Killerspin Forza 4z Review

First published on Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Last updated on Tuesday, June 3, 2008

by Greg Letts - an Australian state coach, an International Umpire and one of the top ranked players in his country.

Megaspin were kind enough to send me a Killerspin Forza 4z rubber to try out and review. Here are my thoughts after putting this rubber through its paces. I started off by speed gluing the Forza 4z with Stiga Victory Energy glue on a Timo Boll Spirit blade. I used my normal speed gluing technique - one layer on the rubber, then one layer on the blade, then another layer on the rubber. I then wait until the rubber is touch dry, put the rubber on the blade, and clamp lightly together for about half and hour.

First Impressions

I started out by looping a few balls with the Forza 4z. My first thoughts were "Hell, this thing is a monster!" Startling pace and heavy spin. I couldn't resist the temptation to try powerlooping a few balls, and the speed went up another notch. Yikes! But the feel remained good - sort of like driving a Mercedes at high speed - fast but under smooth control. I played around a little with pushing (OK), blocking (nice and speedy), and even chopping (er, maybe not!).

So to start with, the Forza 4z struck me as an attacker's delight - great power, good spin and nice feel on your strong shots, with fast but linear response on the touch side. I decided to wait a couple of days for the glue effect to disappear, then try it again to see what it was like without the glue.

Non-speed glued

Without the speed glue effect, the Forza 4z is still a pleasure to play with. It still has plenty of pace (although obviously not quite as much as when glued), and the spin is probably a touch less. Overall the spin/speed ratio moves a little towards the spin side, but with pace still uppermost. I'd maybe compare it as being faster than unglued Sriver or Mark V, but with perhaps a touch more spin and at least as much control.

Looping and driving still rewards the aggressive player with a lively result, but pushing and chopping become a little easier to control. Blocking didn't seem a lot different to me, other than the fact that the ball comes off the rubber a little slower. Counterlooping is not a problem either - the rubber gives you plenty of room for error. I got a couple of friends who use Butterfly Ekrips (a counterhitter) and Donic Vario (a looper) to try out the non-speed glued version of Forza 4z, and they both liked the rubber immediately, so I'd say the rubber should be quite versatile and will please a wide range of attacking players. So using the Forza 4z without speed glue or boosters/tuners is definitely a viable option for those players who don't want the inconvenience or expense.

Speed glued

Having tested the Forza 4z without speed glue, I took it off and speed glued it again in order to get a better comparison between the glued and non-glued behaviour. No doubt about it, this stuff is truly nasty with the speed glue. It really does reward an aggressive swing at the ball. The feel remains pretty linear though, which is good. So as you swing harder you get more effect from the rubber, while it is not unmanageable and performs as you would expect from a very fast rubber on the touch shots.

Powerlooping is really a joy with this rubber, and counterlooping is a breeze when the rubber is speed glued. I also spent a while just smashing against slow loops as hard as I could for the sheer pleasure of seeing how fast the ball would go (pretty darn fast!). The Forza 4z handles your opponents spin very well, allowing you to pretty much pick a target on the opponent's court and hit it with good consistency.

OK - so what's the downside? I can't attest to the durability of the rubber, since I haven't been using it for weeks on end. I also wouldn't recommend it in 2.1mm thickness for pushers or choppers - the focus of this rubber is definitely on aggressive attack - with or without topspin. And it's not as cheap as Chinese rubber, although it's nowhere near the price range of Bryce and co. Pretty good value for money I would think.

Conclusion

Overall, I'm quite taken with Forza 4z. I'm generally a Stiga/Butterfly/JOOLA person, so I wasn't expecting all that much beforehand. But I must admit that Killerspin have done a great job with this rubber, and I'd have no hesitation in adding this rubber to my list of recommendations for aggressive players - there's a lot to like and not much downside that I can see. One final warning - powerlooping with Forza 4z is highly addictive - I'm mainly a defender and even I'm itching to blast a few more balls at my opponents!

Order Killerspin Forza 4Z »

← View all Articles