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[729 fx]

This rubber is tuned by applying Haifu Water Solubility Bond about 10 layers on the sponge then dry it with hairdryer on each layer. The rubber was marked 37 degree (laser etched onto the sponge) and it felt medium soft.

Glue : I used Andro Free Glue (water-based) to stick the rubber to my blade. I applied one very very thin coat on the blade and a very thin layer on the rubber because it has a pretty strong hold

Blade Used:- I used a Galaxy W-3 (supposedly a Yasaka EO Clone) to test this rubber. This is a carbon blade which was rated as OFF.

Initial Impression:- I started hitting with this rubber and immediately noticed that it was really very medium soft as compared with my regular rubber the 729 Super FX (which was medium). It felt more like a Japanese sponge to me, similar to the Kokutake Tulpe 007 sponge that I tried a couple of months earlier. The loud sound produced when hitting the ball might be due to the tuning layer on the sponge too. I would only come to know of the source of sound once i take this rubber off my current blade and put it on some other wooden blade.
Currently, I can only mention that it make sounds like “Chat Chat Chat”.

Speed:- The ball sinks into the sponge very nicely and it lets you feel the ball longer. But comparing with a Tensor rubber like trhe Yasaka Zap it is not slower. Of course I am not comparing “apple to apple”, but I will compared it with the rubbers that I have used or tested before. The Good news is that it is faster than my 729 Super FX, another Chinese rubber.
Although the speed is not as fast as I expect it to be, the plus side is that I can have a feel of the ball.

Spin:- Nothing special like Bryce as the spin from the WS II is moderate and slightly better than the likes of Mark V or even Sriver. Of course these 2 rubbers, Mark V & Sriver is considered "overall" rubber, not very fast rubber.

Control:- This is the funny thing. Control was rated low as this is supposed to be a fast and offensive rubber, but I found that this WS II has amazing control while blocking hard topspins. My guess is that the medium soft sponge gives you the amount of feel of the ball. For push blocking, the speed on blocks is also good and nothing goes out of the table from the majority of the blocks that I employed.

Short Game:- This rubber gives you a better control and attack in short game than Mark V or Super FX. It lets you place the ball where you want it to be and when you attack, it has enough power to put the ball to where you wanted it to be.

Flips:- Slightly more difficult to flip any balls from the WS II as compared with Sriver EL.

I compared with my friend’s Bryce and the WS II has a sponge that is denser than the Bryce sponge. On the Bryce, the ball felt very bouncy but not on the WS II. The WS II does not have the fast rebound speed of Bryce.

Continuing my review on WS II (note am still using it as a FH rubber):
Service:- Since the topsheet is similar to Bryce, the WS II serves better than Mark V or Sriver EL. My guess is that the slightly tacky feels of the topsheet causes a bit more spin on the serves and it makes it a bit more difficult for the opponent to return your serves as compared to serves from Mark V or Sriver EL. But the spin on serves is no where near the amount of spin a H3 can generate. The WS II is rather bouncy and hence the serves tend to stay on a bit higher, just like your average European/Japanese rubbers.

WS II is fairly low throw rubber without a lot of top sheet spin that seems to excel in control. Since it is a wee bouncy and fast (must be because it is tuned), you need to put less energy into the swing just like when you use a Tenergy or other fast rubber when adding speed to the slow ball.
However, when the ball already has a lot of speed on it, this is where the WS II excels. It has a great ability to block, punch block, counter drive off the bounce and counter spin off the bounce against the most powerful drives without losing control of the ball.
Looping : The WS II ability to loop underspin balls is just about decent. For opening FH loops against short chop serves were significantly easier and better. I would rate the throw angle of WS II as a medium. I would rate that the WS II is better used for counter-looping from near table to mid-distance from the table. With counter-looping the WS II is great because it picks up the speed on the incoming ball and turns it into a speedy return.
I changed the rubber as my BH rubber and my findings are similar to my FH as commented. Some additional comments :
Looping –
1) Controlled – you have to add some power to loop the slow ball
2) Speed – very good, especially if the ball travels towards you at a fast speed
3) Counter-looping – excellent in this area

Blocking –
1) Passive block – excellent when the incoming ball is fast
2) Push block – or punch block, excellent in this area too

Driving – good for both driving or even counter driving off the bounce against the most powerful drives without losing control of the ball.
Conclusion : This rubber amazes me in the sense that the more effort you put into this rubber, the more speed it generates. Unlike the tensor rubbers which give you a lot of speed from your compact strokes, this rubber gives you what you put into it. I would opine that it is a great rubber for counter-looping and It does not lack power from mid distance also.

The reason I compared the WS II to Mark V & Sriver is both these rubbers are “classic“ rubber and used by many players and easy to relate to. If I were to use rubbers like Tulpe 007 or Blutenkirsche 868 or even Zap 36-38 degree, many players would be “scratching their heads” and will be wondering what to make of this WS II.

My personal opinion on overall ratings of this rubber:-

Speed:- 8.7 out of 10
Spin:- 8.5 out of 10
Control:- 9.0 out of 10

[ejunkie]

The tunning and drying process make it illegal to use in a Tournament for sure. I am really not even sure Haifu rubber like White Shark is ittf approved yet.