Reactor Thunder Review

Reactor Thunder
Weight: 60 grams uncut
Hardness: medium - to medium hard
Speed: OFF

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Tried this today and was not really expecting much at first. The rubber is very light for a modern Chinese rubbers. It is lighter than the previous Reactor Ckylin which is a few grams heavier. This is despite with a non porous black sponge. The Ckylin rubber had an obvious porous sponge dyed in blue but this one is similar to Haifu Whale sponge in appearance. The rubber is medium to medium hard in hardness overall. It is softer than the 39 degree DHS Hurricane 3 purple packaging that I have so probably it is between 37-38 degrees on DHS scale of hardness. I glued this to my Stiga Nostalgia All Around blade with a Stiga Royal on the other side. When I opened the rubebr from the box, it had no strong factory booster smell but I think it is still boosted but I was not satisfied and put 2 layers of oil booster on it. Out of teh box the rubber is not showing a domed appearance and that is the reason why I boosted it with 2 layers of oil.

The rubber is very light as what I have said and I had to adjust my swings because my timing on hitting the ball was a bit off at first. When you are drilling with the Thunder for the first time you will be surprised by its bounciness and speed. Sure I boosted it but I also use a boosted Hurricane 3 Neo on a Xiom Feel AX blade and the Thunder is faster by a margin. You can feel the difference with the speed. It is like you are using a Euro rubber with a tacky surface. I would rate it as slower than a Vega China rubber but more or less on the speed of Mark V with an extra kick on it or probably the speed is close to Xiom Vega Elite. If I compare it to another Chinese rubber, I can say it is faster than the Sanwei Target National but with a lighter weight.

The spin is very good and I was not expecting this. This is not your typical Tacky and slow Chinese rubber. This is a fast and spinny Chinese rubber. The spin is very high and almost as spinny as Hurrucane 3 and Sanwei Target National. The arc is medium to medium high when you are looping underspin balls. The difference with this and the Hurricane 3 is that you need more effort and technique with Hurricane 3 to produce tons of spin and it has a higher threshold while the Thunder is way easier to produce topspins. At least if you are on a budget and is looking for a spinny rubber but with enough speed and power then the Thunder will be good enough for your pocket. It is cheaper than Sanwei National and 1 or 2 dollars more expensive than the Hurricane 3.

The Thunder feels like a hybrid rubber. It does not feel like a pure Chinese rubber even if it is because you can feel the ball sink into the topsheet and sponge but it offers a lot of bounciness. It is suited to strokes that digs through the sponge more because this is not the type of Chinese rubbers that relies on just thin brush type of strokes. You can actually hit through the sponge better with this than the Hurricane and smashing with it is not as challenging also because the rubber is easier to use and you tend to hit less nets if you hit with it flatly. Probably this will be another good but very cheap rubber alternatives especially for the budget conscious because it is just around 18-20USD in my place.
 
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Reactor Thunder
Weight: 60 grams uncut
Hardness: medium - to medium hard
Speed: OFF

yfC89QF.jpg


5qiD9P7.jpg


2vqipmp.jpg


Tried this today and was not really expecting much at first. The rubber is very light for a modern Chinese rubbers. It is lighter than the previous Reactor Ckylin which is a few grams heavier. This is despite with a non porous black sponge. The Ckylin rubber had an obvious porous sponge dyed in blue but this one is similar to Haifu Whale sponge in appearance. The rubber is medium to medium hard in hardness overall. It is softer than the 39 degree DHS Hurricane 3 purple packaging that I have so probably it is between 37-38 degrees on DHS scale of hardness. I glued this to my Stiga Nostalgia All Around blade with a Stiga Royal on the other side. When I opened the rubebr from the box, it had no strong factory booster smell but I think it is still boosted but I was not satisfied and put 2 layers of oil booster on it. Out of teh box the rubber is not showing a domed appearance and that is the reason why I boosted it with 2 layers of oil.

The rubber is very light as what I have said and I had to adjust my swings because my timing on hitting the ball was a bit off at first. When you are drilling with the Thunder for the first time you will be surprised by its bounciness and speed. Sure I boosted it but I also use a boosted Hurricane 3 Neo on a Xiom Feel AX blade and the Thunder is faster by a margin. You can feel the difference with the speed. It is like you are using a Euro rubber with a tacky surface. I would rate it as slower than a Vega China rubber but more or less on the speed of Mark V with an extra kick on it or probably the speed is close to Xiom Vega Elite. If I compare it to another Chinese rubber, I can say it is faster than the Sanwei Target National but with a lighter weight.

The spin is very good and I was not expecting this. This is not your typical Tacky and slow Chinese rubber. This is a fast and spinny Chinese rubber. The spin is very high and almost as spinny as Hurrucane 3 and Sanwei Target National. The arc is medium to medium high when you are looping underspin balls. The difference with this and the Hurricane 3 is that you need more effort and technique with Hurricane 3 to produce tons of spin and it has a higher threshold while the Thunder is way easier to produce topspins. At least if you are on a budget and is looking for a spinny rubber but with enough speed and power then the Thunder will be good enough for your pocket. It is cheaper than Sanwei National and 1 or 2 dollars more expensive than the Hurricane 3.

The Thunder feels like a hybrid rubber. It does not feel like a pure Chinese rubber even if it is because you can feel the ball sink into the topsheet and sponge but it offers a lot of bounciness. It is suited to strokes that digs through the sponge more because this is not the type of Chinese rubbers that relies on just thin brush type of strokes. You can actually hit through the sponge better with this than the Hurricane and smashing with it is not as challenging also because the rubber is easier to use and you tend to hit less nets if you hit with it flatly. Probably this will be another good but very cheap rubber alternatives especially for the budget conscious because it is just around 18-20USD in my place.

How would you compare it with Reactor Tornado V5?

 
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Also want to hear how it compares with Reactor Tornado V5. In fact, the way you describe the Thunder is exactly how I would describe the V5. By the way, V5 is only $7 on Aliexpress and Thunder is $11.Â
 
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Is this review of the black sponge version?

I read that the sponge is 49d hardness, but it is labeled as medium-hard. 49d to me is very hard, rather than medium. Can you confirm?
 
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Is this review of the black sponge version? I read that the sponge is 49d hardness, but it is labeled as medium-hard. 49d to me is very hard, rather than medium. Can you confirm?
He did say it is the black sponge version. He also said it is 37-38 degrees on the DHS scale which translates to 47-49 degrees Euro, so it's medium to medium hard for a Chinese rubber, and medium hard to hard if compared to a Euro/Japanese rubber.

 
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