MX-S vs. H3N

MX-S vs. H3N – two different rubbers
From what I understand, the H3N is a notch harder, about the same weight. Non-tacky vs. quite tacky, although less tacky than the original H3. Quite fast vs. a more slowish offensive rubber. Moderate catapult vs. no catapult – possible lack of power away from the table: many advice for boosting it; I'm not a fan of boosting. Right now with my MX-S I do have more than enough speed.
I am playing the MX-S (and I like it very much) and I have read up on the properties of the H3N, or chinese style rubbers for that matter. Currently I'm considering to give the infamous H3N a go. Why, you ask, if I am happy with my current one? Well, just because! I'm curious!


My forehand strokes are centered around very fast brushing, driving only if I have to. I open backspin early with a soft spinny topspin which engages the MX-S' topsheet nicely. I win points not necessarily by forcing the ball on the other side the pure MX-P speed way but by very flat over-the-net, fast armpull (like I'd try to slap the statue of liberty. Screw you, shoulder tendons, never liked you anyway!), pervertedly spinny, impossible to (aggressively) block topspins. The MX-S works great in this regard. The spin! Wow!


TL;DR I don't think I require too much info on the material itself, but I do would love to know how one would generally need to adjust their strokes and style when switching from MX-S to H3N. Is the playstyle somewhat comparable? Can any of you beautiful people provide me with some insight?
On a sidenote, the Yasaka Rising Dragon, albeit softer, also seems really interesting to me!


Snowy greetings!

Thank you all for your answers! This has already been helping me a great deal!

Suga D said:

I still have a 3 months used Rising Dragon and a brand new uncut unopened Rising Dragon lying around.
In case of interest pm me.

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Could you comment on how the Rising Dragon plays as a bridge between chinese and tensor rubbers? Is it the "best of both worlds" and/or the "good at (almost) everything, best at nothing" type?
I know it's softer, less tack but still spinny, minor catapult(?) but still quite linear. But how does it play exactly as opposed to H3N? The only person I know that plays with it is swedish Jennifer Jonsson

Thank you so much, all of you guys! This has been a great help to me!
Right now it looks like I will have at least at some point - when my old rubber wears out a little - a rendez-vous with Mr. Falco and the Hurricane. It's just too popular/famous and cheap to not try out!

James Livesey said:

If you don't feel like boosting, there's haifu blue whale national and sanwei target national. Both are factory tuned. Also, there's big dipper and stiga genesis plus a few others for hybrid European Chinese rubber.

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These are awesome suggestions, thanks a lot! I wasn't aware of the Haifu and Sanwei!
I noticed you play the Skyline Neo - what's the reason for opting for this rubber instead of the H3N? From what I could read it's a little bit softer and lighter, right? How does it behave in play?
I'm just too curious, my apologies

Hey there, after a lot of time has passed, I thought I might give an update on what has happened. I have now chosen the H3N and I am very happy.

My intial aversion to boosting has subsided: although I still think that I don't wanna do anything illegal, where I play hardly anyone even knows what boosting is. Although it is quite tedious to have to apply something on a rubber before you can play with it (I put on 3 layers of Falco Tempo Long and it took 9-10 days for it to be able to be put on the blade!), it can also be quite cool to tinker with your equipment and find out your own recipe of how to boost (and of course how to glue). Tbh even before boosting I found the H3N to be quite playable... then again, after boosting it's a lot better.

Coming from the MX-S I indeed didn't have to change much of my stroke mechanics. I did have to account for the noticeably(!) higher throw, but given that the rubber is also noticeably slower (boosted not too large of a difference, if not talking about catapult), this has not lead to many errors. It is very easy to lift backspin with the MX-S, but with the H3N the backspin basically lifts itself in fear of being slapped by the might of a thousand storms!

What has changed though is that I do smash-drive/loop actually more than with the MX-S. I heard the H3N is not a good rubber to smash with, and I do somewhat get that there might be a control issue for some and that it's not a high-end speed rubber, but I certainly don't have any issues. The lack of catapult helps my offensive game a ton and actually increases the precision of my shots. With the MX-S I would occasionally, especially when tired, overshoot, which now happens very rarely -- only when I do an obvious execution error. The linearity of the rubber is amazing for me personally.

Also I do not really have any lack of pace on my balls. Close to the table, everything is fast enough, mid-distance, the air-bending spin makes the ball dash through the air. Admittedly, they're not nearly as dangerous as max effort shots with the MX-S that almost tickle the net, but those are a category of their own.

The maximum in spin is on par with MX-S, although it is more easily accessible. When with the MX-S you have to be very precise in your stroke to not overshoot or hit the net, if feels like with the H3N you can just hit away and the ball will land on the table.

I also like aggressive counters at the edge of the table.

All in all, the H3N is a very intuitive rubber for me. And it comes at a very low price compared to some alternatives.





My current backhand rubber however... Some things I adore about it, somethings I absolutely hate about it. It doesn't allow me to play how I want to play. It's more of a love-hate relationship. I'm still looking for the holy grail, but as of now, I don't have the funds...

One thing I haven't found a definite answer to is why certain chinese rubbers are sold with such a small increment as 0,05 (2,15 to 2,2). Does it have something to do with the max thickness of 4mm? I've chosen 2,15 as of now because I thought I might just save a few milligrams also considering booster, but hardly would I notice the difference... I think. Any insight?

BeGo said:

My sense "resolution" is 0.5 mm, means I cant discern any meaningful difference when the difference smaller than that. [emoji28]

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For me it depends... the thinner and softer the rubber is, the easier I can tell the differences in thickness. And of course the blade plays a certain role. But the stock H3N is thick and hard.

This really bugs me out. I am very soon to buy my next H3N and I wanna know why it had to be 2.15 and 2.2. It's not that I think it will make much of a difference if any at all, really, but I just want to know for the sake of knowing. I don't understand especially because of the quality control being horrendous, so that in practice trying to put out such a small difference really doesn't even seem to make sense unless you are looking at vast numbers of different copies...