729/Friendship Dragon F and Dragon L

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Some interesting new rubbers from 729.
The Dragon-F or Dragon Fēitiān (medium-soft, medium hard) has a tacky topsheet on a newly developed ("kirin") sponge.
According to https://ttdd.eu/friendship-dragon-f-hard.html sponge hardness is around 42° ESN (medium-soft) and 46° ESN (medium-hard). They also say that the Dragon F is faster and more dynamic than a Battle 2 Provincial.
If the sheets have the same size as other 729 rubbers than it is also quite lightweight: 64g uncut with protective foil still on for the medium-hard version according to https://item.jd.com/56166671091.html
Quite cheap 21.90€ incl. 19% VAT over here and even cheaper from http://ttnpp.com/store/rubber/1083-friendship-729-dragon-f-6.html

The Dragon-L or Dragon Língyún (soft, soft-medium).seems to be the non-tacky version on the same but softer sponge.
 
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Some interesting new rubbers from 729.
The Dragon-F or Dragon Fēitiān (medium-soft, medium hard) has a tacky topsheet on a newly developed ("kirin") sponge.
According to https://ttdd.eu/friendship-dragon-f-hard.html sponge hardness is around 42° ESN (medium-soft) and 46° ESN (medium-hard). They also say that the Dragon F is faster and more dynamic than a Battle 2 Provincial.
If the sheets have the same size as other 729 rubbers than it is also quite lightweight: 64g uncut with protective foil still on for the medium-hard version according to https://item.jd.com/56166671091.html
Quite cheap 21.90€ incl. 19% VAT over here and even cheaper from http://ttnpp.com/store/rubber/1083-friendship-729-dragon-f-6.html

The Dragon-L or Dragon Língyún (soft, soft-medium).seems to be the non-tacky version on the same but softer sponge.

Equipment in Chinese stores, except for Aliexpress, do not include customs duty and VAT + customs clearance and release service.

 
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+1 to this question, generally. I noticed a big part of the stock is no more available, is everything all right? Cheers.

Friendship versus DHS is able to deliver the goods. Other stores are in the same situation, they are sold out if they don't have stock from before Covid. All that remains is to wait for DHS to start "working" again.

 
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Just some first impressions. Not yet tested (our venue reopens next week...) only some bouncing, spin bounce tests etc.
Ordered one black and one red (medium) hard Dragon-F. Thanks ttdd.eu for the very fast shipping.
Black: 91g with packaging, 69g with protective foil, 164 mm x 164 mm, cut and glued 51g
Red: 88g with packaging, 64g with protective foil, same size, cut and glued 48g
Black seems to be a bit tackier than the red. Depending on the ball used three to four vs maybe two seconds (Nittaku). With a Sanwei ball it can do the same trick as in the video ;)
Sponge hardness: This is interesting. Either my thumb-hardness-meter is broken or these are quite hard rubbers (translating the sticker showed medium hard). I would guess more like 48° to 50° ESN. At least they feel harder than a FastArc G-1 or H8-80 37... Maybe they get softer when they are broken in but I doubt that they will become much softer.
Nice, crisp feedback on ball contact when doing these spin bounce test (or whatever this test is called that I usually do before serving and can be seen in the review video @ 1:00). A bit crisper/clearer than from a H8-80 37.

p.s. in case someone is wondering what blade that is: SpinLord RD2 (88g, 6 mm, koto, limba, ayous, limba, koto, 1400 Hz)

 
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hi!
I play with orange sponge battle2 (47hardness) for 1,5 years.
Now i bought 2 black max sheets of this dragon F hard. One sheet was 64g uncut, the other 69.
I played a bit on the robot and i am 99% sure that it is the same rubber as the original battle2.
Same sound, same tackiness, same feel , same throw angle. The sponge is porous(battle2 no pores) but the feeling is the same.
 
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hi!
I play with orange sponge battle2 (47hardness) for 1,5 years.
Now i bought 2 black max sheets of this dragon F hard. One sheet was 64g uncut, the other 69.
I played a bit on the robot and i am 99% sure that it is the same rubber as the original battle2.
Same sound, same tackiness, same feel , same throw angle. The sponge is porous(battle2 no pores) but the feeling is the same.

Good day to you sir,

Does the Dragon F hard have same spin and same bouncing to Battle 2.

Thank you for your kind reply and recommend.

Best regards,

 
says TT is easy: just place the ball on the table 1 time more...
says TT is easy: just place the ball on the table 1 time more...
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I play with orange sponge battle2 (47hardness) for 1,5 years.
I played a bit on the robot and i am 99% sure that it is the same rubber as the original battle2.
Same sound, same tackiness, same feel , same throw angle. The sponge is porous(battle2 no pores) but the feeling is the same.

Maybe you compared the new dragon F and the old battle 2. I mean if you glue dhs hurricane and play with you'll think it is deadly slow. But from the package it is very tacky and the tackiness doesn't "let the rubber play faster". But if you play for 1-2 months you'll see the difference in speed between the new one and the used.idk how to describe it but maybe you played not enough to see the accurate difference.
anyway thank you for your mini review 👍

 
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Maybe you compared the new dragon F and the old battle 2. I mean if you glue dhs hurricane and play with you'll think it is deadly slow. But from the package it is very tacky and the tackiness doesn't "let the rubber play faster". But if you play for 1-2 months you'll see the difference in speed between the new one and the used.idk how to describe it but maybe you played not enough to see the accurate difference.
anyway thank you for your mini review 👍

I know what u are saying. The last sheet of B2 i opened is not old. By the way the 1,5 years old sheet has still excatly the same tackiness.
 
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says TT is easy: just place the ball on the table 1 time more...
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Just a few hours if all goes well ;)

I have read your review at a German forum using Google Translate😬 so you wrote that it is far from classic Chinese rubbers but not so European like H8-80 37. I have a few questions: Do you mean H8-80 is faster than the Dragon F? Or is it just more bouncy because of the hardness? Because for me H8-80 37 is too slow. It is soft and not even close to the Euro rubbers. If I need more speed should I change Bloom Power to this Dragon F? Or maybe I should order medium-soft one but afraid if it is too slow. Comparing with H3 39 is it softer or harder? Which one has more speed?
 
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I have read your review at a German forum using Google Translate😬 so you wrote that it is far from classic Chinese rubbers but not so European like H8-80 37. I have a few questions: Do you mean H8-80 is faster then the Dragon F? Or is it just more bouncy because of the hardness? Because for me H8-80 37 is too slow. It is soft and not even close to the Euro rubbers. If I need more speed should I change Bloom Power to this Dragon F? Or maybe I should order medium-soft one but afraid if it is too slow. Comparing with H3 39 is it softer or harder? Which one has more speed?

I try to get my impressions on the Dragon-F right (we are currently in the second half of the season so I do not test or switch rubbers if I don't have to):
Hardness is the easiest to answer: definitely harder than H8-80 37 and softer than H3 39. So 38° but maybe closer to 39° as far as my thumb-meter can distinguish that...
Speed: much harder to answer... or maybe not. On FH I can bottom out the Dragon-F but not on BH with the power/strokes I usually use/do in real matches (the medium hard Dragon-F is simply too hard for my BH).
The Dragon-F has a higher speed on flat hits than H3 or H8-80 for sure, The question we had on the German forum (at least that's what I intended to say) was if the Dragon-F is capable of higher speeds (with the same spin) as a H3. I said no. Imo it is easier to achieve higher speeds with the Dragon-F than with a H3 but not with the same spin.
BH side;
H8-80 37: Speed on lower power shots on par with Vega Pro or FastArc G-1, spin not much more but it's more stable/predictable on high(er) power shots. Vega Pro, Asia, V>11, Z2 or G-1 are easier to activate i.e. one can get more speed/spin on lower power shots (from my perspective) but these are not close to H8-80 37 or H3 37 when it comes to high(er) power shots. I go either for spin or for speed on BH and vary differently than on FH 1). Dragon-F was just too hard for me on BH to consistently play in its optimal operating range.

Edit: to state it differently (hope that helps) I think that I could adapt (coming from H3) to the Dragon-F on FH easier than to a hybrid rubber made by ESN.

1) that's a relict from my 38 mm times when I played much more FH oriented than I do now over 30 years later...
 
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