DHS NEO Hurricane 2 review (2.15 , 41 degree)

Today (ok yesterday since it's 1am) I recieved from ttrubbeman 1xRed H2 Neo in 2.15 @ 41 degree and 1xBlack H2 Neo in 2.2 @ 39 degree.

I've stuck it on with some rubber chack and gone to play my usual teams competition. I decided to use the Red sheet first since my main forehand rubber is H2 blue sponge and as I was playing competition I didn't wan't to change my forehand rubber tonight but I was willing to play the backhand side against the number 2 and 3 players from the other team.

So I removed my Red H2 Commerical from the backhand and replaced it with the red Neo, general impressions at first were (VERY tacky) however with a few cleanups this proved to be a "normal" H2 tackyness. The original video I posted was a 38mm ball and both the Red neo and the Black blue sponge will hang onto one of those for (pretty much forever, over 10 seconds) however a 40mm ball I later tested would only hang for a couple of seconds at best.

I will note that the red commercial I removed from the backhand was for all intent ALLMOST as good as the blue sponge not quite.... but allmost. Most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Ok, now here's what I know. H2 Neo........ makes a loud sound, crack pop speed glue style. It rebounds from the blade very fast and appears a faster rubber than the blue sponge (it seems a full 1 foot longer). HOWEVER for me it's not as good and I will go into some detail as to why it's not.

The ball leaves this rubber straight.......... it behaves very much like an "overhit H3" or bottomed out Inspirit which causes it to fly long with little curve and change in direction which makes it less consitant than the blue sponge and much less likely to be able to pull off "bullsh*t shots" like over the table full power loops off low serves and such that I like to hit and can most of the time hit winners with those with the blue sponge"

You can't make that shot with the Neo because the immediate rebound off the rubber is too fast, this is what it appears to be faster, because of the rapid rebound off the sponge it flys higher and the arc comes on 1 foot later, so you tend to overshoot the table by a foot. however the ball is not actually travling any faster (and you miss the shot). You can only hit those crazy shots with the Neo if you brush the ball just perfectly but to do that on that shot for me that's one in 10, with the blue sponge you have much more margin for error and it's greater than 50-50 shot.

Away from the table it's the same deal. I had a hit with another guy and asked him to especially compared the speed and spin from my loops and loop kills and he said there's really no difference between them, if anything he thought the blue sponge is faster. Which during those shots it probably was since it doesn't have a speed limit like the neo does.

Anyway basically it's H2, it plays like H2, it feels like H2, it's H2 + glue. That's all it is, if that's what you want then you will be happy, if you want a H2 that's faster when hitting like a girl (I mean no disrespect to girls, but you know hitting like a girl.. ie not as hard as a grown up male :) ) then excellent it will do that, it even makes all the right sounds (bit loud for me). But for me I want a rubber that will do what I want when I want and win the point for me, and for that job the unglued blue sponge is quite a bit better. Hitting at full power there is for all intent no difference in speed between them and no difference in spin it's just that Neo is harder to land but it has no advantage at all for me. When you have a rubber like H2 that is allready capable of being hit extremely hard (more so than almost any other rubber, at least any I know of) then you really need to retain that quality and they haven't been able to do that.

That's about it :). I expect the Black in 2.2 and the softer 39 degree will be better but I won't be using it untill the season is over since I have a fresh blue sponge on the the upcomming finals and a big tournament. I will be replacing the Neo with the Red commerical I had on it for the rest of the season also. Just because it's a little more consistant and I can swap between sides and they both play pretty much the same.


In sumary, if you think glued H2 is good, you'll be happy.
If you want a better H2 than the blue sponge, you wont find it here.
It not a bad rubber by any means, it's a good rubber. It's just that...... it's the same as before with a little extra problem and with no extra speed or spin.
And that's as truthfull as I can be

Edit: I will add in the short chopping game it's still easy to control just like normal H2 is but backhand loops and smashes again... Flying long

I've got one more revalation to sum this up.

H2 by nature is not an easy rubber to play with, if you hit it softly it will only reward you with netted balls, here's the thing noramlly ..... with blue sponge and to a slightly lesser degree the normal commercial the harder you can hit it.... The more likely it will land where you wanted it (on the table and over the net) Neo, is more likely to clear the net hit.. I wont say softly but.... less hard. However it wont reward you in the same way when at full pace (that's the short and sweet version)

Thanks, that really helped!

H2 review - check!
Now over to H3 and TGs

After disecting the cut offs from this rubber, I've decided there's no tuner in it, if there it then it's very little, I'm not sure the "sticky" stuff under the white cover is tuner at all. The sponge is however diferent than the commercial rubber you can see it's got more air bubbles in it and it's made from different stuff. It "looks" like the blue sponge, with the same pattern on it etc but it doesn't play like the blue sponge, only thing I'm sure about is that it's made on the same machine that makes the blue sponge rather than the one that makes the commercial. Everything else is a mystery

one ball? really? that's all you need to write all those review? wow..

Yes you use H2 for years but never glued them up, this rubber has glue effect. So it's very different. H3 glued and unglued is also miles apart.. glued h3 can loop low heavy backspin ball with a close angle bat. unglued H3? goes straight to the net.
But then again, you will never understand this since you never use speed glue.. it's a very different thing. Ask good players in your league that used to use glue.. perhaps you'll get the picture..
Also remember that your old H2 has broken in to your technique, it's like feeling old shoes is more comfortable to wear than new shoes.
about the arc, this is where close angle bat come to play.. you need to close the blade more on the same stroke, more speed and spin will come from the additive, glue or nowadays, tuners..

btw, don't get me wrong, I think it's a good review for players that don't glue, but players that used to glue might have different opinion..

You might love the neo rubbers if you like speed glue, I pointed this out. But it's my review and I'm saying it's not as good as the blue sponge. I've never played any world champion but I've also never did lose a game to anyone that speed glued (ever). I've lost _once_ in 100 matches played so on H2 blue, So I can't really go changing my stroke to suit a certain rubber when I'm allready playing well.  If this neo h2 offered any advantage in speed or spin to me and the way I play, make no mistake I'd be using it from now on, because I really don't like to lose, but it just doesn't. You can try it yourself and see what you think about it. You might think it's great.

I have said it's a good rubber, it's just not as good as the other versions of H2 (for me) and that's all I can do :), I wont risk losing a game and chucking the year away while other players are only a couple of games below me to test it again

I think the review is pretty clear. Everyone who reads this forum on regular basis can understand what nicefrog wrote.
Remember that nicefrog has never speedglued. With TSP 6.5 he must play really hard with all power. According to him I would be a girl :D

So still we must wait for our sheets to arrive. Final word has not been said. It will depend on our skills, again

@nicefrog,

zwu168 wrote: nice review but i tink its an overstatement. i have tried neo but its no where near glued and the feel is not that good.

someone who knows what I am talking about.. I might stay away from it though the price it's crazy.

and froggie, like i said it's a good review but you add some things unnecessary like hitting like a girl, b**lsh*t shots.. do you think players that glued hits like a girl? WLQ, Kong Ling Hui, Waldner, Gatien, Saive? are you saying you are a much fitter TT player than those players on their prime? and if they hit a ball from a low serve time and time again it has nothing to do with their technique and ability but they just pull of a, in your word, b***sh*t shots? So in a way you write a review for non gluers but had a dig at us players who used to love to glue.

Excellent review nicefrog, thanks for posting!

It's a totally honest an unbiassed review and it's your opinion... what more can one ask for? 

I'm sure others will have other opinions or may disagree, but this does not make your review any less valuable! Good job mate!

Ok we agree to differ. It's only my opinion of it, no doubt someone else one day is going to rave about it. I do suspect I'll like the 39 degree in 2.2 more but I still can't see it being better that what I have

Well this is my short lil review on what i thought about H2 on my first hit with it. I used it with a Nittaku Acoustic

At first it was sort of slow because of all the tak and the sponge needed to get beaten in a bit, but my brush loops were very spinny. I smacked around with it for a bit longer and i started to really fealt the speed come out, but it still had that great spin for opening loops. Touch shots were pretty good unless i really dug into the sponge than they would bounce out a bit, but it had a slow gear if you could angle and be in and out with the shot correctly. I was hitting a lot of shots outside of the table because i was used to using Tenergy on a Photino and this combo fealt totally different and the ball had a total different path. After getting used to it i adjusted and started looping forward more, the ball on mi forward loop drives were VERY fast and had a good ammount of spin to them. I think this rubber is great and i am thinking of getting the H3 for more spin and more control, unless i start getting used to the speed of the H2.

I fealt this rubber in all had great speed and spin and fealt like a spingy H2, not dead at all. Probably doesnt feel the exact same as glue, but you are getting similar properties. I am planning on sticking with this rubber for a while.

I will also be putting up a longer review about it after a training session with my coach and playing with my junior teamates. I can try and answer some questions of posts and or you can PM me if you want to get into more detail and dont want to clog the topic up.

my H2 has arrived. 40deg-2.2mm, red.

tomas.gt wrote: my H2 has arrived. 40deg-2.2mm, red.   http://mafa.lightshop.cz/jpg/tt_potahy/DHS.Hurricane2.Neo.jpg   I would like to put my future thoughts and impressions in this thread, nicefrog, if you dont mind.

That's fine Tomas, mine weighed 63 grams with the plastic on also (62 grams without the plastic)

Tomas, when are you going to play with it? I know life must be busy with the whole Czech girls problem and the distraction they must cause