Donic Baracuda Review–Super Spinny Rubber

Under the trend of Tenergy’s best-selling, European ping pong manufacturers are also launching new products to compete with it. The representative one is the cake sponge of Donic company. In fact, Donic Baracuda was the first cake sponge table tennis rubber launched by Donic.

Touted for its incredible spin, Donic Baracuda has a high-speed glue component added to it which makes it stickier, resulting in quicker and stronger shots across the court. This helps competitive players move with greater speed and spin, allowing them to go for more aggressive plays during their matches.

I invited my teammate Zhang to do the test with me. He was a former player of the Tianjin Province team and has played in the second-division Chinese table tennis league.

Who is Donic Baracuda For?

Donic Baracuda is an ideal choice for intermediate players and more advanced players who want a spinny rubber that can provide plenty of spin on serves, topspin loops, chops, and pushes. The feel of the rubber is remarkably comfortable during strokes that require fast accelerations like looping or attacking close to the table.

This rubber is one of the most widely used among those all-rounders who appreciate consistent control and spin.

Review of Donic Baracuda

Basic information

Donic Baracuda is slightly tackier than normal rubbers so it’s widely used by Chinese players as they are used to tacky rubbers like Hurricane. The sponge has medium hardness and it’s medium-heavy, which means that players can have better control while generating more spin.

Speed

We have tested the rubber both on the forehand and backhand. With a great built-in speed glue effect, the rubber has decent speed with loops and drives. But we feel that this rubber is not the best choice for forehand if you pursue a speed monster rubber. The initial speed is not as amazing as Tenergy 05, but the ball can maintain a decent speed after jumping onto the table, which leaves little time for opponents to react.

According to the feedback of Zhang, when I loop far from the table, it’s much easier for him to prepare and do counter loops as the speed is not that fast. But if I hit the ball near the table, then it becomes much quicker and consistent. So if you use Donic Baracuda for forehand, then shorter strokes might be your first choice during the game.

Actually, we suggest it’s better to use this rubber for the backhand if you have a super offensive playstyle. Baracuda doesn’t have the highest speed rating but it has great speed in flat hits. So for most players, doing flatter strokes with the backhand and powerful loops or drives with the forehand is their play style.

Spin

Personally speaking, I would like to give a full mark to this rubber in terms of its spin. This rubber has an amazing response time as it allows more dwell time for the ball to stay on the surface of the racket, which generates additional spin.

But perhaps even more impressive than this is that it also increases the speed of the ball and gives users increased control and stability when performing the exact spin motion during play.

The rubber has a high throw angle and thus, it’s super easy for me to lift up the backspin and generate brutal spin for my opponents. Similarly, when Zhang loops with a higher arc and stronger spin, I am more easily to block the ball out of the table. As the ball becomes quite spinny, once I missed the proper timing to do the block or counter-attack, then it’s impossible to return it back.

Due to the soft sponge, the rubber can absorb the incoming power well and grab the ball perfectly. Thus, huge amounts of spin can be generated, no matter whether you do pushes, loops, drives, etc. You can even use this rubber to chop with forehand.

Control

Donic Baracuda rubber is a phenomenal choice for players who favor control and spin in their shots. In short pushes, this rubber can produce an amazing amount of backspin that easily confuses opponents, resulting in more mistakes. The user can experience immediate feedback from each shot, making it easier to improve technique and accuracy in all areas of the game.

Besides, another advantage of Donic Baracuda is its great durability. With proper maintenance, the rubber can keep tacky after a month’s use. A tacky and soft surface can help players generate great spin with precise placement. During the test, I could clearly feel that no matter the short or long pushes, the ball would arrive at the place where I desired.

However, once the rubber becomes non-tacky, the racket sometimes fails to grab the ball well. Thus, the ball might be slightly higher, lower, shorter, or longer than you expect, which may give great opportunities for your opponents.

Defense

Like all the soft sponge rubbers, Donic Baracuda has a great feel when blocking the ball. Especially in the backhand block, players can defend safely with proper effort. What makes us amazing is its high error tolerance. Sometimes even if we block the ball with a little bit more or less effort, the ball can still pass over the net and land on the table.

In this case, it’s much better than Tenergy 05. With T05 or D05, we have to always use less effort, no matter the passive or active block. Apart from that, the rubber is non-sensitive to the spin, which means players can block back the heavy topspin ball with ease.

Players can also turn from defending to attacking with Baracuda. I prefer to use this rubber to do forehand block and backhand chopping with my long pips. And then once the proper moment comes, I could counterattack with the forehand. The change of rhythm is the key to victory in table tennis games.

Pros and Cons of Donic Baracuda

What I like about Donic Baracuda

• Brutal spin. The ball can become super spinny.
• Great control and defense. This is the advantage of all soft rubbers.
• Very complete performance in every aspect
• Great durability

What I am not satisfied with Donic Baracuda

• The absolute speed is not that fast. Not suitable for players who pursue super-fast speed
• Not very proper to loop far away from the table

Donic Baracuda vs Bluefire m2

Both Donic Baracuda and Bluefire m2 are classic products by Donic Company after the reform of ITTF. And both of them stand for the cake sponge technology in the new era. Both of them have soft sponges and can generate spinny balls with great control.

Click the link to read the review of Donic Bluefire m2 here.

According to my feel and experience, the biggest difference between Donic Baracuda and Bluefire m2 is the play distance from the table. Donic Baracuda is more suitable for flat strokes or smashes near the table. Loops at a far distance from the table are not its strength. However, Donic Bluefire m2 has both better spin and speed and it’s a great choice for loopers who attack far away from the table.

Donic Baracuda vs Tenergy 05

Compared with the Butterfly Tenergy series, the most drawback of the Donic Baracuda is its speed. Despite the fact that it does have decent speed, however, Tenergy 05 is a speed monster. The absolute speed of Tenergy 05 can beat most of the rubbers in the market.

Click here to read the review of Tenergy 05 here.

But on the other hand, it doesn’t mean the faster, the better in table tennis games. For loads of players, they will find it struggling to control a super fast speed as it’s much easier to hit the ball outside the table. So Donic Baracuda has much better control and it’s more friendly to those amateur players, beginners or intermediate players.

Donic Baracuda vs Rakza 7

Similar to the Tenegy series, Rakza 7 has absolutely faster speed but it lacks sufficient control. Donic Baracuda has a high throw angle and has better performance in the spin. As Rakza 7 is harder than Donic Baracuda and the feeling is totally different.

Perhaps Donic Baracuda is similar to Rakza 7 soft. Both of them have soft sponges that can control the ball well and grab the ball perfectly to generate huge amounts of spin. I prefer Donic Baracuda as it is more spin insensitive, which means that it can block the ball with great topspin without any problem.

Donic Baracuda vs Fastarc G1

Both these two rubbers are slightly tacky but Fastarc G1 is slightly harder. And actually both these two rubbers have great control according to my experience. It’s really hard to pick one between them.

But Fastarc G1 is much faster than all other rubbers in the test. Again, in order not to confuse other people, we have to say Donic Baracuda also has great speed. But in comparison with other top rubbers, its absolute speed is not as super as theirs. However, its spin can recompensate for this drawback.

Another huge advantage is that few rubbers have better durability than Donic Baracuda. But Fastarc G1 has quite great durability. It can last a much longer time and for those who are not used to the Tenergy series, both Baracuda and Fastarc G1 are good alternatives.

Conclusion

Donic Baracuda has been around for a long time and is popular among all kinds of players due to its impressive power potential and spin, making it extremely flexible for any kind of shot you may choose to execute. Its control provides both a satisfying and secure playing experience, plus its durability ensures that your blade will last you a very long time.

As the first product of the German Cake Sponge, Baracuda is one the most classic products of the Donic Company. Players can choose it for both backhand and forehand with a harder and speedy blade such as Butterfly Sardius or Butterfly Amultart. It will help you improve the performance a lot in the games.