DHS Hurricane 3 No 19 Sponge

Several players in the Chinese National Team use Hurricane III. Changed geometry of the pimples beneath the backside rubber compared to Hurricane II gives more control. For players who rely on feeling and control in their loop game. Tacky topsheet with good spin. For control/loop. One of the most highly regarded DHS rubbers.

No. 19 sponge, which adops EX-technology, will strengthen speed, spin and control performance completely associating with DHS No. 15 glue and INTENSIFIER EX1.

Click here for pricing on DHS Hurricane 3 No 19 from One of a Kind Trading

Please bear in mind that I will not treat this review as a completely new product because it's just a sponge variation of an already popular product.

Background.

I think most of us here are already familiar with H3 so I won't go into too much details. Basically H3 is one of the most famous Chinese rubbers out on the market. IMO it's specialties lie in its precision and spin, that combined with sound strokes results in why the Chinese have been so feared on the FH. Keep in mind this is just my opinion, so others may think otherwise.

In the past I've had a lot of up and down experiences with H3's due to the number of variants and the problems associated with quality. Its no secret that this has been H3's biggest downfall yet some people still stay faithful to it till this day.

So what has this version have to offer with the new EX-technology and the no.19 sponge?

Initial Impressions

When I first got the package I was pleasantly surprised to find that the whole rubber square including packaging was quite light. Once I ripped everything apart I soon found out why this was. The No.19 sponge is truly in the 36-37 degree zone. The colour of the sponge is a few shades lighter than the standard no.20 sponges. The trademark DHS sponge lines are still apparant and the pores seem to very consistent in this sheet.

The top-sheet on the other hand I have seen better before. This wasn't a corner cut but neither a center cut. Its not a mirror finish like some of the better versions out there but suffice to say I would still give it a 7 out of 10. I weighed in my cut sheet (157x150) to be 40.8grams which is incredibly light for a Chinese rubber.

In my experience I was quite doubtful at this stage to be honest. Soft non tensioned sponge + Tacky topsheet usually results in extremely slow awkward rubbers...

Hitting/Countering/Blocking

The first few hits were quite boring to be honest. The top-sheet was still extremely sticky so needless to say the ball just wasn't anywhere near fast. After about 10minutes of beating it up and cleaning it a few times the tack wasn't so intense. Now everything is different! The countering and hitting speed of the rubber is simply amazing! To think that a hurricane was doing this is simply astounding. Countering speeds would be comparable to a glued up higher 3 or inspirit which is plenty fast. Blocking seemed to be great as well as the soft sponge made it much more forgiving.

Serving and Pushing

This is where H3 made its name as the king of the short game. I found that the No.19 sponge changed the characteristics in this area by quite a lot. I felt that even at optimum contact I was only about to impart about 80% of the spin that I'm capable of with an 42degree H3. Pushing was pretty much the same as the extra bounce didn't allow me to impart the same amount of backspin as I normally do.

Please note that this is one of the aspects of the game that is very subjective. Given my skill level and experience I found it was still a great rubber for serving but there was better out there. If you guys think otherwise that's fine

Looping

Compared to the other sponge variants I would say the No.19 easily gave the H3 about a 30% increase in speed when it comes to loop driving. The extra ompf is very much welcomed in my game as I tend to drive-loop rather than brush.

Counter-looping away from the table is lifetimes better than the other variants. No longer would the rubber top out and become useless from 3metres back. With the other sponges it usually came to the point where I would have to just topspin lob the ball back as it just wouldn't give anymore. With the No.19 I feel that this problem has been overcome and I don't have to be a sitting duck anymore.

Conclusion

Before I give my final verdict please note that in the review I mention "Other variants" quite a lot. By this I mean the #20,#22 and Blue sponges. I specifically did not compare this to the Pro or Nat versions for other reasons. Also my sheet was brand new primed with 1 layer of normal glue and then glued with 2 layers of speed-glue. I did not super-prime it as durability will be addressed in a later follow up review. In my game my looping stroke is much more towards loop driving so when I reflect on my opinions in looping please keep this in mind.

To sum it up I can safely say that for the players that have always liked the H3 but couldn't live with the rebound speed than this is your solution. The No.19 give some life back into the H3. For the players that are happy with their current H3's you may want to give this a try and see if it works for you.