Palio Thor's impressions and reviews

Thanks a lot for the excellent review nicefrog.Nice to read. Though I am badly tempted to try it, I am a bit reluctant because of  the weight and the inconvenient smash.On the other hand you've mentioned that it performs better than H2 in dusty conditions and that's tempting, cause I've discovered the same. BTW,my H2 also changes when there is humidity(not theTG3 though)

nicefrog: Thanks for the awesome review. I'm pretty much sold. The next time I have $35 I'm picking up some Thor's.

Right now, I have a sheet of Giant Dragon Tai Chi hard to try out. I'm worried cuz the pips look big and I don't normally like large pips. Anyway, thanks again and maybe Palio should hook you up with a discount next time, cuz I'm buying a sheet of Thor's bases solely on your review.

debraj wrote: it looks to me more like a batch to batch variation. in practical manufacturing scenario things like this can happen: esn to palio: "just sent you a small batch of of the rubber for test marketing as per your spec of sponge and topsheet....hope you like the color" :) palio to esn: "hey received th batch will test and revert... thx" esn: "waiting for your feedback" palio: "tried by a few players and they like it... i am sending you the first production order of 100 sheets. guess what... some people liked it tad harder ..could you possibly reduce the pores by a tiny bit?" esn: "sure will do it in next batch... so now that thor is regular product, we will create a product code ending with T." palio: "sounds good!! how soon can i expect the lot...? orders pending and launch date already deferred quite a few times. " esn: "lots of pressure... prolly not before end of next week." palio: "oops!!...okay... meanwhile we will supply from the test batch. make sure the color doesn't change." esn: "you got it baby.." palio: "sweet !! dude. :) " [if my theory is right... all subsequent Thors you guys buy, would come with 'T', than not]

Edited by BeaverMD - 10/18/2010 at 3:11pm

I'd like to hear some more input from some other people about this rubber... and I wouldn't mind hearing nicefrog's opinion about it now that some time has passed.

Is it still a viable rubber?

Nicefrog, have you use it in competition or serious play??

nicefrog wrote: Hi mate yeah I've been practicing with all kids of rubbers and blades trying to figure out what I'm going to use next year, I'm certainly learning some things about the relationship between the shape of the curve a ball flys and how difficult it is to return, my acoustic with H2 feels and looks like it has enormous spin on it but it's just so easy to return compared to a sharper lower flying blade. Thors is improving with age I have probably used it constantly for 10 hours now and learning to use it better all the time.   I've had some people ask me what rubber I'm using because they felt I was making extraordinary amount of spin but those were guys I don't normally play. My usual playing partners all think it's the hardest rubber to return of all the ones I've been hitting with lately, I myself don't think it's because it has much more spin than anything else, but it is a little faster and something they aren't used to, I still think it would be really good on a light stiff hard blade, it has heaps of control and low speed touch so I think you could use it on a straight up OFF blade no problem but then again I haven't used it on a bendy all wood blade yet either so you never know :) maybe that will work too. It is a good rubber, you just have to decide if it's worth the money compared to some of the other fancy tensors that don't cost so much more

Thanks nicefrog. I just started playing again. I had an unopened sheet of Tai Chi Hard to use, so that's what's on my blade now. So far I'm enjoying it but we'll see what happens with time. Even if I continue to dig it, I think I'll still have to pick up a sheet of Thor's.

Last question: How does Thor's compare with Black Power, in terms of throw?

Anton Chigurh wrote:   Thanks nicefrog. I just started playing again. I had an unopened sheet of Tai Chi Hard to use, so that's what's on my blade now. So far I'm enjoying it but we'll see what happens with time. Even if I continue to dig it, I think I'll still have to pick up a sheet of Thor's. Last question: How does Thor's compare with Black Power, in terms of throw?

Edited by nicefrog - 10/20/2010 at 2:06am

Rapid Sound is a very swell do-it-all rubber on the backhand, if you want to consider other ones in the Rapid series 

nicefrog wrote: LOOPMEISTER wrote: My sheet doesn't have a T and its new.  Did you like it?, it's kinda lonely in the Thor using camp for some reason :p

When my Tai Chi Hard "dies" then I'll likely try some Thor's. You won't be lonely forever!

Ok I'm over 10 hours continuos full on hitting with this rubber now, getting more and more used to it. Seems like now I'm more used to it than I am with H2, like if I pick up H2 I go slightly backwards. For mid range looping this rubber is unbelievable good. I always had the problem with H2 that if I got pushed back then for me the point didn't have much hope of being saved (although in the last 4 weeks with the extra speed and higher throw I've got from Thors I've been able to totally change my loops swing from mid range and retain how it was close to the table), with the changes if I get pushed back then the point is 90% mine in fact I'm often going back on purpose, It's still great at the table and over the table, you need to hit it a bit different to H2 but I'm pretty much adapted now. I tried some smashes today and it seems pretty consistant. It chops really really well, I'm trying to find a good backhand rubber, I'm narrowing down what I need and I actually like Thors on the backhand too but there's no red one yet :(. Apart from that I think I need a high throw medium speed slightly tacky or VERY grippy rubber. I really want to improve my game next year and I almost never miss a point with my FH now so getting my backhand up to a decent level will be by far the most simple way for me to gain. Anyway, Thors is great even better than I first thought. It doesn't play like H2 and is much faster and also much harder for the opponent to return than H2 which in itself is very hard to return compared to most rubbers so I figure Thors must be very very good. While comparing it to H2 I had a rally that took 7 big mid range loops with H2 to win the point and another took 5 or 6, I don't think any mid range rally lasted more than 3 or 4 loops with Thors in the same session and I can hit from further back with Thors, so it's all around win

Edited by nicefrog - 10/24/2010 at 2:39am

You mentioned it's better than RD in most respects...is the degree of its "better-ness" proportional to its higher cost (more than 2x)? I suppose what I'm asking is, would you say to a RD user: "I know it's twice as expensive, but it's so much better than what you're using that you gotta try it!"

Edited by rawrtje - 10/24/2010 at 3:46am

Aw that's a might shame. I was sold on RD based on how people compared it to BP, and now I'm sold on Thors! I actually have a sheet of RD coming in, so Thors will have to wait for at least another 3-4 months, until BP and RD die, if they last that long 

Ok I wont mention it any more until you get your cash :). But I do find it really strange that all the Chinese rubber users that dream of a high performance tacky rubber and are happy to pay 100$ for national versions of this and that which at least 50% aren't real and aren't any better than this even when they are real haven't jumped on it. It also gives me the warm fuzzys to know some of the money has gone to Germany rather than all to China which right now I'm not very happy with (for all the fake stuff and general dodgyness). In the end I don't have much money either but if I don't continuously buy low end rubbers just to see how they play I can surely afford two medium price rubbers each 6 months that I know are good and I can use to whatever level I may be able to reach during the rest of my playing life, so that surely the sensible thing to do

I've already used it for more minutes than I play in competition in a season lol so I'm sure it will last me, it plays better now than when it was new. But I'm going to put another 30-40 hours on it and see what happens

Edited by nicefrog - 10/25/2010 at 10:26am

debraj wrote: nice frog...  i had been trying to move from tenergy... and found acuda pretty nice for everything else except durability and spin on serves.  then i am now on h3 NEO... i don't know if it is because i took the neo off one blade and pasted on another...(losing the tuning layer)...neo H3 feels incredibly slow and dead after acuda or tenergy.  i do love the smashes and other short fishing strokes and out-of-position recoveries ..with NEO. but miss the sheer finishing power of acuda or tenergy in loop-loop encounters.  thors seem to have ignited my ej spirit once more.. thinking this has the dead chinese rubber DNA in short game and alive power looper rubber in power game. i want to know if that is correct? i also want to know how thor blocks?...because tackies usually are not known for their blocking prowess. and how it serves after so many days of playing? because tensors lose some surface grip over time.

Edited by nicefrog - 10/26/2010 at 8:44pm