Air Illumina

[pingpongrob]

Recieved my batch of the new Air Illumina last week, and decided to have a test run.

I placed a sheet of X30 on a Donic Persson Power Play V1 and an X30s on another Persson Powerplay, the other sides I put a couple of Kokutaku rubbers (007 & 868).
When I recieved my initiatial Testing batch of these rubbers I must say I was quite disapointed, and had some stern words with the manufacturers about the Speedglue effect. But decided to go ahead and place my order on the proviso, that the quality would improve dramatically or I would send the goods back.

Now I have read some posts over at OOKT that claim the rubber is not made in Germany, and I have to refute that statement on the Basis of what I have been told by the Manufacturer.  The topsheet is made in Germany, and the Sponge in China - They are assembled in China - with Chinese packaging.

Now to back this up, I placed a large order out of China, and the goods arrived in my Container, yet the same spokesman for one of my manufacturers decided to have them sent via then post - If they were made in China, then the goods would have come with my Dawei and Yinhe orders.

Back to the Review
Illumina X30 & X30s
My initial thoughts were "gee this is quite bouncy compared to any other chinese rubber I have tried, actually felt like a speedglue version. The top sheet is quite transparent and high quality, The rubbers actually had a fair bit of curl to it, making it more difficult to apply than any Tensor. The Complete rubber was also very pliable - infact probably the most pliable rubber sheet I have ever tested.

With my first stroke, I knew 100% that Air Illumina was the real thing this time, Not like any Tenergy or Hexer Rubber, but an Affordable tensor Style rubber for any entry level player that like an aggressive game.

I also said to myself - "whats the differance between the X30 & X30s.
Well the X30 has the Vertical Pimple arrangement, and the X30s is at a 45 degree angle.

Both Rubbers loop quite well, no where near as much spin as Hexer or Tenergy, but much more than most chinese rubbers. Its mechanical spin I'm talking about, as the top sheet is completely non sticky, even after removing the plastic protector sheets.

Service again is quite similar with both rubbers.
The X30 seems a Touch Faster and has a lower throw than the X30s.
The X30s is much easier to loop with, a touch slower, and a touch higher throw. So I would recommend the X30s, for those that are just begining in there quest to become Euro Style Loopers.

Overall a huge improvement on any rubber I have tried that is assembled in China, and have no problems in recomending it to anyone that wants to try Tensor style rubbers @ a Bargin Price.

[RebornTTEvnglist]

So how do they compare to Roxon's Rob? 330 and 450 I mean. Speed, spin feel, quality etc?

[pingpongrob]

So how do they compare to Roxon's Rob? 330 and 450 I mean. Speed, spin feel, quality etc?

Roxon's are for sure a higher quality - but dont get me wrong, the Illumina is pretty good, just not up to the Roxon Standard.
For the higher level player, the Roxon's do more, and have more gears - even 330. I believe the durability of illumina is better, in other words damage from striking the table. spin is for sure better on all Roxons, BTW - I play exclusively with Hexer/Hexer+ now. Took me a long time to adjust, but am reaping the benifits of the so called "extra SPIN/Speed". I have to admit - Hexer is very Blade Dependant, and performs better on Faster Blades.

[RebornTTEvnglist]

Richard is loving the Hexer also. I think he has ordered a powersponge from you. I had a hit on Saturday with him, which we've started doing regularly in his garage. I had been thrashing him, but this week I won the 27th game decider 11-9 LOL (ie 14-13). His brush looping is getting more consistent on BH and FH now. I keep telling him to go back to pips so he'll be better when he is older 

We haven't swapped bats for me to try Hexer yet, but I'll be very tempted once he gets the Powersponge to try.

I tried my 330 for the first time on Saturday on Cayman. I think I like the rubber, but having used Gergely exclusively for 18 months I now cant stand the Cayman.

[speedplay]

I've tried the Air Illumina 25fx and like Rob, I could call this a budget version of Tensors.

Since the throw is so different to T 05, I had big problems adjusting to it, but on the few strokes where I managed to get it right, I could tell that this rubber had potential. How ever, low throw along with a long trajectory made it difficult for me to adjust to it during my hit with it. Despite this, it actually had really good spin, which I could see on the balls that where either caught in the net or landed on the floor, as they kept on spinning for a long time. Speed was, well, wow! Really, really fast!

Now, my main concern was that the rubber felt all greasy/oily on the sponge, which made it hard to attach. Also made me wonder, how long will the effect last? From others who have tried it, I get the feeling that the rubber is pretty good, but there are issues with quality control as every batch seems to be different from the last one. Not saying that they are better or worse, just different, which is exactly what we don't want when we stop EJ:ing. Reminds me of Dawei and I wouldn't be surprised if this is another attempt from them to launch something new in to the market.

[pingpongrob]

Now, my main concern was that the rubber felt all greasy/oily on the sponge, which made it hard to attach. Also made me wonder, how long will the effect last?

I also had trouble keeping the sheets glued to the blade, and actually made a complaint. I disposed of the original batch, and was sent new rubbers that work well.
The Air Illumina X80 version works the best, not as soft as the X30 versions.

Air illumina X80

[Der Echte]

Rob, I slapped a sheet of Illumina 80 (Ithink it was 80, it sure wasn't 30) on the TBS and saw a lot of the same stuff you saw, except I got some great spin and corking sound. This thing corked 5x louder than T05! That was a blast, but the less agressive strokes required to much adjustment, not enough bounce. On power looping and heavy spin slow looping, this thing was awesome. I had even more trouble than you geting this thing to stick to the blade and stay that way.

When I took the sheet off, it curled up real bad, like it curled onto itself and stuck, like a curled up leaf or curl of slivered choclate.

This is the view from someone who tried roxon on someone's blade and didn't think the spin was really extra special. I got 30% more spin from Outlaw on the power strokes.

This rubber looks to hold some promise for those who like to let it rip. It did really well in that department.

[Silver]

I had a hit with Air Illumina X30 (i think). Whatever the one with the soft sponge is. On top of a Galaxy 991 off 5+2 arylate blade (ayous top i think). Keep in mind my standard fh rubber is NH3. Humidity was very high when I tested it.

My feel of the rubber seems to be quite different to everyone else's, however I'm not 100% sure of which version I was using.

I was quite dubious at first, didn't think it could even remotely match a tensor.  Topsheet felt very soft to the touch, sponge was similar. First hit with it was good, above average speed, very soft feel and you could feel the ball sinking and holding on the rubber, then kicking out nicely.  This is possibly one of the most error forgiving rubber I've used and played against, with shots still landing even with a huge variation in bat angle.

Looping spin was average, however loop speed was good, but definitely limited by the sponge softness - maybe bottoming out too quickly. I would expect a sponge maybe 3-5 degrees harder would vastly improve the high speed loop and also increase spin. High spin/low speed loops produced less than desired spin, although reasonably comparable to a tensor of similar sponge density. On the whole the rubber felt considerably better with a more hit-through euro ish loop and retained decent arc. Flattish hits were quite direct. Accuracy didn't feel that great, spraying around the place a bit (soft sponge maybe). The rubber was quite bouncy at low speeds, causing over the table spin and serving spin to be below average.

All in all it's actually a surprisingly good rubber. I hate to say it, but given how error-forgiving it is the description 'beginner rubber' comes to mind. I can easily imagine intermediates using it though, however you would need to move to a harder sponge version to get more penetration. Comparable rubbers are Donic F3BS, maybe Renanos Soft (although the topsheet here is much firmer). I'd highly recommend a version with a harder sponge though.

[pingpongrob]

The X80 is a much better rubber, the sponge is a touch harder which would make it loop better.