Yinhe Big Dipper - Review

In most ways, yes, if my memory serves me right.  A bit slower when flat hitting, but for most other things, it is pretty similar.

Did you tune it before or after you first tried it?  The rubber is already heavily tuned.

Well, that was a mistake.  As every previous review has pointed out, Big Dipper had a softer feeling sponge - whether tuning drove that or the sponge is just different was not clear.  In any case, at least, I now know how to interpret any comments you make about the rubber.

 

Be careful when speaking to people who regularly use Chinese rubbers when they speak about Big Dipper.  As a former Tenergy 05 user who also never boosts, Big Dipper is the only Chinese rubber that I have ever been able to work with without feeling that I was really losing something away from the table or even sometimes at the table (I wanted something that blocked closer to an Euro rubber and this does except for the tack).  H3 users find it too springy and call it slow because they want to do their extra physical loops with it or too fast because of its catapult.  I prefer the Big Dipper behavior coming from Tenergy 05.  I tried Tenergy 80 two days ago and I dropped the paddle and started looping with Big Dipper again.  After a few loops, the guy who was blocking stopped blocking and asked me what I was using, saying that the contrast in quality was obvious for my looping style and this rubber was so much grippier/tackier.  He then tried it and the contrast in quality was also clear and positive for his looping style.  I don't play 10 feet off the table so there might be limitations I don't see, but from a spin perspective with the plastic ball especially, this is a winner.  IT's for people who always liked Chinese rubbers but didn't boost and didn't want to play like Hercules all the time.