729 Battle (II) Tacky

Just got done with a session using B2 for the first time. There no indication of hardness on Coles website, but the sponge said 47 on the back so take what you will from that. In comparison with the 38* Bid Dipper:

Honestly, BD and B2 are very similar in some aspects but totally different feel. BD is more springy like a tensor where as B2 is tackier and harder feeling. Both have similar speed, spin, and throw. I find the BD a tad easier to loop backspin, but not by much. I think B2 has more control overall.

I'll report back once I get more time with it.

Comparing B2 with Omega V Tour

Serving -
B2 - a sharp thin contact using the topsheet can generate alot of spin ,
i can do it with OVT as well , but the spin feels much less.
when i want to serve hard spins with OVT , i need to use the sponge , but
with B2 , it seems like just using the topsheet alone is good enough.

and there is something i can't put my finger on , B2 really punishes bad contacts , if the stroke and contact isn't clean , the resulting spin is just bad. in serving , i used it to hide empty serves really well.
But in hard loops , sometimes my balls just fly into no man's land and once i hit it i know it , the feedback is just weird.
with OVT , there never is such a case.

Looping
i have this mentality , if i want to spin really hard (and its not a incoming backspin) , i'll just go for very thin contact and swing as hard as possible. combined with OVT's ability to just grip the ball , as long as i can reach it , i can just flat-out spin it back with no regards to how much topspin there is already on it , almost every ball will go in with ease.

with B2 , it seems like i need to be more aware of my bat angles, i can't just go thin and swing. balls sometime slip off , flies so far off and make you wonder what you were hitting in the first place.
but on the other hand , i can create a really big variety of spin/speeds ie : making a really low slow loop that just dives downwards after bouncing (it's the first time i could do it)


in terms of friendliness , OVT is definitely easier to use than B2 (especially at high speeds) but B2 seems to open up my game , ease of variations , and top end power is more than OVT. (though, i tried flat hitting with both , it feels like OVT can flat hit slightly faster, but on hard loops , B2 can really put out crazy loops)
my take on B2 , is that it's is definitely a good and very cheap rubber , but it's probably not for everyone, it'll definitely take me a while to learn this rubber.

B1 on the other hand , seems like a really friendly and easy to use rubber.
spins well , good for soft touch , controllable too.
but just it's not very good for serving compared to B2.
(coming from donic desto F3 -> yasaka rakza7 soft)

As to me, B2 49° resembles most Skyline NEO 2, except for more elastic feel of the top sheet. Similar weight - rather heavy, my sheet is 0.250 g/cm2. Similar good spiny game over the table and quick loss of power away from the table. It is less versatile compared to H3N Prov and more reactive to incoming spin, with an old celluloid ball at least. All in all, it looks like a decent replacement of Skyline NEO 2 for new poly balls.

I started using Battle II recently.
I compare it directly with H3 and H3Neo which I've been using a lot..

1) Tack/Spin:
Battle II is, no joke, twice as tacky as any sheet of H3/Neo I've played. I think it is also more grippy, though the sponge is nearly as hard. Spin is much greater than H3/Neo.
Battle II deals with the plastic ball as well as H3 deals with the old ball, and so spin is beautiful.

It is also a lot less susceptible to dirt or humidity than the DHS rubbers. Tackiness is of course greatly affected and so the quality of play wherever it's humid, dirty and hot, but a quick wipe of the rubber and you're golden. Not so with the DHS.

2) Speed:
Battle II is obviously faster and throws a little higher while still requiring you to put strength/technique into shots to get really high speed. It is however definitely slower than tensors in most shots which can be frustrating sometimes.

3) Control:
On one hand faster and so less controlled, but on the other hand much tackier so more controlled with the plastic ball. It kind of evens out I feel, though blocking did feel nicer with the Hurricanes.
I think the harder sponges of the H3s give them an edge in control for touch shots.



Summary:
When compared to the H3s, it feels not like a different rubber entirely, but like a direct upgrade (which suits me just fine), better adapted to the ever growing plastic TT ball. I haven't tried Hurricane 8, by the way, which might be the same style and concept.
The only major difference is the arc on topspins. The H3 seems to carry the ball straight forward and then it suddenly drops down near to the end of the table, which is incredible, given the amount of spin it can generate. I wonder why that is, that the ball doesn't drop sooner. With the Battle2, the ball drops much sooner if you put a lot of spin on it. I'm not sure why that is.

But anyway, it does all the same things and plays very similar while just being faster and more spinny. Very different to a european rubber (which 'does all the work for you' on condition that you only like one kind of work. Those euro rubbers don't come close to the touch/accuracy of harder tacky rubbers nor to the crazy speed/spin you can get from the hard tackies with good technique, because they are too springy for touch and bottom out too fast for real spin, at least in my experience.)







Edited by Lightzy - 11/17/2017 at 8:57pm