Hurricane 8 with fast blade?

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I’m messing around with a Hadraw sk blade and Hurricane 8 (mid hard) rubbers for a couple months now. I LOVE the short play and the spin. But it’s a very slow setup overall (slow blade and Chinese rubber). Perfectly possible to make deadly loops but it’s so unforgiving when I’m out of position and can’t apply my body fully.

Otoh I have a Primorac with G1. Super fun setup, linear, not too bouncy, and I still get a decent chance at landing a shot when I’m not positioned right (which is often). But... it’s less spinny (or more direct kind of spinny) and short touch play is not as controllable.

Would it be possible to inject some of the G1 fun into the Hurricane 8 without losing the spin and touch play, if I got a faster blade? If so, what kind of blade, 5-ply, 7-ply, carbon? The Stiga Exclusive at TTEX is not too expensive and a fast 5-ply blade... or Viscaria at 3x the price? Or would a faster blade ruin the touch play without injecting enough fun?

No boosting. Hurricane 8 is about same as H3 Neo fresh from the shop.
 
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I am pretty sure that the problem is your technique, not the rubbers. You have to play with open blade and more forward and then brush the ball.

A different rubber would help you, too. Vega Pro or G1 also don’t have that much catapult effect but more than H8.
 
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The problem is that I’m not athletic enough to consistently get in a position to do a full stroke with brushing motion. When I do, there is plenty of high quality topspin. I was hoping to get a little extra something from a faster blade.
I far as I understand, faster blades usually have less control probably because of the low dwell and less vibration/feedback(related to stiffness?). So if you are going for fast blade, for example carbon blades, you are bound to make a trade off between control and speed, which may be an appropriate option for you but you still have to think about the degree to which you can afford to sacrifice control for speed. I think that is the main question that anyone has to answer when he/she wants to step up to faster blades.

Another idea is to use springy tensor rubbers or tenergy rubbers which gives more speed for lower force shots which may happen when you are out of position or for time when you are not hitting hard enough to your own expectation. But of course they are less linear and have lower ultimate potential for speed when hit hard.
 
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Would it be possible to inject some of the G1 fun into the Hurricane 8 without losing the spin and touch play, if I got a faster blade? If so, what kind of blade, 5-ply, 7-ply, carbon? The Stiga Exclusive at TTEX is not too expensive and a fast 5-ply blade... or Viscaria at 3x the price? Or would a faster blade ruin the touch play without injecting enough fun?
Yes, try a 7-ply or carbon (Viscaria is great with H8), and you'll have to decide for yourself. With good technique a faster blade with H8 should give you a lot more than it takes away. But every equipment choice is a compromise which you may or may not like. Only way to really know is to try it, preferably for long enough to get used to it.
 
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I used to play ~2 years with H8 and it DOES need a fast blade to truly shine. My weapon of choice was the Andro Temper Tech OFF+: https://photos.app.goo.gl/CgujvGDv7v6aEdmaA . This is/was a great blade for hard-hitters and power-loopers. It has a resonance frequency of ~1560 Hz.

Also worked pretty ok with a Donic Ovtcharov True Carbon (Viscaria clone), though the short game was bouncier.
 
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@nivekkan I'm thinking to go for a faster blade but not necessarily carbon, only fast enough to get some help in the situations I describe. The G1 on the Primorac is actually perfect in those situations, but is a completely different style rubber... maybe a spinny but hardish rubber like rakza 7 would be interesting to try.

@DrEvil Thanks and you are right... question is what to try first, I'm leaning towards all wood now.
 
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I used to play ~2 years with H8 and it DOES need a fast blade to truly shine. My weapon of choice was the Andro Temper Tech OFF+: https://photos.app.goo.gl/CgujvGDv7v6aEdmaA . This is/was a great blade for hard-hitters and power-loopers. It has a resonance frequency of ~1560 Hz.

Also worked pretty ok with a Donic Ovtcharov True Carbon (Viscaria clone), though the short game was bouncier.

@Patrick Hrdlicka Ah, your review was what got me into the 8 in the first place. The Andro looks like a fast 5 ply wood blade, I was myself thinking of a Stiga Exclusive (a fast 5 ply TTEX custom blade with what looks like walnut outer ply) so that's along the same lines. Or as a slower alternative a Clipper wood.

Since you played with 8 for a long time, what do you think about hardness and weight? Currently I have mid-hard on both FH and BH (my first try so I just got whatever) and it works ok but is very heavy. You wrote that your test sheets were heavier in mid hard and a little less heavy in hard, was that true for subsequent sheets too? For next try I was thinking to use hard on FH and BH to bring down the weight if that was the case... or is hard too hard for BH in your experience?
 
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comparison between hard and mid-hard:
https://blog.tabletennis11.com/dhs-hurricane-8-table-tennis-rubbers-review-39-degree-40-degree(I just realised that the author appeared in this theard and you read the blog before :D WTF lol)
You may find this useful if you want to change to hard version.

Currently I have mid-hard on both FH and BH (my first try so I just got whatever) and it works ok but is very heavy.
If you really found it too heavy, you could consider the Nittaku hurricane 3 neo, which weigh only 56 uncut and 45 cut.
https://www.tabletennis11.com/other_eng/nittaku-hurricane-neo-3-8701 (cut)
https://trvision.net/detail/nittaku...g-rubber-unboxing-and-review-urff7089-Lo.html (uncut)
probably a bit lighter than the whole dhs hurricane series. Yogi_bear said that it even plays similar to DHS hurricane 3 neo provincial.
https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/showthread.php?15228-Nittaku-Hurricane-Neo-3
I'm eyeing the NH3N for my upgrade in the future
 
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@nivekkan well I’m thinking how to reduce weight mainly for balance, the Hadraw SK has a thin handle and becomes a bit baseball bat with two heavy rubbers. The two blades I mentioned come with larger ST handles and are a bit heavier in general which probably helps. If some extra grams can be saved by going hard, great... but maybe the difference was due to production inconsistencies, in which case it wouldn’t matter.

I was looking at the Nittaku rubber too but it’s almost twice the price.
 
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I was looking at the Nittaku rubber too but it’s almost twice the price.
What website were you on? Where maybe some better deals if price is the issue.
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Nitakku is 33.25/24.92≈1.33 on TT11
And 50/36≈1.38 on megaspin
So around 1.35 time the price of H8.
 
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The H8 needs a fast blade to shine. The 5-ply Stiga Exclusive you mention could be option (the Walnut outer will likely work well). Alternatively, you could consider the 7-ply Tibhar Samsonov Force Pro BE (you can get them as light as 82 g), which will give the setup some extra zap.

I ultimately moved away from H8, in part, due to sheet-to-sheet inconsistencies, be it in weight or - more importantly for me - topsheet tackiness (irrespective of mid-hard or hard versions). Some of the latest batches of H8 I got, had a more "plasticky" topsheet, which I didn't like at all (decreased spin). Also, I tried to change up my game somewhat going from a power-looping style (more emphasis on speed over spin) to a more spin-oriented looping style, and for this the H3s work better.

BTW: The Nittaku Hurricane 3 Pro Turbo Blue, while even heavier and harder than H8, sits in between H3 and H8 wrt spin, but is noticeably faster than either. You consider trying it out in 1.8 mm to cut down on weight.
 
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BTW: The Nittaku Hurricane 3 Pro Turbo Blue, while even heavier and harder than H8, sits in between H3 and H8 wrt spin, but is noticeably faster than either. You consider trying it out in 1.8 mm to cut down on weight.
What about the Nittaku Hurricane Pro III Turbo Orange, which i'm using now? I think you wrote a review on it too. You compared the hardness and speed which is helpful but I don't think there was an comparison of tackiness to various hurricanes(DHS and Nittaku).
 
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I believe the topsheets are supposed to be identical. By and large, they feel identical, but the interaction with the sponge is of course different. For example, it is a little bit harder to generate spin on shots with slower arm swing speeds using the ultra-hard NHP3TB, especially once the factory boosting wears off.
 
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U say the h8 need a fast 7 ply blade without carbon while with carbon it is working ok ish.
What about the Nittaku Hurricane? I kinda feel to need test it on my fh. What kind of blade do you recommend? I do own Korbel, Viscaria and Samsonov black PE similar one blades.
 
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I have only tested the Nittaku Hurrica Pro 3 Turbo Blue (I assume this is what you are referring to) it on the Samsonov Force Pro Black Edition and the Fortino composite blades, which are very stiff. I absolutely love it on the Samsonov blade. With the Fortino blades, the trajectory became quite low and very deep, which puts the opponent under pressure but also reduced my consistency. I prefer setups that are not insanely fast with a 40+ degree FH. Pairing it with Korbel will give you a controlled setup where you have to add power. I imagine pairing it with Viscaria would give a very lively set-up, which sits in between my impressions with the Samsonov and Fortino blades. Hope this helps.
 
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Hope this helps.

Super helpful, thanks for taking the time to respond in such detail! I’ll take it one step at a time. First a faster blade... Then I’ll move the h8’s and see what happens.

I guess the takeaway here is that the h8/h3 are inconsistent and heavy in their own way with subtle differences one needs to explore over time. That last plasticky batch you got may be what I’m playing now, who knows :)
 
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I’m messing around with a Hadraw sk blade and Hurricane 8 (mid hard) rubbers for a couple months now. I LOVE the short play and the spin. But it’s a very slow setup overall (slow blade and Chinese rubber). Perfectly possible to make deadly loops but it’s so unforgiving when I’m out of position and can’t apply my body fully.

Otoh I have a Primorac with G1. Super fun setup, linear, not too bouncy, and I still get a decent chance at landing a shot when I’m not positioned right (which is often). But... it’s less spinny (or more direct kind of spinny) and short touch play is not as controllable.

Would it be possible to inject some of the G1 fun into the Hurricane 8 without losing the spin and touch play, if I got a faster blade? If so, what kind of blade, 5-ply, 7-ply, carbon? The Stiga Exclusive at TTEX is not too expensive and a fast 5-ply blade... or Viscaria at 3x the price? Or would a faster blade ruin the touch play without injecting enough fun?

No boosting. Hurricane 8 is about same as H3 Neo fresh from the shop.


you are looking for an innerforce construction. a composite layer directly around the blade core. so you have the touch at low impact and the carbon power at full impact.
 
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That could be an option but alternatively he could also just go from an ALL+/OFF to OFF-/OFF wood blade which would usually, but not always, be cheaper than inner fibre blades albeit heavier.
But if frankhond wants to buy "innerforce" blades, I wouldn't recommend the butterfly Innerforce Layers series, considering the price which is even higher than Visicaria and price seems to be a concern. There are innerforce blades from other brands that are way cheaper.
Here are some popular ones(I haven't used them before so I can't say that they are good. You have to research yourself):
Tibhar Samsonov Stratus Carbon
Stiga Allround Classic Carbon (seems to be a softer option)
Donic Waldner Senso Carbon
 
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