My Sheets of H8-80 arrived today😀!!
Glued them onto a Primorac all wood blade.
Red sheet is 37 degree version, 65 grams uncut, 48 grams cut
Black sheet is 38 degree, 72 grams uncut, 51 grams cut.
Sponge is red, it is not totally smooth, it appears to have ‘micro ridges’ photo not the best, but you can make out the ridges if you zoom in, can’t really feel the ridges very small!!
Both sheets have a tacky feeling top sheet, both held the ball for 2 - 4 seconds, which was shorter than I was expecting considering how tacky they felt. I’ve used H8 hard so I’m expecting the tackiness to wear off somewhat after a week or so, this is when the H8 really started to play well.
Bounce test - both sheets had the same result, 3rd bounce and the ball had ‘stuck’ to the surface. So pretty ‘dead’ feeling.
Didn’t have much time on the table with them this afternoon v robot, but I did get an idea of how they play, bear in mind ‘straight out of the pack’ may play different than a ‘played in’ sheet if they follow what happened with the H8 hard.
Even though the bounce test was pretty dead, for comparison I also used Tau 2 on a Primorac.
Tau 2 has about 6 bounces (it has been played in though) compared to the H8-80’s 3.
when playing FH top spin and loops the H8-80 was only slightly slower and has a lower throw. Spin was similar between Tau 2 and H8-80 pretty high!!
I didn’t really notice much difference between the 37 & 38 degree sponges!!
Tau 2 felt a little softer, but again this could be because it has been played in.
BH and FH flick v backspin and BH and FH loop v backspin took a little getting use to but we’re ok good speed and spin. Tau 2 has a slightly higher throw and felt easier to play with against backspin (but I’m pretty well acquainted with Tau 2)
H8-80 has the low throw sharp drag down loop flight typical of this type of rubber.
Short game play was excellent, serves were very good to.
So initial thoughts are that the H8-80 is a decent rubber, time will see if it improves like the H8 hard did after playing/breaking in.
very good 1st impression !!