Anybody else find HK1997 Gold a lot softer than its advertised?

Ok, in that case maybe I really did just get a bad batch. I can push the sponge straight down to the wood, with only mild resistance.

Originally Posted by Funk Fu Master

Nope can't push all the way to the wood... After a bit, I get some resistance ..

Look.. I'm not saying that this rubber is rock hard.. Even to me, it does not seem like 50° hard.. But, I would not peg it as soft/mushy either..

Well, of course there is "some" resistance. But if you push as hard as you can, can you push to the wood? With a hard sponge like Hurricane, even if you push as hard as you can, it simply will not compress beyond the half way mark.

If you push as hard as you can, can you push beyond the half way mark, near the wood.

So, I just did the push-down test, with my HK1997, Omega VII, and AK-47 Red... and to me, the HK1997 seemed just a bit harder ..

Anyway, I don't think this is the correct way to go about it .. It should be done, before the rubber is glued to the blade, and we need to push down, directly upon the sponge, with the rubber facing down..

Originally Posted by Lazer

The hardness is in regards to the sponge only, so if you want to tests thoroughly you should do it without top sheet….

Cheers
L-zr

Pressing down, directly on the sponge would give a fair indication of the hardness... What you're saying could be done, with the excess left-over, after cutting the sheet..

Are you sure that your sponge cannot compress as much as mine is here in the photo?

Originally Posted by Michael Zhuang

Are you sure that your sponge cannot compress as much as mine is here in the photo?

Yep .. Pretty sure, I can't ..

On the other hand... I have strong fingers, and I'm pretty sure, if enough force, I can press most sponges down to the wood, irrespective of how hard they are

Originally Posted by Funk Fu Master

Yep .. Pretty sure, I can't ..

On the other hand... I have strong fingers, and I'm pretty sure, if enough force, I can press most sponges down to the wood, irrespective of how hard they are

Do you have a hurricane lying around? Try pushing both hurricane and hk1997 with all your force.

I don't think hurricane can be compressed down to the wood. In my photo, the rubber below is hurricane 3 Nittaku. I can't compress it beyond half way.

It's not a soft rubber, it's in the same ballpark as fast arc g-1

Originally Posted by Zeen

It's not a soft rubber, it's in the same ballpark as fast arc g-1

In that case maybe I really did get a bad batch. Because mine is just very soft. Not like G1, more like Rakza 7 soft.

Originally Posted by Michael Zhuang

I'm used to hard Chinese rubbers on FH.

And you still do not understand why you "feel" that other rubbers seem softer ? H3 for example is more in the ESN 60° zone, so anything in the 48-50 zone that is considered mid hard, 47 being mid and over 50 being hard, will seem WAY MORE softer than you're used too. It's a porous sponge, so of course it will be softer than a typical chinese hard rubber ! it is labeled hard for the euro market, but we all know that this equals to soft for the chinese one.

Bear in mind that this rubber has been intended to be a kind of hybrid, to avoid boostering. Like DHS did with the H8, then H8-80.

This is clearly not a bad batch, it's clearly YOU desperatly trying to find something wrong in a product because your mind is biased, long story short: you're not objective about that issue.

Originally Posted by OldUser

And you still do not understand why you "feel" that other rubbers seem softer ? H3 for example is more in the ESN 60° zone, so anything in the 48-50 zone that is considered mid hard, 47 being mid and over 50 being hard, will seem WAY MORE softer than you're used too. It's a porous sponge, so of course it will be softer than a typical chinese hard rubber ! it is labeled hard for the euro market, but we all know that this equals to soft for the chinese one.

Bear in mind that this rubber has been intended to be a kind of hybrid, to avoid boostering. Like DHS did with the H8, then H8-80.

This is clearly not a bad batch, it's clearly YOU desperatly trying to find something wrong in a product because your mind is biased, long story short: you're not objective about that issue.

I understand the esn scale, but that is not the issue. Evolution mxp is 47 on esn scale I believe. My hk1997 feels way softer than that.

I have another palio rubber hadou that is labeled 42-44 hardness. Even the hadou feels harder in game and also just by pushing than the hk1997.