Rating Guide

Consistency is how consistent the product is. Lower quality control may produce lower consistency. If you buy the same product in two different years, do they perform the same?

Control refers to how easy it is to control the ball using this equipment. Equipment that is too fast or too spinny reduces control though equipment that is too slow or not spinny may also decrease control.

Deception refers to the ability to produce funky balls whose spin is hard to read. Deception may refer to randomized spin or wobbling knuckle balls.

Durability refers to how long a product lasts. Do you have to replace it frequently, or does it last for years?

Gears refers to a rubber's ability to produce a wide range of speeds. A rubber with a wide range of speeds (many gears) can produce slow speeds (on gentle strokes) and high speeds (on hard strokes). With few gears, you may always produce fairly slow balls, or always produce fairly fast balls on lighter and harder strokes.

Hardness refers to the blade's hardness. Hard blades are often faster, and soft are generally slower. Soft blades have a longer dwell time, generating more spin.

Reversal refers to the ability to reverse spin. A highly reversing rubber will convert a heavy underspin ball into a heavy topspin ball and vice versa.

Speed is the rating of the power generated by the rubber or blade. Speed can be broken down into loop speed (heavy topspin stroke) and volley speed (speed on flat contact, like a smash or volley). Using a faster blade/rubber produces faster shots which, at high speeds, reduces the amount of control.

Spin is the amount of ball rotation generated by the rubber. This is affected by the rubber's tackiness, sponge thickness, sponge hardness as well as the blade's flexibility.

Sponge Hardness refers to the density of the sponge. This is measured in degrees:

Rating	Description	Degrees
8+	Hard	45+ degrees
6 - 8	Medium Hard	43-44 degrees
4 - 6	Medium	41-42 degrees
2 - 4	Medium Soft	38-40 degrees
<2	Soft	Under 37 degrees

Stiffness refers to the blade's flexibility. Flexible blades have a longer dwell time, generating more spin. They also perform well for mid-distance looping. Stiff blades are better for smashing.

Tackiness refers to the level of stickiness of the rubber surface. Traditional Chinese rubbers are usually tacky enough to lift a ball off the table by pressing the rubber on top of the ball, whereas traditional European and Japanese rubbers do not.

Rating	Description
8+	Very tacky
6 - 8	Tacky
4 - 6	Medium tacky
2 - 4	Slightly tacky
< 2	Completely non-tacky

Throw Angle is the angle that the ball is projected from strokes like the loop. For a topspin loop, a high throw angle will lift the ball higher. Tacky rubbers often have a higher throw angle.
Note: This rating refers to the topspin strokes only. On an underspin chop, the same rubber with a high throw angle will actually produce a very low angle on a chop (it is reversed). This rubber should still be rated as high throw since the rating refers to topspin.

Rating	Description
9+	Very high
7 - 9	High
5.5 - 7	Medium-high
3.5 - 5.5	Medium
1.5 - 3.5	Medium-low
< 1	Low

Weight is the mass of the equipment.