Is hurricane 3 neo still playable without tuning?

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It's quite weird that you asked this question.
I'm also itching for the same answer. My DHS H3 Neo will arrive tomorrow. I'll play untuned and see if it's ok.
I have never used a chinese rubber before. All my rubbers are jap/euro tensors. I think they are too fast for me, like trying to ride a rebellious stallion.
H3 Neo might be my savior or my downfall, tomorrow will tell :D
 
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Chinese rubbers with extreme tackiness like the hurricane were invented to be boosted. The first version (around 2000 I think) was made especially for speed gluing.
They are extremely spinny but hold the ball just too much and dont throw it back out with efficient speed (this means you have to strike really hard, to get a worthy loop equivalent of a tensor rubber). Imagine now the amount of effort you must make if you want to be consistent and try to execute 3 or 4 FH loops in a row with good spin and speed. It is very tiresome...

If you boost them though, the sponge and topsheet expand and stretch making the rubber more "dynamic", thus producing more speed.

Give it a try without boosting, then boost them and you will see a significant difference.
 
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it is playable without boosting.
the problem is since it's not bouncy it can give you problems in some shots, more than anything in passive shots.
you may think "oh but I'm a two winged looper".
but in matches players generally do a lot of blocking and just passing the ball.
and it's harder to do that with a chinese rubber.
that's all.
 
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says Spin and more spin.
says Spin and more spin.
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I would say that sebas-aguirre and TTFrenzy have given good information. You can play with Hurricane without tuning it. I know plenty of people who do. Most of them have never used anything else. The sponge is hard and slow, and reacts very strangely when it is not boosted. But if you are used to it, it is playable. If you are used to tensor rubbers with Jap/Euro sponge it will feel very strange and take a while to get used to.

But, if you do not like it when it is unboosted, it is not very hard to boost it. Just get lamp oil (paraffin) from a hardware store and baby oil. I put the glue on then the oils. Let the oils sink in for several hours, perhaps a few days. Then when it sinks in and the glue feels dry, you can put the sheet on your blade.
 
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But, if you do not like it when it is unboosted, it is not very hard to boost it. Just get lamp oil (paraffin) from a hardware store and baby oil. I put the glue on then the oils. Let the oils sink in for several hours, perhaps a few days. Then when it sinks in and the glue feels dry, you can put the sheet on your blade.

I'm just curious, you apply glue then the oil? it will be sticky enough to slap on the blade after the hours/days?
 
says Spin and more spin.
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Yep. You also put glue on the blade, right. The glue that is on the sheet will stick to the glue that is on the blade. But the stuff that you are putting on is a solvent and with the old glue, if it was dry and did not stick any more, the boost would make it gummy and sticky. I do not know if it will do that to the water based glue. But, even if the glue is dry, if there is glue on the blade, the glue on the rubber will stick to the glue on the blade.

By the way, for more of a boost effect, those products like Dan Chi booster or Haifu SeaMoon booster may work better and they have good directions.
 
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I disagree. H3 Neo is absolutely playable without boosting/tuning. The thing about it is that it's completely honest about how solid your stroke and contact are. You can't hit a lazy shot with it like you can with tenergy or tensors. Hurricane 3 is more than capable of producing a shot just as threatening if not more than a tensor or tenergy.

It's just not for everyone.
 
says Spin and more spin.
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I disagree. H3 Neo is absolutely playable without boosting/tuning. The thing about it is that it's completely honest about how solid your stroke and contact are. You can't hit a lazy shot with it like you can with tenergy or tensors. Hurricane 3 is more than capable of producing a shot just as threatening if not more than a tensor or tenergy.

It's just not for everyone.

I would say this is pretty accurate. sebas-aguirre was pretty clear that it is playable unboosted. You certainly can do that.

And if someone tries it unboosted and really does not like it, but has it, trying it boosted is not a bad idea, especially for someone who was playing with Jap/Euro rubber that was bouncy. It is hard to get used to H3 or TG3 after something like Tenergy because the sponge is so different and the topsheet is so different. But it is playable whether you boost it or not.

And it is also true that it was originally designed to be speed glued. And if you ever try H3 with speed glue, it is pretty darn amazing. :) It is like a super rubber better than anything out right now.
 
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Just played with DHS H3 Neo for 3 hours. Want to report back the preliminary result.

As to dan1guy's question whether H3 Neo is playable without boosting, the answer is definitely yes. It's quite ok. Even surpass my expectation in some areas.

Here's the detail:

I am a two-winged looper playing close to the table with little or no topspin rallies at mid-distance. My game usually consists of short service, followed by pushes until I find some long balls and then loop and smash. My current setup is Andro Super Core Carbon Light OFF with Stiga Calibra LT 2.0mm on both sides. The weight of the blade without rubbers is 63 gms, with rubbers 147 gms. So the rubber weight is 42 gms each.

My new setup is Andro Super Core Carbon Light OFF+, weighing 70 gms, with DHS H3 Neo 2.2 on both sides. The final weight is 160 gms, which means the weight of the rubber itself is 45 gms each. Not bad. I thought the weight difference would be much wider. But remember that my blades are of 149 mm design so less rubber mass for each side.

DHS H3 Neo comes in air-tight seal. Nearly forgot to add that it's commercial version. The smell of the rubber is bad. Don't try to sniff directly. You might get nauseated. The sponge is compact and hard. The rubber surface is grippy, resisting my finger moving across it. After my new paddle was assembled, I dropped a ball on to it. My, the rubber is not bouncy at all. The ball just bounced 4-5 times without much zip and then rested on the rubber. Contrast this with my Calibra LT, the ball bounced like mad.

I first tried it in a service session before actual training. I found that I need to exert more power to execute the serves. Short serves were very satisfactory, I had to add a lot of power to make the ball double-bounced on the opposite court. The long fast serves lost a lot of speed. But to me, long fast serves are not my favorites, I prefer long spinny serves more. So no big loss here.

Next came the training session. I started first with forehand to forehand and backhand to backhand drives. No problem at all. I can hit all the balls without going to the net. The looping session against backspin was a breeze too. I used the same stroke as the one I hit with Calibra, albeit with more force.

Short games were so-so. I didn't find any improvement over Calibra. Flipping got a bit more difficult but executable after a while.

Finally, the blocking session. I tried passive block, ie. holding my blade still and let the ball hit it. Against my expectation, the ball didn't go to the net. It bounced back nicely over the net just like my block with Calibra.

The following matches went smoothly. I used all strokes without modification and didn't find anything missing. The outcome was satisfactory.

Conclusion:
DHS H3 Neo is playable without tuning. Perhaps due to its "Neo" sponge or my fast OFF+ blade.
 
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Well, there is no black or white situation here like if it is playable or not. First of all we must all agree on what we mean by the term "playable"
Playable for me is spinny and fast at the same time, I cant have both when I am playing with a non boosted tacky rubber.

Playable also refers to the amount of effort I need to exert to the ball by contracting explosively my muscles in my FH loop without "tighting" them. So basically in the end it is not a matter of playable or not, but a matter of preference for every single player out there.

Every player has his own unique playing characteristics that are enhanced or not by a unique equipment
 
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Well, there is no black or white situation here like if it is playable or not. First of all we must all agree on what we mean by the term "playable"
Playable for me is spinny and fast at the same time, I cant have both when I am playing with a non boosted tacky rubber.

Playable also refers to the amount of effort I need to exert to the ball by contracting explosively my muscles in my FH loop without "tighting" them. So basically in the end it is not a matter of playable or not, but a matter of preference for every single player out there.

Every player has his own unique playing characteristics that are enhanced or not by a unique equipment

Exactly, TTFrenzy. I wholeheartedly agree with your point. Your argument is not only valid for chinese tacky rubbers vs tensors but for differences between tensors also. That's why I included my playing style first and foremost.

I'm an asean, 169 cm. high. My physique encourages me to play close to the table. Also I am an oldtimer, having played tabletennis for over 30 years. At that time, there is no tensor, so I'm used to slow rubbers. My game was developed from that era. So DHS H3 Neo fits in with my game. But for people with european style playing further away from the table, I can imagine how awkward it can be using this rubber unboosted.
 
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http://www.pingpong.ee/pood/2-Kummid---Rubbers/5-DHS - this list of DHS rubbers from Pinksikeskus. We sell 5% cheaper than sell the brands. Till the end of this week we have special offers for DHS Tinarc , Tinarc3, Goldarc 3, Hurricane 3 Provincial, Huricane 3 Neo, Hurricane 2 Neo, Skyline 3 Neo and Skyline 2 Neo.
Note that in case the order is 100 euros or more, shipping is free worldwide!
 
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In a nutshell:

H3 Neo is playable in general and without tuning if you:

- are an experienced player
- can train very often ( two times a week min. )
- got a really fast blade ( Rosewood NCT VII even feels too slow for me, I'd suggest carbon / acrylate blades even if they are "rated" slower)
- are able to perform proper strokes with the "chinese technique" i.e. extensive movements and hip usage
- use it on your forehand
- switch sides for smashing high lobs
- can avoid flipping with forehand by using a backhand flip with an euro / tensor style rubber

If you can guarantee these points you get an outstanding rubber with long durability, good shot selection/accuracy in terms of spin/speed/position, impressive control compared to speed/spin values and an reliable powerful loop which favours spin over speed from all distances.

Hope this answers your question, for further explanation of certain points feel free to ask - I've gone a long way from tensor2chinese / euro2chinese with many blade / rubber combinations and handling the occuring problems for myself and some of our junior players. However I wanted to avoid to write too many redundant information in relation to the usual tensor / chinese / tacky rubber debates with all of their advantages / disadvantages.
 
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well put. havent played with RW7 i have and RW5 and it does me well. ive tried H3 prov with EB7 and it seemed kinda mushy/soft. Old'ish H3 with Clipper wood was good balance. HH works well as well.

do not under any circumstances use any tacky DHS rubbers with a blade containing balsa unless its t11 but then its waaay too fast ( for beginers anyway) and sooo loud.

in any circumstance you will requite fairly solid footwork and body balance to use these rubbers well. because they work hand in hand with your technique which needs to be sculpted for these rubbers. you can sort of hit them like euro/jap rubbers but this way you wont use the rubber to its full potential and it wont be worth while. unlike tenergy you cant depend on the elasticity and springiness you get of the likes of tenergy. unless you boost the living day lights out of your Hurricane type rubber, including the topsheet
 
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I'm just curious, you apply glue then the oil? it will be sticky enough to slap on the blade after the hours/days?

depends on what kind of effect you want to achieve. you you glue up first 2-3 layers( which need to fuly dry as well) then use the oil which will mostly be absorbed in to the glue layer. you will get a fairly springy rubber but it will start to feel too soft and mushy after a while.

its best to apply your booster like lamp oil or boosters like falco long boost ( gives very strong effects quickly) straight to the sponge and let it absorb all those steroids,,... ehem.. nutrients then wait for that to dry off completely , then apply your glue or else you will get a poor bond and the glue removal afterwards becomes quite a pain
 
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