronger catapult effect than the H3 Neo. However, you need to hit quite hard till the catapult of the Spin Art starts kicking in.

Spin:
Hard to say. My personal impression was that the T05 can produce the largest amount of spin, but my training partner who has to deal with my loops (pushes and serves) said that the Spin Art produces the largest amount of spin in all aspects of the game, whereas with T05 and H3 Neo, it depends on the situation. My misinterpretation probably arises as a consequence of the smaller catapult, where the T05 just seems to produce such hilarious spin. 

Looping/Counter-looping:
This is the fun part. The T05 surely produces faster loops. However, loops can be played with more spin and variation with the Spin Art. Further, although I have never played with a rubber with such a hard sponge, I instantaneously had more control, in particular at first loops. The H3 Neo is quite a bit slower and you need to work much harder, but it has similar advantages for first loops like the Spin Art.
Considering counter-looping far off the table, I so much love the T05. Counter-looping with it gives you such a sensation due to its tremendous catapult. So by now, the Spin Art feels somehow wrong here. Nevertheless, with its hard sponge and its catapult at harder strokes, it plays very well. I was more solid than with the T05. The H3 Neo looses the competition of counter-looping far of the table.
Counter-loops close to the table are much easier with both the Spin Art and the H3 Neo for me. Many balls go to long with the T05.

Blocking:
I prefer Spin Art, than T05, and I do not really like the H3 Neo, somehow lacks consistency when you do not use your own force. The difference between T05 and Spin Art is mainly that the balls do not dig in so heavily with the Spin Art, adding consistency.

Chops:
Spin Art rules for me.

Serves:
I often have the problem that my serves go long with the T05 when I try to put spin on the ball. I did not have this problem with the Spin Art, I could consistently serve short with heavy spin (though I actually rarely serve short with heavy spin in a match). Several serves were way to short with the H3 Neo (but this probably means that I could produce even more spin on serves with it if I would get used to it).

Flicks:
Spin Art is just perfect with its hard sponge for me on my forehand, and I had tremendous difficulties to use it on my backhand considering that point. It seems that I just can't get the rubber to work because the ball does not dig in if you use no power.

Overall:
Although Spin Art is much slower than T05 and has much less catapult), I will keep it on my forehand for further tests. For me, it excels in serving, first loops, blocks and chops. I like it because I have simply more control in all aspects of the game (on my forehand). It is no good backhand rubber for me at this stage, because here I need more catapult to return serves in a offensive manner. Maybe I'm just stoked and over-optimistic... 

If I have forgotten something (although I have written so much), please ask.

Second review (after two weeks and about 15 hours with the Spin Art) or in other words "Who will like this rubber" (in my opinion):

I add this part already now although I intended to give it some more time because I had a crash with my downhill bike yesterday and my left arm (luckily not the right one) is broken. So no serious playing in the following two weeks or so, though I will play a tournament this weekend.

My main impression after two weeks is a kind of simple one: the rubber is hard (in my rubber world). I'm still not entirely sure whether I like this or not. 

Who will like the rubber?
-People who like hard rubbers and tacky rubbers. I think it is more of a feel good rubber than the Chinese rubbers if you used to play with European rubbers.
-Players which put a lot of attention to serving, in particular considering spin.
-Close to the table players.
-Players who either flick the return or push it with heavy spin.
-Players looking for consistent opening loops loaded with spin
Summarizing: Serve, return, first attack.

Who will not like it:
-Beginners or low level intermediates.
-Players who like soft rubbers (traditional European ones).
-Players who need a lot of catapult.
-Players playing far of the table.
-Numb (sorry for that word) flat hitters. 
Summarizing: Rallies, wrist players, people looking for speed.

I hope these comments help people saving money...

Update:

Advantages of Spin Art compared to T05:
For me, the Spin Art excels 
for serves, returns and first attacks, and whenever you try to create 
maximum spin. The control in the passive play is very impressive. Notice
 that serve, return and first attack are just about the most important 
things in table tennis against most players.
Disadvantages of Spin 
Art compared to T05:
A bit slower, with a bit less catapult. I don't 
like the Spin Art that much in rallies far of the table. In general, 
when I move a few steps back, I prefer T05. The Spin Art wears down 
quite a bit quicker than T05 in my opinion.