Yinhe Big Dipper - Review

cole_ely wrote: Where do you live? I have 40 and 38, and am about to order 39

Montreal

Just got some BD in 40 and they are again no corner cut and dome. It seems there is no pattern of what you will get. Last order of 39 was 8 corners and flat.

BD is a Chinese style tacky rubber with heavy tune feel while TA5 is half tacky hybrid type. Both with hard sponge and TA5 is more bouncy. I have not weight them but TA5 seems much heavier in comparison.

Cole, good points. The tackiness of Big Dipper is a small and minor part of the story. Even though I have used it for 3 mths, I get the impression that it has probably played better as the topsheet has worn off if at all.   Still tacky though. My situation reminds me of those players who love their really old sheets of unboosted Hurricane 3

BTW, you are probably talking about Juic Nanospin II. That rubber plays better and gets grippier as it gets older. It doesn't get great enough IMO for me to wait that long, but when broken in, it is great.

cole_ely wrote: it was nanospin.  sponge was hard and top was slick.  Youd have to loop like a bear to sink that ball enough to get spin.

Some rubbers play better as the topsheet gets worn and the pips get revealed.  I don't know why but they do.  Nanospin 2 is slick when you start using it, but if you are a high level looper, you can wear the topsheet enough to get good grip in about 10 hours.  Lower level loopers will take more time and for some people, it may never really change.

It gets lighter as the booster wears off. Maybe its my 38 deg spong buy it doesn't feel that heavy.

Actually, if the rubber is saturated with tuner, I don't think the density should matter in terms of weight out of the package.  

TurboZ wrote: I have BD and T64 on Intensity Cpen that weights only 169g, while TA5 and TG3 on HL5 FL weights a whopping 205g. That's why I get the impression of BD being much lighter than TA5. In fact most of my Cpen setups are well over 180g so I don't find BD heavy. Will have to weight it separately and see.

so i finally tried this today, as our club owner had it on his racket. I have to agree with Vic, it was not a very good rubber. Slow, dead, and only had some kick on very active strokes. The spin is good, almost like tenergy spin, but only on active strokes. Blocking like others have mentioned is a terrifying experience with BD. 

I had a guy today tell me he thought it was slow. Doesn't feel slow to me.  Maybe it is the tackiness of the top.  Maybe they're not used to having to sink the ball into the sponge, coming from non-Chinese stuff.

I tried it on a blade with Hinoki outer plys, and it was medium at best when hitting.  Much better when looping, I was amazed at the spin and dip.  I'm don't think it worked well on this blade at all.  Will need to try it on something else, and also give it some time to break in a little more.  I currently have it mounted on a Giant Dragon ALC Engery blade, but haven't had an opportunity to try it on this blade yet.  

cole_ely wrote: I had a guy today tell me he thought it was slow. Doesn't feel slow to me.  Maybe it is the tackiness of the top.  Maybe they're not used to having to sink the ball into the sponge, coming from non-Chinese stuff. Or maybe it is slow compared to tenergy. Wouldn't shock me.  This guy was a tenergy user.

Having used a lot of Chinese rubbers over the years, BD represents a big jump up in terms of quality and usability IMO. There are quite a few cheap Chinese rubbers knocking around this year which are really serious alternatives to a lot of eurojap rubbers, but BD is still a little unique amongst that crowd by being a semi-tacky hybrid. It just doesn't compare directly to most other rubbers on the market (with the exception of Spinart to some degree).

BD is a big winner for me because it supports a big range of shot selection, and does everything well. It doesn't have the easy power of a tensor, and it doesn't match the spin potential of a brush loop with H3, but it's solid everywhere and gives good results when brushing, driving, or anything really. But you have to WANT the hybrid nature of BD to feel the benefit. It will feel slower (especially in the low gears) compared to (e.g.) Bluefire M1 - it's semi-tacky. It won't beat H3's brushing ability - the sponge isn't as stable and the tack isn't as high. But in my real world play, I get good results by mixing my shot selection up with BD. I can switch between a heavy spin brush stroke (landing short, awkward) and a flatter drive with more ease than I can with any other rubber. I can block far better I can than H3, and I find recovery shots while on the stretch are easier too. I can mix the play up without much worry of the ball shooting long. It's not overly bouncy, so the short game is a breeze. But it's not a specialist rubber in any category, so if you aren't looking for a hybrid then you'll most likely feel disappointed in some way.

I also don't think it pairs up well with soft blades (at least, not the 38 deg one), so it doesn't particularly surprise me if people don't like it on hinoki outers. It has a off/on characteristic which supresses the low-speed bounce while retaining elastic response, so paired with a blade with a similar profile can result in too much non-linear behaviour. It's borderline for me on the ayous outer of my Pure Wood, and I prefer it on the Peterpan or Hypertouch overall.

But come on. It's £12 a sheet - 1/4 of the price of tenergy. Expectations should be realistic.

I didn't go thru all the posts in this mega thread, but would it be fair to say while BD is closer to Euro/Jap tensor than H3 but if I don't like H3 and have have a strong preference for rubber like Rasant Grip or Turbo over H3, then with the price difference disregarded, I would be happier with them than a BD?

NextLevel wrote: tom wrote: I didn't go thru all the posts in this mega thread, but would it be fair to say while BD is closer to Euro/Jap tensor than H3 but if I don't like H3 and have have a strong preference for rubber like Rasant Grip or Turbo over H3, then with the price difference disregarded, I would be happier with them than a BD? Without playing with it for a period of time, no (and for me, it was used for a month on a spare blade before I realized I just played better with it given my style) and the reason you strongly prefer Grip is the key.   I am a player exactly like you described and am happier with BD than with Grip.  The first impression you get from BD is the slower hitting speed, but when you see the looping control and touch shots, then make some adjustments for other shots, you can then decide what you really feel.

Edited by tom - 01/21/2015 at 12:24pm

NextLevel wrote: tom wrote: NextLevel wrote: tom wrote: I didn't go thru all the posts in this mega thread, but would it be fair to say while BD is closer to Euro/Jap tensor than H3 but if I don't like H3 and have have a strong preference for rubber like Rasant Grip or Turbo over H3, then with the price difference disregarded, I would be happier with them than a BD? Without playing with it for a period of time, no (and for me, it was used for a month on a spare blade before I realized I just played better with it given my style) and the reason you strongly prefer Grip is the key.   I am a player exactly like you described and am happier with BD than with Grip.  The first impression you get from BD is the slower hitting speed, but when you see the looping control and touch shots, then make some adjustments for other shots, you can then decide what you really feel. thanks NL, a month or so to get use to it is a big gamble.  I tried two combinations this Summer that should help me in the long run both for a month or so.  One I discovered, on a 1 ply Hinoki blade that had to be discarded forever because the blade was too thick for me to manoeuvre effectively in a game (while it was fine in practice).  The other one, I finally had to change the rubber, because the combination offered a lot of control but not enough speed.  At the end 2 months more or less unproductive.  I was hoping someone would concur with my above thoughts and stop me  thinking about the BD, but the thought still lingers. I will say this - I learned to loop with Chinese rubbers before switching to European rubbers later.  That affected my looping concept.   I have always looped well with Chinese rubbers spin wise but hate the lost speed, especially when blocking.  If that doesn't describe you, or you didn't like MX-P, then Big Dipper is not for you.