DHS Hurricane 8-80

I found this rubber researching on good rubbers to replace expensive ESN hybrid rubbers. The benchmark I used is Donic Bluegrip J1, a great rubber, but expensive. With the price of a J1 I can purchase 3 H8-80 and glue with the change. Well, in my comparison, H8-80 is a little slower but spinnier than J1. At my forehand, with a layer of booster, I was easier to counter top spins. I am using Yinhe PRO 05 blade and the ball impact sound makes it obvious when the activation window is hit, when close to the table and with slow game, I hear a hollow sound, but once I hit hard I hear a high-pitched cracking sound. Amazing. My conclusion: professionals will lack extra speed, however, for intermediate and advanced players who want a more forgiving rubber, this is a great choice.

OCTOBER 13TH UPDATE: My blade Yinhe Pro 05 now with 2 H8-80 38º is my training blade while spare my J1s.

One thing that stands out about this rubber is its unmatched durability.

I am an intermediate-level amateur, and have been playing with this rubber for 10 months (trainings and competitions). By my own estimates, I have played with it around 140 hours. The rubber is still good after that, with lots of spin and barely any drop in performance, and it can easily go another 1-2 months it seems. I always kept the rubber clean and used the protective film when storing, so that helped.

I have the 38-degree version, black. The first 2 months I used it on my forehand. After that, I turned the racket and played the 8-80 on my backhand. The rubber is very easy to use, very controllable. It is definitely not the most powerful rubber, but for me it was not a problem as I can always generate enough power simply with the kinetic chain. As for the spin, you could probably find a spinnier rubber, but this one still has enough spin for most amateur players.

One big advantage of this rubber is that it doesn’t require boosting. So among the non-boosted rubbers, this one will be one of the top choices, especially given its price (around 30 EUR).

The only drawback is a relatively high weight. I personally didn’t suffer from it a lot, because my other rubber was luckily a bit lighter. But if you put 8-80 on both sides, this would be way too heavy.

The ratings are not accurate. I use Hurricane 8-80 (38 degrees) on my forehand with a flexible blade. It is a true hybrid between European and Chinese rubbers. While the sponge is softer than others in the Hurricane series, the topsheet is equally tacky. It is faster than most Hurricane rubbers and very forgiving. In fact, it is one of the few hard Chinese rubbers you can comfortably smash with.

The short game remains identical to other Hurricane rubbers, but in lower gears, the H8-80 is more versatile. It truly shines in higher gears. Unlike Butterfly’s Dignics 09c, which drops the ball in slow gears if you do not grip it properly, the H8-80 does not. As it ages, it becomes even softer and the dwell time increases. It is soft enough out of the box to not require boosting.

Been using 37-degree version, not boosted, for 2 months. Finally found my backhand rubber. Tried many rubbers Goldarc 8, Big dipper, Vega Pro, H3 neo, AK47 Red, G1, but never felt the grip and control this rubber has. Matched perfectly with my DHS PG3T blade. Catapult is just right.

Used this rubber on the Fang Bo B2X at 38 degrees hardness on the backhand. This is a good rubber for all levels: on the forehand for beginners and low-level intermediates, and on the backhand for high-level intermediates and advanced players. It provides a good level of spin, speed, and control when hitting passively, but shows its explosiveness when hitting hard. Backhand passive and active blocks and RPB pushes are very comfortable to perform and control the placement of, and the tackiness of the rubber makes slow backhand flicks and slow+spinny loops easy to place and impart heavy spin on. However, when power flicking and power looping, the sponge engages and blasts a fast and spinny shot past your opponent. The margin for error on these backhand techniques is quite small, so for beginners and low-level intermediates, I would recommend just using a European or Japanese rubber. But for higher-level players who value the ability to control the speed of the game and vary their shot placement, speed, and spin, this rubber is a great option for the backhand. If you plan to put this on a stiffer blade, I would recommend getting the 37 degree variant as you get better feeling, but on more flexible blades, the 38 degree variant will provide more stability and power.

I have used the 37° version and it’s pretty good; it has a decent speed, good control, but the 38° version was bad. This is probably the heaviest rubber I’ve ever used; it weighed 57g CUTTED, WHAT IS THAT? Where is the quality control??? How bad can this be? IT FELT LIKE A 39° rubber!!! ITS HEAVIER THAN HURRICANE 3. If you want to get a good rubber for backhand, this is a complete lottery. I’ve researched a little bit more on the forums and THIS IS COMMON. BUYING THIS RUBBER IS A GAMBLE.

Update: If you want better quality control, try to get the provincial one or national; commercial is terrible…

Search for backhand rubber is finally over. Rubbers I’ve tried: Stiga DNA Pro 50, DHS Gold Arc 8 47.5, DHS Hurricane 3 H37, DHS Hurricane 3-50 H35, Yinhe Jupiter 3 Asia H37, Sanwei Target National Soft, Sanwei Gear Hyper, Loki Telson 100. Some of those were quite good, and if my backhand technique was better, I would have probably chosen a tensor to compensate for speed or something like a Hurricane 3 H37 that is also faster and has significantly more spin, but the 8-80 makes any shot much easier. I was particularly struggling with topspin return of backspin serves, but with this rubber, I got it from the first go. It’s very spin-insensitive, and the softer sponge really helps with dwell time and, as a result, accuracy. It’s not fast, especially with flat shots, but put some topspin and you’d be able to generate decent speed. For the foreseeable future, I’m sticking with the 8-80 until I can get my technique improved. I might try the 3-50 in H37, but given it uses the same top sheet as the H3, I doubt it would be much different to H3 with H37 sponge.

Edit:

Even though I still believe this has spin only second to H3 and amazing control, now that I’ve improved my BH a bit, it lacks speed, making especially serve returns easy to attack for your opponents. Even if your technique is perfect and you can execute fast swings to compensate for this, you’ll never get good blocks with this rubber, which is an issue for my game style. I use my BH mostly if I can’t hit a good FH, so mostly I just need to either return a serve or keep the ball on the table whilst ensuring my opponent doesn’t get a chance at attacking it. I really want to try H3 H37 Provincial as I think it might be faster whilst maintaining all the good characteristics of 8-80. I will update my review when I do. For now, I can recommend Loki Telson 100 as a better alternative if you don’t want a tensor. At the moment, I’ve settled on a tensor rubber for my BH, at least until I try the H3 H37 Pro.

I’m currently using h8-80 37 as my backhand rubber. The control is amazing and allows me to return most shots very easily. The tackiness really helps with my backhand shots, and I feel comfortable performing a variety of them with this rubber. It’s great for the spinnier loops and also flatter hits. It can be slow, but if your blade is fast, it is a non-issue. I’ll be using this on my backhand for some time.

Good rubber. I feel like it is an alternative to d09c for me. Nice sound.

I use this rubber on the forehand of a PG7 blade. It provides enough speed and spin to secure points, while also offering excellent control.

At just 20 bucks, it is one of the better Chinese rubbers available.

One downside, however, is its weight.

I have found the perfect backhand rubber for my playing style. It is very loud and has an impressive boost.

This is my current backhand rubber. I transitioned from Hurricane 8 Hard to Stiga Dragon Grip, and then to Hurricane 8-80 37.

This rubber offers a catapult effect, but it is not as overwhelming as some other European-style rubbers. I opted for the 37-degree version, and I am really pleased with it so far. It required no break-in time and had no unpleasant smell.

The rubber pairs exceptionally well with my Super Viscaria. I would recommend it to anyone who finds their European-hybrid rubber to be too fast and is looking to reduce speed while maintaining spin and control.

The rubber is quite tacky, which boosts my confidence when flicking backspin balls. Additionally, it is much lighter than the regular Hurricane 8 Hard, and approximately the same weight as the Stiga Dragon Grip. It provides more catapult than Hurricane 8 Hard but less than Dragon Grip.

I use this rubber on my backhand, and I find it to provide perfect tempo control. In the past, I have struggled with ESN rubbers on my backhand due to their catapult effect.

This rubber offers a catapult effect that is greater than the H3 Neo but less than traditional ESN rubbers, making it ideal for backhand play. With good technique, I find that flicks are possible, and I can also block effectively with it.

Topspin shots are easily manageable, and the balls grip well, enhancing overall performance. I believe this rubber could also be suitable for use on the forehand.

Using H8-80 Soft on Both Sides

I agree! H8-80 is a hybrid rubber that is closer to hard (Chinese) rubbers, offering a notch more speed than a typical Chinese rubber. It maintains all the essential characteristics of a Chinese rubber, including an excellent short game, spiny loops, and effective serves. I would estimate it is about 10% to 15% faster on soft shots, while providing the same speed on power shots. This added speed makes a significant difference in my game, especially when opening up and countering.

The increased dwell time is another advantage. Even flat hits and smashes are much easier compared to H3 Neo. Blocking is great too, although the low throw angle doesn’t help me on my backhand. Fans of DHS forehand rubbers should definitely give H8-80 a try. In my opinion, it is the best DHS rubber available so far.

Yes, I wholeheartedly agree that it is one of the best DHS rubbers ever!

Previously, I have been using Rakza Z on my backhand and Victas TDE on my forehand. I loved both, but they tend to last less and are more expensive. With H8-80, I feel more confident hitting and looping balls that have been sliced. Its high stickiness, which lasts longer without diminishing, allows it to grip the ball and enhance spin.

However, my only current issue is that when I block balls with my backhand, they often end up in the net; I find Rakza Z performs better for blocking. Despite this minor drawback, the final speed of the ball with H8-80 is enormous. The shots are powerful and effective, and the serves have plenty of spin!

I glued this one in 38 deg on my backhand on my Yinhe V-14 PRO blade, after two layers of Haifu Seamoon booster. I’m coming from using Yinhe Big Dipper 38 deg (backhand), this one also boosted. The feel of these two rubbers is totally different. Big Dipper is much harder, even though the sponge should be the same hardness. 8-80 is really nice, giving really good backspin in the short game, and good control away from the table. Topspinning is quite easy, but not as much effect as BD, also more forgiving, so it suits me a bit better. This rubber doesn’t play by itself, and it’s a little bit dead compared to softer ESN rubbers, so before getting used to the way it plays I hit the net a lot, especially from half distance. The “dead” feeling is good when defending, because it doesn’t go long as much as my old BD did. For me, it’s quite easy to place the ball where I want it, so it’s a really fun rubber to play with. 24-054 is the same topsheet as the normal H8. Weight Package/Uncut/Cut: 92g/66g/51g. Not so lightweight. About the same weight as the normal H8.