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Review by: zrrbiteDK (published with permission)
Joola Express One is like a good
steak - Seemingly dull on the outside, packed with juice and an
explosion of flavor on the inside.
Background
I'd been playing with TBS / Tenergy 05 for a while. Being a semi-EJ, i
wasn't satisfied that something could play that good, and that i was to
settle down with a blade and a rubber for more than a month. So, i
placed an order for some Galaxy blades, in particular, the W-6, in order
to explore the lower end of the speed scale of blades with massive
amounts of control.
Let me just say that, for me, Tenergy and W-6 do not work together
at all. The high throw of the
rubber combined with the slow wooden blade was a poor combo for a
powerlooper.
It just so happened that Joola Express was being sold at a, what seemed
to be universal, discount. ~35% off. No way was i going to pass that up!
(I now regret not having gotten the Express Two aswell, for comparison).
I picked up a sheet of Joola Express One 2.0, still trying to maintain
that control over speed.
Looks can be deceiving
The topsheet is very special. Unlike any other new-gen rubber. It's
almost like it's glazed, and even after several practices/games, it's
keeping that glaze which most of all reminds you of a metallic sort of
varnish you'd expect to see on a car right out of the factory.
It didn't feel tacky at all, but you could almost sense the secrets
lurking below the topsheet, in the green-power enabled sponge which is
more or less white in color. With it's 47 degrees of hardness, simply
bouncing a ball off the rubber gave an amazingly crisp sound on a wooden
blade. I got fairly excited at this point. Too bad it was almost
midnight and i was unable to go hit a few balls with it. I sensed alot
of explosion begging to be let loose.
All aboard the Express train
First hit with the W-6 / Express One. You know that very first hit? You
can always sense if something is shit, or if something has potential. I
immediately got a good vibe from the Express One.
Having tried Tenergy / W-6 for a while, it took a while to get used to
the lower throw, but once i did, i started realizing why some of the
pro's played the Express One.
Here you have a rubber that's really hard, which is not only fast and
spinny, but plays an extremely
good short game and to top it off, is an amazing loopers rubber in all
aspects. Brush loops are very controlled with low arches, faster
controlled loops are the same, and finally, power drives are incredible
spinny and fast. I've never had so many "winners" before, not even with
the tenergy. The low throw, and topspin sends the ball zooming past your
opponent at an incredible speed. It was hard for me to contain my joy at
times.
Express vs Tenergy
As i mentioned, the throw is lower than Tenergy. It's faster and
probably a bit less spinny. Control is about the same. Both play a
brilliant short game. But where the difference is, is in the explosion.
In all aspects of play, the Express one seems to be so controllable,
with a consistent low throw that will keep your returns in check, not
giving away any radicl opening chances.
Express train to victory
The first hit with the Express One that i mentioned earlier, was a
christmas tourney at my club. I rode the express train straight to
victory after an initial loss in the group-stage where i couldn't quite
get used to the throw, and ended up winning the whole thing.
The Express One is an amazingly interesting rubber. I was quite
surprised to find that a rubber could play this offensively on an ALL
wood blade. I haven't tried it on my TBS yet, but i probably will within
long and i'll update the "review" if you want.
For all you powerloopers outthere, check this sheet of glory out, you
won't regret it.
UPDATE:
Secret ingredient - Pure Green Power
I finally got the chance to get a few real practice sessions in with the
Joola Express One @ TBS. Let me sum it up for you: This is an absolutely
amazing combo. The first thing that struck me, and keeps striking me, is
the similarity with a rubber like Joola Mambo Green Power.
Now i know what's lurking beneath the surface... it's the "Green Power",
no doubt. The amount of control in the rubber on a carbon blade is
astounding, just like what the mambo gives you. But not only do you get
that control, you get explosive speed, spin and a low ball trajectory.
It was an absolutely devestating combination. Power loops were easily
controllable with either alot of power, and/or alot of spin. More focus
on spin would actually put the ball close to the net, with great speed,
but spinning out over the side of the table at an incredible angle.
Absolutely incredible.
Flat hits are possible from anywhere, even from mid/far distance due to
the high amount of control. I'm actually having a hard time describing
the potential of this rubber - I'm really excited now that i've paired
it with my TBS. And while i might sound like a bad ITTF commercial,
there simply isn't much else to say, other than : Go try it out. Don't
like it? Hey, you'd probably spend that money on beer anyway, and you're
an experience wiser. There's a good chance you might end up with a
really lethal weapon.
Final conclusions? This rubber is not a one trick pony. My experiments
have been limited, but i've tried it at both ends of the speed scale,
and it's performed admirably in both cases. Pure Green Power - and it's
light. I've found my new best friend.
Goodbye Tenergy05, i hardly knew ye.
Review by: Tuan Pham - Georgia State University Table
Tennis Club President (published with permission)
First Impressions:
There was no cover sheet included in either versions of Express. This
makes me think that the topsheet must be quite durable. The looks of the
rubber is similar to Jo Platin but reflects more light. Does that have
any significance? Who knows...
The sponge color of Express One is exactly the same as Donic Coppa Jo
Platin Soft. This made me believe that the speed qualities of Express
should be similar to Platin. Express two has yellow sponge similar to
Samba. I pressed down on the rubber to test the sponge hardness of both
Express One and Express Two and Express One is definitely harder than Jo
Platin while Express Two is softer than Platin.
Back to the topsheet. I tried bouncing the rubbers on my Timo Boll
Spirit (glued with X-Glue) and noticed that the speed of Express One and
Two were relatively the same. I threw the ball towards the blade and
loaded it up with backspin to see how grippy the topsheet was and I have
to say that it's a major improvement over Joola Energy Green Power and
Joola Energy Xtra. The height of the bounce was very close to how well
my Glued/Tuned Mambo H was. So with that in mind, it's pretty fast.
Test Run:
I have to say that countering with this rubber (either One or Two) is a
breeze. It's not too slow where you have to force the ball past the net
and it's not too fast where you have to loosen up the wrist and have
god-like feel to avoid missing the table. I had my friend Calvin drive a
couple balls at me and it came back just great! The control from
blocking was surprising to me. I haven't trie punching at the ball from
a loop-drive but steering the ball to either side of the table was
relatively easy. I'm not sure why but that's what happened.
Pushing was also ok, I was able to get some pretty good spin when
pushing and the distance was about 2/3 to the edge of the table. There
wasn't anything spectacular about it to me. I'll have to say that
generating A LOT of spin with a push is going to be harder than I
anticipated.
Now onto the loops. This is my favorite part of my test because I just
love it!. I'll defintely use Express One for my FH and Express Two for
my BH. You'll need a lot of arm speed to get the most out of Express One
when looping. I tried a brush loop and it was definitely not good. You
hear that squeek and then the ball drops. The topsheet is definitely
grippier than my Platin. I'm not sure if it's the topsheet itself or if
it's in conjunction with the sponge but I got some good dips with my
loops. One thing i noticed was that I was not used to the harder sponge
at first and all my loops went off the table. This made me realize that
either a) I need to swing faster to get more spin and sponge penetration
to make the ball land in or b) I need to take a bit of speed off to make
the loops more consistent. It will definitely take me a couple more
swings to get the full jist of this rubber for sure. On the other hand,
my backhand (with Express Two) has never been this consistent. The
whipping motion in conjuction with the softer sponge really makes it
easy to load up spin for the backhand.
Serves:
This is where I had a lot of trouble with this rubber. My timing was
completely off when trying to serve with both versions of Express on the
FH. The fast and long serves worked very nicely, had trouble with no
spin serves, and loaded backspin serves were inconsistent but at times
very spinny. I think that all of this is due to the timing issue so i'll
have to revisit this section later on.
Final Thoughts for the day:
I feel like this rubber is Joola AIR! but with a grippier topsheet.
Exactly what I want! I would recommend Express Two to loopers for sure,
especially on the BH. Express One is definitely a nasty weapon. With the
proper timing and swing, I see no problem blasting people away with it.
Service returns were also easy to control, similar to JO Platin. The
important part will be to see how well the topsheet lasts and if the
speed decreases much. I've had platin for a month and there is not much
of a decrease in the speed and the grip is still there. Will give
another update on Wednesday before I give a definite conclusion. |
The
hard version (47.5°) of the JOOLA express suits the ambitious player,
who wants to maintain full power, extreme spin and good speed.
