Donic F2: The Overshadowed Little Brother

Originally published 2023-07-07 · Translated & republished with permission

Welcome to this issue of the Mushroom Field Guide, which is purely a public-interest column meant as a reference for fellow players. Today’s subject: the Donic F2, the overshadowed little brother.

Mushroom’s Quick Take

The Donic F1 holds a status you could call the “Hurricane 3 of German rubbers,” deeply loved by a wide range of players, especially the older crowd. Like the Raylon, the Donic F2 looks dim and unremarkable standing next to such a great big brother.
True to the consistent traits of German tensors — similar to FXP, ELP, and MXP — it uses different model numbers to split up the hardness levels, matching players of different tiers. The Donic series has F1, F2, and F3, getting softer in turn. From today’s perspective, the F1’s power is just right, the F2 is on the soft side but usable, and the F3 is too soft to use.
The Donic F2 is about 2.1 mm thick, with a white high-density sponge and a bare weight of 59.3 g — very light. After a price increase, it sells for around 185 yuan.
If the Baracuda 450 is an optimized softer version of the F1, then the Donic F2 is the un-optimized softer version of the F1. At the same price, the F2’s overall performance trails the Baracuda 450. But precisely because it uses the old sponge, the F2 still has a more “orthodox” flat-hit feel that’s closer to the F1 than the Baracuda 450 is. So in certain situations (for example, the Boll ALC pictured, where it can achieve a light, quick flat-hit effect), the F2 suits the backhand better than the Baracuda 450.
The reason people used to choose the F2 was that it controlled spin a little better than the F1. But now that the Baracuda 450 exists, the F2 and F3 have very little reason to exist. All in all, to a large extent the F2 has been reduced to a fallback for the Baracuda — though I won’t deny that the F2 is a good product.

PS: Everything in the Mushroom Field Guide reflects the author’s subjective impressions. Rubbers vary from sheet to sheet, and pairings with different blades will change things too. Comments and corrections are welcome.