Friendship/729 SP Transcend

An excellent rubber with a very low price!

SETUP:
Blade: Yinhe Pro Feeling
FH: 729 SP Transcend
BH: Mark V

This is a typical Chinese tacky rubber. It’s perfect for players who prefer active shots with lots of control.

SPEED:
This rubber is not particularly fast. However, when you hit hard, it goes like a rocket. The speed is linear with effort. The slightly slower speed has the advantage of keeping the ball on the table. It’s a bit slower than H3 Neo.

SPIN:
The spin is excellent, better than any non-tacky rubber. It’s much spinier than MX-P or El-P, but less spinny than H3 Neo. The service spin is exceptional, especially for high-toss serves. Ghost serves are easy to execute, and pushes are great, containing a lot of backspin. Looping underspin is easy, but not as easy as with non-tacky rubbers.

COUNTER DRIVE:
This is where this rubber excels. Close to the table counter drives are awesome. You won’t miss a single drive if you hit just before the top of the bounce.

SMASH & BLOCK:
These shots are okay but not as good as with non-tacky rubbers.

The rubber is very durable. I’ve been playing with it for one and a half years, and it’s still tacky. Just clean it regularly.

OVERALL:
This is a great rubber, but you need to play actively. If you try a passive shot, you’ll either miss or end up on the back foot.

The Transcend sponge on the black sheet from ZeroPong is not hard – it’s medium. I was expecting a harder sponge based on some of the reviews here.

The rubber is very tacky. This, along with the not-so-hard sponge, slows down the ball, even on a fast blade. So you can hit hard and generate a lot of spin with good control, but if you just want to kill the ball, there are better choices.

Serves are very spinny, of course.

So if you want to play a spinny game close to the table, this is a great rubber, but for smashes, or playing far from the table, a harder sponge would be better. Maybe that’s available with this top sheet somewhere on the planet!

Tackiness and Spin

In my search for the stickiest and spinniest rubber, I opted for this one. While the topsheet boasts excellent tackiness, the sponge, contrary to expectations, proved to be extremely hard.

Demonstration Video

A YouTube video demonstrates the rubber’s remarkable ability to hold the ball indefinitely. However, my black rubber failed to replicate this feat.

Recommendation

Overall, I would recommend exploring the Friendship Geospin Tacky instead. Priced similarly, Geospin’s rubber offers comparable tackiness with a noticeably softer sponge.

I purchased this rubber (2mm, red) two months ago. This rubber is a complete disaster. It is extremely hard, making it difficult to sense the ball. The performance is entirely unpredictable, with some balls passing through while others fall into the net. Looping is particularly challenging. While I appreciate Chinese rubbers, this particular one is a major disappointment.

This rubber is now out of production.

Using a black 2.0 mm sheet, it’s a good lightweight alternative to the commercial Hurricane 2.

Despite being very tacky, it’s not as tacky as a black sheet of Hurricane 2. For some reason, the throw feels very high with brush looping.

I prefer H2 over this rubber. Less than a month has passed and my sheet already looks very old.

Great Attacking Power

This rubber features an ultra tacky topsheet, providing exceptional grip for aggressive shots.

Lively Performance

Combined with the Transcend sponge, this rubber offers excellent responsiveness both at the table and away from it. Transcend’s lighter and faster nature surpasses traditional Chinese sponges, enhancing speed and control.

Energy Storage and Release

The Transcend sponge’s unique structure stores energy during impact. Unlike most sponges that allow energy to escape, Transcend releases this energy into the ball, resulting in powerful and precise shots.

This is the tackiest rubber I have ever tried. However, it is not very fast.

This is a tacky rubber on a medium-hard Transcend sponge. It is not very fast on flat hitting contact, but you can load up the spin on loops.

People have been wondering about the hardness of the sponge. It’s hard, but the top sheet is soft and tacky. The rubber feels really soft when hitting, like 38 hardness. Pressing just the sponge, it felt around 44 hardness. So a 2.0 sponge will feel softer than a 2.2 sponge because you get more hard sponge.

I prefer a 2.2 sponge because it’s more springy. Don’t forget to prime the rubber to make it more soft and lively. This rubber is meant to be used with speed glue. It’s pretty slow without it. If you’re not using glue, use a very fast blade. It may still be too slow.

The dwell time is huge, even on a stiff blade. Serving, looping, and pushing are so-so. Driving and counter loop drives are this rubber’s specialty. If speed gluing was still legal, I would give this rubber a 9 or 10. In the new age, I give it an 8. Without glue, this is suitable for a beginner. Advanced players can still use this rubber, they just would need to put it on a rocket blade. Again, don’t forget to prime it.

Like Jeff said, this rubber is best used for Chinese-style strokes. It’s not good for European strokes and the long game.

This is a very good looping rubber. However, in my opinion, it does lack a little kick. It is good for close to the table.

The sponge is not too hard, in my opinion, which makes this rubber a little lively. As a result, short spinny serves are not as easy to achieve.

Overall, this is the second favorite friendship rubber after Focus2. I did also try the SP with ESN sponge and I think I like that one better. The ESN sponge is harder and can generate a little more power when needed.

Very tacky topsheet for service and short game.

The sponge is hard but not as hard as the commercial Hurricane.

Looping is best done with a Chinese style stroke.

It’s made for an offensive game.