Palio FLYING DRAGON short-pips

Hmmm.   How's click gives feedback about spin? Click is louder the flatter your hit is and the higher the speed is. Don't quite get it. Anyway, as a penholder, I'm supposed to feel it all with my finger tips, I don't care about sound too much - maybe just enjoying the quiet buzzing sound when the ball gets loaded with spin on RPB loops 

Yes, I see Hexer Pips as a speedy replacement of 802 (not 802-40 with its speedy substitute Haifu Dolphin). Flying Dragon is somewhere in between HP and 802.

Hexer Pips (+) have logo on two adjacent sides of a sheet so you can put it with either alignment. Here's a picture from Andro site, so you have an idea:

I didn't try Spectol/Tyranno yet. I got an OX sheet of the old Spinpips and put it on an Avalox 1.8mm sponge of medium hardness - not a usual combination, I know, but I like it. FD 2.0mm comes pretty close to it, just a bit faster and a bit less spinnier.

So, my guess (it's only a guess!) is FD should be somewhere in between Spectol and Super Spinpips with speed maybe somehow close to Tyranno.

Well, I don't like numbers, but here we go (out of 10):

HP+  - Hexer Pis+ with vertical alignment

FD    -  Flying Dragon

DL - Haifu Dolphin factory tuned

 

Speed: DL - 10,   HP+ - 9.5,  FD - 8

Spin:    DL - 8,     HP+  - 7,  FD - 7   

Control: FD - 8.5, HP+ - 8, DL - 7

It would be nice to see someone else's ratings of this rubbers because many things depend on the way rubbers are used

Yeah, it's 7-ply, so it is stiff and has solid feel. At the same time, it's light and not too fast - exactly what I need now, as I finally found. Precision of my shots jumped several levels higher, with a little trade off to speed. I don't miss the speed - I can generate it by myself when needed.

Since this topic is about Flying Dragon, I posted photos in a new topic in the Pictures section:

No, I didn't try Rakza PO yet, but I would like to try it. Maybe in a couple of months - I'm not in rush now because I still have to learn a lot about SP penhold and I feel I got the right pips on the right blade for that now. Just like I feel my son is doing good with his Flying Dragon on Bty Primo Vitesse...

The pips I'm planning to try next year are:

DHS# 652

Bomb Hammer

Palio Power Dragon

Bty Flarestorm and Flarestorm 2

Tsp Spectol 

Tsp Super Spinpips

Rakza 7 PO

Armstrong Attack 8 M

Haifu Penguin

Oh , I didn't know it's such a long list and I think it's not complete. Now, back to work as I'm not a sponsored player... 

Thanks, I see. So, Hexer Pips(+) should be very close to Spectol then. 

FD pips are harder than Japanese/Euro pips, but not as hard as Chinese pips like 802(-40), Dolphin, 889-2 or 119. So, Palio must be using some different rubber formulation...

Yeah, Palio continues to surprise people with excellent performance products at very reasonable price level. 

I guess Power Dragon is FD turn at 90 degrees because pips are aligned horisontally and it's advertised as control and spin oriented SP rubber.

I can confirm it, but 802-40 is still spinnier, so there is always room for improvement 

Anyway, FD is really a great SP rubber, especially for its price. It lives on my son's paddle from the start of September without noticeable change in performance, being used about 14 hours per week.

I have all three with different sponge thicknesses, so these are only estimates:

Speed:   FD>802>889-2

Spin: 889-2>FD>802

Control:  FD>802=889-2

Feel: FD provides much better feel than 802 and 889-2.

All in all, I like FD better than these two really good rubbers.

it seems that FD is the short pips holygrail!!