Time to try Hurricane 3

[Matteones]

Hello everyone!
Yep, another Hurricane 3 post, I'll try to keep it short and sweet, I would love the input of @Tony's Table Tennis and other experts of chinese rubbers of a similar level. The reason I need some advice is that no one in my table tennis surroundings has ever really played chinese rubbers (and I played in Italy, Australia, Thailand, Portugal and now Spain ) and I would like to save myself some of the trial and error.


EDIT: Maybe I should expand here as I didn't explain myself properly, I do not need advice on whether using a chinese rubber is a good choice for me or not. To further elaborate, in my 150 people strong Madrid club (of which I am 1 of 5 coaches, 2 of them professional players too), exactly 0 people use chinese rubbers. In all the other clubs who compete at a similar level in my region, I think maybe 1 serious player has one chinese rubber on forehand.

I'm at a decent national level (I think I'd translate to 2200-2300 USATT), I mostly play for fun and share my time between playing and coaching - sparring for a group of the younger ones, you can see me playing in a league match here from minute 00:26 and 2:19:21 - I'm the one with the madrid purple t-shirt and white hair (it was a live streaming but it's very good video quality):

I am quite confident with my forehand and like to play with hard rubbers, my journey since I came back (two years ago) to "serious" TT training (around a couple hours a day) has been Evolution MX-P --> Mk - pro --> K3 --> Bluegrip J1. I used to play with chinese rubbers on forehand for a period back in my university days before switching to european tensors and then leave pingpong for 6-7 years.

I still have 3 J1 to go through on my forehand so I'm good until spring (I tried to control my EJ bug by buying many rubbers so I couldn't try new ones for a while, it worked... for a while ), but I have decided to try Hurricane next (finally?), so I bought some Haifu booster from ttpro and will try my hand at it when it arrives.

Here is my plan on which I would ask for your opinions and thoughts:

on https://www.dhs-729.eu/ the hurricane neo 3 commercial is very inexpensive (2 for 50 euros or 4 for 77..) so I wanted to buy them (directly to 41 degrees, or would 40 degrees be better?), boost them and give them a try.
Is the difference with the blue sponge really so big to be worth it to pay more than double? If I heavily boost a commercial one (2 or 3 layers of Haifu National Yellow?) how long will it last? And if it's worth it to buy the blue sponge, what about the one on ttpro, quite cost friendly but non-neo (blue sponge - n. 22 or n.20 orange sponge?).
I would be happy if the commercial one played wonderful for 1 month to 6 weeks at that price, I can just buy a batch at the beginning of the year and go through it.

Thank you if you have arrived to this point reading me! Please don't take it wrongly but state your level before advicing (I read a lot of the forum but don't know the level of pretty much anyone)

 

[mamedium]

if you are 2200-2300 then you are probably better than 98% of the forum so if someone comes in and gives you direction, just don’t take it seriously

i am around your level so my humble opinion would be:
you can play more techniques with a tensor so i don’t think you should change to H3 which serves a very specific style of play

of course literally no one can stop you from trying, I would suggest you talk to your coach (if you have one) about the change be(forehand) - no pun intended

 

[Matteones]

Hi Mamedium,
Thank you for your answer, I think that very specific style of play that H3 serves can ...serve me well (pun intended ): I rely heavily on serve and receive variation, and big definitive forehands, either speedy or very spinny (with the added lefty trickstery and sidespin).
More than directions I am looking for answers to my specific questions that I wrote at the end of the previous topic to save me some trial and error time, I will try H3 anyway.

 

[Milton Table Tennis Club]

550 rating based on 1 year in a league after being away for 20.
Since you have a long 5, you're going to try h3 blue sponge eventually as I did.
The used long 5 blade was given to me as a gift from a friend who has a bunch of blades and as I expected based on reviews, it's not suited to my skill level, or physical fitness level and currently using Falk W7, 7 ply with H3 39 commercial. I could probably win more games if I used euro rubber, but the DHS rubbers are a lot of fun and switching would be a challenge even if I did want to change.

I'd go with Blue sponge 40 deg provincial 2.15, 3 layers of Falco Tempo long booster, the longest lasting booster, although not sold at prottvip.

Prottvip webstore is cheaper and their postal service option is cheap cheap.

With a low rating I don't think I'm the ideal person you wanted to hear from, but I've read a lot of reviews and tested enough that I believe I can help.

 

[Tyce]

@Matteones

I could advise you to buy the commercial version, and be disappointed with the bad quality so much that you get turned off the idea of playing with it

Or, if you are set on giving it a real try, get a sheet of Provincial, whether that's orange or blue sponge. It's usually around 50% more expensive, but the quality is a *lot* better.

As you have a good level of play, I would advise you to skip the commercial version completely. You already know what a Chinese rubber is, you can use J1 well. There's no need for the introductory commercial version in your case.
As for hardness, I honestly can't say anything useful beyond the 39. Others have better experience with that.

 

[Gtsnake]

You mentioned you've played Chinese rubbers when you were in university. So you already know what the H3 will be like. I haven't noticed much difference between various Chinese rubbers other than quality of manufacturing. As far as H3 it's less tacky nowadays. My preference is more towards Rxton or Loki because of the tack.

As I get older I'm realizing that H3 is a young man rubber. Meaning it takes a lot of footwork and swing speed to utilize the advantages. So I'm actually leaning away from Chinese rubbers. You may end up at the same realization eventually too.

 

[Matteones]

You mentioned you've played Chinese rubbers when you were in university. So you already know what the H3 will be like. I haven't noticed much difference between various Chinese rubbers other than quality of manufacturing. As far as H3 it's less tacky nowadays. My preference is more towards Rxton or Loki because of the tack.

As I get older I'm realizing that H3 is a young man rubber. Meaning it takes a lot of footwork and swing speed to utilize the advantages. So I'm actually leaning away from Chinese rubbers. You may end up at the same realization eventually too.

I did play them in university, but it was never H3 and it was a totally different time and game, I think I could even fresh glue them the first year and when they banned it I turned to tensor like everyone. Lots of fresh glue and an amazing sound and spin, I don't know if I'm romanticizing a memory, but that's how I remember it . On a side note I am still quite fit athletically (swing speed certainly better than footwork but that's an old problem) so I would like to make use of it until I can!

 

[joshmak10]

@Matteones I am certainly not at your level yet but I do play Hurricane 3 Neo extensively, and I play with 40 degrees 2.1mm provincial Blue sponge on my forehand. Personally I think the blue sponge difference between the orange sponge is noticeable to me in that the orange sponge is a bit more lively and bouncy but tops out faster compared to blue sponge. But if price is a big concern, orange sponge is fine. Never buy commercial hurricane imo, the quality control is awful and provincial quality is much much better. Haifu booster is good so kudos to you for getting a good booster. Always buy Neo versions in 2.1mm, they are designed for modern boosters in mind.

 

[PhoenixTT]

and I would like to save myself some of the trial and error.

Is the difference with the blue sponge really so big to be worth it to pay more than double? If I heavily boost a commercial one (2 or 3 layers of Haifu National Yellow?) how long will it last?

Only you can tell whether H3 is for you or not. No advise from any forum can replace actual, personal experience playing with it.

If this is a case where you can afford trial and error, it's best to do the trial and error. If you end up not liking what you bought you can probably resell unopened ones to your club and recover some of the cost.

My level is comparable to yours, especially where you miss the ball
FWIW I play with commercial H3 unboosted and like it a lot because it forces me to make the effort to hit the ball.

 

[K.K]

i made the switch to a chinese rubber from hybrid tensor and it took a while, especially if you play league. as @mamedium said you will have some things that will not work anymore or at least are not as easy, so you need to really look at your game AND the games you mostly play against and figure out if the change and effort makes sense. in my case the spinless game is way harder and i loose a lot more against anti, short pimples and early bounce blockers. dead serves are also harder, so i needed to change my serve deception a bit. the pros are clear and most you already read, but take your time and really analyse if it makes sense for your game. i ended up with rxton 9 that is a bit easier to play then hurricane 3 wich was a bit to much for me

 

[Matteones]

i made the switch to a chinese rubber from hybrid tensor and it took a while, especially if you play league. as @mamedium said you will have some things that will not work anymore or at least are not as easy, so you need to really look at your game AND the games you mostly play against and figure out if the change and effort makes sense. in my case the spinless game is way harder and i loose a lot more against anti, short pimples and early bounce blockers. dead serves are also harder, so i needed to change my serve deception a bit. the pros are clear and most you already read, but take your time and really analyse if it makes sense for your game. i ended up with rxton 9 that is a bit easier to play then hurricane 3 wich was a bit to much for me

Thank you for your answer.
My query is more on the questions I have written after the "Here is my plan on which I would ask for your opinions and thoughts" section.

The introduction was to give a context to my level and avoid opinions on IF trying a hurricane is a well thought choice: I have already thought about it.
I already regard EJ as something fun and nothing more.

I also actually think that the equipment doesn't count that much on our level, I spent 6 months last year with a defensive blade, Feint Long III on backhand and my level went down a little bit but really not dramatically (in national league matches, not only in club play). 80% of the game, for me and almost for everyone, plays out in serve, receive and first attack, give me at least one rubber that spins and I will make it work somehow.

Also at around my league level and higher I really wish there were more anti, short pimples, long pimples and any other material that makes the game slower and easier for me, the problem is usually the opposite, fast up and coming juniors with good footwork and consistently attacking.

 

[K.K]

some people are more sensitive to equipment changes then others and if you are the lucky one that doesn't care as much as you described, then the question between blue sponge, orange sponge, provincial and national is a bit meaningless. just go with the cheapest option you can find both for rubber and booster (and read the 99+ threads about hurricane) or just try and buy all of them

 

[lodro]

I might be witnessing the birth of a brand new equipment junky 😂

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Thanks for tagging me, I am sure there are also many other experts here.

I would say, its okay to use commercial and to boost it and have fun.
and yes, the price increase from commercial to say provincial blue sponge is well worth it.

But for experimental sake, you are welcome to try out commercial H3.
If your wallet is no problem, I would then recommend provincial blue.

preference on hardness is depending on what you prefer.
if you are not familiar with harder sponges, then maybe 40 degree will be more ideal. 41 may be too hard.

 

[Zwill]

Just a fun fact, I have been asking people in China who uses expansion oil who doesn't on their H3BS. Surprisingly many girls/women around the 1800-2000 (you can just basically add 200 points to reach about German TTR) Chinese points don't use booster. They buy/get 39 degree national H3N BS glue it and use it as long as the topsheet lasts.

They can produce fast shots and very consistent openups. Usually they use Viscaria (or clone) or some Darker blade on BH 09c, D05 or T05.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Just a fun fact, I have been asking people in China who uses expansion oil who doesn't on their H3BS. Surprisingly many girls/women around the 1800-2000 (you can just basically add 200 points to reach about German TTR) Chinese points don't use booster. They buy/get 39 degree national H3N BS glue it and use it as long as the topsheet lasts.

They can produce fast shots and very consistent openups. Usually they use Viscaria (or clone) or some Darker blade on BH 09c, D05 or T05.

View attachment 38923

its probably not so common for Chinese social players to be using oil (1800-2000 is pretty low level).
its also not a gender thing, as I know many womens that use oil.

i think if you talk about serious players - ie, they belong to some competition team - ie provincial team, they would all be using oil.
using 1 rubber till the topsheet lasts, is also a sign of social players

 

[Matteones]

Thank you so much everyone for your answers!

@lodro I hope I am towards the end of my EJ journey really, I have blasted through quite many woods in the last two years, and luckily I have found one to keep with. To me the wood really provides the feeling and it was hard to find one I clicked with (most probably two years of continual good training is most of the reason I got my feeling back but...sssshh ). Backhand rubber I am also sticking with MK pro for a long time, I really like it.

My plan now is to wait for (hopefully) some black friday discounts and then get one commercial H3 neo, one provincial blue sheet H3 neo and one provincial blue sheet H3 non neo. Jury is still out if 40 or 41 degrees, but probably 40.

They will then sit on my shelf next to the booster and stare at me every day until I give them a try .
Hopefully I can resist until the end of the season (may - june), but I do have one replacement long 5 to try them with so... who knows .

 

[Matteones]

So here I am, of course I could not wait that long to try the rubbers, I could feel them staring at me everytime I opened the closet.

I bought 3: all h3 neo 40 degrees, one commercial, one provincial orange sponge, one provincial blue sponge.

I have taken the provincial orange sponge, boosted it with 1 thin layer of Haifu national yellow booster (directly on the thin layer of glue that it came with), waited 12 hours, boosted it with another thin layer and waited 48 hours before glueing on my (commercial) long 5. Booster wasn't much because it didn't curve extremely, just a medium - mild curve.
I have now tried it in 3-4 training session, and it was certainly interesting enough to make me look forward to trying more.

It's definitely slower than my (unboosted) J1, and especially the first training or two it felt different, and as I became accustomed to it, I feel like I have a definite improvement on controlling everything in my forehand:

1 - Serving is such an improvement, it gives tons of spin and it actually makes me confident in swinging hard, the serve stays as tight as I want, and even if it goes long, the spin (even when read correctly) is more than expected.
2 - Receiving and control also a definite improvement, very easy to put the ball where I want.
3 - Topspinning was where I had to adjust the most: at the beginning I felt that especially on backspin balls it gave less spin than my J1, while packing the ball with spin on topspin on topspin (or neutral spin). The bounce dips so much faster and the trajectory quite a lot flatter and once I adjusted I liked it very much, and it was harder to handle for my opponents, not necessarily for the spin, more for how easy it is to place it where I want it and how little it bounces.
4 - Countering is unbelievable, I feel like the ball is radio controlled to exactly where I want to put it.
5 - Block, I don't do much of it on the forehand but it seems fine with it.
6 - Smash, didn't even try, I directly switch to smash with my backhand rubber.

One very important note: it feels like the more I "relax" my arm, the better I play with it, but my legs have to stay extremely engaged. Yesterday after 2-3 hours of matches I could feel that if I don't support the rubber with my body, it becomes very unresponsive.

One upside: I have no problem switching back to my other long 5 with J1 on forehand and actually feel like I play better with it after playing with the H3.

I have bought a W968 from a member of this forum and I can't wait to try it next week most probably with the Blue Sponge H3 (Sunday I have an important league match but then we have a very long Christmas break where I can go crazy).

 

[bhenthusiast]

So here I am, of course I could not wait that long to try the rubbers, I could feel them staring at me everytime I opened the closet.

I bought 3: all h3 neo 40 degrees, one commercial, one provincial orange sponge, one provincial blue sponge.

I have taken the provincial orange sponge, boosted it with 1 thin layer of Haifu national yellow booster (directly on the thin layer of glue that it came with), waited 12 hours, boosted it with another thin layer and waited 48 hours before glueing on my (commercial) long 5. Booster wasn't much because it didn't curve extremely, just a medium - mild curve.
I have now tried it in 3-4 training session, and it was certainly interesting enough to make me look forward to trying more.

It's definitely slower than my (unboosted) J1, and especially the first training or two it felt different, and as I became accustomed to it, I feel like I have a definite improvement on controlling everything in my forehand:

1 - Serving is such an improvement, it gives tons of spin and it actually makes me confident in swinging hard, the serve stays as tight as I want, and even if it goes long, the spin (even when read correctly) is more than expected.
2 - Receiving and control also a definite improvement, very easy to put the ball where I want.
3 - Topspinning was where I had to adjust the most: at the beginning I felt that especially on backspin balls it gave less spin than my J1, while packing the ball with spin on topspin on topspin (or neutral spin). The bounce dips so much faster and the trajectory quite a lot flatter and once I adjusted I liked it very much, and it was harder to handle for my opponents, not necessarily for the spin, more for how easy it is to place it where I want it and how little it bounces.
4 - Countering is unbelievable, I feel like the ball is radio controlled to exactly where I want to put it.
5 - Block, I don't do much of it on the forehand but it seems fine with it.
6 - Smash, didn't even try, I directly switch to smash with my backhand rubber.

One very important note: it feels like the more I "relax" my arm, the better I play with it, but my legs have to stay extremely engaged. Yesterday after 2-3 hours of matches I could feel that if I don't support the rubber with my body, it becomes very unresponsive.

One upside: I have no problem switching back to my other long 5 with J1 on forehand and actually feel like I play better with it after playing with the H3.

I have bought a W968 from a member of this forum and I can't wait to try it next week most probably with the Blue Sponge H3 (Sunday I have an important league match but then we have a very long Christmas break where I can go crazy).

How's the durability/longevity of the J1? And is it close enough to the H3 that if I didn't wanna boost the J1 could be an alternative for boosted H3? Seems to me they are similar from your description

 

[Jslick89]

So here I am, of course I could not wait that long to try the rubbers, I could feel them staring at me everytime I opened the closet.

I bought 3: all h3 neo 40 degrees, one commercial, one provincial orange sponge, one provincial blue sponge.

I have taken the provincial orange sponge, boosted it with 1 thin layer of Haifu national yellow booster (directly on the thin layer of glue that it came with), waited 12 hours, boosted it with another thin layer and waited 48 hours before glueing on my (commercial) long 5. Booster wasn't much because it didn't curve extremely, just a medium - mild curve.
I have now tried it in 3-4 training session, and it was certainly interesting enough to make me look forward to trying more.

It's definitely slower than my (unboosted) J1, and especially the first training or two it felt different, and as I became accustomed to it, I feel like I have a definite improvement on controlling everything in my forehand:

1 - Serving is such an improvement, it gives tons of spin and it actually makes me confident in swinging hard, the serve stays as tight as I want, and even if it goes long, the spin (even when read correctly) is more than expected.
2 - Receiving and control also a definite improvement, very easy to put the ball where I want.
3 - Topspinning was where I had to adjust the most: at the beginning I felt that especially on backspin balls it gave less spin than my J1, while packing the ball with spin on topspin on topspin (or neutral spin). The bounce dips so much faster and the trajectory quite a lot flatter and once I adjusted I liked it very much, and it was harder to handle for my opponents, not necessarily for the spin, more for how easy it is to place it where I want it and how little it bounces.
4 - Countering is unbelievable, I feel like the ball is radio controlled to exactly where I want to put it.
5 - Block, I don't do much of it on the forehand but it seems fine with it.
6 - Smash, didn't even try, I directly switch to smash with my backhand rubber.

One very important note: it feels like the more I "relax" my arm, the better I play with it, but my legs have to stay extremely engaged. Yesterday after 2-3 hours of matches I could feel that if I don't support the rubber with my body, it becomes very unresponsive.

One upside: I have no problem switching back to my other long 5 with J1 on forehand and actually feel like I play better with it after playing with the H3.

I have bought a W968 from a member of this forum and I can't wait to try it next week most probably with the Blue Sponge H3 (Sunday I have an important league match but then we have a very long Christmas break where I can go crazy).

Woohooo! The cool thing about the h3 is that it will be even better after a week of playing on. (at my level it takes a couple weeks before it gets really good, but i'm guessing you play a lot more so it will "break in" even faster for you).
At first i ddidn't like my h3n prov BS 39degree 2.15 but after a while i think i actually like it more than my 40 degree 2.10 BS. i'm still trying to decide though lol.