Stiga Airoc S

This rubber has a good spin, which makes it ideal for serves and top spins. It is also great for blocks. However, it is very soft and not ideal for the new ball. Additionally, it is a very sensitive rubber that tears easily.

Stiga rubbers used to be a revelation for me. When I first tested Innova Ultra Light, it felt like an upgrade in my playstyle. From that time, I developed very good serves and spins. My game and level increased, as did my adversaries’, so did my material. I went to Calibra LT, with an ALL+ wood, and that was terrible.

So for this season, I changed everything with Stiga Offensive CR WRB, mounted with Airoc S on both sides. A new revelation! New pleasure at the table! I’m making a lot of winning serves, and mid and away from the table topspins are amazingly spinny and precise. I feel like I can put everything on the table, due to the security lead by the throwing angle being quite high. It’s almost like you have the ball in your hand.

I can also spin cut balls with ease. There’s a lot of control while blocking. It’s perfect for aggressive gameplay, against modern players.

Of course, like most soft blades (all?), it’s quite hard at short game with no effect. The high throw angle is hard to control (with hard blade of course, but with soft blades, it’s less interesting at topspinning) - so the ball often goes up and turns to punishment. I’m bad at smashing, and this rubber adds to this difficulty due to the high throwing angle. On high balls, you almost have to smash it on your side if you want the ball to hit the table. Even though I’m bad, I have a percentage of missed balls of almost… 95%. Speed and angle obliterate the control, and high balls must be played another way (even though I must be a large part of the 95% XD).

Last point, I mainly serve and attack forehand, which is required in 85% of my power shots. After 6 months, 1 training session a week + matches on the weekend + 2 tournaments on the period, my forehand rubber is quite marked! It’s still spinning, a bit harder, and not so trustworthy as it was at first. Throwing angle has faded a bit too. It’s still a good blade, I’m not changing it now, but I’ll come back when it’s time for me to change.

Got this rubber super cheap for almost $20, totally worth every cent. There’s no better option out there for that money.

I play with Timo Boll ALC (FH 1.7mm), and I found this rubber to be spinney and easy to control. Blocking feels amazing, and looping underspin comes with ease. However, I struggle a bit when playing short on the table since the rubber lacks a little punch and usually ends pushing the ball onto the net.

I believe this rubber was made for the intermediate to advanced players since the ball trajectory is not that consistent. You have to hit the ball with good technique to make it hit your opponent’s side of the table. I usually play with tensor rubbers that are far more consistent, but I found this on a record-low price and I’m very pleased with the quality so far.

I don’t actually get why Stiga stopped manufacturing this rubber series, yet I believe it is due to durability issues. In my case after ~10 hours of training and playing, the rubber doesn’t have any sign of wear out, like other rubbers from Xiom or Andro do.