Battle 3... I got my sheet in 2023 June?? I glued it on the W968 FH side and 3 things come to my mind: Slow, didn't like, glue didn't attach to the sponge. For me slow and didn't like is kinda the same thing, I hate slow rubbers, but in hindsight that I could remove it form my blade like I remove toilet paper from a roll was super disappointing. I probably was using Revolution 3 glue at the time, it doesn't work so well with the Battle 3 sponge, at least for the first gluing. Maybe for 2nd time, it's ok. So I guess I suggest if you put on some glue layers and they come off with zero effort then take the glue layers off and reglue again. The sponge has something on it that the first glue layer will (probably) remove.
So for me B3 was slow as heck with W968, I felt nothing just utter disappointment and darkness. I can't remember any redeeming quality. Maybe it was pretty light but I would just call that OK and it was sticky enough, which I was expecting and not a redeeming feature. Honestly, I felt like 729 should just make more B2 Gold or the orange sponge rubbers instead.
So I was like maybe I will boost it. This was around 2023 September after I got the Rxton 9 blue sponge, which I hated even more. So I applied 2 thin layers of Winion booster which is pretty much like a thin Seamoon. And then I let it sit until now. It is April 2024, so 6 months later? I never actually tried the rubber with the fresh booster on it. But now I was like what the heck I glued it on my Zhou Qihao SALC 90 blade. The rubber was totally flat, so not sure how much the 6 months old booster was in the sponge, I wager not much at all. I used Sueke No 2 glue 2 layer on the sponge and 2 layer on the blade. On the Joola ZQ SALC 90 the previously slow B3 (now "boosted") feels bouncy as FRACK. It is too bloody bouncy. I had warm up issues as it was so bouncy, and when I was doing some hard drives (topspin-drives) I felt something similar as with my 2021 H3N BS National rubber. My drives were going half a meter long. I am now used to Mantra Pro XH and much bouncier rubbers but still the B3 with 6 months old boost is fast as bloody hell.
What else? The topsheet grip is amazing, the tack disappeared over the 6-9 months, now it feels semi tacky, it can pick up the ball like a Dignics 09c, but the topsheet is grippy as hell. It has this sandpaper like quality like you can feel it's not smooth, it's dry and coarse but it grips the ball better than anything, and the topsheet is really strong and elastic.
I have the 40 degrees version in black "boosted" and on FH I love it. So I immediately scrambled to
@harty shop since he has a discount for 23EUR for B3 black and bought it. And since he has not got any red at 38 degrees I went to Aliexpress and ordered a sheet of 38 degrees for BH since I tried the 40 deg black "boosted" on BH and it feels fracking amazing too. Like H3N national red is nowhere...
I read
@longle is now on H3N 38 red on BH... but try the B3 I know you have B3, stick it on BH, maybe boost it even.
And B3 is light too, on a normal blade 46-7g... that is amazing.
First it might be slow, I read that it needs a few hours to break in. I know this is the case with many Chinese rubbers, I just recently experienced it within the same session so if someone gets 2 sheets of B3 just dedicate a session if not 2 for breaking in the rubbers, and on both sides. I see Chinese players breaking in their red Chinese rubbers too on FH so it's a thing. Still not enough? Boost it and I wonder if B3 just keeps a permanent boost?
The topsheet quality of B3 is really amazing. So strong, elastic without it being hard or empty as B2 on small impact. I had many B2 rubbers, never ever had a bubble on them. B2 golden I used for the longest I think, the topsheet lasts forever, usually the sponge dies, but I if the sponge can last I can see these rubbers lasting for a year maybe even more at least on BH. These are cheap rubbers, so if they last for 3-4 months on FH with super heavy hitting (even boosted) that is fantastic value for money. ESN has nothing that could compare in topsheet strength, from DHS you need to buy the national or even above quality and need to boost those perfectly.
You can get Dingtian Young Shine blue sponge and if you boost it perfectly it will be fast AF but not so spinny.
B3 so far for me has 6 month boost at least... maybe 12 months??? How can you top that?
Apart form
@longle bro I know
@latej bro is like B3 not so much for him... hmmmmm OK but maybe reconsider.
I know I rec good stuff easily but
@Attitude B3 I think is stronger than STN if you wanna invest for the summer.
And
@ttarc did you try on BH? Do you think the topsheet is fantastic for BH or am I just mad? 40deg black boosted on BH feels great, and I don't like too hard on BH sooooo?
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