OOAK Table Tennis Forum

What about the rubbers I mentioned above, DHS hurricane neo 3 and xiom Vega pro? Have you tried either of them and what was your experience?

I've never tried those. I have tried H3, even boosted H3, and I found it was too slow for me. Perhaps it wouldn't be too slow if I were using a faster blade but I didn't like it.

One thing to realize is that rubbers are more alike than they are different. Differences between rubbers are usually pretty subtle. Most of what you can buy is made by a few companies. Everything "Made in Germany" (from Xiom, Yasaka, Donic, Tibhar, etc. etc. etc.) are all made in one huge factory. And as you'd expect - they're very similar to each other. There are differences (mainly in sponge hardness), but you can usually substitute one for the other and it won't make a bit of difference in the actual playing. Just get what you can get cheaper.

Differences between blades, however - those are often dramatic.

Iskandar

Very interesting information for me, I will keep it in mind for future reference, thank you

Perhaps you're referring to Tensors being more alike to one another, in which case I can see your point, but still disagree.
If you can't feel a big difference between a dead Chinese rubbers and bouncy German Tensor, then you're in the minority, because I think most people here do, so there's a good chance that BananaOG will as well.

To answer BananaOG's question above, the Hurricane 3 Neo is among the faster Chinese rubbers, and offers good control and very good spin. The Vega Pro is a German-made Tensor, and is quite a bit faster, still very spinny but harder to control.

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Interesting, hopefully when my order arrives I can experience the differences first hand. I've also read varying opinions on the overall life of the rubbers, I think the Chinese last longer?

This is completely subjective. If you are just starting, you could probably push a year without noticing too much degradation (it will be gradual).

For the top players in the world, they change every match.

For me, 4-5 months of ~3-4 hours a week of play.

Tensors and other similar rubbers (mainly Japanese ones like Tenergy) do tend to "go dead" in a fairly short amount of time as the chemicals seep out of them. When you remove the rubber from the blade you'll find they'll have shrunk by as much as 3mm all around. This can take place in as short as two months. Chinese rubbers do last longer, what happens to them is they lose the "tacky" feeling (the only one I've tried that remains tacky for months is 729 Bloom, which I think uses some sort of new technology). Losing the tack is OK, they still play well.

As far as differences between Chinese and Tensors - sure, there is a difference. It's just not this quantum leap you'd expect, given the difference in price. Yes, you can tell, but to be honest, it's not really that easy, and I find it doesn't affect my playing or what shots I choose to use, while changing blades does. There's so much talk about rubber on the forums that those who haven't actually tried a lot of them will think they're very different from each other, while they really aren't. If you restrict yourself to, say, Tensors, you'll find groups of maybe a dozen rubbers from different brands with the same sponge hardness that are, for all intents and purposes, identical. Similarly, with the $5 Chinese sheets, it doesn't matter much which one you buy. They DO differ in terms of build quality, the possibility of getting bad sheets, or getting very heavy sheets.

Iskandar

I suggest against Sanwei blades. Nor the cheapest ones, nor the remarkable quality.

Some info about Hurricane 3/Hurricane 3 Neo:

https://blog.tabletennis11.com/dhs-hurr ... ial-review

Iskandar

Wow, very in depth and helpful!!

Note that all these rubbers use the same (24-108) topsheet, on top of different sponges. As you will note, there are differences between them, but they're more or less the same in terms of what they're meant to do. If you couldn't get one of them one of the others would do just about as well (probably with the exception of 3-50, which has a much softer sponge, and even so, it'd still be usable).

Iskandar

+1 for Sanwei Fextra ... It's similar to the Stiga Clipper, which is an excellent blade...

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Setup 1 : Donic Defplay Senso V3 Blade • Palio AK-47 Blue Max (Black) • Yinhe Neptune 0.6mm (Red)
Setup 2 : GKI Euro XX Blade • Xiom Vega Europe Max (Black) • Bomb Talent OX (Red)
Setup 3 : XVT Hinoki Balsa Carbon Blade • 729 Focus III Snipe 40° Max (Black) • Dawei 388D-1 OX (Red)
Setup 4 : XVT Black Knight 7 Blade • Palio Ak-47 Red Max 45° - 47° Max (Black) • Dawei 388D OX (Red)
Setup 5 : Butterfly Joyner-H Blade (Black Metal Tag) • Palio AK-47 Yellow Max (Black) • Yasaka Mark V Max (Red)
Setup 6 : 729 C-5 Blade • Reactor Corbor Max (Black) • Palio CK531A 0.6mm (Red)

I beg to differ... I've owned and played with several different Sanwei blades, and have found the quality to be quite decent ..... They may not be the cheapest of Chinese brands, but surely cheaper, when compared to most Euro or Japanese brands..

The only time, I received a poor quality Sanwei product, was when I ordered the M8 blade from AliExpress, for a club-mate.... The blade was defective, as in, the head face was a tad uneven ... However, upon raising the issue with the AliExpress store, a replacement blade was sent promptly ...

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Setup 1 : Donic Defplay Senso V3 Blade • Palio AK-47 Blue Max (Black) • Yinhe Neptune 0.6mm (Red)
Setup 2 : GKI Euro XX Blade • Xiom Vega Europe Max (Black) • Bomb Talent OX (Red)
Setup 3 : XVT Hinoki Balsa Carbon Blade • 729 Focus III Snipe 40° Max (Black) • Dawei 388D-1 OX (Red)
Setup 4 : XVT Black Knight 7 Blade • Palio Ak-47 Red Max 45° - 47° Max (Black) • Dawei 388D OX (Red)
Setup 5 : Butterfly Joyner-H Blade (Black Metal Tag) • Palio AK-47 Yellow Max (Black) • Yasaka Mark V Max (Red)
Setup 6 : 729 C-5 Blade • Reactor Corbor Max (Black) • Palio CK531A 0.6mm (Red)

I'll agree that Sanwei M8s don't have the very best build quality. I've defects in the handle wood, the thickness (from blade to blade) can vary (I know this because I own over two dozen of the things and have measured the thickness of maybe 8 or 9 of them). But they play very nicely indeed, and I prefer them to other blades that cost more, including the Stiga Allround Classic.

Yinhe on the other hand - build quality second to none. The old N11 had a mirror-smooth surface - just tactile heaven when you took the plastic wrap off.

Iskandar

I’m with Iksander on the Sanwei M8. Tried a bunch of different blades (cheap and expensive) and this is my favorite. Perhaps Ill look for a faster blade at some point but this thing plays perfect in all the ways for me now. Also good for developing shots since it’s more controlled less fast, you can put more into it without losing control of your shot. I’m a two wing looping attacker and it works well for me.

I recommend H3neo on the FH and Friendship Focus 3 Snipe on the backhand. All of these are sold on Megspin, your shop of choice. On their website, search M8 b/c the M8 oddly doesnt show up if you select Sanwei blades. This is a good setup and will cost about $44 all together. I sold my $250 setup shortly after trying this. Some might say it’s slow but the legs and waist can create more power than any equipment can. This setup is about proper technique and power from the body.

If you want a more dynamic forehand rubber, H3 Neo Provincial is a good upgrade from the commercial H3N. Softer, spinnier and better at literally every shot. I think the one Megsapin sells is 39*. This one is $48 on Megaspin as opposed to the $20 commercial one.