Giant Dragon Superspin G3 Hard review

Once again, big Thank You goes to conradsong from ZTableTennis - they are the only (right?) authorized Giant Dragon dealer in the USA.

Some data:

brand: Giant Dragon
rubber: Superspin G3 (SSG3)
sponge: Hard version (there are two other versions Soft and S-2 (very soft??)
thickness: 2.2 (MAX). 1.8 and 2.0 are also available (more precisely, will be available) soon
weight: 68 uncut, 47.6 cut to YinHe W-1
hardness: topsheet 36, sponge 40 degrees (all approximate)
tackiness: completely non-tacky, surface is matte not glossy
type: offensive

As you can see from the pics, the rubber comes in a vacuum-sealed plastic envelope, and also it seems to be pre-tensioned or tuned - look at photo #4 with the domed rubber.

"Finger-press test" tells me that this rubber is about same hardness as PME - but let's wait for the formal results from my friend's durometer.

The bounce test produced some very weird results. Namely, when I bounced the ball on SSG3 side of my W-1, the height of the first bounce was about 3 (three!) times less than on the PME side. Also, it produces a very "speedgluey" crackling sound even when you hit the dead center of the blade.

The simplest spin test (throw the ball up, then when it falls and touches the racket, execute standard side-jerk motion, then watch the bounce of the ball off the non-moving racket when it falls again) produced almost horizontal second bounce, much better than for PME side. Perhaps this truly is a Super-Spin rubber??

Holy smokes.
I have never seen a factory tune produce that kind of dome!
I wonder how long that effect was designed to last?

 @JimT

 The second bounce - includes sensitivity to rotation.

viktorovich wrote:  @JimT  The second bounce - includes sensitivity to rotation.

Of course. But what do you want me to do - spin the ball and then with my left hand put another blade underneath the falling ball? or let the ball drop to the naked floor and see it bounce...

Unfortunately, could not go to a practice tonight. Hopefully tomorrow... and not for certain...

what was on the sponge exactly? was it a glue layer? tacky?

and I still can't get over that dome. that topsheet will be under serious tension once it's mounted to a blade.

Kolev wrote: this top sheet looks really transparent soft and elastic.is it so or it's reflection from the flash? btw,can you please give some more info about the hardness , cause I'm not familiar with the sponge of PME

No it's not the flash - that's how it really looks.

Hardness of PME is around 39-40 on DHS scale. SSG3 feels about the same - but that is a very subjective "measurement"...

JimT wrote: Kolev wrote: this top sheet looks really transparent soft and elastic.is it so or it's reflection from the flash? btw,can you please give some more info about the hardness , cause I'm not familiar with the sponge of PME No it's not the flash - that's how it really looks. Hardness of PME is around 39-40 on DHS scale. SSG3 feels about the same - but that is a very subjective "measurement"...

Just a quick note.....

Don't forget there are 2 different sponges on Palio Macro Era, 42.5 and 47.5 hardness choices......so when you reference PME....note which one your comparing to so people understand your comparison clearly. 

icontek wrote: Oh. That photo is false advertising then What caused the glare on the sponge though? It looks like rubber cement?

Not exactly false - I did not start with the idea to create a "false" dome, the rubber kinda went that way on its own, and I wanted tp make a good picture from the side.

Glare? That's my flash and/or the lights over the sofa

No kidding - you are right! the sponge was already covered with small amount of some adhesive. There was actually a plastic protector sheet which I pulled off of the sponge side.

Well, I have played with it on FH for about 20-30 minutes. So far I am not impressed. It seems like there is a lot of spin, but then it turns out your opponent doesn't feel it... in medium power shots it can as easily net the ball as push it over... although quite decent grip and decent flat game.

I will give it another shot on Wednesday. Where I played today I could not step away from the table and try counterlooping, fishing/lobbing, chopping etc.

conradsong wrote: We have a SuperSpin G3 Soft that can ship to someone if they want to review it... as these are factory tuned, pretty sure it would not survive multiple reviewers (ie. off the blade for a long time), so it'll probably be just one person... and done, please don't PM me.

Great! So there will be a review on SSG3 Soft as well. Nice.

I intend to play with SSG3 Hard myself tomorrow and then I will let another guy to play with my setup - he is also a very good player and he will give me his opinion on it as well.

Played a bit more - 15 minutes or so. Again, mixed impression. I gave it then to a clubmate who played with it another 15 minutes and returned it to me saying that this rubber is not for his style. He plays with fast and heavily tacky rubbers and with SSG3 he could not loop or flick at all, since all his strokes are not suited for non-tacky Euro-style rubbers.

I played against SSG3 and felt again a very curious loss of spin when receiving the ball - my opponent did a good job of putting serious spin on the ball and he told me that it felt very spinny. However, when I returned his shots I didn't really encounter more than a rather medium strength spin. Speed is quite good now - no complaints there.

I think this is more a BH rubber than FH - at least currently it seems to me like that. I am still not entirely convinced in my opinions, and will give it another shot soon.

I received Superspin G3 soft and hard sheets from Conrad in 2.2mm both red and black.  My son currently plays with TopEnergy 2.0 on his FH, and now is playing with the Superspin G3 soft in red 2.2mm on his BH.  I'm used to playing with soft rubber on my BH like Donic Desto F3 in max thickness.  The first thing I noticed about this rubber is that it's lighter than most Chinese rubbers, and it's also faster.  I agree with Jim about the spin.  It feels like you're able to generate good amounts of spin, however when blocking it doesn't seem as if it has that much spin.  I also agree that the soft will work well on the BH side, and you might like to give the G3 hard a try on the FH.  I put the G3 hard on my FH last night and hit some with the robot and it felt pretty good.  I definitely think this is a good quality rubber and that many people will enjoy playing with it.  It's kind of like a turbo-charged Sriver or Mark V.  Decent spin, not great, but good control and plenty of speed.  If you like European rubbers you will like the soft version, and if you like Chinese rubbers you will probably like the Hard rubber.  I especially like the lighter weight as the TopEnergy rubber is a heavy rubber. 

So I got a black MAX Giant Dragon Superspin G3 soft (ssg3s) from ztabletennis this week. I put it on a NEXY Lissom that I am currently testing. Needly to say it wasn't a good idea. I
experienced few of the things other testers have noticed.

First, SSG3S comes in a nice big package, with the rubber glued, ready to play. The color of the sponge is red like Tenery (but more). The topsheet is grippy, light and somewhat soft compare to other Chinese.
After putting it on the Lissom it bounced like a Vega on the Korbel. The rubber is of good quality, light by Chnese standard as some mentioned. Even a 2.2mm (MAX) with a large cut didn't seem heavier
than usual.

I played with it just 10 minutes and couldn't deal with the curious lost of spin that the others noticed. I can't produce any power shots with this combo. I put in a lot of efforts but my opponent didn't feel it. It can be OK for blocking but hitting would be musy for this combo. That appalied to flips as well. I can't seem to have the feel to produce any spinny shot, even heavy pushes or serves. It is fast--I give it that. I think it's as fast or faster than Tenergy, definitely faster than Vega.

I will try to play this rubber on other blades and find one that works.