OOAK Table Tennis Forum

DHS supposedly has terrible quality control, this might be an example. Probably a bad batch of the tacky-causing glue they apply via the "protector film" - or they might have used the wrong one (they make non-tacky sheets like Tin Arc, if I recall correctly mine had a "protector film" on it).

Iskandar

Welp, I told TT11 about the issue. I'll see if they do anything about it.

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Seeking joy and fitness in recreational modern defense.
My blog: "Two rubbers, one racket"
Kill the game against long Pimps with Coach Li!

You can always ADD tacky...





Iskandar

I should have mentioned before, but TT11 asked me for a video of the non-tackiness of the rubber, which I took with my cell phone camera. By then a couple of days had passed, and the rubber had gone from totally non-tacky over its entire surface to non-tacky for about an inch around the edges and very slightly tacky near the center (able to pick a ball up and lift it about half an inch before dropping).

Their response was interesting. They said that Skyline TG3 Neo is normally barely tacky, unlike Hurricane 3 which according to them is normally very tacky. They made no comment on whether Skyline TG3 non-Neo (what I bought, and I was clear about this in the email) was normally pretty tacky as I had been led to believe by reviews. I think this was just a simple miscommunication.

In any case, they offered to replace or refund the rubber, and I took them up on the refund offer. So great customer service on their part IMO

I played with the rubber for a couple more days and the tackiness remained more or less nonexistent. I tried the olive oil technique that I've seen attributed to Der_Echte on another forum and it had little effect.

I ended up using the refund money to buy a sheet of Geospin Tacky from a stateside vendor. It came... moderately tacky. I was a little disappointed in that, but I can get pretty good spin on serves and pushes and chops, and I'm having pretty good luck controlling brush loops and counterhits, so I'm just going to stick with this for a few months probably.

Sorry for the tangential wall of text, but I figure this info might be useful to somebody.

_________________
Seeking joy and fitness in recreational modern defense.
My blog: "Two rubbers, one racket"
Kill the game against long Pimps with Coach Li!

I figure if you want something REALLY tacky get a sheet of H8... if you believe all those videos on YouTube.. Not really convinced that ultra-tacky is good, though, considering how many people recommend non-tacky Chinese sheets (Focus III Snipe, Mars II, etc.). I honestly can't tell the difference in actual play, unless it's something really unusually tacky (like a brand new sheet of Corbor). Pushes will go into the net occasionally.

Iskandar

A quick update: I've messed around with a few tacky rubbers over the last few months. Results of my EJ binge are as follows:

Gambler Reflectoid: The first forehand rubber I got quite a long time ago, listed here for comparion purposes. Medium-tacky (would pick up a ball a few inches and hold it for about a half second) as received. Tackiness lasted about three weeks at ~7-8 hours of play per week with religious use of the protective film and a quick wipe with a damp sponge after each use.
Skyline 3 (regular, not Neo): almost non-tacky as received. Played pretty 'meh' compared to the non-tacky rubber (Gambler Aces Pro Competitor) I was using before.
729 Geospin Tacky: almost non-tacky as received. Played slower and less spinny than APC. Didn't change its playing properties much over a month of use.
729 SP Ultra Tack w/ Transcend sponge: almost non-tacky as received. The sponge was great though, I felt my forehand really improved while I was using this. Difficult to get the kind of spin on service that I like though, and opponents even at my level told me that my serves and chops weren't as loaded as they were used to. Didn't change much over about a month of use.
729 Origin Nano: I tried to order this from Zeropong. The ad copy says it achieves its tackiness through some nanoparticle nonsense that is supposed to last much longer than the usual applique sticky film. I thought this might give me a better chance of receiving something that actually behaves like the videos of tacky rubber you see on Youtube, as I assumed the several types of supposedly super-tacky rubbers that weren't tacky when I opened them up. Zeropong emailed me a couple of days after I ordered saying they had actually been out of stock for a while and that the website had erroneously allowed me to order, and they offered me a sheet of anything in the store instead. So I ended up getting a sheet of Hurricane 8 which I haven't tried yet.
Hurricane 2 Neo: I ordered this from an Ebay seller for $17 shipped. Medium-tacky as received. For the first week I hated this rubber because the spin didn't seem to be there despite the obvious stickiness and it was absolutely dead slow (didn't expect that with the Neo sponge). After that first week though, it really seemed to liven up in all strokes and I'm really digging it. I've been working on my brush-loop technique and it seems like if I do my part with footwork and body rotation the sky is the limit with regards to power. Very good for service, excellent for pushes, and I can FH chop well with it. The tackiness is holding up well through about a month of play.

I should clarify, I wasn't necessarily looking for MEGA FLYPAPER HYPER TACKINESS, I just picked supposedly mega-tacky rubbers because I figured they had a lesser chance of being non-tacky on arrival.

My plan is to stick with the H2 Neo until it seems dead or gets all chewed up at the edges, at which point I'll try the sheet of H8. I don't know if the vacuum seal that H2Neo comes it is what helped it actually be tacky after coming across the ocean, or whether it just started out a lot tackier.

_________________
Seeking joy and fitness in recreational modern defense.
My blog: "Two rubbers, one racket"
Kill the game against long Pimps with Coach Li!

Wow ! Some nice reviews! Can you also comment on how hard or how heavy each rubber was ? Did you use Butterfly foam cleaner or the something similar to Tibhar Grip restorer etc ? Did you try any olive oil or sunflower oil ?

Also you could try wiping the rubber with the damp sponge and wipe the non-tacky rubber protector with the damp sponge and immediately create a "vacuum" seal with a thin layer of water trapped in-between. Keep the rubber somewhere semi-warm and dry. Try to see how much tacky the rubber is afterwards
When you take off the stuck on non-tacky rubber protector sheet, your topsheet should look almost shiny, very uniform and if there are no watermarks it is likely that the topsheet has gained some tackiness.

Reason I am asking is becos for some reason I clean my rubbers this way and seal them. Almost always the tacky rubber gets back the tack! After play I repeat and I don't notice any decrease in tackiness.

Most of the guys whom I have built their rackets also follow the same maintenance and their MarkV rubbers are still almost brand-new even after 2 years of continuous play everyday. The only damage on their rubbers is where they hit the rubber on the table.

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Backup C-pen blades:

• TSP Black Balsa 7.0 :
  1. FH/BH-YRakza9/XOmegaVT
  2. FH/BH-*blank*
• 729 Bomb C-P : FH/BH-TG2Neo/H3 Orig
• TSP Versal :
  1. FH/BH-XOmegaVA/YJupiter-II
  2. FH/BH-*blank*

Fun blades:

• Yasaka Battle Balsa(ST) : FH/BH-YRakza7/H2 Orig

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Revival! Did the OP ever get a chance to try these rubbers yet (TG2 Neo and S3-60)?

I use both, TG2 Neo on FH and S3-60 in the BH and I am really enjoying them!
The characteristics between them are quite different, so I think they specifically serve better as FH (TG2) and BH (3-60) rubbers for my game.

-S-360 has a much higher trajectory/throw than TG2 Neo, and I’m assuming it’s from the extra grab when the ball sinks into the softer sponge.
-The tackiness of TG2 Neo is a bit more.
-Blocking on the S3-60 is a bit more lively. You can’t be as passive with the TG2Neo.
-Flat hitting is a bit more possible on the 3-60 compared to TG2.
-lower % shots s3-60 is a bit faster but has a lower ceiling before bottoming out compared to TG2 Neo.

-Both rubbers are a bit punishing for poor technique.