Tibhar is about to release two new rubbers in July 2017, the Aurus Prime and the Aurus Select.
As Tibhar Australia distributor I received some sample before the release date, which I felt justified a detailed review. Tibhar did not ask this off me, so I’m giving my honest review, pointing out both positive and negatives (which every rubber has).
Both these rubbers use the latest ‘thin-topsheet’ technology from ESN, which is designed for maximum spin, and also allows for a thicker sponge.
Manufacturer Description:
Aurus Prime
Aurus Prime 47.5º is ideal choice for the offensive technical player who plays an attacking all action game and requires perfect ball placement even when his opponent plays passive strokes. The smooth and spin oriented rubber surface combined with a middle hard, catapult loaded sponge will enable the user, in almost any playing situation, to put the sufficient amount of pressure on their opponent.
Aurus Prime is ideal choice for the offensive technical player who plays an attacking all action game and requires perfect ball placement even when his opponent plays passive strokes. The smooth and spin oriented rubber surface combined with a middle hard, catapult loaded sponge will enable the user, in almost any playing situation, to put the sufficient amount of pressure on their opponent. With the innovative SSP technology (a thinner and smooth rubber surface combined with a thicker sponge), the result is a fast and catapult friendly offensive rubber; this rubber also combines an excellent price/quality ratio.
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Speed: 123
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Spin: 115
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Control: 80
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Sponge Hardness: 47.5
Aurus Select
The innovative SSP technology (a thinner and smooth rubber surface combined with a thicker sponge) is a real positive for speed but also provides optimized spin ratings and fantastic sensation. Aurus Select is an allrounder and constitutes the perfect weapon for the experienced player seeking consistent performance.
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Speed: 108
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Spin: 115
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Control: 90
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Sponge Hardness: 45
Pictures:
Here are some pictures of the rubbers (click to zoom in):
The first thing you’l probably notice is that there are no labels on these sheets at all, and also the little notch at the bottom. This is because these are samples, not the production rubbers, although performance should be identical.
Colourful sponges seems to be the trend these days, and these cool new colours are no exception.
The surface of both topsheets looked identical. The topsheet has a shine to it, but has a grainy structure when you look closer, see below:
It’s not clear if the labels on the sponge mean anything, they’re problem just production numbers. Looking a little closer at the sponge, you’ll see that the pores are significantly larger than traditional rubbers.
Sponge thickness & hardness:
The sponge really does look thicker than what you see on other MAX thickness rubbers. They measured as about 2.3mm.
Sheet size were both 169 x 169mm, which is quite common, although I find this a little disappointing because some oversize blades are actually larger than this.
Weight
- Aurus Prime 68g
- Aurus Select: 66g
This results in 0.238 and 0.231 g/cm2 for our rubber mass database.
Sponge hardness, using this site’s sponge hardness reference scale:
- Aurus Prime 52 degrees
- Aurus Select: 49 degrees
These measurements show that the Select clearly has the softer sponge, which also explains the slightly lighter weight.
Inspection of Aurus Prime & Aurus Select:
After taking out the rubber from the packet, there was no obvious tuner/booster small, just a rubber smell. There was also no oily residue that you can sometimes find on factory boosted rubbers, so there is no evidence these rubbers are boosted. Not that there is anything wrong with factory boosted rubbers (which is perfectly legal too as long as the VOC level are low enough to pass the VOC tests), but boosted rubber can sometimes have a drop in performance when the effect wears off.
Aurus Prime & Aurus Select Review:
To come shortly…
