This is a very friendly allround european style weapon. Linear rubber with average spin. Excellent control, effective forehand hitting and easy to loop from all distance. We can vary the spin and speed of the ball at will and the rubber works very well whatever incoming spins was on the ball. Blocking is consistent, short game and pushing is good. Comparing it side-by-side my tuned dawei inspirit quattro UL 40, focus 3 snipe is little slower, but this is far better in all aspects. Snipe is going to replace on my FH and BH.

this rubber is extremely soft, a big slam clone, but not cloned well
i thought it was a focusIII but with lighter sponge, its not..

this rubber
has no grip at all,compared to normal focusIII and the overseas products are much better, i mean esn products

just got this rubber...I've been playing with Desto F3 for years on the BH and I gotta say this rubber is much better than I thought it would be. I don't usually like Chinese rubbers as they are too sticky and too slow for me, but I gotta say this was pretty close to F3, and for the price can't beat it. F3 is probably little better quality, but for lower level players under 1600 this is good rubber. Thumbs up...first Chinese rubber I actually liked.

Excellent rubber!

An incredible, very fast rubber and efectuoso, it has an European style, is very frivolous, ideal for the players of offensive game who want the maxim speed

This rubber is definitely not for speedy mid-distance attacks but only for quick, close to the table attacks and defenses. This Chinese rubber has a reputation of nice control and decent spin. But do not expect it as spinny as a Nittaku rubber. If you loop far away from the table, you can hardly make it because this rubber is not of a tensor type, nor is it comparable to Japanese spring sponge type. It appears as a clone of F3 but lighter. The price is unbeatable. I use it for my bh to lower the weight of my racket (Darker 7p-2a.7t).

a few layer PO and perfect!!!

I totaly agreed with jac, this is very good rubber, but do not expect this as your big offensive weapon. average speed and spin,very good control. for the price, excellent bh rubber

Very high quality rubber from 729. Grippy and light, like a Sriver clone. The top sheet is thinner with smaller pips, so more spin and control. There seem to be 2 sponge versions: I ordered 2 rubbers (red and black) from ColesTT and the red is marked 42 deg but feels like 38; black is marked 40 deg but feels like 36. Interestingly the red come with sticky film but the black just has a piece of cover paper. The harder version plays like regular Sriver and the softer like Sriver EL/FX...

Playing with backsides, I tried to find a good "partner" for my Rakza 7 Soft. For starting the review, I know that starting with 2010, a "Tenergy-mania" developped quicly. However, the price and the high throw angle pushed me to go away. I found the Yasaka rubbers better than Butterfly Tenergy because of many points:
- more forgiving (because less sensitive to the service spin)
- very good spin and very durable
- less expansive (30-40� here in Europe, where Tenergy are 50-60�)
NOW... I will go for Focus III Snipe...
Is a chinese tensor rubber (2.1 mm), with very good topsheet. I bought 2 times 2 sides (red and black) from ttnpp.com. Strange, but if the first time the back of the rubbers was marked H.42 (for the Hardness), after 1 month after, the rubers were marked H.40 (more elastic but more tender).
Yesterday I found on the net advises for "eacheng.net" as being the best for "quality-price" service for tennnis-table. And IS TRUE !!!! I asked what type of hardness they have and why is possible to have this heterogeneity on the market. After few hours, they answered that the chinese factory can sell TODAY (december 2010) many types of hardness: 40, 42, 44 and 46 degrees !!!!!
This is an extraordinary thing. I will explain. The Focus III Snipe is really a "sniper" rubber. Very very forgiving for returning the serves, it has the ability to inverse very well the spin (I speak fom the returner point of view). In other words, where Tenergy are very sensitive, and the Rakza 7 Soft oblige however to compensate the angle with a good push, the Focus III Snipe needs just a little angle and a little push, with fantastic control.
Another point: the gears ! This rubber has many many gears, depending on the blade you use for. Is not a missile or a flash weapon, however it's a tensor rubber. When you push it, the gears are here. Many players like to obtain very fast strokes with minimum effort, but this must be payed with less control and very very good technique. On the other hand, the abilities of very fast rubber are not big: you can't play a big variety of styles as answer to your opponent. In general you play "your style" against another style, with little possibility to adapt. What I liked to Focus III Snipe was the ability to be an offensive rubber but a very good strategic one. For exemple against pimps out rubbers or very spinny serves or very quickly styles etc.
It's durability (lasts a long time) and its price (especially from eacheng.net), and the possibility to buy many hardness for the sponge make this rubber a FANTASTIC ONE. I expect that its price will rest as it is now for many years. However, attention please, because the hardness marked on the sponge is a chinese one, and contrary on the other chinese rubbers (for exemple the classical 729 FX is less tender than expected) , here chinese 40° means 36° for the European scale - and so on for the other degrees).
IN CONCLUSION, now I'm using this rubber for my backhand, and a Rakza 7 soft (2 mm) for the forehand on a Yasaka Extra 3D blade. But because its forgivness, I think I will inverse the sides (I can smash better the return of my service with Focus III snipe, because it is even more foregiving and less sensitive to the returning spin. The ability to block is excellent too. It's very rare to find so high multi-disciplinarity for a rubber.
Thank you for reading my review. I suppose that anyone can find his treasure among all these sponge hardness (40, 42, 44 and 46). YOU MUST specify to eacheng.net as adding info the hardness sponge you want. Best regards from France !

This is a brilliant rubber and nice quality.
Amazing for precise looping, the control is really good
for that amount of speed.
Good combination the soft sponge, and thin stiffer non-
tacky chinese top-sheet, overall game feeling is medium
soft, lowest sensitivity to incoming spin I played.
Simple safely topspin against backspin.
Snipe is medium fast (similar than SFX, Desto F3) and
light (uncut mass: 50-54g!),
but with tuner oil on the top-sheet (without remove), and
this is as good as any factory tuned tensor in most areas
(PME, T-05FX).

This rubber is impressive! many people are adding it to their backhand for a non-tacky tensor. It's fast due to the very springy, medium soft sponge. For that reason, I wouldn't go above 2.0 thickness to maintain control. Trust e on that! Overall, this rubber trumps other high end brand rubbers 2-3 times its price! If this type is what you need, get one. You will not be dissapointed!

So is it tensor or not ?

This is linear rather than tensor, but fast and good throw angle.
With tuner oil it is faster and predictable than tuned t64, the same blade!

I bought this because many reviewers said this is a good rubber for mechanical / euro style looping. NOT quite true. The rubber is lightweight and faster than most Friendship/729 rubbers, but the spin is very low. I can make fast shots but there is simply not much spin no matter how i driver it (brush or mechanical).

Spin 8
speed 9
Control 10
This is amazing versatile rubber!

I use this rubber in 2.1 on an LKT Instinct blade as a backhand rubber.

It is fairly light but with decent speed. I'm an average player, so on my backhand I don't have many shots that make use of its spin capabilities. That said, I find its spin to be low but have mess around with in on my forehand and was able to produce good spin. Blocking does not return very fast balls (mostly likely due to the Instinct) but is very consistent. The short game is about average. I believe this rubber is capable of playing up to mid but is more accurate playing close. The price point is a good in any scenario. Being non-tacky I know it reacts less to spin than tacky rubbers but I find it reacting more than I though it would. I've been playing with this rubber for 4 months and with regular cleaning with water I do notice a decrease in performance, but not a detrimental one.

Overall, a decent rubber for the price as either a forehand or backhand. It doesn't have anything special other than perhaps the lightness that gives one an edge; however, good technique and practice will not go unused with this rubber.

Best Chinese Rubber Ever!!
can make good loop, good spin and good speed..

NOTHING LESS FROM THIS RUBBER!

Lacks a bit of bite for serving, and short game . Excellent at loop attack, and is easy to control incoming spin. Playing with Galaxy LQ1 with allround game I find it hard to keep smashes down. The thickness of the sponge appears to be around 2.3mm. A better choice for flat hitting would be 2mm, but I don't think it available in this thickness

40 deg (hardness: soft):
speed: 8
spin: 8
throw angle: medium
controll: 10
gears: 8
pushing/service:7
smashing:9
blocking:10
topspin against backspin:9
uncut weight: 52g

46 deg (hardness: medium, slightly harder than tenergy):
speed: 9
spin: 9
throw angle: high
controll: 10
gears: 10
pushing/service: 9
smashing: 10
blocking: 10
topspin against backspin:10
uncut weight: 56g

I've tried all sponge hardness (40,42,44,46). My favorite is the hardest version (46 deg). Best spin and attack force, good throw angle.

(How can you compare apples to melons? Cream is a good classical chinese rubber with tacky surface. The snipe is a very forgiveness euro/jap rubber, with a thin, elastic non-tacky topsheet.)

I also liked the hardest sponge. This is still low spin reactivity, good dynamic and maximum speed.

Incredible versatile rubber, (black 40deg 1.8mm), similar to sriver FX, but I think this is a better surface. :)

This one of the most overvalued rubbers I've tried this year (2011).

The spin and control are poor. The speed and the weight are decent.

Good for newbies that do not have any spin-based games.

IMHO it is too expensive for what it is worth.

The default values are wrong : Control=11, Spin=11, Speed=12. True values are 11-8-9. I prefer Transcend Cream wich performs better for all aspects. However, the really nice things of that rubber are control and weight. They should apply it to all the 729 rubbers^^. I would advise this rubber to beginners or players who want a rubber for an allround style play with a lot of ball placements.

I'm not surprised a lot of good and bad opinions, but I think it's a really good rubber family.
There are many kinds of sponge thickness and hardness are available (40, 42, 44, 46 deg, 1.5mm, 1.8mm, 2.1m)
That's a lot different characteristics, the 46deg is harder than tenergy, the 40deg is softer than sriver fx.
The thinner or harder sponge, there is more throw angle and spin.
I would recommend a harder version if one is using it with flexible blade.

I like it. Surprisingly fast and pretty decent spin. Great to block with. I'd say it's a step up from Mark V but a notch below Gambler Outlaw. The best part is you get all this good performance in a light weight sheet (usually 52 grams uncut, but sometimes 48 and I've had one at 55). If you have a heavy forehand sheet and blade, putting this on the backhand can keep from getting a top heavy feel.

Very easy rubber to play with. I have it on both FH and BH, but i find much more use of it on the BH. Great for blocking shots since it's so soft, and the control is one of the best I've tried, but also relatively fast. Would be good for a defensive-minded player.

No tacky rubber with soft sponge, not really fast and spinny but with good control. It has an high trow angle, it's better for BH. It get really better if you use booster

this is a low qualitiy rubber.
no speed glue effect bilt inside.
not a proffesional level rubber.
can replace something like sriver.
the price equal to the qualitiy 13.50$

By far the best rubber you can buy for 10 USD. As a matter of fact, it worked even better than Palio Thor's on my Andro Temper Tech All+ blade.

Good speed, enough spin, excellent control, great at winning points. Keeping the ball close to the net with Snipe 3 is as easy as it can get.

Globe 999 National is a great match for my Xi Enting X 969 blade, so I begin to doubt it is worth paying more than 15 USD for a rubber.

Thumbs up for Friendship! This is definitely a rubber worth buying if you find the right blade for it.

Great value! Not the fastest rubber but has very good control and has good dwell time. Spin is average. It can do almost all shot well but looping is one of its main strength. Very good rubber all in all. One of the better chinese rubber available.

It feels like you play with japan or europe sponge with top sheet china rubber, greath control with nice spins...

what a quality rubber from 729, its have everything in good rated, although not the spinniest or fastest but its have nice maintaining balance!

Nice rubber, good for every kind of shoots, specially for looping, very very amazing...i feel like plays with t energy 25fx with better control.

Best 729 rubber I ever played with. Have everything with nice balance skor, i feel play with expensive rubber such...markV hps or t energy 05 fx...try this one, its greath!

this a well balance chinese rubber i've been searching for long time. Very well...make every stroke spinny and under control.

suitable for close to the table attacking player (all to off+) depens on your typical blade used. Water glued, wont have loose the speed and spin. Special rubber from 729...nice!

Everyone whos looking for combination of china spinny shot and fast speed like japan or euro sponge, try this one. You'll never regret!

not the spinniest speedest or controlest, but it has well balance in spin, speed and control, with the medium soft feel like japanese and euro rubbers.

Probably the best 729 rubber, I feel much better using this rubber, its has everything i need to sharpen my game!

with haifu water glue, its feel better in everything, more speed and spin but still with good control

A well balanced allround rubber. Its not that fast, its not that spinny, but nice control. And quality? Very durable and cheaper!!! So much to offer for that price!!! $9.30 at eacheng.net.
If you are a allround player its a fantastic rubber.
If you are a begginer its a nice rubber to start.

My friend has this rubber (black 40°) on his blade (Galaxy Earth E3) and sometimes we switch our weapons :) so my opinion is : control 9.7 speed 9 spin 8...This rubber is really a SNIPER FOCUS...very very VERY good control(almost perfect) with very nice speed and medium spin...you can make some LOOP with this rubber...but your swing have to be like 90%...and still you wont get the effect that you want... if you are a LOOP player, choose something else...Its perfect for block, coz this rubber does not count your enemy spins and you can use this control to simply point the direction where you want to place the ball :)

I was looking for a good backhand rubber with medium throw and unfortunately i bought this one in black. It's non-tacky which means serves are not spinny, and it has a very high throw. I bought the red one also hoping i got a bad sheet, but no. This rubber has a 8.0 throw in my opinion, it's way higher than H3 Neo or other DHS rubbers, and the worst part is that you can only feel this very high throw at higher speed.
This rubber forces you to close you paddle twice as much as you should with a regular rubber (CreamTranscend, LKT Pro XP, Rapid Speed, etc ). This also makes blocks a bit weird, as you have to close your paddle a lot to block a fast incoming ball. All in all, unusable for bh, and too slow and non tacky for FH. It's speed is highly overrated by other peoples and i can't figure it why. Durability of the sponge is just terrible: as hard as you would try it's impossible to remove the water-glue from the sponge without making dents.
I have 2 sheets in my drawer, accumulating dust, good for neither bh of fh. Hope this serves as a warning for others.

I bought the black one 1,8 mm 42° and feel was really good, sponge was soft, so I decided to buy red one but 40° and I was really disappointed. The 40° was much harder then 42° it was maybe hard as 46°. I tried to complain because it hardness was stamped at cover, and I thought that it was mistake but answer was something that I didn't want to accept. Hardness from 42°-46° is from one manufacturer and 40° from the other, so if you have trust in numbers I wish you good luck.

I'm a penholder and I have the Focus 3 snipe (2.1mm/40�°) rubber on my BH on Ma Lin extra offensive blade, and the focus is extremely forgiving, infact its a better version of Yasaka Mark V but with a very low spong quality. this rubber works best with a hard stiff blade becuase of its soft sponge. good speed, very good spin & magnificent control.

Very great rubber overall

I was looking for the backhand cheaper rubber with good spin and speed, so ordered it based on the reviews on this site... A complete disapointment sponge feels dead, top sheet looks OK and can generate some spin, but way below than rated. This rubber can be used as defencive rubber, but it is too thick for defenders to be considered.

Hardness Black 42 / Red 45. Weight seems medium-heavy.

Rubber is only very slightly tacky when new. The sponge is medium to medium-hard. Not sure why people rate it as soft. Maybe softer than average Chinese brick-like sponges but that is about all.

Quite fast and spin is good but less than tacky rubbers. Also a good level of control.

Throw angle I found to be medium-high.

Blocking was OK with sufficient bounce without playing a stroke.

Pushing and chop serves were OK for control but spin was not heavy due to lack of tacky surface.

Attacking felt good with this rubber with good pace and control. Spin could have been heavier with tackier rubber, but a very good rubber for the price. It played more like a medium sponge than medium-hard.

My ratings:
Speed: 8.4; Spin: 8.2; Control: 8.7
Tackiness: Slightly tacky; Throw Angle: Medium
Weight: Average; Sponge Harness: Medium; Gear: Above average gears
Durability: Lasts longer than average; Consistency: Always identical
Overall: 8.5

whitout tuner:
awesome attack speed, average spin, really good control

The thin top sheet is very good quality (best chinese topsheet?), with absolutely non-tacky surface, but reliable grip when high speed short contact time. The rubber is linearly adjustable speed and spin, with low spin reactivity, but average durability.

This is one of the best rubber for speedglue!

I bought this rubber because all the positive reviews, and they were true! The thing that surprised me most, was the speed. I have it on my FH on a Stiga AR, and it plays very controlled, and quite fast. I was using the H3 Provincial on my FH, but when I realized the Snipe was faster I switched sides. The looping is also strong, controlled loops. I just ordered two Cream Transcend's to put on my new off blade, so we will see how they compare.