Palio AK47 appreciation topic

[BaRanchik]

Used Red on BH for a couple of months. It's definitely good value, but I found it to be extremely difficult to play with.

For some reason, getting a good touch out of it was very difficult for me on regular loops and loops against backspin. The ball rarely penetrated the sponge compared to the various other rubbers I have used, most of which are as hard or harder, which is weird. My completely unbased theory is that the topsheet itself is very hard, and it's also very smooth, so any balls you don't hit into enough just slide off the rubber -- this happened to me so so many times.

That being said, when I did manage to have a good touch, the ball would have great quality. I think this rubber would work great for advanced players, who can make really powerful shots while still brushing the ball properly to get immense spin. At my level, I'm happy with my G1 and can make great shots.

For my level (2 years in) and style of play, where spin is more important than power, it simply did not fit.

 

[skibiditoilet]

Guess, I'll slap it on a Viscaria clone and see how that goes. I made the Palio AK47 Blue popular in my country back in the day and sold them like hotcakes. People were using the Blue version on both forehand and backhand, boosting them to make them chunkier/overall rubber much more tensioned and used them on stiff blades. No one really liked the Red version for some reason, so I wasn't able to test that as much.

Yay philippines!

 

[hclnnkhg]

I'm using the yellow ak47 as my bh rubber for rpb, and I find that the non tacky matte top sheet tends to feel slimy after playing for awhile and having sweat from my fingers on it. But this slimy feeling does not occur when I'm using tacky rubbers for my bh. Does anyone feel this way too?

I have Palio AK47 red and its topsheet is similar. It would slip if I try to brush the ball too thin. It is more suitable for speed drives and punches than brush loop. Much better if you can engage the sponge.

 

[enoxzr]

Gonna play my first session tonight with an AK47 Red on the BH.
Teammate loves his AK47 Yellow, which is a bit too mushy for me on my main blade. Only drawback is that the edge chips like it's trying to be a Tenergy rubber.

 

[ShoutGuy]

I have Palio AK47 red and its topsheet is similar. It would slip if I try to brush the ball too thin. It is more suitable for speed drives and punches than brush loop. Much better if you can engage the sponge.

I had the same experience. I really liked the sponge but the topsheet is much inferior to the Eurojap

 

[Wakkibatty]

Quick straw-poll people: what would be the closest match to an AK-47 Red for performance and playing feel, that is *also* good value for money with a better quality top sheet?

 

[Wakkibatty]

Used Red on BH for a couple of months. It's definitely good value, but I found it to be extremely difficult to play with.

For some reason, getting a good touch out of it was very difficult for me on regular loops and loops against backspin. The ball rarely penetrated the sponge compared to the various other rubbers I have used, most of which are as hard or harder, which is weird. My completely unbased theory is that the topsheet itself is very hard, and it's also very smooth, so any balls you don't hit into enough just slide off the rubber -- this happened to me so so many times.

That being said, when I did manage to have a good touch, the ball would have great quality. I think this rubber would work great for advanced players, who can make really powerful shots while still brushing the ball properly to get immense spin. At my level, I'm happy with my G1 and can make great shots.

For my level (2 years in) and style of play, where spin is more important than power, it simply did not fit.

Yeah, the reds are particularly prone to this problem in my experience -- the blacks don't tend to have this problem though, as their top-sheet isn't quite as shiny or 'slick'.

 

[Lando]

I just put an ak47 blue on my bh to learn to rpb. It seems like a decent rubber so far

 

[TheProfessor]

Quick straw-poll people: what would be the closest match to an AK-47 Red for performance and playing feel, that is *also* good value for money with a better quality top sheet?

Try the 729 Presto series. That's really good and not that much of a price bump, it's basically just like a tensor but made in China.

 

[Wakkibatty]

Try the 729 Presto series. That's really good and not that much of a price bump, it's basically just like a tensor but made in China.

Thanks for that 🙂 How does the grippiness of the topsheet rate compared to a mid-range Japanese rubber? I like the AK47 and will keep using it for blade development, but the top sheet is lacking as far as demo rubbers go.

 

[TheProfessor]

Thanks for that 🙂 How does the grippiness of the topsheet rate compared to a mid-range Japanese rubber? I like the AK47 and will keep using it for blade development, but the top sheet is lacking as far as demo rubbers go.

Yes the grippiness is great. tensor/daiki type topsheet grip, no tack at all.

 

[hclnnkhg]

Yes the grippiness is great. tensor/daiki type topsheet grip, no tack at all.

My Presto Spin MAX topsheet oxidizes rather quickly, but it held up 40-50 hours before I pull it off. The actual grip loss is not that serious, but the appearance deteriorates quickly.