If you don't mind me adding my GD topENERGY hard review to your thread, I gotta say that mine currently after the same amount of time is only very grippy, not really tacky at all. But coming from tenergy, I can see how you would want to call it tacky. The grip is very similar to that of H3.

beeray1 wrote: But coming from tenergy, I can see how you would want to call it tacky. The grip is very similar to that of H3.

Ok, so now I have played a bit with TopENERGY Soft - the one that jt99sf used before. Here is my humble opinion...

First, this rubber is freakishly HEAVY!! O-M-G heavy... cut piece weighed 56 g !! which is 10 g more than a cut piece of Blitz MAX, for instance.

I put it on the forehand of my Stiga "Tickan" Allround Wood blade (with PME 2.0 on BH) and when I took it in my hands I almost dropped it on the floor... wow! I can only imagine how heavy TopENERGY Hard is...

Now let's see. I only played for about an hour with it but here it is in a nutshell:

Speed: quite decent. About same as Thors, I woud say.

Spin: surprisingly, not so great. One would think that very tacky and medium hard rubber should spin like crazy but nope. I thought at first that something was wrong with me, but then I gave it to another player and he tried some heavy chops against me. When the ball was on my half it was already so flat that it was enough for me to just push it back lightly without any counteraction. It was doing a little better with topspin - loops, that is - but again significantly worse than comparable attacking rubbers. Same with underspin or sidespin serves.

Control: great in short game; good in attacks and mid-range play

Tackiness: very tacky!

Weight: as I said 56 g when cut. That makes the uncut weight approximately 76 grams... again, wow!

Hardness: same as Karate Hard, approx. 39 degrees for topsheet and 40 degrees for sponge.

Flat game: more or less OK, even a little better than what you would expect from seriously tacky rubber. Not great.

"Stickiness" effect: almost non-present. I mean that famous issue which arises when trying to perform mid-power placement shots with tacky rubbers. They usually require a lot of practice and you are liable to push the ball into the net because the ball lingers on the rubber for too long and drops. The feeling is generally not too crisp which interferes with precision pushes or mid-range strokes. In this case TopENERGY behaves surprisingly well, on par with Thors.

I am not sure I am interested in playing more with this rubber. First of all, it is amazingly heavy (HEAVY!!) and secondly, I do not see it being a real contender against Thors. The only possible aspect where it could beat Thors might be blade-selection issue - we all know by now that Thors is very blade-dependent. TopENERGY could turn out to be much better in that department.

metallikviper - you are next in queue. Please PM me your mailing address.

tsanyc wrote: would you guys say that the TE rubber is somewhat a copy of Spinart?

I really have no idea - never played with Spinart ... and have no intention to.

Although I was interested in topenergy because of its similarity to tenergy by name I believe I might be much more interested in Blitz.  I just bought a sheet here and they stuck it on my new yasaka balsa blade down in Wan Chai.  The blitz looks like hexer sponge without the fairy floss colouring.  I am going to die till I have a chance to use it though. 

@conradsong

How hard are SuperSpin G3 Hard and Soft?

Do you have any preliminary Speed/Spin/Control numbers for it? What about the price?

Also: any chance to get one of them to test? - preferably the one with hardness close to Karate Hard.

conradsong wrote: JimT wrote: @conradsong How hard are SuperSpin G3 Hard and Soft? Do you have any preliminary Speed/Spin/Control numbers for it? What about the price? Also: any chance to get one of them to test? - preferably the one with hardness close to Karate Hard. Let me get back to you :)

Thanks!

Also I hope you will start selling GD balls in 2011. I had a few people ask me where they could buy those as they liked them enough at 60-70 cents (I am not sure but you quoted something like that to me, correct?).

Happy New Year 2011! Is it a year of Giant Dragon, by any chance?

After reading some vague reviews regard to the new Giant Dragon’s TopENERGY, I’ve requested from Mr.ConradSong to give me an opportunity for an in-depth review.  I would like to thank ztabletennis.com & CoradSong for their generosity.  I’ve received TopENERGY Soft & Hard for testing.  Expedite services are just one of many perks of ordering from ztabletennis.com. 

 

I will be testing on an easy to play YEO and then move on to an intermediate HH656 or Ludeack Power. 

 

First Impressions: TopENERGY:  Presentation of the package is top notch.  Both versions come in vacuumed packs.  The odor from VOC is quite strong as I am not used to it (never used speed glue before, & don’t use boosters or tuners), I intend to air it out for a day before gluing.  Quality of the topsheet reminded me a lot like the Thors.  Pin structure is pretty standard under the exceptional quality elastic topsheet on the red SOFT TE.  Excellent quality for the Black HARD TE as well.  The Hardness for SOFT version is as advertised (DHS Scale of 39-40 degress).  Mr.Song has warned my about the Hardness for the HARD version, I didn’t mind it cause I’m used to playing with harder rubber for RPB.  After pressing it down with my fingers on the HARD TE, I thought that it was not much harder than SOFT TE.  The HARD version reminded me a lot like the NEO TG2 series, whereas the Harder Sponges feel softer.  Both rubbers are mildly tacky, and it’s HEAVY.  They belong to the BW II class, not just the weight…..you’ll find out if you continue to read…=P.  I intended to slap both on one blade and I did, but I tho the Black HARD TE was too soft for my BH play, so I’ll have to test separately. 

. 

 

SOFT TE  in session:

I was very excited to try out this rubber.  I have done the spin test after gluing (practicing serves into my bed), and the spin was massive.  Insane as in the same category as BW II & Apollo I tuned versions.  Finally at the club and start hitting with it, this rubber displays some of the speed-glue characteristics, such as the sounds, spins and bounciness.  Medium to Low throw with my YEO blade.  Quite bouncy just like Tensor rubbers, so it’s easier when I step around to do Forehand rally in BH position.  Tackiness still here after about 20hrs of play, apparently the GAT (gecko Absorption Technology) effect is still working!!!  Speed is comparable to NEO H3 commercial, slightly faster, IMHO.  So far this rubber is excellent at Mid-Distance Play as well as close-to-table. 

 

Looping: Easy to perform opening loops.  This thing is a BEAST!!!  Arc is not as curvy as BW II with sidespin loops.  SOFT TE spins seem to be at maximum during its path before dropping to its first bounce whereas the BW II ‘s max spin ratio continues after its initial bounce.  I love the mid distance looping abilities comparing to lack of power away from the table with NEO H3 & BW II.  Tackiness offers more control & dwell in every aspects of looping. 

 

Pushes/Short Game: Tackiness sometimes help in returning serves.  Flipping underspins is excellent with this rubber, I have more confidence in doing with this than BW II because of the extra tackiness.    

 

 

Blocking: This rubber has better blocking abilities at mid distance than close-to-table.   I believe that once the rubber is broken in, then close-to-table blocks will drastically improve.  Counter blocking & returning with no spin off loops are both very effective with SOFT TE.  Counter Looping is another category that excels with this rubber, I find that it’s very easy & forgiving at the cost of producing less spin countering.

 

Serving:  Excellent with short spinny serves.  I’ve improved a lot with serving short topspins/sidespins for third-ball attack.  However, fast deep corner serves are not as effective as BW II.  I am able to serve the Corkscrew Serve (handshake style) with ease, still working on converting that into a Pen serve =S.  This rubber is blowing me away as I am disarrayed about whether to use this or BW II in my next tourney.  The Throw is sooo easy to adjust... This is definitely one of my top 5 ForeHand Rubbers to use.  I would rate as follow from my experiences.     

 

Speed: BW II  > Neo Nat H3 = Prov H3 = Soft TE > TG3 #21

Spin: Neo Nat H3 = BW II  > Prov H3 = Soft TE > TG3 #21

Control: Neo Nat H3 > Prov H3 = Soft TE > TG3 #21 > BW II

 

In conclusion I will rate SOFT TE (SOFT Red) as follows:

Speed: 8.8 out of 10

Spin: 9 out of 10

Control: 8 out of 10

Sponge hardness: Medium

Top Sheet: Very Tacky & Very Grippy

Category: OFF to OFF+

Edited by PingPongHolic10 - 03/21/2011 at 5:47pm

I'm using Giant Dragon Topenergy Soft on my fh and really love it. On my bh I'm using Yinhe Moon. Topenergy Soft is extremely spinny and very fast on active shots (especially topspins) while in short game it's extremly slow which gets you nice control for aggressive over the table play. Mid distance counter looping and looping against block is superb because this rubber is *heavily* factory tuned (tuner seems to be lasting longer than BW2 so far). Very good feeling and amazing spin. If you've played heavily speedglued DHS Hurricane rubbers Topenergy Soft is for you :) Great fh rubber.


Edited by DrFeelGood - 03/25/2011 at 4:22am

Topenergy Soft is already quite hard (harder than Tenergy 05!). Topenergy Hard must be a brick :) Try out Topenergy Soft. It's a very good looping rubber if your technique is good. Outstanding spin and the sponge is soft enough to feel good.

I would be open to test the soft version if the testing rubber is still in circulation. Meanwhile, I still have the hard version...

GD TopEnergy Soft is a better version of the Palio's Thors, IMO.  Even tho TE is not a tensor, but has qualities of tensor in the bounciness department.  Tackiness just like new even after about 75hrs of play.  My underspin pushes have given even 2000+ loopers trouble.  Penholders with Wood Blades & use TBH will find this rubber extra useful when opponents try to pin fast shots to BH for a FH counter.  BH counter blocks will keep pace to avoid that.  For those who love tacky rubbers with a kick, you will love this rubber.  I believe this rubber is suitable for 0-2000 level players.  Thanks again Conradsong 

what a big lie. I have tried so many tensors and none of them was even a little like

GD TopENERGY Soft

its a pure chinese rubber like those friendship but a litle bit better. karate hard and taichi hard was much better than this

GD TopENERGY Soft

I think giant dragon should have missed the price taichi should be 27$ topenergy should be 16$

I have never been so disapointed on buying a rubber sheet