This is what the Butterfly website says on its website about its Feint Long III rubber.
“Butterfly is proud to announce a totally new defensive weapon, Feint Long III. Designed for the aggressive chopper, Feint Long III features a softer more flexible top sheet combined with a softer sponge. The result is a long pip rubber ideal for long range heavy chopping strokes with maximum control.” Speed: 6, Spin: 4, Sponge Density: 25
This is what the Butterfly Company says on the back of a Feint Long III rubber case.
“A special feature of a long pimpled rubber is the wide range of spin that can be imparted on the ball, from heavy back spin to virtually no spin at all. The wide variation in spin is effected by the extent the long pimples bend when contacting the ball; whilst maintaining the aspect ratio within ITTF regulations, we have formulated pimples whose shape and hardness react to the oncoming ball in an adequate extent. FEINT LONG III is the best choice for attacking players who prefer to close play close-to-the-table and require a wide range of spin variation; furthermore, the rubber is also ideal for defensive players, who need to impart heavy backspin to the ball.”
Are you confused with the two statements from Butterfly? I was. I was attracted to this rubber after seeing their first statement. After playing the rubber for some days against different style of players, I came to the conclusion that their second statement is closer to the behavior of this rubber than the first one.
The Feint Long III rubber is a friction rubber. This has not been banned by ITTF, and is legal after July this year. The rubber has very good quality and is not way treated by any solution. The Feint Long III rubber is being used by world’s best chopper Koji Matsushita of Japan. I have personally met him in Europe last year. He uses a 0.5 mm version. He twidles the paddle between rallies in his forehand and backhand.
In the hands of a skilled defensive player, this rubber is really a weapon. You can’t just buy this rubber, and expect all the weird stuff that a long pimples can do for a defensive player. You have to practice for at least two to three months with this rubber to achieve what you are looking for.
This rubber behaves very different from the previous version Feint Long II. The Feint Long II uses an orange sponge which is little harder than the gray color sponge that has been used on Feint Long III which is softer. The softer sponge causes the ball to sink and bounce slower than a hard sponge. This quality of the rubber helps to generate myriad of spin only if you use the strokes effectively.
The long pips players would like to block their opponent’s balls and reverse the opponent’s spin. I haven’t seen Feint Long III can reverse the opponents spin, rather it kills the opponent’s spin and return bouncy no spin or knuckle ball most of the time. Comparing with Feint Long II, Feint Long III has less friction. That alone does not help to reverse the spin because the longer and wider pips resists the lateral movement.
Feint Long III provides more control blocking the ball. I would recommend a 0.5 or OX version to blockers. I’ve used a 1.3 version to test its other characteristics. The ability of this rubber to kill the spin makes this rubber as a very good hitting rubber. Against underspin balls, being close to the table, you can hit it easily. Fast short push stroke against underspin balls is very impossible with this rubber, in such situations lifting the ball at the bounce of the ball is necessary. To effectively push an underspin ball, you need a great amount of skill with this rubber. Though you try hard, you would be less successful in generating underspin.
You need to brush the ball to generate myriad of spin with this rubber. Brushing the ball is important because allowing the ball to sink to the pips wont give you a chance to spin the ball later. The players who have used the regular inverted rubbers to play defensively and brush the ball easily to generate under spin will find it easier to migrate to Feint Long III.
In contrary to such defensive players, the modern defensive players cut the ball. The Feint Long III is not smart enough to cut the ball, and that’s where you need very good skill. Your stroke should be in an 80 to 90 degree horizontal movement to cut it effectively.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
many thankssssssssssssss
what is you recomendation to use f3 .5 or 1.3 is better with timoboll ALC blad?
thanks
how good is this as chop
many thanks (if you reply)
Aaron
my blade is old its made from real wood it made by hans alser ld champion made in sweden (tiga)
which do you think is better for my blade-BTY Defense Alpha….the .5 or 1.3? thnks
Hello Willie:
Thanks for reading our blog. We are going to respond to your question from the vantage point of being your opponent, not your peer.
That said, offensive players would much rather play against the thinner sponge long pips than thicker sponge. Why? With the thicker sponge, one can actually better change the spin variable, making it far more difficult to play against. Long Pips throw the spin back to the opponent. Sponge allows one to absorb or throw back that spin at different intensities depending on how hard the contact is made. This increases the complexity for an offensive player and leads to unforced errors.
The devil however is in the details, a thinner sponge thickness will be easier for you to control but less deception for your opponent.. With a good defensive blade, like the BTY Defence Alpha, it should be easier for you to consider graduating to a thicker sponge.
Bottom line. If you play at a relatively high level and have the ability to vary spin with inverted sponge chops by varying chop speeds and ball contact points, then graduating to a the thicker long pips sponge will be easier for you. If you are not comfortable with changing chop speeds and ball contact points then changing to the thicker sponge will not help you sufficiently enough to consider the change, therefore…… stick with the thinner long pips.
Ben