Stiga Airoc M Video and Written Review - All You Need To Know

Want to relive the spin of the celluloid days? Stiga Airoc M's specially formulated oxygen capsule system is the answer you may be looking for.

The Stiga Airoc Medium is one of the first rubbers on the market specifically designed to combat the limitations of the new plastic ball. Stiga have introduced a new Oxygen Capsule System sponge to focus on producing more spin and acceleration with the poly ball for maximum performance.

In order to remain consistent across the reviews we used the Stiga Clipper CR and the DHS 3 Star Plastic Ball again for our testing and reviews.

SEE STIGA AIROC M PRICE & OUR CUSTOMER REVIEWS >>

Oxygen Capsule Technology

Stiga uses the new oxygen capsule technology to make the sponge more porous. The air pockets within the sponge have been enlarged to make the sponge more reactive and elastic. For this reason, the Airoc M offers a greater dwell time without making the sponge too soft. There is no loss of power or speed.

Counter-topspin Driving

The sponge is relatively firm for a rubber and that produces a decent spin. It has fantastic feeling and control as well as a great energy transfer into the ball for simple counter-topspin rallies. You can play these strokes with ease and a high level of consistency.

Loop Against Topspin

The Airoc M has a decent amount of spring through the sponge and the topsheet has good grip without being tacky (this has been a popular choice for some rubbers in combatting the new ball). The rubber has a high margin of safety with its relatively high throw angle and a good spin combination. When playing topspin, it is important to close the angle a little more to compensate for the high throw. Again, superb control in these situations at close and middle range.

Loop Against Underspin

The high arc produced by Stiga Airoc M really makes a big difference against underspin balls. Opening balls are fairly easy to control and achieve a heavy spin on. In terms of making powerful third ball openings, this rubber is probably not the best choice as it is difficult to put a lot of direct power into the contact. The sponge is a little too forgiving for making these strokes, but it makes up for it with ease of opening and consistency.

Blocking and Close-Table Counter

This is a great rubber for blocking. The great thing about Airoc M is that since its sponge has larger pores, it has a lot of the properties of a softer sponged rubber without being too soft. This is a great characteristic as you get to maintain some of the power of medium firm sponges, while the larger pores allow longer dwell time and high control. This rubber is very well suited for close-table techniques.

Short Game

The ball dwells slightly longer in short pushing scenarios and that helps to give it a little more spin. Also, the extra reactivity of the sponge makes the ball go that extra distance. With the new ball, the touch for short play has become more difficult, so having that added bit of bounce off the rubber and topsheet really helps to carry the ball over. Be sure to keep the angle somewhat closed to keep the ball low over the net.

Flicking and Serve Receive

The high point of flicking was again control and spin. It is slightly more difficult to play the killshot type of flicks that require a strong direct catapult effect and a harder sponge. We were able to be very consistent opening with flicks on both wings and produce reasonable spin. However, we found it a little hard to drive the ball through to generate more speed. We had a high rate of consistency and great success ratios when playing at a 70-80% pace while flipping.

Service

The added dwell time of this rubber makes service easy to control and the amount of spin produced is reasonable. We think that a bit of tackiness in the topsheet could have helped to increase the dwell on the topsheet even further.

Conclusion

Stiga have definitely produced a high quality rubber which can produce a high level of spin with the plastic ball. The oxygen capsule system has allowed them to combine the properties of softer sponges into a more medium firm sponge. The result is a rubber which achieves longer dwell time, great spin and arc as well as superb control. While the rubber could be improved by adding a bit more power, the Airoc M is well suited for close and mid-range attackers and spin-control type players. The rubber has a higher throw angle and you can loop high arc balls with a strong margin of safety against both topspin and underspin.

This rubber is definitely great for those who are struggling to generate spin with the new ball and those who preferred softer rubbers with the celluloid ball but are now looking for something a bit firmer but with similar properties.

SEE STIGA AIROC M PRICE & OUR CUSTOMER REVIEWS >>

Got any questions or comments about the Stiga Airoc M rubber? Let us know in the comments or shoot an email to our friendly customer support at [email protected].
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