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A new high tension rubber from Avalox AVX!
"This unique and high quality rubber combines the latest German and Japanese (patented) technology. It is a very powerful rubber! The topsheet is non-tacky but very grippy, and the sponge is a soft 35deg, offering great dwell time and huge spin. The pip structure underneath the topsheet combined with the special soft sponge allows it to generate much more power. This rubber has high tension properties inbuilt, making it suitable alternative to a speed glue rubber, as the speed glue ban comes into effect in 2008."
Manufacturer Ratings:
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Speed: A++
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Spin: A++
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Sponge: 2.2mm 35deg
Reviews:
Review by LawOCG (published with permission)
This review is for the 2.2mm version of Sterco
Initial Physical Inspection
The topsheet is completely non-tacky but extremely grippy. Its interesting to note that the legs are quite long and the topsheet is quite thin, In my books this is a speed combination. The sponge on this rubber is equally impressive, its around 35 degrees and looks to very elastic unlike many other stiff and dry sponges out there.
Hitting/Blocking
All I can say is "wow", The combination of a non-tacky topsheet with a 35degree bomb of a sponge results in a speed demon like rubber. This rubber is easily faster than my InnovaPremium/ Mendo MP rubbers at the moment which are not pushovers in the speed category. The throw on the rubber is also very nice as it belongs to the medium throw category (on the slightly higher side though). Hitting is effortless and very accurate, The sponge allows for dwell time and catapults the ball out with almost pinpoint precision. Blocking is also very fast and consistent. When it comes to rebound consistency, quality plays a major role and I'm completely satisfied in this case.
Serving / Pushing
A tad difficult to control as the springiness of the rubber makes it hard to contain the speed and length when pushing. Pushes will carry quite a lot of backspin if you wish to impart that much but will most likely be long as it will take a while to adjust to its speed. Serving is quite good as I'm able to get quite alot of spin out of this rubber.
Looping / Counterlooping
A truly stunning rubber in this category. The medium throw with the soft sponge tagged along with high speed and spin results in bliss. Loops with this are very consistent, fast and most importantly contain a crapload of spin. What I really like about it is its consistency, with this It seems that one just can't miss. Even unglued on my Ishlion it makes such a loud pop on impact its just music to my ears. Counterlooping is no different as the dwell time makes it very easy to control the incoming spin and as a result you can place the ball where you want.
The final thing is the speed. When you really pump it up and unleash the taps this rubber just keeps giving and giving. The speed is really up there with some of the faster rubbers on the market.
Conclusion
This rubber can be compared quite closely with the Almana sound. Both have similar construction and speed. The key difference being that the Sterco has a higher throw. On faster blades this would be hard to control but on OFF blades it would be excellent. For loopers out there who like softer rubbers, this would definitely not dissapoint.
Sterco has been compared postively to Nittaku Hammond but with some
tension built in. It's a well made reasonably priced tensor type
rubber. Agooding2
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