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Few days off... finally played today 3 hours.

Played most the time with Shadi for 2 hours doing just serve and open. We had monstrously cool long big rallies. Last hourISH at least we did games... (He beat me last time) This time he got 2 games off me to countless games I won (dunno 10ish). Those 2 I was trying to practise being aggressive on everything and didn't farewell.

Had a 2 best of 3s with Dennis, first one I won 2:0 = I wasn't tired .. Last one was when I was exhausted so I attach no importance to him beating me 2:1. I was distracted by the Korean dood who seemed upset when I asked him how to say thank you in Korean. (Because we were fetching each other's balls often)....

Anyhow, my overall everything was up.

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Equipment thoughts? YSC H3x2 =
Blade was feeling a bit heavy today? I kind of forgot about the grip to hold it the right way to kill FH...

It felt like a monster spinning machine, as good as it gets. Solid.

A few times I really noticed both red and black H3 catapult much bigger than expected and I LIKED IT. I asked Shadi after a BH shot I did if he thought it was slow and he said no. (because I have an inferiority complex about my BH being slow? lol. Just like to confirm....)

Nothing really to report else I haven't already.

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A couple of days ago I didn't post the session.

Mostly played Eric.

I tried playing all 3 blades see if I noticed anything new....

Main thing I noticed is the tackier H8 / possibly softer, was way better for serving. I mentioned this before but I need maximum serve potential so I don't think H3 will cut it for me if it is the only Chinese rubber on my blade.

H2 is possibly better for tack but it feels kind of nothing special if it is the only Chinese rubber on the blade.

To be clear, PF4 is really dammed good. It's not the ultimate rubber for me, but it is way faster than all the other DHS and it keeps low and there is just enough bite in the tack to catch the ball.

Must admit I enjoyed trying mxp after not using it for a few sessions. I really do enjoy the easy-forward kick.

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Eric seems to have changed his tune as he discusses my style and equipment saying my game is not about speed and shouldn't use that equipment really... (different to his theories earlier / half a year ago...)

He says my game is all about spinning, making it hard for the opponent to get on the ball.

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At the end of the day I just stick to the rubber that gives me the best serves and another rubber that allows me to put the ball away quickly.

I can settle on any DHS rubbers in reality. The slowest seem the most disruptive to my opponents, and the speedier one is kind of an unsaid standard they might be more used to.

Should I be the weird guy or be more mainstream...?
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I think I want to see if I can swap the MXP over to the YSC (which seems to be a bit slower/controlled) than the grubba for now... (keyword seems).

The MXP I am finding I am getting used to for everything but of course it does not have the accidental control "oh the shot was rubbish but it will still land".

My backhand if anywhere is the only place for it.

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Interesting that you found pf4 faster than any of the hurricanes. I have used h2, h3, and pf4, on my penhold setup, purely for fun. I really liked PF4 as an allrounder, and it's still what's in place. H2 I slightly preferred the shot trajectory, but H3 was my favourite for serving and service return. Haven't used h8 for years - I kind of forgotten it existed!

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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

PF4 today is not the old tacky one too. It seems as about as tacky as H3 to be honest. But H3 is just that softer topsheetish... dunno...
As I said in my stretch experiments PF4 has a short stretch before snapping hard, but it felt like a hell of a lot of force in that effort and seems to keep the energy....

I'm not going to be objective after boosting them all to various degrees either buddy

Hence I try to keep a boost history going to work out why what played how.

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You are right with the consensus if you believe that H8 is less spinny than H3. I refer only to serves though... (rally shots the lower speed to spin ratio make H3 spinnier over all) and maybe my H3 batch were all just less tack?

cheers.

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Couple + weeks haven't posted.

Didn't report one session where I just felt comfortable with H3 both sides on the sc. The H3 seems to get tackier when left covered with as much air pushed out of it.

So I know I probably will stay with that equipment... double chinese is fine with me.

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Time at the table has been hard with 3 jobs I am coordinating and parental responsibilities.

Getting there. Must have has the longest spell of no play at the club in my return. Did play my kid a couple of times and love it but its not the challenge I need.

HOpefully soon find the right gap for a hit.

I know my game is coming back,,, hopefully I don't backslide too much. Once a week with a quality opponent is all I ask for now.

PS favorite games watched recently was Scoz beating that CH olympian

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Played Friday night and this afternoon after quite a spell of overworking.

No time to stuff around with equipment and have just settled into a groove with H3 both sides on the YSC.

I could say I will be staying with this. I think it must be the lower amount of tack that helps me just play a less Chinese stroke maybe?

Every shot is doable. It's spinnier than most people I ever play because for me to increase the speed in any shot the spin due to the work on the ball is always greater.

With less play I am not really improving much but I feel everything is as good as possible for now. I feel I lack spin on serves but not at the cost of easier everything else....

In terms of cost, I don't think I will bother with H8 till it is less than H3. So really what I want to trial next is H3 and H2 on both sides of the same blades. Because H2 is tackier and cheaper in my experience...

Keep the variables as simple as possible and see how I go.

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To report, I have played better against all my training partners / randoms too, than usual....

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The only thing I should report in the change of attitude toward anything is I don't see myself doing fixtures next year. Life is just too complex to dedicate a night of the week to TT. Sad but family, work and just general getting older just makes me want to keep TT to a few times a week when I can fit it.

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Played a couple of times recently. I did one shot that almost killed my new blade, but luckily most of the brunt hit the edge of my H3 red pealing it back. Fine to play but needed to reglue...

So as I promised in my last post, I stuck on a red Hurricane 2 instead of the H3 red. So I could clearly compare H2 vs H3 finally on the YSC.

Here is the weird thing. You'd be stupid not to say the red h2 was way tackier than the black newer H3. A finger test you can just feel your finger smmmmmmack off the tack. Yet the old pick the ball off the table is a poor indication since it doesnt hold the ball better than the h3. It is clearly just tackier but not holding the ball due to the pips or the much less boosted nature of this red h2.

The caveat here is the h2 was barely boosted...

All else:

As everyone knows H2 is lower throw/longer throw = more direct and therefore a smaller window = less control for me in almost every department. I was quite surprised that I would find this much harder to use than the H3. I gave it the whole session and just felt nothing better about it in the topspin department.

So Hurricane 3 is the winner hands down. H3 plays much more like Euro rubber for me in my mind. So surprised that I can't wait to rip the H2 off and not use it ever again.

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Played Saive and he got a game off me out of many that we played... (rare; usually gets none) I just couldnt do most my stuff with the H2...

Played young junior girl who was dam good. Think she is ranked really highly for her age. Was fun. Such a sweety with a whole game, just lacking a bit of weird spin that I have in my serves and long distance countering.

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All up good session.

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I did rip off the H2 off my blade but with many days and the caveat of a lack of boosting I felt I owed a better test.

Still not satisfied with the test because the 2 layers of heavy baby oil boosting had to get through the gluggy glue build up. WHAT A MESS!!!!

I have no problems boosting its just boosting post gluing that is a pain.

Still my unique method of not boosting the edges saves the day. It can be a gluggy mess and still can stick it down... (unlike the past!)

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So I played many games against Eric and he only got one off me. And I can't really say that has much to do with my H2 which I only used on FH. My backhand was on point with H3 41 boosted all day so I ..... can't say much but that I love H3 still.

I got some awesome low shots in with H2 but not much changed in terms of preference or what I said in the last post.

Probably only thing I noticed was that I could do shorter blocks with no spin = the tack could just wipe what someone sent to me in terms of spin .... and I could give it back as a no spin really slow return. painful for most guys such as Eric who are used to a rhythm in counter looping after an opponent blocks.

all else, my bh with h3 ysc just cant get better.

I really love every nuance of it. And I miss the improvements I was making with my fh with h3.

H2 is out in my opinion. AGAIN

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Having H2 on BH and H3 on FH used to be a common combination amongst CHinese players many many years ago. It's still found on some of DHS premade bats. Nowadays H3 is so much more popular, H2 does not sell so well.
Still, different types of boosting techniques can totally change the properties of either rubber, so some might still like H2 in some form.
From my own experience, I did not feel there was so much difference between the two. However there are a lot of variations between batches (especially for the commercial version), so some from one batch can really be quite different from another batch.

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I found in some ways I prefered H2 because I twiddle quite a bit, and I preferred H2 on my BH to H3. However I can't say I felt that there was a huge difference - I can happily use either. I've never experimented with boosting, so I am not sure what sort of effect it would have, so I'm only talking about my experience with the regular unboosted H2 and H3.

What's the difference between boosting with baby oil and the "real" stuff like Haifu - is it basically the same stuff? Sounds like a messy and cumbersome business!

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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

i am currently playing with H3 Neo on forehand (superb rubber - allows for so much variation and control), and Tibhar Hybrid K3 on backhand. Not as much tackiness as H3, but faster (not bouncy), with great control. I have experimented with double H3, but the countering game is too compromised on the backhand (for me). The K3 has received some very good reviews, I understand why.

I never saw the point of the Neo rubbers - they play like a faster version of the non-neo ones for a few weeks and then revert to something similar to the non-neo version. Unless you're going to keep changing your rubbers, I figured you might as well just go for the regular version and have some consistency.

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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

Thanks for all the replies

The weird thing is I was using H2 for a while before using H3 recently. The perspective change is big because of that order.

H2 is much more difficult to use. The H3 is more consistant in the gradual depth penetration of the topsheet... It remains the same. H2 is very different depending how deeply the ball engages...

That is why I say I have more control = logical stroke control with H3.

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Yesterday I played once more with H2/H3 and I tried in FH warm up twiddle after each shot. OMG H3 was like sending the ball a metre higher.... so yeah it is what you get used to.

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I have never tried expensive boosters. The baby oil does what I want. Softens it up, adds a good stretching. I could play it without but for sure I like it to be 'worked in'.

I avoid neos because of expense and the glue stops me from being able to boost it heavily.

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I also was a while back wanting a non tacky backhand but I gave CH bh another good go, and I just can't get the same spin control with eur/jap.

I can counter loop better with H3 by far from any distance. I just have to swing more and nobody would say at the club my bh is slow. I can do very slow passive stuff for sure! Much slower than with eur/jap. So the gears are unbeatable.

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I have already pulled out the red H3 and given it a wake up bit of oil / will keep giving it more till I am sure I will be playing next and stick it back on. It is 38 degrees which honestly I feel I don't need to be so soft. I know now after using the black H3 41 on the bh in these last sessions that it is perfect.

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I'll probably order another red/black H3 41 set soon for future play and also set up my grubba (reserve blade). Once I have exactly the same rubbers on both my YSC and grubba I will be able to tell which I ulitmately prefer.

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That hasn't been my experience. The neo version are significantly softer to start with (compared to a regular commercial version) and stay that soft. They are also more lively, which only wears off partially. They're virtually the same price, so you can pick the version you prefer.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Have you had any bubbles on these rubber from boosting Boz? The baby oil is probably not as aggressive as a booster, so that might not cause as many issues.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide