I have been trying to find reviews of this rubber from Donic for a while now and although I have seen a few threads mention the thingy nobody seems to have given a review at all!
The word on the street is that the rubber shares the same DNA with fellow newbies Hexer and Nianmor all being products of ESN.
From pictures I have seen of the sponges of all these rubbers they all look very similar (suspiciously similar) to the Spring sponge used in Butterfly's super rubber 'Tenergy'.
Now heres my deal on Tenergy (well at least 05 and 64); nice muted glue feel, good speed, really good spin, too high throw, and most of all way too heavy.
Rubber weight is a deal breaker for me so I have been waiting for Tenergy light (now going to be called T64FX in 2010).
So in comes Baracuda, with Donic making claims of super spin and high arcs etc, sounds very tenergistic to me ( not necessarily a good thing).
Straight out of the pack the red rubber has a lot of sheen and looks to be more synthetic rubber than the natural rubber in tenergy closer to boost topsheet.
It doesnt seem to have as grippy a surface but its grippier than any other tensor I've ever tried.
The banana yellow sponge feels very rough to the touch just like Tenergy and the whole sheet is noticeably lighter than the T64 which is also in my bag.
The whole rubber has a jelly like feel to it just like the tenergy as well. when you shake it, you can fell the whole vibration in it, something that was previously unique to the Tenergy up to now.
Ok so how does it play?
Well tonight I'm taking the Baracuda out for a spin (pardon the pun) so Ill be posting my findings soon.
Here is the news.
Donic makes a big deal about the flight of this rubber and the vicious spin its supposed to impart.
They give it a 10+ for spin and a 10- for speed.
I think they are about right on the spin (maybe a 10) but I cant see 10- for the speed. I didnt find the Baracuda at all fast, it lacks bounciness and its not even close to Butterflys Spring sponge at all. I give it a 9- for speed.
Donic is usually quite reliable in thier own rubber ratings but on this rubber I gotta say its slower than that.
I made a couple of loop drives and I can confirm it does have a high throw( not quite the exaggerated cartoon loops from T05, but pretty arcy) I mage a couple of sidespin loops and my partner commented on the viciousness of the spin and the curve.
So its pretty spinny, i was hoping for more power because, hey man, In this no glue era, I'm not exactly looking for more control, I'm looking for power!
Serves were pretty decent, maybe about the same as I got from the Boost TP I've been trying lately short game and blocking were really natural feeling , no challenge there, very predictable very stable but I found after my session I was very tired from trying to swing harder to get some juice out of the Baracuda.
There's a little sound too but not as loud as Tenergy, its a bit muted.
Not for my forehand.
Maybe a good backhand rubber even though I like a bit more bounciness there also.
I think this rubber is probably better for all those intermediate players who are buying Tenergy and having a difficulty controlling it as the Baracuda handles incoming spin quite easily in comparison.
So there it is.
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