Stiga Calibra Tour Series Review

I have tried all of the calibra tour series. There are very grippy with a different topsheet than any other  I rubber I have tried. Defenetaley all of them are very dead rubbers... There are very slow in comparison with previous calibra, boost series tenergy series. evollution series..... the one I liked most of these three is the H, I like hard rubbers and it is a bit faster than the other 2. With the other 2 you cant play from a long distance, with the M had no feeling, the S is pretty well for its characteristics with good feeling but still very slow... Not that soft, I would say is soft to medium...

Honestly, I like both rubbers as they have their specific qualities, but I do feel that I  brush the ball better with the Calibra Tour M as I am no way a marvelous technician and the control is very nice as you can place the ball where you want on some blocks, but I may say that it due to the blade used as I use the VJ on a RL Sotto Voce which is harder and the Tour M on a Stiga Intensity NCT. My short game is slightly better with the Tour M but I will carry-on my training with the Xiom VJ.

yeah.. also guys be very very very careful removing these from your blades the sponge snaps very easily

Tonight, I played with the Stiga Calibra Tour M as FH on my Stiga Intensity NCT together with Xiom Vega Europe on BH. I was blown away by the ease of putting powerful top spins, blocks and loops in addition to the great control. IMO this is a very good match to the Intensity NCT which is a  5 ply with good felling. This is a really good surprise although I am a great fan of  Xiom Vega Japan.

I mounted Stiga Calibra Tour M black max on a Sardius clone today and it worked better then on the Balsa-cored blades. A few of other players at my local TT club tried this combo -- two US 2000 players and a US 1200 player. The first 2000 loved it for slapping through all my LP chops and said he'd never have to leave the table again given the speed of his kill shots. The second 2000 player, a lefty looper, didn't like it, saying it was too low throw and didn't spin very much. The 1200 struggled for consistency. I find it more playable now but it doesn't deliver near the spin as my S1T or my BW2.

decoi wrote: try tensing up your forearm and grip during loops a little more.. but dotn tense up your upper arm and shoulder..

Do you mean smaller and compact strokes? Its seems like a backhand rubber to me..

Day one at the TT club with Stiga Calibra Tour M black max:

I struggled with this rubber today.. not an easy transition from what I've been using lately which is BW2 and S1T. Tour M reminds me of Bluefire in one regard, and that's the consistent power needed to get the topsheet to engage. Go for a touch shot or a brush and the rubber doesn't always do what you want. Even when I was hooking up 100% with my topspin drives my opponents at the club today had no problems whatsoever. "Not dangerous" was one comment, and I'm used to seeing my loops dive under their paddles when I hit one well.

On serve I couldn't get Tour M to generate much spin. Used for blocking, it was ultra fast and stole time from my opponents like no other rubber I've used. But it wasn't nearly as insensitive to spin as I was hoping thought it's certainly better than most in that regard.

I think one problem is that I like to play with a paddle that weighs in the 150-155g range, and a rubber with a fairly thick topsheet like this one probably needs 180g+ to tell it what to do. I tried Tour M on a few blades and it didn't make much difference.. just not a rubber that suits my game. Maybe Tour S but I'm reluctant to drop more cash on it. Tour M was harder feeling than I was expecting, perhaps due to its topsheet. Like Tenergy, I wouldn't recommend Tour M for sub-2000 players (I'm USA 1700+ and couldn't get into its zone).

In closing, to my earlier post I'll add that Tour M is a flat-hitter's dream, with each smack rewarded with a low-toned "crack!" and incredible speed that's coupled with plenty of sink to land the ball on the table.

I just put Tour s with 1,9mm sponge to my bh. Before I used Boost tc with 2 mm sponge. Tour s is softer than Boost tc and it has great sound and touch. Tour s a little bit slower than tc but plays quite similary in many ways (throw, not sensitive to incoming spin). With Tour s it´s really easy to loop, block and punch block. Especially blocking with Tour s is really easy.  The major downside is that it´s really hard to drive hard drives with it. My game is fh orientaded so Tour s suits my bh game quite well. So if you like just to block and loop with you bh without intention to end the rally with your bh, this is good rubber for you. If you like powerloop or drive with you bh (or fh) you should look something else. I would put this rubber in allround  class.

peter, tour m is a bit harder but its not as soft as tour S

decoi wrote: zheyi wrote: decoi wrote: grab the TM..safer choice really Thank you.. maybe i'll give the max TM a try.. to aviod bottom out. im going to have mine on friday

yea. mine should come next week. hope its not too heavy a rubber..

haven't tried that rubber yet so i can't say if they are similar

decoi wrote: grab the TM..safer choice really

Thank you.. maybe i'll give the max TM a try.. to aviod bottom out.

grab the TM..safer choice really

depends on how you hit and whether u block heavy topspins. it may bottom out...also im not sure what thikness i was using :O 

thank for reply yogi and decoi.. for cpen nh rubber, do you think 1.7 thickness tour M is ok?