Reviews by 42andbackpains

I bought the A40+ and have played a couple of hours with it. This ball should be manufactured for Butterfly by DHS, its plays almost exactly the same as the DHS D40+. On a drop test from the same height when comparing the A40+ to the D40+, the first couple of bounces are almost indentical. But the Dhs stops bouncing earlier while you may get 1 or 2 more bounces from the A40+. While in play the A40+ feels a tad lighter but if you mixed up the balls, you may not even know the difference. I suspect that Dhs adjusted the specifications for Butterfly to make the ball feel a tad lighter and have a bit more spin. Overall the A40+ is a very good ball, its pretty much a rebranded Dhs D40+.

At $70 this Haifu Whale 3 is there supposedly equivalent to H3 Neo Provincial blue sponge. First thing, Boosting is not needed on this sheet. And if you do boost, 1 layer is quite adequate. The Haifu Whale 3 is factory tuned and should not need boosting until the factory tuning wears off. Right off the bat i felt the Whale is probably 10 to 15 percent heavier than H3 neo, so this is a no no for people looking for a lighter Chinese rubber. When looping, I find the Haifu more linear when compared to H3 Neo. I would recommend this a forehand oriented Chinese rubber but with a little euro tensor hybrid thrown in to the feel of the rubber. The Haifu Whale 3 is not as grippy when compared to H3 neo, so your initial shots may shoot off the table if your coming from H3. A small technique adjustment is needed, but i would say you will find your technique adjusting quickly. The Whale 3 sheet i got was in the hard range with the big H indicator on the back of the rubber. The purplish sponge is little softer than the H3 neo blue 39 or orange 39 sponge. But strangely when looping or hitting, the ball does not sink into the sponge due to the topsheets harder qualities. I find myself working just a tad harder to create spin and I would also say the speed is equivalent or a tad faster than H3 neo. Since i am so used to using H3 neo, i may have a bias towards the Whale 3 and I find it less grippy and has less spin when compared to a well boosted H3 neo. One advantage is that you dont need to boost out of the box and play right away. I would say this rubber is in the $50 U.S dollar range, but not worth $70 dollars it is retailing for. Good rubber but missed the market it was shooting for.

After the Poly ball was introduced i felt my Adidas P7 forehand rubber was not adequate in creating spin. So i decided to try to find a spinnier rubber. Since many of my clubmates and my coach use DHS H3 neo, i thought why not give it a try. I have not used Chinese hard rubbers since i was a kid. On my first try without boosting, i felt the rubber was very unplayable. It had good spin and control but did not have the catapult effect of tensors. The rubber felt very slow. Then with further research and great information gathered from TTD posts/threads. I've decided to boost the H3 neo with Seamoon booster. Now this is when the rubber comes alive! Great spin, good catapult, good control and good arc. My serves were much spinnier when compared to the tensor i was previously using. My loops were diving and arcing more into the table due to the increased spin. I was very happy after boosting, the issue i have is that this rubber is not very durable. At most i can get 2 to 3 months of good playability before i need a new sheet because once you boost and tense the topsheet, the topsheet starts to degrade very fast. If you dont boost, i say you can get 3 to 6 months dependant on how you play. But i definitely prefer the boosted H3 neo. But when you compare H3 Neo price ($20 U.S. dollars per sheet) to say Butterfly Tenergy ($65 to $70 U.S. dollars per sheet) I can definitely can live with buying the cheaper H3 Neo and boosting it. My bottle of Seamoon booster definitely can last a couple of years of use from each bottle. Overall i am happy with H3 neo...Now if somebody can come out with a Hybrid rubber that is equally spinny, tacky and has a good catapult effect without boosting...But sadly the world does not work that way...lol

XSF Balls are widely available and comes branded as Yinhe, Gambler, Nexy, Kingnik and so on. I have played with 2 or 3 of the variants and they all play very similar since they come from the same factory. Bounce & Speed is very comparable to the old celluloid ball, you just have to adjust your techniques and strokes to adjust to the bigger & heavier ball. Ball has only one drawback, if you miss-hit the ball with the side of your racket(bare wood) with heavy force(such as power looping). Then the ball will crack very easily, otherwise this seamless poly ball is more durable than the seamed poly balls such as the DHS 40+ and Butterfly 40+ balls. For the price, availability, playability the XSF seamless ball is the way to go.

I have tried the Clipper CR, CC and Oversize. Clippers give great feedback and control and the CR gives control without the blade being too fast. I myself like harder blades, so i went with the CC instead of CR, but you do lose some of the control with the CC. The Clipper CR is a good starting point to learn control and develop/define your strokes without breaking the bank.

I have tried the Clipper Cr, Oversize and CC. I have played with the CC for about 3 months. If you want the Clipper feel and faster speed, then this is the blade for you. Buyer beware: it is very fast and has more control than my previous Adidas Strike Carbon but you will sacrifice control and the slower gears. If you want the Clipper feel, harder feel and faster speed, then this is the blade for you.