Can a commercial H3 Neo come close to a H3 blue sponge?

[gordonluvsu]

I know that commercial H3 Neos are thought to be less consistent in quality compared to provincials and nationals.
Considering a boosted H3 Neo provincial Blue Sponge, is there a way to achieve the same quality with a commercial one? For example by excessive boosting or something else.
Or are the blue sponges just straight up always better and above commercial ones.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

commericial only comes with orange sponges (no 20 sponge)
so if any comparison, you could only compare with orange sponge provincial

For lower level players, commericial orange sponge, boosted is more than okay to use.

 

[Der_Echte]

TTD members should private message Sergey Tsos on how to select, purchase, and boost the heck outta H3. Few know more than him period.

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

Blue sponge plays different than orange sponge, not better or worse.

 

[thomas.pong]

Seemed like a rhetorical question

 

[loerting]

As a player who always played commercial version: Do you actually notice a difference between the blue and the orange sponge or is it all placebo effect? How much better do you actually play with it in percent?

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

As a player who always played commercial version: Do you actually notice a difference between the blue and the orange sponge or is it all placebo effect? How much better do you actually play with it in percent?

Blue sponge reacts to booster differently than orange.
I like H3 normal edition better than neo for booster too

its different sponges. no 20 and no 22 respectively.
Would you call it placebo when comparing H3 no 20 with H3 no 50 (which is called H3-50)? No, you wouldn't.

Maybe you do get some that can't feel the difference, but from how the sponge reacts to the ball, it is all different (no: 20, 22, 50, 60, 80 etc)

 

[WingTT]

From my limited experience, a blue provincial NEO sponge at 39 degrees is completely different from and much faster than a commercial NEO orange sponge.

 

[thomas.pong]

As a player who always played commercial version: Do you actually notice a difference between the blue and the orange sponge or is it all placebo effect? How much better do you actually play with it in percent?

It doesn't play better, they're just different. As to quantifying in percents, hmmm, we're not robots.

I think my friend who has experience with different types of H3's described it best:

"Orange sponge is bouncier and faster. Blue sponge is way more dense and as such there's more dwell and more spin. Orange is way easier to play with. Blue sponge needs a lots of power and technique to unlock the speed potential. Blue is slightly harder at the same degree or hardness as well."

This is why I stick to Provincial Orange.

Also like Tony said, non-Neo is much easier and predictable in terms of boosting, Neo is more irregular.

 

[latej]

I know that commercial H3 Neos are thought to be less consistent in quality compared to provincials and nationals.
Considering a boosted H3 Neo provincial Blue Sponge, is there a way to achieve the same quality with a commercial one? For example by excessive boosting or something else.
Or are the blue sponges just straight up always better and above commercial ones.

My experience is that the commercial H3s were simply lower quality. The top-sheet was always feelably softer. It was also more glossy, np with that, I'm just mentioning. The sponge felt generally softer than declared, and was also more fragile, and could break when regluing. E.g. now I have commercial H3 H39 on Viscaria, and BD H38 too, and the H3 feels softer than the BD, more like H37. The top-sheet can sometimes be so soft, that it looks visually un-even. OK, that was always my exp. with H3 comm. I think there is high volatility. You can possibly have much higher quality H3 comm., but I never had. I think it is the best you invest in two H3 provincial sheets and see for yourself. About the national, I can't say, never tried. Now playing with Nittaku H3 Turbo Blue, the quality is supreme.

In short, for me it was not about orange vs. blue, but about comm. vs prov.

Cheers loerting, I hope you're enjoying the blade.

 

[Lowday20298]

The b;ue sponge is different in structure and in use, they're harder and made with a formula that promotes boosting. They're fine without boosting, but it's lost potential.

 

[harty]

commericial only comes with orange sponges (no 20 sponge)
so if any comparison, you could only compare with orange sponge provincial

For lower level players, commericial orange sponge, boosted is more than okay to use.

Complete agreement!!! If the player does not have good technique and at least 2-3 years of experience with commercial H3 and does not know how to use a booster, we do not recommend buying rubber with BS.

 

[Zwill]

I just have a commercial OS and a prov BS (both 40deg) on similar blades, the BS on ZQ S-ALC 90 and the commercial H3N on the ALC side of an Ice Cream. Both are boosted and honestly the difference exists but not that much.
I have more hours in the commercial OS H3 so the sponge is broken in well already I think, while the BS not yet.

OS seems to be faster until I start to hit very very hard or step back. OS has higher arc too.
BS has more stable control and more linear across every shot type. Open up, 3rd ball kill, push, block, counter, smash high ball etc...

At this moment I think I still like the OS better, beacause it's quite bouncy in fact and the higher arc it produces makes it easier for me to pick up some balls where I am late / far back against short pips players. Just more relaxing to play with the OS.
However because of the higher arc and more bounce, and possibly a bit softer too, countering over the table and sometimes blocking is a bit unpredictable andit is a bit sensitive to incoming spin.

I think the main benefits of the BS is easier boosting, lighter, more stable / linear control, the arc of the BS is more sharp and for sure more uncomfortable for the opponent. BS is just more stable at countering in all distances.

Actually I am a bit interested to put the OS on a Mizutani SZLC since that blade has a bit of a kick compared to a Viscaria like blade so it might fix the lack of umph if one steps back with OS. And the "passive" bounce of the MJ SZLC is not that different (possibly even less) than the previously mentioned blades.

These all might sound like pretty signigicant differences, but not really, they are very similar. So if someone doesn't want to shill out the double money for BS provincial then a commercial OS is more the fine. Just buy Seamoon and boost the OS a bit more than BS. Seamoon is much cheaper than how much extra a BS prov is compared to plain old H3N. And while I have a pretty positive experience with BS durability a lot say it can bubble up much earlier than OS so there's that extra cost too.

 

[Robin0910]

I just have a commercial OS and a prov BS (both 40deg) on similar blades, the BS on ZQ S-ALC 90 and the commercial H3N on the ALC side of an Ice Cream. Both are boosted and honestly the difference exists but not that much.
I have more hours in the commercial OS H3 so the sponge is broken in well already I think, while the BS not yet.

OS seems to be faster until I start to hit very very hard or step back. OS has higher arc too.
BS has more stable control and more linear across every shot type. Open up, 3rd ball kill, push, block, counter, smash high ball etc...

At this moment I think I still like the OS better, beacause it's quite bouncy in fact and the higher arc it produces makes it easier for me to pick up some balls where I am late / far back against short pips players. Just more relaxing to play with the OS.
However because of the higher arc and more bounce, and possibly a bit softer too, countering over the table and sometimes blocking is a bit unpredictable andit is a bit sensitive to incoming spin.

I think the main benefits of the BS is easier boosting, lighter, more stable / linear control, the arc of the BS is more sharp and for sure more uncomfortable for the opponent. BS is just more stable at countering in all distances.

Actually I am a bit interested to put the OS on a Mizutani SZLC since that blade has a bit of a kick compared to a Viscaria like blade so it might fix the lack of umph if one steps back with OS. And the "passive" bounce of the MJ SZLC is not that different (possibly even less) than the previously mentioned blades.

These all might sound like pretty signigicant differences, but not really, they are very similar. So if someone doesn't want to shill out the double money for BS provincial then a commercial OS is more the fine. Just buy Seamoon and boost the OS a bit more than BS. Seamoon is much cheaper than how much extra a BS prov is compared to plain old H3N. And while I have a pretty positive experience with BS durability a lot say it can bubble up much earlier than OS so there's that extra cost too.

How many layers of booster do you recommend and can BS be used without booster?

 

[TareqPhoto]

Ok, so it is very clear that Provencial and blue sponge are different than commercial and orange sponge no matter what, so National is in the top, then Provencial whatever model then commercial, and about sponge Blue is in the top then Orange.

I have only one H3 NEO Prov BS i think maybe 40d boosted, it is just a rubber i don't know if i like or not, but it sounds i will keep it for longer time with me, while i use commercial H3 NEO 37d orange on my backhand and it is like 2 times amazing then forever crap, i wanted to change it and i gave the racket to a friend to change the rubber, but he said it is very strong glued and it could damage the rubber, then he suggested to better keep it and use another blade as main without this sponge and leave this for practice and fun only, i already ordered a second Long 5X blade so i will never think about commercial H3 rubber again even perfect boosted.

 

[Zwill]

How many layers of booster do you recommend and can BS be used without booster?

I used 2 for BS, it made a pretty large curve. On OS I used 2 initially, it felt not enough so after ~2 weeks I gave it 2 more.

I don't dare boost BS more since I don't want the sponge to break soon.

Everything can be used without booster. Not sure if it's worth it tho. DHS puts some stuff on it at the factory anyway but some seamoon makes a lot of difference.