Barracuda (Donic)

The rubber with vicious spin.

The new FORMULA DONIC BARACUDA rubber with inbuilt speed glue effect produces fantastic spin. With DONIC BARACUDA the ball leaves the blade in a conspicuously higher arc, giving considerably more spin. The increased rotation of the ball stabilises the flight and increases speed. The results are convincing after a few hours of training to become used to this modern rubber. Accuracy of placement is visibly improved even for top players.

DONIC BARACUDA offers that extra margin of safety even in the tightest situation, and not only when engaged in a high risk top spin game. DONIC BARACUDA's top rubber surface has been newly constructed to minimise abrasion and damage to the edges. The happy result: more playing hours with a surface that remains intact without noticeable damage.

Speed: 91
Spin: 98
Control: 71

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Average user rating from: 1 user

Overall rating		3.6
Speed (1 rating)		2.5
General spin (1 rating)		4.0
Mechanical spin (1 rating)		4.5
Topsheet spin (1 rating)		4.0
Sponge hardness (1 rating)		2.0
Weight (1 rating)		2.5
Reglue effect (1 rating)		1.0
Speed glue effect: feel (1 rating)		2.0
Speed glue effect: sound (1 rating)		1.0
Control (1 rating)		4.5
Durability (1 rating)		4.0
Serve (1 rating)		4.0
Short game (1 rating)		4.0

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful

Tuesday, 08 June 2010

Written by bbgobie - Top 50 reviewer - View all my reviews

Overall rating		3.6
Speed		2.5
General spin		4.0
Mechanical spin		4.5
Topsheet spin		4.0
Sponge hardness		2.0
Weight		2.5
Reglue effect		1.0
Speed glue effect: feel		2.0
Speed glue effect: sound		1.0
Control		4.5
Durability		4.0
Serve		4.0
Short game		4.0

The Barracuda is a Tensor from Donic that has a tackier surface than their older Tensors. It results in great spin when serving which is my only gripe against Tensor rubbers. This rubber is also not very fast for a Tensor and plays almost like the older generation rubbers. Except it has a soft sponge giving outstanding control. I think for an intermediate player who won't glue this is an excellent rubber to use as it provides plenty of control. I'd say speed is similar to Donic F3 but spin and control are better.

I'm a big believer in soft sponged rubbers and med speed blades with good feel. The sponge is fairly porous, entire sheet was 67.6g un-cut.

Speed is linear, in that controlling how hard the ball comes off the racket is very easy. Unlike say Tenergy 05 which if you hit just a bit harder it can go flying. With the friction of the top sheet you also don't get balls that slip off as you do with Tenergy. Of course the speed is much slower with this rubber.

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