"Experience
the first NANO-Tech TT-Gear in the World
JUIC-Couga
JUIC announces the great success of developing the first NANO-Tech Table Tennis
Equipment in the World.
With
the NANO-material (1/1,000,000,000m scale) inside the topsheet and songe,
players enjoy excessive speed, better grip & duration with Couga.
The
most highly recommended rubber after September 1st, 2005, with the ban of VOC
(volatile organic solvents) and use of Water Based glue.
Available
only in black color, as the NANO Material of Couga is based on black color."
User
Reviews (from internet/newsgroups, etc):
HA! This rubber will knock your blocks off! This rubber is
just as fast or faster than some speed glued rubbers! Using nano technology Juic
has created a rubber that has the feel of speed glue without the use of speed
glue= speed glue feeling all the time XD. One of the older members at my club
tested out the speed of the rubber when I first got it. It bounced about 15-20%
higher than his 2.0 Juic 999 Elite Ultima and My Couga has 1.8 sponge. The
rubber and sponge itself is about medium soft and was a little bit harder to
control at first, as with any new rubber, but I got the hang of it. It's been
probably about 8 months since I got my Couga, it's color has faded just slightly
as the Juic Ecolo Cleaner helps to maintain it's condition, But even after 8
months of play and about 3-5 times a week of play, it's still just as fast! I
was also informed about the Varites about 2 months ago, and they told me that it
was a bit harder than the Couga, I almost bought it for my red side, imagine
that! XDD You don't have to take my word for this rubber, if you can afford to
dish out the US$38 for the rubber, express your own opinion on it
This new rubber from Juic is truly ahead of its time! By
applying Nano technology to the manufacturing process, Juic has come up with a
rubber that provides the feel an speed that other rubbers can only achieve
through the use of speed glue. This innovation is critically important since the
ITTF has set a September 2007 deadline date for the elimination of harmful
matter from all adhesives. Comes in BLACK only!
Wayne (published with permission)
Wonderful and under estimated rubber! Its speed is so
amazing and still with a fair amount of control. Note, its not a control rubber,
but with that speed one would think control was lost and thats no the fact. I
find it to be the easiest fast rubber to control. It has good spin, probably
great when used correct. Works exellent even without speedglue, but a tad better
with. Durability seems good so far, I have used it about 4 months now and it
still plays as new!
I have been playing with Couga max for atleast 60 hours. I
must say that I love it. Its got moore speed then anything I have ever tried
before. Its faster then Almana sound, Mark V M2 and Optimum MP.
It spins like Almana Sound and is as easy to control to. Exellent for looping or
just plain hitting. I experienced some difficulties with serves though, cant
seem to get them spinny enough. As with the Almana sound, Couga demands to be
played with some power to create great spin. I find Mark V M2 to be the best
rubber for serving of thoose that I have mentioned. Unfortunatelly Couga is only
avaliable in black. Last training session I used it on my Stiga Optimum+ blade
and that was a LOUD combination! So, if you are an offensive player who rates
speed higher then spin, spin higher then control this is just a great rubber!
And, its actually quite easy to control to, once you get used to the speed!
Speedplay (published with permission)
Initial inspections
:
The Couga is of top quality like you would expect from a well renowned Japanese
brand. Just from looking at the Couga, its frighteningly similar to Stiga's
Almana rubbers. The sponge looks to be almost identical to my old Stiga Carbo's
sponge. Both of them have quite large pores and aren't as refined as other
Japanese sponges. The sponge would be around 42ish degrees for hardness and
seems to be consistent in hardness all around the sheet. The topsheet is just
slightly grippy and almost the same as Almana's topsheet except for the fact
that its a tad softer then the Stiga Variant, other then that its the same to
the naked eye.
General Playing Observations
:
Absolutely monstrous, This rubber is seriously fast. I had mine unglued in max
thickness and it was blazingly fast. The couga is definitely king of the hill
when it comes to rebound speed. This rubber has quite a low throw which is
annoying to me because when paired up with low arc and high speed, the ball
frequently just sneaks over the net. This results in blinding shots that have no
room for error, A slight miscalculation and its the opponents point. The spin
factor for this rubber is also quite troublesome, read on to find out why.
Counter Hitting/Blocking:
Stunning in this area and faultless. When counterhitting with the couga the
rebound speed is so tremendous that its just effortless to produce fast and flat
shots. The couga feels very insulated and solid on impact and provides a nice
soft feeling which gives you a sense of control. Blocking is supreme with the
couga, its low throw allows very fast and powerful blocks. You can pretty much
turn up the juice when blocking and no loss of control will be felt.
Short Game
:
A bit troublesome here, Its hard to play the short game effectively with the
Couga because of its speed and the top sheet. I'm only mortal so I can only give
comments from my perspective. The combination of extreme springiness and butter
smooth topsheet makes it very hard to keep pushes low, short and spinny. When
flipping short balls its a different story, the buttery smooth topsheet helps
alot since it doesn't really grip on to the spin as much as other grippy
rubbers. Flicking short backspin balls was a breeze and can be done with good
control. Serving is also quite difficult because of the same reasons as pushing.
The speed of the rubber makes it hard to serve effectively.
Looping/Counter Looping
:
When Looping with the Couga I feel that its quite a subjective matter as it
really depends on the level of the user. When trying to open up with high spin
against chops its really hard to load up the ball with a high volume of topspin
because of the rubbers speed.
When loop driving, Couga really holds it own since the speed is virtually
unlimited and you can swing harder and harder. Usually the shot produced is so
fast and penetrating, your opponent will have a hard time returning the ball
because of the sheer speed.
The couga's soft insulated feel really helps out when your back from the table
counterlooping. You can swing harder and harder without the fear of the rubber
topping out. To sum it up, you can pretty much pull a winner from anywhere on
the court with the Couga.
Overall impressions/Conclusion
:
The couga is a high speed monster that requires a skillful user to tame it. If
you play your shots half heartedly, then forget about it. The couga wont do you
any favors as it required a high arm speed to bring the most out of it. For
players that tend to roll the ball on or loop with consistency there are better
solutions out there. This rubber would fit into the same category as bryce. For
those who really need every last inch of power and speed then the couga will not
disappoint . When glued up via the glass plate method twice you can expect
around 20% more speed and spin and about 20% loss of control accordingly as
well.
LawOCG (published with
permission)