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Sticky 24 reviews
Not that fast, speed is average only.
This is a better Hurricane 3. I use 40d on Sanwei 75 pbo.
I tried it on Innerforce alc, but it wasn’t very good. It is very spinny and stable, and has a medium throw angle.
The speed is not super fast, equal to Hurricane 3 B.S. Overall, it is just better than commercial or provincial Hurricane. A good tacky rubber for Chinese style!
I used the rubber in 2.15mm, 40° hardness on a DHS Fang Bo B2X Blade. For forehand, the rubber is excellent for powerful looping. It offers great control, being both slow and low-energy when needed, and fast and spiny when applying high power.
When compared to H3 Neo, it feels softer. Overall, it is closer to hybrid rubbers than Chinese Hurricane rubbers. If you can hit hard, it will reward you, but the arc isn’t as linear compared to other traditional Chinese rubbers.
Durability is exceptional. I have been playing with it for about a year, and the top sheet looks almost new. It can be used unboosted, but I prefer applying two layers of Haifu booster. I have also tried Baby Oil, but it caused the rubber to lose power and become too soft.
I have played with this rubber on my forehand for 2 months and I can say that it is one of the best Chinese forehand rubbers when boosted. It produces monstrous speed and spin if your technique is good enough to use 100% body power in your strokes, particularly in topspins. Plus, it makes an exciting and loud crackling sound. Serves are very spinny, the short game is good, and backspin strokes and smashes are easy to execute. It’s an excellent rubber for $25.
The best alternative to a boosted Provincial/National Hurricane 3. I have tried several rubbers over the last year, looking for the best alternative to a boosted hurricane (Hurricane 8-80, Yasaka Shining Dragon, Victas Triple Double Extra, Yasaka Rakza Z, dignics 09c) and this is the best one for me.
It checks all the boxes: the quality is great (doesn’t oxidize, stickiness lasts a long time, and the topsheet is elastic); it is fast (not as fast the Victas Triple Double Extra but still pretty fast) and I don’t think it requires boosting; it almost as spinny as a hurricane; has a linear trajectory and low throw angle like the provincial and national hurricanes; has great control because it feels elastic and not too hard and dead like an unboosted hurricane; its lighter than hurricanes; it has a lot of gears and paired with a innercarbon blade it is great in the short game.
I don’t understand why friendship rubbers are so underated compared to dhs… they are just better in quality, don’t suffer from the oxidation problem and last longer. I tried this rubber on a viscaria and now i am using it with the new xiom tmxi and they match perfectly.
My forehand rubber is 729 Battle 2 Provincial Blue Sponge at 39 degrees unboosted. While it is tacky, it is not as tacky as Hurricane 3 or the Sanwei Target series.
The spin I can generate with this rubber is tremendous. In fact, my playing partner sometimes cannot block it. Control and speed are also exceptional. With minimal effort, I can execute third-ball attacks even when I am out of position.
Overall, this is an excellent rubber.
I played with 39° H3 Neo long ago and bought 39° Yinhe Big Dipper to replace H3. BD’s throw is high, it’s bouncy and not too tacky, maybe because it’s a hybrid rubber so it has an ESN rubber characteristic. It’s a good rubber but it just didn’t suit me well.
I struggled with BD, then I bought 39° Battle II Pro to replace BD. The weight is a little bit heavy, I guess. I’m surprised with 729 Battle II Pro. It makes me happy even in the first stroke. Glued to DHS PG5 in FH and paired with Palio AK47 Red in BH, 39° is harder than H3 Neo with the same number. I think it’s around 53° in ESN rubber & 40° in the DHS hardness scale.
It has a medium-low throw, very tacky, more spin and more speed than a H3 Neo. The serve is spinny, the feel and control are very good, the dwell time is controllable. You can lift a heavy backspin easily and ball will fly with a low trajectory. The touch game is superb.
Speed is slow when you hit slow and fast when you hit hard. But remember, this Chinese traditional rubber is not for a flat hitter. This means it’s hard to smash a ball. But when you attack with top spin & loop, this rubber will be a nightmare for your opponents.
The ball flies with a low trajectory, fast, spinny and jumps even lower when it touches a table. It’s sensitive to an incoming spin due to its tackiness, and you should do a proper stroke technique with no hesitation whenever you want to hit the ball. This rubber is hard to tame, but once you get used to it, you’ll love this $24 rubber even more than H3/H3 Neo Commercial. If you’re a player with a Chinese style, just try this out…
Great rubber! You won’t believe it until you try it.
My primary forehand rubber has transitioned from 40 degrees to 39 degrees. I currently find the 39-degree rubber quite enjoyable. It possesses a tacky surface and appears to have undergone factory boosting, evidenced by its warping. This rubber generates significant power but lacks the extreme catapult effect characteristic of European rubbers. I have upgraded from the regular Battle 2 to this rubber and have not encountered any regrets.
While the regular Battle 2 proved valuable for training when unboosted, it necessitated a Chinese-style rubber swing. I highly recommend experimenting with various degrees of this rubber, as it made a substantial difference in my experience.
I am surprised by the Forehand Rubber. I previously used DHS Hurricane 8, but it lacked the speed I needed, so I switched to Battle 2 Normal for several months.
Battle 2 Normal was fast, as you can read in my other review. However, I wanted to try the upgraded version, Battle 2 Blue Sponge, because I saw many Chinese top players using it.
Battle 2 Blue Sponge has tremendous speed when you hit with a full stroke, and the spin is amazing. My spin ball usually falls before the end of the table, but due to the higher arc of the Blue Sponge, my spin falls into the end of the table, resulting in better quality spin.
This version has the same dwell time as the Normal version, but the Blue Sponge has a more elastic sponge that can bounce the ball even if it is not bouncy.
Overall, it is very fast when you hit hard, but still slow when you hit slow. However, it is easier to generate spin than the Normal version due to its tackiness.
The control is still high but slightly lower than the Normal version due to its more flexible sponge. I would rate this rubber a 10.
Comparison between Battle 2 Blue Sponge and Normal Battle 2:
Great rubber! It outperforms my commercial Hurricanes 3 Neos. Comparing both at 39 degrees, Battle is harder, has equal speed, and gives more spin than H3N. I started to think that H3N is too soft for my BH. I use a Nittaku Hurricane Turbo Blue in BH in another setup, which is perfect. Maybe H3N in 40 degrees would be a better fit.
This review is about F-Ship Battle II Provincial blue-sponged rubber. I like it a lot, and it has become my main FH rubber. I don´t know how the normal sponge behaves, so I can’t compare, but this blue-sponge version is excellent. The rubber is hard even at 39 degrees and 2.1mm, gives good speed, and provides a tremendous amount of spin.
What I liked most about this rubber is that the topsheet does not become blurred as quickly as H3N. It keeps the shining topsheet for a long time even after cleaning with a cotton ball and water. That keeps the tacky feature for a longer time.
For opening topspins, Battle gives a low trajectory with huge spin and low bounce. I won a lot of points with this rubber that I didn´t win before, just because of the low bounce. Like other Chinese-type rubbers, it does not accept flat hits. The stroke must have spin to be a quality stroke.
The price is acceptable and much lower than Provincial Hurricane´s. I matched this rubber better with ALC blades. Right now, I am using it in a Timo Boll ALC. It didn’t go well in ZLC blades; it became hard as a brick with low feeling.
I will buy another and recommend it to anyone looking for a high-quality tacky rubber at a reasonable price. If you are used to commercial H3 Neo, try this one and you might have a nice surprise.
(40 degrees version) I’ve used this on several different blades just to see how it behaves, and it’s absolutely fantastic.
Compared to the 40 degree National Blue Sponge H3 Neo, this rubber is faster, has the same amount of spin, feels a bit harder, has more control, and has the same straight throw angle.
It is simply fantastic and I love it!
I did not tune this rubber. It is fast with plenty of control and spin. It offers a wide range of gears, making it versatile.
While I favor the H3 Neo for serving, this rubber excels at topspins. Its tackiness surpasses that of Hurricane 3. The resulting trajectory is a medium-low angle. The spin it generates makes returns particularly challenging.
High premium quality rubber.
The blue sponge is something else here.
It is considerably faster than regular Battle 2.
Tackiness increased immensely after 3 layers of Falco as well as the speed.
Game Features
Friendship 729 Battle 2 with blue sponge was used for this review. We applied three layers of Falco Tempo Long booster to both rubbers.
Serves
Serving with Friendship 729 Battle 2 blue sponge is excellent, generating high rotation. Short serves are comfortable to play.
Short Game
The hard sponge and sticky top sheet provide excellent control for short games.
Loop
The starting loop generates high spin, often resulting in the opponent returning the ball behind the table. Loops have a low flight curve.
Serve Receives
Thanks to its hard sponge and sticky top sheet, Friendship 729 Battle 2 blue sponge handles short serve receives effectively.
Block
Friendship 729 Battle 2 blue sponge offers high-quality blocks with great control. Blocks are fast but can be played comfortably or short when the opponent is away from the table.
Topspin to Topspin
Counter spin is the most significant weapon of Friendship 729 Battle 2 blue sponge. It is fast with high rotation, causing the ball to accelerate and drop sharply, making it challenging to defend or counter.
Suitability
Friendship 729 Battle 2 blue sponge is ideal for playing near and from the middle of the table. It suits players with good, quick hand swings.
Sponge Hardness
The sponge hardness of 40 degrees aligns with an aggressive offensive style close to the table.
Blade Combination
Friendship 729 Battle 2 blue sponge combined with the DHS Hurricane 301 blade proved to be an excellent choice.
Review
I recently played with this rubber on a Sword Blue Feather blade, and it has become my new FH rubber. The speed is faster than the normal Battle 2 47-degree (old package). The blue sponge I have is 39 degrees on the DHS scale, which provides significantly more speed than a normal H3 Neo sponge.
In terms of tackiness, it is tack enough to pick up a ball for a second when new. However, once it is broken in, the tack will wear out slightly, which is when it starts playing better. Despite the reduced tack, it still spins very well. In my first session at club night, I gained many “cheap” points from serves and mini spiny opening loops, as my opponent was surprised by the amount of spin the balls had.
Since I have also played with the normal Battle 2 47-degree old scale, I can provide a quick comparison:
Spin:
Speed:
Serve:
Over table short game:
Over table flip:
Mid-distance rally:
Overall, I prefer the PBS version to the regular because it provides a bit more “oomph” and the sponge is more elastic for the same hardness, similar to the difference between the blue sponge from DHS and the regular orange sponge.
I will continue to play with it to assess its durability and will update this review accordingly.
Review Text:
39 hardness Battle II Provincial Blue sponge, on a new (2023) Mercury Y-13 (Off) blade (Forehand). I have the 38 (orange sponge) on my backhand. No booster on either.
This rubber has a very wide dynamic range. When you want to play slow, it’s slow, controlled, and well behaved, like a training rubber or a 729 Super FX. If you need to defend, you can, with great control. Adding power feels extremely linear, and you can balance spin with power by adjusting your angles. What makes this rubber so nice to play with is how consistent and predictable the throw angle is at any power level. I also found no loss in power with flat hits and it plays mid to far from the table fine. I could confidently recommend this rubber to almost anyone (just not beginners). I am very pleased.
UPDATE: One of my colleagues loved this bat so much that he purchased it from me. However, in the weeks following this review, I enjoyed every single hit with this combination more and more. The Y13 blade was quite well suited to the B2PBS, having decent speed but not too hard, keeping some dwell time. You could pair this with a faster blade, so long as some dwell time is maintained. From there, this rubber will do the rest…
UPDATE 2: If anyone is interested, I ended up buying a somewhat crazy setup with Battle 3 (39, black), on a T11S to dry out B3 and to push the limit of a harder blade. It’s actually a lot of fun and plays very well. As expected, the T11S has less dwell time, making a direct comparison more difficult, but from what I can tell, B3 is honestly very similar to B2PBS. I’ll submit a full review on the B3 page with more detail.
Review text:
I am a Chinese traditional penholder. I used to play with Hurricane 3 and Skyline 2, but Battle II is my new favorite. Topspin is easy, blocking is easy, I can control spin however I like, serves are as deadly as Skyline 2, and it is easy to break in. With Hurricane 3 or Skyline 2, I feel they are pretty slow when unboosted, but Battle II is not.
Battle II is not as spinny as Skyline 2, however it is faster and retains its tackiness longer. Definitely a rubber worth its pennies.
I’ve used this rubber on different two blades. Firstly, 729 Blue ACL—this combination is very good at speed and spin when performing a forehand topspin. However, I’ve had some trouble with the weight and handle of this blade, so it’s hard to make the perfect forehand topspin. Nevertheless, if I can do it, tons of spin are generated, making it very difficult for an opponent to break it.
Secondly, I have used this rubber with DHS Hurricane Fang Bo B2X—a very good combination. I can generate a lot of serve backspin or sidespin. The heavy forehand topspin is very easy to do.
This rubber differs from H3, boasting a faster speed but with a slightly lower arc. While not the most comfortable to use, it doesn’t require excessive adjustment. It excels in tackiness, providing excellent dwell time and ball catch, allowing for powerful launches. It is particularly suitable for strong loopers, as it generates a strong kick off the table.
The best rubber for spin is the legendary DHS Hurricane National. This rubber has been used by top players for decades and is still considered one of the best on the market. It is known for its incredible spin and control, making it a great choice for players of all levels.
729 Battle 2 provincial is the best rubber I’ve ever played. It has a hardness of 40, blue sponge, and is fast and very smooth. It offers excellent control. I applied two layers of glue to the blade and two layers of glue to the rubber, but no booster. I am very satisfied with this product and believe it’s the best value for money. It’s definitely worth trying.
This rubber is great for forehand play, with a hardness rating of 39/40 degrees.
Very good rubber. I was using this rubber on the Yinhe V14 Pro at 40 degrees. It’s a very good looping rubber from mid-table and is really good far from the table. It requires more strength than usual when looping. This rubber does not need to be boosted, and I don’t recommend boosting it. You can just use it straight from the box. It feels better to play than any of the Hurricane rubbers.
The spin is a bit more than DHS Hurricane Neo 3 Provincial, but the National Hurricane is way more spinny. You get more speed from this rubber but with the sacrifice of some spin. It’s a very good rubber to play with and is very similar to the Battle 2 National blue sponge version. If I were to be blindfolded and tested, I would not know which one is National or Provincial. I suggest you go for 40 degrees if you are planning to buy this. It’s the best rubber for the money. I tried DHS Hurricane Neo 3, DHS Hurricane Neo 3 Provincial, and DHS Hurricane Neo 3 National, but I did not like any of them due to their durability.
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