Customer review for Victas VS>401

External Review for Victas VS>401 on June 14, 2018

Im currently a DEF+ BH and ALL FH player between advanced beginner and low intermediate. I have 1.5mm black on the BH and 1.8 on the FH on a 7 ply, balsa blade. Ive tried: Mark V variants, Xiom Vega variants, Tenergy 05, Hurricane 2&3, LKT Pro & Friendship 729, and a few others.

I love/hate this rubber. I love the rubber, hate that I can't get the best from it (technique?). Its an enigma to me still. While it has many gears, they seem to be at either end of the speed or spin spectrum with a gear-less middle.

I find medium paced drives, blocks and punches inconsistent. Feeling is less 'available' and spin/speed seem less controllable so placement suffers. Perhaps it needs more time but it is definitely the least 'user friendly' aspect of the rubber.

For a hard rubber it provides quite a bit of control (if not feel) in soft contact. You can take a heap of speed off with passive play, and the difference is significant with the ball dropping remarkably short. On the other hand, no other rubber I've tried comes close to generating as much speed (and variation), except maybe Tenergy (but I couldn't control it). High speed, high spin loops are easy, comfortable and require less effort.

Spin is excellent, though I'm finding service spin more difficult to generate. Perhaps it is the hardness factor influencing this. Serves are solid, though not deadly.

Control is wonderful (dare I say sublime?) in the short game and also looping.

So far the rubber still looks in pristine condition, faring better than any of the other rubbers mentioned above over similar usage. It has been re-glued twice now and suffered no damage at all. I haven't rated durability yet though as it needs more time and more abuse to see how it really lasts.

While touted as a strong defensive rubber (thanks to its spin and chop control), all-in-all this is also an excellent rubber for an ALL+ to OFF all-round and modern defender players, enabling great variation, touch and speed.

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