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Haifu Shark and Whale 3 Forum Testing

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Topic: Haifu Shark and Whale 3 Forum Testing

Posted By: yogi_bear
Subject: Haifu Shark and Whale 3 Forum Testing
Date Posted: 05/11/2015 at 5:46am

this will be the thread for those lucky testers receiving the haifu shark 3 and whale 3 rubbers courtesy of Alex Li!!!

Haifu Whale III

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I received my rubbers 2 weeks ago and tested them immediately but because of my busy schedule, using only my mobile internet up until yesterday and got food poisoning and dehydration it was only now that I am able to post this review.

I have used the Whale and Shark rubbers in the past from the first one sold here and I have liked them a lot except for their durability. The older generations have this characteristic of leaving your thumb print onto the topsheet if you press enough and it kinda leaves a mark for some time. Also, the older ones have the problem of topsheet and sponge separation. I am assuming bad batches or older stock. I would like to clarify the ones that I have observed with problems were not bought or gotten from Alex.

The Shark 3 and Whale 3 rubbers were both in medium hardness as I requested from Alex. The black Whale 3 weighs approx. 74 grams uncut and the Shark 3 weighs approx. 72 grams uncut. The Whale 3's topsheet is much better compared to the older generation of Whale rubbers because the quality is better and the rubber seems finer and more uniform in the surface. The Shark 3 in medium red looks like a dull red tensor rubber. It is not like other bright red or cherry red-colored rubbers. Both rubbers are semi tacky. Not as tacky as a commercial hurricane 3 but it has this tackiness for a Chinese rubber. The red Shark 3 was less tacky. Compared to the Joola Brave which I believe is also made by Haifu this one feels less tacky. Both rubbers feels like a 38 degree globe 999 national in terms of hardness.

I glued both on a Yinhe T-4 using elmer's rubber cement. The Yinhe T-4 is a composite blade with 4 carbon layers. I also glued this on my T-2 which is also a carbon blade but slower and with more control. I also used a Hurricane 3 provincial on the T-2 just for cross reference and comparison. The 39 degree H3 Prov. feels harder than the medium Shark or Whale 3.

In terms of speed, the Shark 3 is the fastest among the 3 rubbers with the H3 prov. as the slowest. I would attribute this because of the tuning and because of the newer sponge for the 2 haifu's. Even the Whale 3 has an obvious margin in terms of speed compared to the H3. The Shark 3 felt like a tacky Acuda S2 but has the same speed. It is surprisingly fast for a Chinese rubber and feels like more of a euro rubber rather than a hybrid. The Whale 3 is springy unlike the tuned H3 prov. that Ih ave which feels slower.

In terms of spin, the H3 prov and Whale 3 may be in the same level but the Whale 3 is easier to use and easier to produce spin. If you compress the sponge more with your technique when you loop or brush then you will like the medium Whale 3. The Shark 3 has a lesser spin compared to both rubbers.

My preference in overall performance? I would choose the Shark 3 medium. The rubber is practically a good all around attacking rubber. It may not be as spinny as the H3 or Whale 3 but it is surely spinnier than an Acuda S2 or tensors made a year ago. It trades lesser spin to better speed. My friend told me that the Shark 3 medium felt like a T64 and was awesome in the backhand. I like the Shark 3 both sides and the Whale 3 in the forehand only. Also note that the Shark 3 has a medium arc and the Whale 3 has a low to medium arc with the Shark 3 with a higher arc. The Whale 3's sharp and long trajectory was good but the Shark 3's medium arc was much suited for my style. Both Haifu rubbers perform well up to mid distance from the table but the SHark 3 loses less power at mid distance compared to the Whale 3.

I have yet to see the durability of both rubbers over time but these 2 looks promising and better compared to their older generation brothers. Also, these 2 rubbers are kinda pricey but if yo have money spare then I suggest you pick any of these rubbers.

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Shark III Rubber

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Independent online TT Product reviewer of XIOM, STIGA, JOOLA, SANWEI, GEWO, AIR, ITC, APEX, YASAKA and ABROS

ITTF Level 1 Coaching Course Conductor, ITTF Level 1 Coach

Replies:

Posted By: asifgunz
Date Posted: 05/11/2015 at 9:19am

Thank you so much Alex. Thank you Mr. Bear.
Will edit this post with the review in a few days :D

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"I do not have any idols. I am my own idol." - Zhang Jike

Feedback: http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=71761&PN=1#905629

Posted By: mark20
Date Posted: 05/11/2015 at 9:41am

How can i be a tester? I have been using haifu whale 2 since 2009 but never tried haifu whale 3.

Posted By: qualizon
Date Posted: 05/12/2015 at 2:15am

First of all, thank you Alex for giving away the rubber, and thanks yogi bear to facilitate the program.

The package arrives last Friday, and it contains the Whale 3 upgrade version and the Shark 3, both are said to be tuned up already.

Getting the cutting board ready, and we're going to pair the Whale 3 upgrade version with the DHS 506+, it should be an interesting combination. We'll test the shark 3 at a later time :-)

The back of the package shows the address of Haifu, they have branches both in China and Japan, my guess is their japan branch is for distribution only. The small clear window from the package shows the hardness of the sponge, which the whale 3 I receive is the soft version.

Opening the package, you'll see the rubber is protected on both sides, the sponge side seems to be tuned and have some stickiness on it already.

The rubber side also have some kind of liquid between the protective layer and the rubber, when I take off the rubber protector, I can clearly see it is still wet.

Another close up on the rubber logo :-)

The sponge has a pinkish purple color, which matches the 506+ pretty well. And it seems to be quite dense.

The back of the rubber has this protector on and instruction on how to glue it, it specifically say you need to let it try for 5 minutes.

Rubber being cut and put on one additional layer of water based glue on the blade and the sponge.

This is what I meant when I say it is wet between the protector and the rubber itself.

The final product, for some reason the tuning liquid on the rubber leave some stain after drying, and I couldn't clean them off :-(

Close up of the rubber on the blade with the logo.

This pictures kinda show the texture of the rubber, it's not as crazy tacky as hurricane 3, it definitely doesn't stick up a ping pong ball. And the rubber seems to be relatively hard as well.

Now I just need to try it out at the club and see how this baby works Wink

Stay tuned!

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N656 TG3 Nat Blue/H360
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Posted By: yogi_bear
Date Posted: 05/12/2015 at 5:32am

qualizon, what did you get? I got both in medium hardness. I didn't expect these 2 rubbers would cost $70 USD each!! I'll post my reviews in a few days.

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Independent online TT Product reviewer of XIOM, STIGA, JOOLA, SANWEI, GEWO, AIR, ITC, APEX, YASAKA and ABROS

ITTF Level 1 Coaching Course Conductor, ITTF Level 1 Coach

Posted By: qualizon
Date Posted: 05/12/2015 at 10:44am

I got whale 3 soft and shark 3 medium, I'll hit up the club on Thursday and get a feel of what the whale 3 can provide.

Just like DHS, Haifu likes to have different grade of the same rubber in the market with different level of QC. There are the training version, normal version and the upgrade version like the one we got. I know not many people buy the Whale 3 upgrade version in China due to the expensive price even though it's a good rubber.

Posted By: PingPongHolic10
Date Posted: 05/12/2015 at 11:44pm

PPH’s HAIFU BLUE WHALE III & SHARK III (Purple Sponge) Factory Tuned Rubber Review - HARD

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Received this rubber thru Alex’sTT (MYTT) Forum along with Shark 3. It came in the same packaging as the BW3 with Red Sponge, but these are Light Purple Sponge. I have played with the training versions of these BW3 purple sponges & their sponge colors were different. I am testing this rubber with OSP V’King Cpen. Rubber weights a TON! At ~55grs cut, 73grs uncut 169x169mm. My V’King has a customized bigger face 163x152. I had to pair the backhand with a super light rubber Tibhar Aurus Sound 1.9mm – 42grs slightly smaller cut. The BW3’s hardness is Hard.

First Impressions: Upon the unwrapping of the package, you can tell these are HIGH quality products, perfect matted topsheets with clear films covering on both sides. Medium tall pips & Porous Purple sponge! The Training versions’ sponges were like normal hard Chinese sponges. You can tell these are tuned, but not like those you see from the PROs. Once glued on & bouncing the ball on the rubber, I felt the tension from the tuner, & the amazing spin it generates from floor serving. Topsheet is slightly tacky, more than National H3 Blue Sponge.

In-Action Sessions: First session was light training session with an ~1800-1900 BH blocker. BW3 produces a very consistent & linear Arc similar to of H3. It produces many different gears as my blocker was having problems blocking the 2^nd or 3^rd topspin loops. Will have to see if the top gear is there against better blockers. I also compared side by side with VIS-A (Yinhe Viscara) with TG3 Non-neo. TG3 was treated with 2 layers of BO. Even with a faster VIS-A, I had to put more effort in my loops to produce more spin. TG3 also has a lower throw. I played a few games with a 1950 player. BW3 has a very consistent feel in looping, driving. I believe once broken in, the over the table flicks & counterings will be a lot better. Second session with better players SP 2150 Penholder, 2050 allaround, 2200 two wingers. Services have excellent spins just like H3, brush looping is good but wasn't as good as Big Dipper, I am still getting used to the third ball drives' throw angle so more comment on that later on. Counter looping mid distance is easier than untuned rubbers. I have been playing in extremely humid conditions these two sessions, and did notice slippages. Also playing with the plastic balls, the topsheets of my BW3 & TG3 (2 sessions old) has already shown some wear! I will have a compilation video with BW3 in action to be posted.

Update 5/15: Vid

Summary: BW3 offers a national grade quality rubber that is very similar to National Hurricanes/Skylines. I believe these can be have for about $60USD, not bad considering they perform just as great as those used by Pros. I believe they'll perform even better if the player can boost this from say "Kalin" Oil & the likes. I will continue to update in this post with new findings.

Updated 5/15:

Overall: I would rate BW3 purple Sponge against other similar products with same hardness & thickness from my EJ experiences.

Speed (Max Gear): Big Dipper ≥ DHS H3 Nat BS ≥ BW3 PS > H3 Nat OS = Moon Pro = BTY SpinArt

Spin (Kick off first bounce): DHS H3 Nat BS = BW3 PS > H3 Nat OS = Moon Pro > Big Dipper > BTY SpinArt

Medium Gear: Big Dipper > Moon Pro ≥ BW3 PS ≥ BTY SpinArt = DHS H3 Nat BS = H3 Nat OS

Feel: H3 Nat OS > DHS H3 Nat BS ≥ BTY SpinArt ≥ BW3 PS = Moon Pro > Big Dipper

Weight: BW3 PS > Big Dipper ≥ Moon Pro = H3 Nat OS ≥ BTY SpinArt > DHS H3 Nat BS

Durability(Plastic Balls): H3 Nat OS > BTY SpinArt ≥ DHS H3 Nat BS > Big Dipper = Moon Pro > BW3 PS

Updated 5/20 BW3 Durability: Noticeable lost of speed & spin, but still plenty. Also the sponge & topsheet has gotten alot softer. It's like a 38° now. Topsheet has alot of marks, slight lost of grip, and just slightly tacky.

UPDATED 5/20:

PPH’s HAIFU WHITE SHARK III (Purple Sponge) Factory Tuned Rubber Review - HARD

2^nd Rubber received from Alex’sTT (MYTT) Forum for testing. Shark 3 has same presentation packaging as BW3, comes in Green package with same porous purple sponge as well. Weight is not as vicious as BW3, but still at a whopping 69gr uncut for 169x169mm. Topsheet is non tacky, soft & feels elastic. I think this sync well with the hard sponge (Probably in Chinese Scale of 36). I will be pairing this on my RPB with Yasaka Goiabao 5. The blade is very bouncy & light in weight. I glued FH with a new TG2 Non neo. Cut Shark3 weighted at 49grs. Felt the tension when bouncing & spinning with a ball. However, is not as spinny as BW3 nor most ESN/Tensors. Topsheet has medium tall pips, & sponge is similar to ESN's ~47.5.

In-Action Sessions: First session was training session with ~1900 topspinner & 2150 blocker. Gotta say that it felt so goood in blocking & counter topspin. The topsheet in insensitive to spin & sponge is somewhat bouncy but not like Vega Europe or the like that's uncontrollable cause they just bottoms out. Counter topspins don't produce much spin, it's almost like a short pips block...flying at you with no spin... Then moved on to RPBing against the 2150 blocker, not much effect against this guy. Only thing that got by this guy is rips out of his reach. The good thing about the Shark3 is that it's linear, the harder you rip the more spin it produces. However, I cannot exert my energy in trying to blow past my opponent with my RPB & leaves me out of position for any other offensive shots=\.

Summary: I will have to do some piece drills to check on the rubber's playability against underspin. based on what I have observed so far, it won't produce much spin as others. I will say that this will be a gem for blockers, & counter hitters on either wing. This rubber is actually very similar to Yinhe's Moon Speed, as MS's sponge is same as Big Dipper & it's like a Euro style rubber.

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Member of Yinhe,OSP & Nexy Clan

Posted By: thethinker
Date Posted: 05/13/2015 at 5:05am

Here is my Haifu Whale 3 review:

My BW3 came without gluing instruction. MAX, upgraded, black, medium hardness. Not as heavy as the BW2 national I used but I have no scale.

BW3 has a medium to medium hard topsheet with a springy sponge that come tuned (unlike the BW2 national that I used which I can't feel a lot of tuning due to the 40 degree hardness). The BW3 topsheet is sticky out of package but with one session the stickiness is wearing off somewhat and the rubber become fast. It is still sticky to the touch but not enough to hinder the speed of the sponge. In comparison my BW2N has maintained the stickiness pretty much throughout.

BW3 plays like a traditional Chinese rubber, like H3neo, with turbo. It is the ideal forehand rubber but fast enough for backhand. The rubber is very linear at almost all speed. In the short game the player can easily use mostly the topsheet to generate a great deal of spin. The control is super because the topsheet is hard enough so that the player would not engaged the sponge too much at low racket speed. Unlike rubbers like T05 one would feel that it's too bouncy because at low racket speed one the ball is in too much contact with sponge. The serves using BW3 is outstanding. Short serves are spiny and long serves are easy with such fast sponge. BW3 (medium) is the best forehand rubber for looping since the spin is awesome and the arc is safe and high, but once landed the ball usually accelerate forward and drops down fast. Loops are much harder than T05 to handle. But if need be the player can hit into the sponge more and produce a fast loop like T05 with not much more effort. Once the rubber is broken in it blocks well and not overly spin sensitive as one would imagine.
I am using it on a Korbel and would recommend using BW3 on an all wood blade to bring out the advantage of the rubber. However, BW3 Medium would work on most blades. In short, for those who use Chinese rubber for forehand BW3(medium, upgraded) is a hit.

Short game: BW3(m) 9/10, BW2N(h) 8/10, H3 8/10, T05 6/10.
control:    BW3(m) 8/10, BW2N(h) 6/10, H3 8/10, T05 7/10.
Speed*:     BW3(m) 8/10, BW2N(h) 8/10, H3 6/10, T05 9/10.
spins:      BW3(m) 9/10, BW2N(h) 8/10, H3 8/10, T05 7/10.
loops:      BW3(m) 9/10, BW2N(h) 7/10, H3 7/10, T05 7/10.
blocks:     BW3(m) 7/10, BW2N(h) 6/10, H3 6/10, T05 8/10.
quality:    BW3(m) 9/10, BW2N(h) 8/10, H3 5/10, T05 9/10.
weight**:   BW3(m) 5/10, BW2N(h) 3/10, H3 5/10, T05 7/10.
Smell***:   BW3(m) 8/10, BW2N(h) 7/10, H3 6/10, T05 3/10.

*   Note that the BW3 speed rating will go up and the spin rating will go down a little as the rubber is broken in.
** No scale, by feel. Heavy one is rated lower.
*** Yes, need to air rubber to rid of chemical smell.

Posted By: thethinker
Date Posted: 05/13/2015 at 10:42pm

Played my third session with BW3 and could feel the stickiness is much less. Service and loops is still excellent. But I could also feel the tuning would last only a month, or two at the most at this rate...

Posted By: asifgunz
Date Posted: 05/14/2015 at 10:21pm

Just Had a session with my Pet Red Shark and Black Whale. Glued to Xiom Vega Pro (91 grams) ST,
the combo felt uniform throughout. A lot of people label these two as Heavy* rubbers and frankly I don't see them as heavy at all!

I glued my rubber with tearmender on blade only. The sponge comes
preglued so just let the tearmender dry properly on blade and slap it
on. My rubbers marked as S (soft) were easy to cut with a scissos.
The
rubbers also come with thick plastic film on both sides. Top of
topsheet and on sponge side. They make good rubber protectors if you
don't have some already.

The Whale has a much different feel to that of the shark. Reminds me the feel of my good old Oiv pro. Unlike OVPro, Its not a smooth feel. Also Unlike the omegas, the Whale starts off light tacky and tack wears off every game or so. Used it on my backhand, and it felt great on blocks, pushes (like omega V, great thing!) and drives like omega iv pro. One of the guys I play with said "God what is that weird topspin" during backhand rallys. I haven't had any reaction like that using Omega V pro for the past few sessions.
It's just so controlled on slow strokes and fast exactly when you need it to be. You can chop topspin with it like Omega V pro. I could never chop with OIVP.
IMO it has the best of OIVP and OVP.

The Red Shark is something else. It loops like my tg3 skyline neo and my OIVP. I have never really come across a rubber that can slow loop like (classic in some terms) Chinese rubber and loop drive like Esn rubbers. My whole life I have been stuck with one or the other. I Had to sacrifice either slow loops or fast loops and go into driving the 5th shot. Now I can switch it around from slow looping heavy underspin to loop driving slightly less heavy underspin.
Serves are just great like my tg3 skyline. I can make the ball slide off the side of the table with sidespin serve and w/e comes back, loop down the forehand lane with all my might :) perks of being 22.

A more experience player immediately after 2 forehand loops, asked me if I changed my gear. "That's not your tg3 neo right?"
IMO Shark is faster than the Whale. Also shares the multiple gear capability. Short push, long push. Block. and loopdrives!

Some things to note: The Red Shark looks more durable than the Black Whale. It's only been one session and maybe too early to speak on how long they will last. Whale seemed to have these glossy circles over the top sheet. a little bit of water helps clear it off . They come back eventually.
The Red Shark doesn't suffer from this characteristic. I hope it's just my sheet and that it doesn't affect the durability of the rubber.

Some pictures. uploading......

And finally for pip structure comparison. I leave this one to you, the reader :)
Top to bottom Black Whale, Red Shark, Black OVPro, Red Tg3 skyline neo.

UPDATE 5/15

Update 5/15
Went 6-0 against the guy who beat me 4-3 last night.
The rubbers have settled in and I am very happy with how well they are playing on the vega pro blade.
The issue with the circular marks on the Black whale have disappeared with a little more water (2/3 drops and light wipe with my palm)
Very happy with the set up. Thank you Alex for supplying us with these great rubbers! Thanks Mr. Bear for organizing the event! You guys have opened my eyes to a new line of equipment. I had always stayed away from soft (haifu scale ) rubbers and my pet shark and whale have changed my mind.

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"I do not have any idols. I am my own idol." - Zhang Jike

Feedback: http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=71761&PN=1#905629

Posted By: qualizon
Date Posted: 05/14/2015 at 10:56pm

I finally was able to test this baby out with the whale 3 on the forehand. My initial feeling is, this is quite spinny, but it's not as fast! When I looked at the package, it said tuned, so I was expected the same boost effect that I have from my H3 neo or TG3 neo rubber, but it feels like the definition of tuned is different in this case. May be the rubber needs another session to break in before it can give its ultimate performance. I also find it relatively less easy to have the ball engage the sponge as the top rubber is more to the harder type, don't get me wrong, it's very durable and high grade, it's just you'll need to make sure you give enough energy to your stroke so that you can engage the rubber+sponge properly.

I'm tempted to put a layer of falco life expander or olive oil to soften the top sheet , but I think the rubber deserves another week or two weeks of break in before I add anything to it. One thing I'm quite disappointed is the tuning liquid leave some marks on the rubber, which I'm not able to clean them off.

Another thing is, the trajectory of the loop is long, I need to adjust my stroke in order to keep the ball on the table. I don't know if it is really the characteristic of the rubber of because I have it on a 7-ply clipper clone (dhs 506+), may be I should put it on a 5-ply blade and try it out that way.

Posted By: Matt Pimple
Date Posted: 05/20/2015 at 12:26pm

I also received my Haifu Shark and Whale 3 rubbers yesterday after returning from a 2-week long Trip. So thanks to Alex and yogi for giving me the opportunity to test the rubbers. The first one I unpacked last night was the Whale (black topsheeet and purple sponge) which turned out to be the hard version. Since several people already reported that the tuning effect was rather mild I decided I was not going to test it unboosted but would immediately boost the rubber with Dymax Maximizer. Since I do not use WBG but RC I decided to peel off the glue layer and then weigh the rubbers. The results were somewhat surprising.

- rubber uncut without glue: 71.5g

- peeled off glue: 7.5g

To me it seemed a bit outrageous to have a 7.5g glue layer on the rubber and this might be reason that it is so heavy.

The rubber immediately domed (like a taco shell) after the first booster layer but it did not completely curl up also not after applying a second booster layer this morning. I will check gain tonight and them take a picture.

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OSP Ultimate; Dr. Neubauer Dominance Spin Hard max, Dr. Neubauer Troublemaker 0.5

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Posted By: qualizon
Date Posted: 05/20/2015 at 4:14pm

I probably might do the same thing after trying this rubber this week, I'll either put Falco or Dianchi on it. A friend of mine was a big fan of the Haifu Whale II, and he boosted his rubber as well, and when I tried his setup, I can clearly hear the metallic snapping sound when the ball impacts the blade.

When I try the Whale 3 without additional boosting, fresh from the package with manufacture tuning, I definitely don't hear or feel the same way.

Posted By: Matt Pimple
Date Posted: 05/21/2015 at 5:21pm

I took a couple of picks last night of the domed Haifu Whale. You can clearly see that the WBG layer has been removed and you can see the "H" (for hard sponge) in one of the pics.

Posted By: Matt Pimple
Date Posted: 05/23/2015 at 8:59pm

I glued on the Whale today, however I caught some sort of cold and could not go to practice.

Maybe tomorrow...

I also unpacked the Shark rubber today. It's a red top sheet with purple sponge in "H" hardness. Here are the weights:

- rubber without glue layer 65.5g

- removed glue layer 3.1g

Interestingly the glue layer was a lot thinner on the Shark then it was on the Whale so that the Shark with the glue layer is quite a bit lighter than the Whale. Also, the Shark appears to have much less of smell out of the package than the Whale. Both rubber have the same high quality appearance in terms of top sheet and also the glueing to the sponge. I have the impression that the Shark topsheet is a little bit less grippy than the Whale; both are non-tacky.

Posted By: asifgunz
Date Posted: 05/23/2015 at 11:06pm

Update May 23rd, 2045 .

Haha just kidding. But it seems that rubbers are performing better now. The sticky rubber protectors ( like really sticky fyi, these things stick to your skin) with the vega pro blade seem to have a very positive effect on the rubber topsheets.
Im finding my rubbers to be faster. Especially the red shark. Black whale feels faster on my bh as well. Perhaps the tuning is giving way, and sponge(or maybe the glue layer which acts as a cushion) is become slightly more firm.

I prefer the rubbers more now , than when first few days out of the vacumn sealed packet.

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"I do not have any idols. I am my own idol." - Zhang Jike

Feedback: http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=71761&PN=1#905629

Posted By: thethinker
Date Posted: 05/24/2015 at 5:51am

Whale 3 is better out of package for fh in my opinion because there were so many missed blocks on my loops the first session, not even quarter power loops. It seems that even light loops has so much spin and the ball lands and dips under the block. The spin is the best part of this rubber; the stickiness wears off too quickly.

Posted By: yogi_bear
Date Posted: 05/24/2015 at 6:34am

added my review

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Independent online TT Product reviewer of XIOM, STIGA, JOOLA, SANWEI, GEWO, AIR, ITC, APEX, YASAKA and ABROS

ITTF Level 1 Coaching Course Conductor, ITTF Level 1 Coach

Posted By: Matt Pimple
Date Posted: 05/24/2015 at 4:18pm

yogi_bear wrote:

added my review

Thanks yogi, nice review.

I am looking forward to my test but I am still sick.

Posted By: Matt Pimple
Date Posted: 05/24/2015 at 4:57pm

The Shark curled up quite a bit more than the Whale after 2 layers of Dymax Maximizer booster; you can also see the "H" marking for hard on the sponge:

Posted By: yogi_bear
Date Posted: 05/25/2015 at 12:09am

My additional thoughts on the whale 3. I think if you want more speed go for the hard sponge. If you want also a faster forehand rubber using the shark 3 also go for the hard sponge. Both the medium and soft versions are much better for the backhand.

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Independent online TT Product reviewer of XIOM, STIGA, JOOLA, SANWEI, GEWO, AIR, ITC, APEX, YASAKA and ABROS

ITTF Level 1 Coaching Course Conductor, ITTF Level 1 Coach

Posted By: parker
Date Posted: 05/25/2015 at 10:33am

Ah this looks amazing. I've been looking for a replacement for Haifu Shark II 2.0 soft recently as it is harder and harder to find.. I hope the Shark III plays in a similar way. I've played with Shark II for like 3 or more years..Can anyone who has played both comment on this?

TTNPP appears to be out of stock. :c

Posted By: 42andbackpains
Date Posted: 05/25/2015 at 2:00pm

Does anybody know when these will be available? Where and whats the retail price?

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Mind is willing, but the back goes out too often :P
OSP Ultimate II 88 grams
FH Dianchi D w/ Secret Sauce
BH Butterfly T05 Red
USATT rating keeps going down

Posted By: yogi_bear
Date Posted: 05/26/2015 at 4:32am

Alex have these in his store

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Independent online TT Product reviewer of XIOM, STIGA, JOOLA, SANWEI, GEWO, AIR, ITC, APEX, YASAKA and ABROS

ITTF Level 1 Coaching Course Conductor, ITTF Level 1 Coach

Posted By: vic#74
Date Posted: 05/26/2015 at 6:55am

yogi_bear wrote:

Alex have these in his store

Based on all those reviews - price/quality ratio is way too high....

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ITC Premier XR
Nittaku Sieger Pk50
Tibhar Evolution EL-S

Posted By: 42andbackpains
Date Posted: 05/26/2015 at 9:38am

yogi_bear wrote:

Alex have these in his store

Yogi, do you have a link? Thanks

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Mind is willing, but the back goes out too often :P
OSP Ultimate II 88 grams
FH Dianchi D w/ Secret Sauce
BH Butterfly T05 Red
USATT rating keeps going down

Posted By: qualizon
Date Posted: 05/26/2015 at 2:01pm

yogi_bear wrote:

My additional thoughts on the whale 3. I think if you want more speed go for the hard sponge. If you want also a faster forehand rubber using the shark 3 also go for the hard sponge. Both the medium and soft versions are much better for the backhand.

I actually won't recommend whale 3 of any hardness for backhand unless your backhand style is pure hard smashing and blocking. It fit better for forehand with full body swing Wink

Posted By: asifgunz
Date Posted: 05/26/2015 at 3:06pm

My whale 3 soft plays superb on backhand. I dont know why anyone would find it slow on active strokes.

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"I do not have any idols. I am my own idol." - Zhang Jike

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Posted By: qualizon
Date Posted: 05/26/2015 at 4:39pm

Speed is relative :-)

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N656 TG3 Nat Blue/H360
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Posted By: yogi_bear
Date Posted: 05/26/2015 at 6:51pm

I was referring to the shark 3 as the bh rubber not the whale 3.

42, you can pm alexli

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Independent online TT Product reviewer of XIOM, STIGA, JOOLA, SANWEI, GEWO, AIR, ITC, APEX, YASAKA and ABROS

ITTF Level 1 Coaching Course Conductor, ITTF Level 1 Coach

Posted By: 42andbackpains
Date Posted: 05/26/2015 at 8:06pm

yogi_bear wrote:

I was referring to the shark 3 as the bh rubber not the whale 3.

42, you can pm alexli

Thanks Yogi.....thats why i couldnt find it on the site.

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Mind is willing, but the back goes out too often :P
OSP Ultimate II 88 grams
FH Dianchi D w/ Secret Sauce
BH Butterfly T05 Red
USATT rating keeps going down

Posted By: Matt Pimple
Date Posted: 05/30/2015 at 11:43pm

I finally had a chance to test the Haifu Whale III (hard sponge) yesterday though the session was quite short so a full test report will come later.

First off all, I had no problems to adjust to the rubber coming from Nittaku Hurricane 3 Neo (plays like a H3N Prov; also tuned with 2 layers of Dymax Maximizer like the Whale 3) and all forehand strokes worked right off the bat. Here my initial impressions:

- Spin: H3N > W3 = T05

- Speed T05 > H3N > W3

- Control W3 > H3N > T05

- Feel H3N > T05 > W3

It seems that the H3N respondes more to the booster than the Whale 3 as the Whale was quite a bit slower. Spin on the Whale is quite decent (similar to T05) but not as good as H3N. The control and consistancy with Whale 3 was very nice and maybe even better than H3N in particular on counter looping but for some reason I did not like the feel as much as do with my H3N; there was a little bit of a dead feel to it but I need to play it more.

The Whale 3 is definetely a very high quality rubber with good spin and control on counter looping and also looping against block. Speed is not quite as high as H3N or T05 and requires more effort or full stroke.

Posted By: qualizon
Date Posted: 06/01/2015 at 6:39pm

Hey Matt Pimple, after boosting your whale 3, did you get any metallic sound from the rubber when hitting the ball?

I've done it with whale 2 and it has the nice metallic hitting sound, I'm still hesitate to boost mine though.

By the way, I'll be putting the shark 3 on a 5 ply hinoki blade next week, I hope it's not too late for the review :-)

Posted By: Matt Pimple
Date Posted: 06/01/2015 at 7:28pm

qualizon wrote:

Hey Matt Pimple, after boosting your whale 3, did you get any metallic sound from the rubber when hitting the ball?

I did not!

Posted By: Johnny1996
Date Posted: 06/19/2015 at 9:38am

my new set up:

FH: Dolphin purple sponge

BH: Shark III purple sponge

Posted By: qualizon
Date Posted: 06/23/2015 at 2:19am

I gotta say the whale 3 doesn't live up to the expectation of a tuned rubber, so I'm going to boost it tonight with two thin layer of Kailin oil on top of the original tuned glue layer, and then I'll put it on my best wooden blade N656 :-)

I'll give another report after that.

Posted By: 42andbackpains
Date Posted: 09/15/2015 at 5:35pm

Here is my short review. I have about 4 hours of play on my forehand side. At $70 this Haifu Whale 3 is there supposedly equivalent to H3 Neo Provincial blue sponge. First thing, Boosting is not needed on this sheet. And if you do boost, 1 layer is quite adequate. The Haifu Whale 3 is factory tuned and should not need boosting until the factory tuning wears off. Right off the bat i felt the Whale is probably 10 to 15 percent heavier than H3 neo, so this is a no no for people looking for a lighter Chinese rubber. When looping, I find the Haifu more linear when compared to H3 Neo. I would recommend this a forehand oriented Chinese rubber but with a little euro tensor feel thrown into the mix. The Haifu Whale 3 is not as grippy when compared to H3 neo, so your initial shots may shoot off the table if your coming from H3. A small technique adjustment is needed, but i would say you will find your technique adjusting quickly. The Whale 3 sheet i got was in the hard range with the big H indicator on the back of the rubber. The purplish sponge is little softer than the H3 neo blue 39 or orange 39 sponge. But strangely when looping or hitting, the ball does not sink into the sponge due to the topsheets harder qualities. I find myself working just a tad harder to create spin and I would also say the speed is equivalent or a tad faster than H3 neo. Since i am so used to using H3 neo, i may have a bias towards the Whale 3 and I find it less grippy and has less spin when compared to a well boosted H3 neo. One advantage is that you dont need to boost out of the box and play right away. I would say this rubber is in the $50 U.S dollar range, but not worth $70 dollars it is retailing for. Good rubber but missed the market it was shooting for. 2 cents added

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Mind is willing, but the back goes out too often :P
OSP Ultimate II 88 grams
FH Dianchi D w/ Secret Sauce
BH Butterfly T05 Red
USATT rating keeps going down