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Review by haggisv
Review: Boost TC (MAX black) on a TSP
Balsaplus 4.5 blade / Galaxy carbon blade
1. The reviewer:
Intermediate to high level club level player, modern defender (Chinese
style looper on FH). Blade TSP Balsaplus 4.5 and Galaxy carbon blade.
2. Physical Properties:
Nice packaging but nothing fancy. Sheet looks of very high quality,
similar to other Japanese made sheets. It came with a soft adhesive
protection sheet attached, which I like as it makes it a lot easier to
handle. Topsheet feels soft and non-tacky but grippy and very smooth.
Measured sponge hardness is 35deg (with respect to other rubbers in my
Sponge Hardness table). Most Japanese made sheets don't have plastic
sheets attached, expect a few like TSP/JUIC, so these sheets may be made
in the same factory perhaps. I did have a little trouble cutting the
sheet after I glued it onto the blade (with Donic water based glue), as
the soft sponge seems to grip a bit on the knife, making it hard to
slice through. Cutting with scissors may be a better option next time.
Topsheet did not feel brittle like some of the German Tensors, so I
would expect it to last a little longer than those.
3. Speed:
It's a fast rubber, no doubt about it. The soft sponge is a little
springy, so you need to play a proper stroke to control it in the short
game.
On loops it takes little effort to generate good speed on loops. You can
really feel it dig into the sponge and catapult the ball back out.
Looping harder does add to speed, but a faster blade can really help
here, or the topspeed is limited. The harder carbon blade worked much
better for this, and really seemed to enhance the speed of the loops,
without the feeling of bottoming out.
Smashes/hits are fast, loud and insensitive to spin... one of it's best
qualities!
4. Spin:
Spin on serves and chops is average, similar to most other Japanese
non-tacky rubbers.. you need to dig the ball into the rubber to get the
spin. On loops the spin was decent but not high. It a good offensive
looping rubber, and the spin is plenty to land the balls, but you'll
likely win the point by speed, consistancy and placement, not coz of the
heavy spin.
However the soft sponge and very elastic topsheet makes it real easy to
generate heavy backspin... I found it quite effective at pushing and
even for chopping.
5. Control:
Control in the short game was pretty average, you need to play a
positive stroke. Flicking worked quite well as it was easy to dig the
ball into the sponge, and little effort was required to get good speed.
For looping the control was very good...the soft sponge is quite
forgiving, and rubber does not seem very sensitive to spin, making
counter-looping quite effective as well. Blocking was great, and almost
effortless... is was insensitive to spin and just seemed to go back when
you stick you bat there.
6. Other Playing properties:
Throw of the rubber is medium. It has quite good glue feel and sound.
7. Reference:
It has the feel of Mark V 30deg lightly glued, although not the spin but
definitely the speed.
8. Other comments Other unique properties...
The rubber is not suitable for powerlooping, but more for a blocking,
counterlooping and hitting style game. It would also be suitable for a
more control looping style, where placement and consistency is required.
Is is not a particularty spinny rubber, but by the same token is quite
insensitive to spin. It matches much better to a harder composite blade
compared to a soft balsa blade.
Review by gekogark1212
(published with permissions)
Its been almost 2 months that I've used the
Boost TC on my FH, and I feel obligated to at least give a review of it
before I switch over to the Nimbus Medium.
Played on the Yin-he M-6, which is
similar to an old school clipper.
Initial Physical Inspection
Nice grippy topsheet, completely non
tacky, its got that nice glossy shine to it when viewed from an angle.
Sponge is soft, softer than anything I've ever used...it is around Tango
hardness, and even Solcion is harder than the TC. Overall the rubber is
also very light. I'd say it weighs in the high 30's for a cut sheet.
Hitting/Blocking
Hitting against topspin is beautiful, the
soft sponge ensures each ball is dug well into the sponge and produces a
beautiful arc. The TC is also quite a fast rubber (surprisingly) and so
with each hit, you have the perfect combination of speed and spin.
Hitting against backspin however, is atrocious. The ultra soft sponge
doesn't give enough support for the hard contact required for this
stroke and often bottoms out if you are not careful. A coach looked at
my technique and wondered why I couldn't hit against backspin and
claimed the TC to be "spineless".
Blocking with the TC is a two edge sword.
On the one hand it is soft and has nice speed and arc, which is good for
semi-aggressive block. On the other hand, TC invites heavily spun balls
(like those of the infamous Tenergy) to have tea inside. The dwell
becomes its weakness here, the ball immediately sinks deep inside the
sponge, and you're forced to close the racket to ridiculous angles just
to get the ball on. Also, since the sponge is so soft, it cancels out
some of the spin and most of the speed...hence all that adjusting for
nothing.
Serving / Pushing
Coming from harder rubbers such as Sriver
and Higher, serving really isn't something TC can be proud of. Yes, spin
is adequate...but completely negligible without a fair amount of
deceptive motion. The reason huge amounts of spin can't be produced is
because as if you're making thin contact with the topsheet, you can only
go so thin before it slips...the "normal" solution is a higher ball toss
and hit harder on the serve. While this works on H3 and the like, TC's
ultra soft sponge comes to work and shoots it off the rubber before any
significant spin is put onto the ball.
Again, pushing with the TC relies on your
ability to deceive (ie, pushing to various places with the same initial
racket angle). Oh it can produce heavy pushes, but doing so requires the
perfect stroke.
Looping / Counterlooping
Looping and counterlooping off topspin is
very very nice. Probably THE reason to choose TC. It feels like the very
old Tango Extrem, that bites the ball so well on each stroke...while
maintaining good power. The best part about it is the arc, it has such a
beautiful text book arc that makes you want to hit harder and harder,
knowing it'll all land.
Loop-killing off backspin is
horrible...same reasoning as hitting backspin. But opening loops off
backspin is very easy to do, although the spin is so-so, but you can
manipulate the arc and open with a very short loop, then wait for the
counterloop Very Happy
Conclusion
I would recommend anyone thinking about
this rubber to use it on some form of composite blade. It would
certainly make killing backspin much easier. Apart from its weakness
against backspin, it really is quite a unique rubber. It has the
brilliant glue feeling of a soft tensor, the speed of a medium-sponged
tensor, the short game of a hard-tensor and the durability of a Sriver.
That's gotta be a win. ahahha Laughing Laughing
Forum thread:
http://forum.oneofakindtrading.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=6069
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