Review date: 16 July 2024
Recently I have been testing the Tibhar Quantum X Pro. This rubber has been around for a couple of years, but it’s certainly not a commonly used rubber, even though it is currently the rubber used by popular pro player Bernadette Szocs. The sponge is relatively hard and the top sheet has decent grip. It uses POP (PERFORMANCE ON POINT) technology, which supposedly allows a better combination of power and rotation. But what is it actually like to play with?
Tom’s rubber ratings Speed = 8 Spin = 8 Control = 8 Hardness = Hard Throw angle = Medium+ Where to buy Bribar Table Tennis (UK and worldwide) |
Playability
I have been testing it out with my PowerPong robot – and also in coaching sessions – for a few weeks now. My initial impression of the Tibhar Quantum X Pro was how very easy it was to play with. In fact, it’s one of the easiest rubbers that I think I’ve ever played with. It’s got good spin, but not spectacular spin. It’s got good speed but not spectacular speed. It has very good levels of control. It’s just really nice and easy to play with. You feel as though you can play any shot with high levels of consistency. Pushing, topspin vs backspin, topspin vs topspin – all easy to do without exerting much effort.
Trajectory
The trajectory of the rubber is medium / medium-high, which gives a nice level of safety. It makes looping against backspin quite easy because that ball spins up nicely off the rubber. In topspin to topspin exchanges you do need to close the angle to make sure the ball doesn’t go long. But this is quite an easy adjustment to make.
Downsides?
Now, what about the downsides? There are faster rubbers available. I normally play with JOOLA Dynaryz AGR and this rubber has definitely got an extra gear in speed compared to the Tibhar Quantum X Pro. But I don’t have the most explosive attacking strokes, so if you have bigger swings when attacking, maybe you will find that extra gear from the rubber.
The spin is decent. But there are other rubbers which get better rotation. To really get the heavy spin on my loops, I had to increase the acceleration quite a bit. If you are one of these players who always commits to heavy spin attacks, you should be quite satisfied with the spin output from the rubber.
So this rubber – whilst not the fastest or the spinniest – could still work well for strong attackers who fully commit to their attacks. After all, the rubber is used by pro player Bernadette Szocs, so it clearly is possible to use it for very fast, aggressive attacking play. But for non-pros, the real magic of the Tibhar Quantum X Pro is easy it is to play with. This makes it very attractive to a lot of amateur players.
Forehand or backhand?
I preferred Tibhar Quantum X Pro on my backhand. I play more controlled on my backhand and I felt I could easily switch between pushing, blocking and counter attack. My open ups and flicks don’t quite have the same speed, compared to JOOLA Dynaryz AGR, but consistency is high.
I wouldn’t even say this is a ‘controlled’ rubber. It does have some gears. If you have more positive strokes than me, I’m sure you’ll find those gears. It just seemed to match up nicely with my controlled style of play for my backhand.
Could it work as a forehand rubber? Yes, I think so. I can imagine a strong topspin oriented player would find this very easy to play with and would be able to generate decent topspin with a plenty of safety from the medium arc the rubber produces.
The ‘good at everything’ rubber
In summary, I was pleasantly surprised with the Tibhar Quantum X Pro rubber. It’s good at everything -push, block, loop, counter-topspin. It’s not too fast and not too slow. It’s probably not spectacular at one particular thing, but its real strength is how easy it is to play with. And that should make it quite an appealing rubber for many players.
Here’s a video review, where you can see footage of me using the rubber with my PowerPong Omega robot …