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Review: Nittaku vs Provincial Neo Hurricane 3 |
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iamj8
Super Member Joined: 09/11/2009 Location: NZ Status: Offline Points: 429 |
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Posted: 02/18/2017 at 5:00pm |
Hi all,
Hurricane 3 has always been my favorite forehand rubber and while I have always been a believer in the provincial version (H3-P), the Nittaku version (H3-N) caught my eye. I've seen some posts online comparing the two but now that I've had a few months to compare both of them (on the same blade) I'll now share my findings. Tackiness Right out of the packaging both rubbers are extremely tacky. Many people are under the impression that the H3-N is only slightly tacky but when brand new it feels like every other H3. The difference begins to come in after a few hours of play where it loses tackiness so while your DHS H3's may come out on top in the tackiness department, I still think H3-N is a tacky and grippy rubber with the difference not being too noticeable. Topsheet H3-N is marketed as a Japanese sponge with the same H3 topsheet but I find this hard to believe. Apart from being slightly less tacky, I also found that the H3-N topsheet had a glisten to it and you could see the pimples underneath while the H3-P had no shine at all and therefore didn't look as nice through general wear. H3-P was also more sensitive in that blemishes such as natural oils from your fingers or table related injuries would be much more apparent. Weight H3-N is noticeably lighter than other H3's. Uncut (4 sides) it weighs 62g. My 38 degrees H3-P (6 sides) weighed 65g. To put it into perspective, H3-N weights less than Fastarc G1 and Tenergy 80 FX (which is on the lighter end of the Tenergy spectrum) which weight 65g each uncut. Hardness I glued both rubbers on the same blade to decrease variance in my highly scientific press test where I do a hard press on the rubber on different sections of the bat to arrive at a conclusion. My H3-P felt harder but not by much. H3-N did seem more elastic, however. As most people would say, I'd agree H3-N falls into the 37 degrees hardness category but I wouldn't disagree if you called it 37.5 (not that such a rating exists) or 38. Gameplay At the end of the day, you're dealing with very similar rubbers and both share the H3 traditional properties like good short game, high arc loop, strong serves, etc. so I'm just going to highlight the two key differences I observed. The first one is that H3-N is a notch slower which I would attribute to the softer sponge. The second was that I had to exert a lot more effort into looping backspin balls with H3-N. You need a faster, heavier blade or a really good stroke with H3-N. Notes For consistency purposes I am comparing playing both versions on a Stiga Super Carbon WRB blade. H3-N was put on the lighter blade (84g opposed to 87g) but I personally don't think this would have made a huge difference. My thoughts are you need to put it on a fast blade - 7 plies and upwards of 90g to get some good power out of it though I can't confirm as I haven't tried. I briefly played H3-N on my 5-ply Eternity VPS (89g) but the lack of power was very apparent so I switched back to H3-P (38). I'm looking at trying 39 degrees next. I do not boost at all. Conclusion For mere mortal Hurricane enthusiasts, I still think the provincial version is king. It has more speed, spin and ages better. I thought I had found a cheaper alternative in the H3-N when I first opened it up but was proven wrong after a few weeks of playing. I found H3-P to be a more reliable and consistent rubber and much better at producing potent shots than H3-N. I had to rely more on placement with H3-N as opposed to loop kills. Who will like H3-N? Players who like Chinese rubbers and complain about the weight may appreciate it. Fans of Euro/Jap rubbers will be disappointed with the speed. Making the transition from Euro/Jap to Chinese will depend on your level but Yinhe's Big Dipper fits the bill better. Developing players who hate the dead feel of commercial H3 may also find this to be a suitable upgrade too. Hope this helps or you at least found it interesting. Happy table tennis.
Edited by iamj8 - 02/18/2017 at 5:02pm |
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A version of Hurricane 3
A version of Tenergy A Stiga blade... |
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iamj8
Super Member Joined: 09/11/2009 Location: NZ Status: Offline Points: 429 |
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Nittaku sponge is a lot lighter in color and has NP. DHS sponge is more orangey and has the hardness printed. Got a little happy with the scissors but the upper left corner shouldn't normally be cut :P Edited by iamj8 - 02/20/2017 at 4:44am |
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A version of Hurricane 3
A version of Tenergy A Stiga blade... |
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onehander
Member Joined: 07/17/2015 Location: CA Status: Offline Points: 71 |
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Nice observations!
For me personally, the specific sponge hardness control alone makes Provincial H3neo more worthwhile to use than Nittaku H3neo. Provincial gives you a choice of 41,40,39, and 38 degrees specified on the packaging and the sponge. Nittaku's sponge is stamped 39+/- 2 degrees. For anyone in need of sponge hardness consistency, Nittaku H3neo is a poor choice.
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kurokami
Gold Member Joined: 11/08/2012 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1277 |
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@onehander nowhere does it have +/- deg and Nittaku QC is > DHS @iamj8 tackiness: yes they should feel the same since the topsheets are about the same. The main difference between commercial and provincial is in the sponge. Nittaku H3N is also mfg DHS. They use different specs to the standard DHS ver. It's slightly softer and bouncier and much more consistent production. Nittaku version is slightly slower, doesn't react as well to boosting, but this ver is used by JTTAA pros (avg 2400+) and is quite popular in JP when tenergy isn't used. After my CNT friends went back to China and the H3NP bought online started having higher quality variation, I bought some Nittaku H3N. The consistency made it a better choice for me with no adjustment time and almost no break-in required. However, the lack of boost effect vs DHS made it a no-go for me for higher level play due to my 3rd ball atk play style. (currently using T05) For consistency, you should go with Nittaku. If you want the traditional hard and tacky feel with more power, go with DHS. If you don't boost, I recommend Nittaku. |
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Viscaria
H3N/T05 http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=65345&KW=&title=feedback-kurokami |
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tom
Premier Member Joined: 11/18/2013 Location: canada Status: Offline Points: 3016 |
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KUROKAMI, please confirm - when you say the N H3N doesn't react as well to boosting - it means there will be a good amount of boosting effect - just not as much? or do you mean boosting it is more or less a waste of time?
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kurokami
Gold Member Joined: 11/08/2012 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1277 |
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I've found boosting is more or less a waste of time on the Nittaku. The effect is minimal, sort of like the with the regular DHS H3 provincial. (You get a small speed boost and softening effect, but it's not a big boost like on the DHS NEO provincial.) Initially I tried applying more booster but the topsheet edges started separating before the sponge domed. I think they did something to prevent boosting. Even on DHS commercial, you get a slight curl. On tenergy, you get a slight dome but so far with Nittaku h3 it doesn't exhibit nor produce as much effect. In contrast, the S-1 boosted extremely well so I'm pretty sure it's a result of the sponge formulation. I bought 1 Nittaku from kokusaitakkyu, 3 from TT11.
Edited by kurokami - 02/21/2017 at 11:03pm |
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Viscaria
H3N/T05 http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=65345&KW=&title=feedback-kurokami |
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tom
Premier Member Joined: 11/18/2013 Location: canada Status: Offline Points: 3016 |
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Thanks. I Boosted a Nittaku H3 before and it did curled but I don't know if it had much effect since I didn't try it without booster.
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onehander
Member Joined: 07/17/2015 Location: CA Status: Offline Points: 71 |
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Sorry, my Nittaku H3 is Hurricane 3 Pro. It does have the stamp on the back with D39+-2.
If Nittaku cannot even sort the hardness of the sponge, how can you have consistency from sheet to sheet? |
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kurokami
Gold Member Joined: 11/08/2012 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1277 |
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@onehander: you can't compare that one to a neo. that one is a regular h3 (speed glue era). it's just called "pro" and not provincial. it was before my time but i was told by provincial players that nittaku h3 pro was just rebranded regular commercial or not much better.
@tom: yea the nittaku h3 pro (reg) does curl up. user grandpa posted the same results in another thread. however, reg h3 doesn't get much benefit from boosting. it makes it better but still lacking compared to boosted neo. they're really meant to be speed glued.
these two are the good ones I recommend and the DHS one is meant for boosting - that's what the tuning layer is about! (why would you play reg now? that's like going to sriver or mark v in a tenergy era) (not advocating stores though I like TT11. just posting examples): DHS H3 NEO provincial: Edited by kurokami - 02/19/2017 at 10:46pm |
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Viscaria
H3N/T05 http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=65345&KW=&title=feedback-kurokami |
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tom
Premier Member Joined: 11/18/2013 Location: canada Status: Offline Points: 3016 |
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thanks, my N H3N is almost here from TT11. looks like I have to get the H3N provincial just to really see how it plays
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iamj8
Super Member Joined: 09/11/2009 Location: NZ Status: Offline Points: 429 |
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Good discussion, people. Have uploaded some photos.
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A version of Hurricane 3
A version of Tenergy A Stiga blade... |
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bistri
Member Joined: 10/03/2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 66 |
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Hello,
Just to join on the discussion here, I would like to get your thoughts on one question: To boost or not to boost Hurricane 3 Neo Prov.? |
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I am a pervert :)
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onehander
Member Joined: 07/17/2015 Location: CA Status: Offline Points: 71 |
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Thanks Kurokami for making it so clear.
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kurokami
Gold Member Joined: 11/08/2012 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1277 |
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casual or beginner to intermediate - probably not worth it. advanced (~2k+) - always. otherwise a broken-in commercial won't play that much different for half the price.
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Viscaria
H3N/T05 http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=65345&KW=&title=feedback-kurokami |
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