4 out of 5 rating for Hurricane 301
Hands down one of if not the best looping blade in terms of price to performance ratio. The standout attribute I feel right away when using this blade for the first time is the superb feeling of the ball and excellent controls, both with FH and BH. An innerforce-ALC type blade with Koto outer, it is medium stiff on the top ply but you don't get any of that when driving... I reckon it's proper when said to be HL5's little brother with only 1/3 of its price. If you come from an outer carbon blade, be aware that the speed will seem a bit 'shackled'... whilst the manufacturer rated it as an OFF++ blade, I really think its at most an OFF-/OFF blade (I reckon the OFF++ rating is when you activate its top gear due to its power linearity, aka swinging full stroke + activate the carbon inside).That being said, imparting spins are crazy easy with this blade - I used a hard Chinese rubber on FH (unboosted at that time, stupid me lol) and people are finding the spins too immense to block... But, blocking is not as easy- you need to be active, at least impart a short stroke in the block otherwise most of the balls will just get to the net no matter how fast it comes at you. However, for counter-looping, loop-killing, this blade is a beast. Backspin multiball training is a breeze for me due to its medium-flex and sufficient dwell time.Average weight of the blade should be around 89+- 3 grams, mine is 94g but feels relatively fast and lightweight. Thickness is 5.9mm. Looks ideal quantitatively.Comes in a nice silver box, wrapped in plastic (blade face is PLAIN, the 301 text writing is on the plastic! lol)Please do yourselves a favor, SEAL this blade (and any other blades you use really) before first time use because the top ply gives you the feeling that it can splinter a lot when regluing.(Have to admit, DHS's QC is not near 'top' brands like Butterfly, even Yasaka is a lot better imo).This is a blade I will heartily recommend to beginners (who already know the basics of TT), and intermediate players who are developing techniques as they go up the ranks. People who are physically strong-armed can also benefit from the control factor of this blade (due to its innerforce structure). I suggest to couple this with a Chinese/tacky FH rubber and a Euro tensor BH rubber, a versatile combo.