DONIC Acuda blue P3

Donic's marketing mumbo jumbo reads:

 

I also read that a new Desto will be coming out.  Don't know the details of it either yet, but Desto F3 was my favorite rubber for a long time.

He uses Tenergy.

Does anyone know what "P" stands for performance, power, Precision ?

Thanks ! Is that just for donic?

like yinhe does? lol

I ordered a sheet of P3 in red, max a few weeks back and I've had a few sessions with it since.  I've held back from talking in depth about it because I've been testing V>15 Limber a lot and wanted to dedicate more time to that.

Here's a picture of a stack of rubbers:

(btw - Rasant Beat seems to be almost identical to Acuda Blue P3 apart from having a softer 37.5deg sponge)

The topsheet on P3 is really thin.  The picture doesn't do it justice really - hyper thin.  Combined with tall, thin, widely-spaced pips and you get a VERY flexible and soft topsheet.  In terms of construction it's hardly anything like the original Acuda line.  The topsheet is super-grippy, more akin to the current ESN generation.  And the sponge is 40 degrees.  The overall feel is very soft (so imagine how soft Rasant Beat is!), and the rubber had a slight reverse dome out of the packet (but no obvious tuner smell).

The topsheet is really quite something.  It's soft, almost squishy, but really grippy (it actually made my finger sore where it rests on the bottom edge - never had that before).  It doesn't have the severe elastic *snap* you'd usually associate with softer ESN things, and feels a bit more relaxed and pliant.

I've been using it on a WSC-JO with Yinhe seamless, Nittaku Premium+, and was forced to use celluloid in a league match too.

I'd like a bit more time to fill out the details, but here are some headlines and random nonsense:

Speed - Off-, nothing too severe, fast enough.

Throw - Medium-Low in most areas, but brushy contacts can throw the ball up quite sharply (these tend to land mid-table though).

Short game - Pretty good!  It does have some of that light, bouncy feel you'd get with older ESN softies, but toned down from the days of Rakza 7 Soft.  It feels lively in a good-natured way.  I actually like a bit of bounce on my BH side to help with blocking and adding a bit of pace with low-effort shots, so this is quite nice.  A little reactive to incoming spin, especially if the incoming ball speed is high.

Strangely, although it has a pillow-soft feel, it didn't really feel prone to bottoming out.  I probably wouldn't get it in less than Max though.  The main point is - P3 is very easy to use.  It's hard to get it bent out of shape.  It played better in the flat game for me (incredibly easy to counter pretty much anything when close-in, and find the corners or lines at will).  Lifting backspin was also very simple - with any real wrist effort, the sponge is immediately working and it's all gravy.  It looped well too, but the arc/spin wasn't huge, just nice.  

The lack of outright zip, and low-ish throw means that it's more effective when close-in, but the good news is that it's very well behaved on harder strokes so distance play isn't impossible at all.

I'm tempted to give P2 a try to firm things up a touch, but I can't deny that P3 is fun and simple to use.  Hitting flat winners or blocking people off the table is compulsive.  Incoming loops from distance are almost no threat - drive though it or block into the corners.  The soft/grippy combination adds a bit of liveliness back into the plastic ball contact.

I do worry that the uber-thin topsheet might have durability issues.  We will have to see how it goes.

I've gone a little crazy in the last few weeks with rubber purchases, but P3 is the best of the lot for my BH side right now so I'll probably stick with it for a bit.

Ooo.  Well, I didn't do a very good job of describing it then!

P3 is muuuuuch softer, in both sponge and topsheet areas.  It's also non-tacky (but very grippy), and throws lower.

The key thing to ask yourself with P3 is...do you like soft, grippy rubbers?  If not, look away immediately.  Also, it has a loose feel, which makes it feel tame overall.  I wouldn't call it high performance as such, but you can get high performance out of it by applying enough effort.

Netbal wrote: He Andy,  could you compare the Donic Acuda Blue P3 to Rakza 7 soft in terms of speed and spin, hardness/softness and throw too. And maybe also the Rasant Beat compared to the Rakza 7 soft, or didnt you try the Rasant Beat yet.

I gave it a brief go on the other side of a setup with Xiom Tau, mainly because I wanted to experience the full-on irony of having one of the hardest sponges on the same blade as one of the softest.  I really should get out more.

It's like P3 only more so. I did feel RB was bottoming out, so it might have crossed the line between "wow this is soft" and total insanity.  It's very loud on flat drives, but feels empty when looping.  I'd say that it probably works well when close-in and hitting/blocking, but might feel too powderpuff for anything else.  It's a touch bouncier too.  I'd like to spend more time with it though.

Whereas P3 does the close-in stuff really well but has enough meat behind it to do other jobs, RB feels more specialised.

Netbal wrote: Currently playing with Rakza 7 soft on fh of my normal blade. But I dont like it that much for backhand, so it doesnt work on my modern defence blade (make a lot of points with backhand). Tried Acuda S3 and Stiga Airoc S and several other rubbers, but didnt like these. So really want to try Donic Acuda Blue P3 and Andra Rasant Beat. Hope you can compare them a little to Rakza 7 soft before I order them ;)

Quick question Andy...do you think JP-02 would be worth trying out if I want a little more zip, or should I just stay with JP-03?

 

Thanks,

Dave

After reading Andy's excellent review, I feel that JP03 / M3 users would be better off trying P2 rather than P3.

BTW: anyone using rubbers like JP03 should keep a bottle of Falco Tempo Long handy - they aren't as durable (as harder rubbers like T05 / MX-P) and feel better after a slight re-tuning after about 1.5 months. They also last a lot longer that way.

You'd probably prefer Rasant Beat out of the two.  You can play some stinging flat drives with it with laser accuracy, and it does have a more lively low gear.  It was annoying me tonight - I hit the top of the net a lot with it.  Just slightly too low throw, but I could definitely get used to it.  And it blocks incredibly well.

You'd probably prefer Rasant Beat out of the two.  You can play some stinging flat drives with it with laser accuracy, and it does have a more lively low gear.  It was annoying me tonight - I hit the top of the net a lot with it.  Just slightly too low throw, but I could definitely get used to it.  And it blocks incredibly well.

Not sure about this but I thought soft rubbers are worse than hard rubbers for blocking? This is one of the reasons which I chose not to opt for Rasant Beat - could you clarify this for me please?

Well, I guess it's all down to preference, or style.  I've always found softer rubbers easier to block with (esp on my BH side) because they tend to keep the ball low, and tend to be slightly bouncy which helps me too.  I suppose I'm talking more about passive blocking here.  For punching I do prefer a harder sponge.

Thank you

darn. I was hoping the thin topsheet would and 40 deg sponge would resemble Maxxx. oh well

Spin is good with P3, RB is just a bit too bouncy and needs a more precise contact to get the spin out, but is still OK.  I guess that the harder-sponged versions will be better for spinning the ball hard, with power.  I find it harder to get spin out of P3 than with JP03, for example, but you can play a flatter, more direct game with P3.  With plastic I find myself driving the ball more on my BH than looping these days so stability is becoming important to me.  I find there is less need to loop on that side now, and just smacking the ball is more effective.

Shark is another good one to think about - it also has that wafer-thin topsheet experience.  P3 and RB have better topsheet grip than Shark but both are slower, especially in the low gears.

These rubbers are more driving, hitting, blocking rubbers with enough grip built in to loop well (if not amazingly).  The softer you go (P1 - P2 - P3 - RB) the bouncier you get and the further away from loop performance you go IMO, but I guess about P2 and P1 at this point.  Shark is somewhere on the right of that scale, but for topsheet reasons.

The topsheet is thin, but super soft and the thin, tall pips add to that.  The sponge is a new thing too.  It's rated at 40 but feels softer.  P2 would probably be closest in overall feel to Maxx 400, at a guess.

I've been using Victas V>15 Limber for a bit too, and it has a 40 degree sponge.  But it feels miles harder than P3, and not just because of the topsheet - the sponges feel totally different to the touch.  The ESN sponge ratings are becoming a bit misleading these days IMO.  The different types of sponge make is hard to compare directly.

Ooof.  What's your blade?

First and foremost, you will need to like soft rubbers.  And I don't mean the ones labelled "soft" in the current generation (for example is Rakza X Soft really soft, or medium).  I'm not sure we've really had a properly soft option from ESN for a year or two now.  Back in the day we had F3 Big Slam, Coppa X3, Aurus Sound etc.  These were sooooooft.  Now we have P3, Rasant Beat, Plaxon 350 (350!).  These are a return to properly soft rubbers.

Secondly, I think the ball selection will have an impact.  I used the P3 first with cell, and it was really good.  Not a long term option, but still.  Then it was the Nittaku Premium 40+, and it felt great to me with this too, but that ball has a hard feel.  My last session was with a Yinhe 40+ with about 6 hours of use on it and it felt much more muffled on contact and I didn't feel as comfortable with it (although the results were OK on the table).

Thirdly, and this is just aimed at me really, it's getting hard to compare new rubbers with old because so much has changed.  I use a rubber, get a feeling, compare than with a memory, but the ball has changed.  So how much of this is useful?  It's very tough to not be misleading.

I used Plastic and a Clipper CR, a medium feeling blade and a good benchmark I like to use, I have harder blades as well as softer ones that I use constantly but with this Acuda P Blue that was not even an option, I really hated it, for me this rubber might be only good for beginners or players that like buttery feel rubbers. Oh, almost forgot to inform you and this is important, I boost and applied 3 layers of TRF. Even when I got it out of the package (unboosted, no smell) I knew I was not going to like it, it was already too soft and this was the P2. I suppose the P3 melts itself. P1 might feel around Tenergy FX, I dunno and don't care anymore with this series of rubbers, not my cup of tea.  

A clipper is a good, happy medium blade so it serves as something of a yardstick (or warning even) to other readers.

Don't try the Rasant Beat.  Softer than P3.  I can't imagine your internet rage.

Talking about a hard topsheet, Powergrip has a real hard one.

Have you ever tried Rhyzm 375? If so, how does P3 compare to Rhyzm 375?

Especially interested in things like speed, throw and spin-sensitivity.

Thanks!

would say its softer then donic vario big slam

This is a bit tricky.  P3 is a lot softer than JP03 - sponge is softer, topsheet softer, adds up to a lot softer.  I'd have to say go with P2 - although it has a harder sponge than JP03, it has the same uber-soft topsheet and so overall feels a similar hardness to JP03, but with different characteristics.  P2 is definitely lower throw than JP03, and flips well, but be aware that it's more of a blocking/hitting experience than looping.  I have to add that warning to the end because this new generation of ESN are quite different to the last, and it could come as a shock.