Yinhe Big Dipper 5 Review: A Budget No-Boost Alternative to Hurricane 3 Neo with Some Tradeoffs

I'm currently testing the Donic BlueGrip series but since I had a period with a bit more play time than usual, I also managed to give the Yinhe Big Dipper 5 (unboosted of course) a good go. I was really looking forward to trying it because as a Hurricane 3 Neo fan myself, it's still quite a hassle to have to boost pretty often plus I had heard a couple good things about it. Not to mention that it usually costs 15-20 euros on Ali Express compared to the normal 35-40€ that I pay for the provincial Hurricanes.

So yeah, at that price point and without the need for boosting as Yinhe advertises themselves, it would be a no-brainer for many players (including myself) if it was able to do a similar job to the Hurricane 3 Neo.

And the verdict? After a bit more than one month of playing with it, I can say that it is a decent budget alternative but with some caveats: it is definitely not perfect and for some of the reasons that I will mention below, I will not continue playing with it, even though I enjoyed testing it but I think that for certain players it may be a good option to consider.

But anyways, enough intro for today, let's get into the real stuff and talk about the Yinhe Big Dipper 5 in depth!

Yinhe

Big Dipper 5

View ratings in the Rubber Database

The TL;DR

The technicalities

The Yinhe Big Dipper 5 comes in a pretty nice white package and weighs around 71-73 grams uncut depending on the sheet. Mine was around 50 grams cut to my DHS Fang Bo B2X, so it's definitely not a light rubber, but if you're already playing Chinese rubbers, this should not surprise you too much and it will actually be a bit lighter than your Hurricane 3 Neo boosted (mine are usually around 52-54g boosted)

The topsheet is similar to the Hurricane 3 Neo, it's very tacky fresh from the package, and it will stay quite tacky for the rest of the time if you clean it and protect it properly. Kudos to the Yinhe team here for including their own super cool protectors with it, I love those sheet covers!

The sponge is orange and hard, pretty similar to the Hurricane 3 Neo sponge, and I'd say that unboosted it feels a bit harder than the Hurricane 3 Neo one, but it can also just be my own feeling, I didn't use any equipment to measure it properly.

How I tested the Yinhe Big Dipper 5

I tested the 39 degree version both on my DHS Fang Bo B2X and on the DHS Wang Chuqin blade, and I even used it during our club championships where I got some very nice results with it (finished 4th in category C and lost a super tight match for 3rd place). So overall, I definitely gave this rubber a proper chance before writing this review.

Also worth mentioning that I used it exclusively on my forehand as the 39 version is too hard for my backhand taste (plus I've been testing other things on the backhand), and that overall, I ended up preferring it on the Wang Chuqin blade than on the Fang Bo B2X as the flex/softness of the Wang Chuqin blade made it have a better throw angle and trajectory, which is in my opinion the main flaw of this rubber (will tell you more about it in a second). I also tested it for one full session with my new Long 5 blade (review will come in a while) and I can also confirm that it works fine on it, similar to the Wang Chuqin blade, and better than on the Fang Bo B2X.

The Yinhe Big Dipper 5 in depth

Sponge & Topsheet Feeling

Every DHS fan out there knows that the real secret of the Hurricane rubbers is not in the topsheet but in the sponge. For me, it's always been about that feeling and the confidence the sponge gives you when it has been well boosted and your shot is correct. So this was naturally the main thing I wanted to test and feel first, and the result is that it is sadly not the same. It does get close to a certain extent but the feeling is more muted and the trajectory of the rubber overall makes it more of an all-or-nothing rubber than a jack-of-all-trades rubber like the Hurricane 3 Neo is (more on this in the upcoming sections)

So anyways, the first thing you will notice with the Big Dipper 5 is that the sponge is hard and compact, very much in the Hurricane 3 Neo territory, and it also plays just like that, hard and compact. I was expecting a slightly softer sponge that would be easier to activate as the rubber should already come with the booster effect built-in (a bit more hybrid and less hard), but what you really get is a pretty hard sponge that you still need to hit into to get good shots. Once you hit-brush into it, you realise that there is some booster effect in it, especially when it comes to the speed side of things.

The topsheet is also very similar to the Hurricane 3 Neo one, hard and tacky, and contrary to many other hybrids I have tried before, it does stay pretty much the same tacky as the first day if you protect it correctly. And for those of you wondering, it is for sure much tackier than a normal commercial Hurricane 3 Neo, certainly the ones nowadays where there is pretty much no tack to it.

Speed & Gears

A boosted rubber is usually characterised by an increase in speed and spin overall, and since the normal Hurricane 3 Neo (unboosted) is pretty dead and slow after the initial 1-2 play sessions, I wanted to see how the Big Dipper 5 would compare first in terms of speed while being unboosted.

Surprisingly, and in the beginning (later it calms down a bit), the Big Dipper 5 felt pretty bouncy and low-dwelly for a Chinese rubber. Definitely faster and with a lower dwell than an unboosted Hurricane 3 Neo, and during the first couple sessions, I even had the feeling that I was overshooting more than before. Later on, I would realise that this is not only a matter of speed, but also of throw angle and trajectory.

But regardless of that, you could say that the Big Dipper 5 is still faster than a non-boosted Hurricane 3 Neo, similar in speed to a Hurricane 3 Neo that was boosted a couple weeks ago, and slower than a freshly boosted sheet.

So overall, this means that close to the table there is plenty of power and speed when used correctly, and far from the table it still has enough catapult to finish points if you engage it properly, especially on carbon blades like my B2X and the Wang Chuqin.

And just like with a normal Hurricane 3 Neo, the rubber has many gears but a bit less than a normal Hurricane 3 Neo boosted, and this is just because I struggled a bit more on the short and touch game (also on short serves) due to the built-in bounce of the rubber and the lower dwell that it has.

So yeah, when it comes to the speed side of things, the conclusion is that the Big Dipper 5 does give you this feeling that it has been boosted and you will notice that the speed is higher than with a traditional hard and tacky chinese rubber (i.e. unboosted Loki Rxton 5).

Spin & Grip

Spin is of course one of the main advantages you get when playing with a tacky Chinese rubber and I wanted to see if the rubber could combine an increased amount of speed (plus lower dwell) with a good amount of spin (this was an issue in the Nittaku Hurricane 8-80, at least for me), and the conclusion is, that yeah, the spin is still very good, which I was happy for!

And when compared to the Hurricane 3 Neo, which is what you are all wondering about, I'd say it is similar, but a bit less when power looping and with opening shots. It's nothing to worry about as there is still plenty of spin, but I did want to mention that to me it feels like it's just a bit less than with a boosted Hurricane.

The reason for this may be many things, but perhaps one of them is that the Big Dipper 5 is slightly bouncier and more direct, so the ball stays a bit less on the rubber compared to the Hurricane 3 Neo. I also suspect that the topsheet and sponge quality are just a tiny bit lower compared to the provincial DHS sheets, but I don't have any evidence for this, just a feeling (price-wise would make sense as well).

Lastly, grip was also very strong but this was not really a surprise, as with the amount of tackiness that the topsheet has, it's less likely that you experience grip issues, so nothing to mention in this regard, just a strong grip like the normal Hurricanes, and you will only have issues if the humidity levels are high (like any other tacky rubber).

I will talk more about spin in the other sections, but overall, and as you can see, I was quite satisfied with the spin and grip that the Big Dipper 5 could produce for the cost it has, especially compared to the many other Chinese rubbers I've tried before and their price-value ratio (Battle 2, Rxton 5, Arthur China, etc).

Throw Angle

As satisfied as I am with the speed and spin of the Big Dipper 5, the throw angle and ball trajectory are where the main tradeoff comes, and for me one of the main reasons to still pay a bit more for a boosted Hurricane 3 Neo or some other rubbers (like Rakza Z if you like hybrids like me).

So what's the big deal you may be wondering? All Chinese rubbers are well known for their low throw angles (i.e. Battle 2) and flat trajectories?

Yes, with a big 'but': One of the main reasons why the Hurricane 3 Neo is such a popular rubber is because even though it has a tremendous amount of speed and spin when boosted, the throw angle is still very confidence-inducing, and most balls land on the table. It's not such a high throwing rubber like a Dignics 09c for example, but the arch is medium-high and the amount of spin it produces forces most balls on the table.

So with the Big Dipper 5, the main problem and tradeoff is that the speed increase is there, but the trajectory is still fairly flat (and lower) and the amount of spin it produces is slightly less so it does mean that you will land less balls on the table. This then means that you end up playing more aggressively and forward, putting more risk into the shots to compensate for the trajectory and add that extra spin that you get when you hit-brush into the sponge.

In many ways it felt like the game you need to play if you use the unboosted blue sponge of the Hurricane 3 Neo or if you use something like a Battle 2 provincial blue (notorious for its low throw), so it's not that bad, but it means you are taking more risks (especially against heavy backspin), and when games get tight/tense, you may get a couple points less than you'd get with the Hurricane 3 Neo, and that can mean that you win or lose the game.

I could go into more details here but overall this is the main problem this rubber has, and the main reason why I will not keep it on my blade anymore. However, we must not forget that for a rubber that costs 15-20€, there must always be a catch, it just cannot play like a premium rubber. So if budget (and not boosting) is an important factor for you, you are still getting a ton of value for half of the price, and if anything, you will be forced to play better ;)

Drives & Loops

Driving and looping with the Big Dipper 5 is pretty good, taking into account the trajectory drawback I mentioned above, but that aside, drives are clean and strong, and you get a good amount of feeling in your hand (especially when using soft and flexy feeling blades like the Wang Chuqin).

Opening loops against backspin are easy given how much grip and spin the rubber has, but they are not as forgiving as with the Hurricane 3 Neo in my own experience, but definitely easier than with any other traditional Chinese rubber like the Loki Rxton 5 (unboosted).

Normal topspin rallies are also pretty stable and the speed-spin balance feels good from both close to the table and far from the table. And this again feels better with the Wang Chuqin and the Long 5 than with the Fang Bo B2X.

The feeling is similar to the Hurricane 3 Neo overall, just with a bit less spin and a bit more directness. And as with the normal Hurricanes, this is a rubber that very much rewards proper body engagement and acceleration. If you hit-brush into it, you can get a much safer and powerful shot, as the amount of spin increases and the trajectory becomes more stable.

Lastly, counterloops are where I noticed the biggest difference compared to H3N. Since the trajectory is naturally flatter and the dwell time is a bit lower, I needed to adjust (read: close) my racket angle more carefully during counterloop exchanges. Once adjusted, it was still very good, but definitely not quite as safe and spinny as my boosted Hurricane setup.

Serves

Serves are very good with the Big Dipper 5 and there is plenty of spin because of the tacky topsheet and the relatively dead lower gears. I could still easily make direct serve points and it did not feel significantly different than the Hurricane 3 Neo during long serves. Perhaps a bit less spin, but not something that will give you 50% less serve points or so.

On the short serves, I struggled a bit more, that's just the reality of it. It was harder to keep the ball lower and shorter, and there I did miss my boosted Hurricane a bit more. I'd place the short serve game more towards a pure hybrid than a Chinese hybrid. I'd say the behaviour was a bit worse than a Rakza Z on my B2X, but this will very much depend on the blade as well, so you will have to experience it yourself to see how it feels!

One last note here, I did enjoy both long and dead and long and kick serves a lot, the opponents had a fair amount of trouble there in the beginning, so that was nice.

Pushes

Pushes were very good overall and pretty similar to the Hurricane 3 Neo. The rubber is slightly bouncier than Hurricane 3 Neo, but only by a little bit, so short pushes and dead pushes are still easy to drop right behind the net.

Aggressive long pushes also worked nicely and the tacky topsheet allows you to put plenty of quality and variation into the ball, so in this regard, again no real difference with the Hurricane 3 Neo unless you have a very high level, maybe then you miss a tiny bit of spin on aggressive backspin pushes.

As I mentioned before with the dead serves, I also particularly enjoyed the passive dead pushes with the Big Dipper 5, the opponent would sometimes return the ball a bit higher or over the table thinking that there would be more spin than there really was, so a nice plus point on that!

Flicks

I only tested this rubber on the forehand, not on the backhand, so keep that in mind here.

Forehand flicks were decent but definitely not the easiest shot with the Big Dipper 5. You still need to be confident and commit to the flick properly, otherwise the ball tends to fly long if the racket angle is too open. This is by the way, a very normal thing with flatter trajectory Chinese rubbers, so I was not too surprised there. I'd say it's still better than the Loki Rxton 5 but more difficult than say, Rakza Z.

So yeah, the rubber definitely prefers a thinner contact (as opposed to a thicker contact when looping) during forehand flicks and once I adjusted to that, the quality was pretty good. Still though, this is not one of those rubbers that automatically makes flicking easy.

Blocks

Blocking was actually excellent and very similar to Hurricane 3 Neo, so that is definitely a plus point for the control side of things. I remember one of the high level players of our club saying how easy and rewarding it was to block with it (on the Wang Chuqin blade) as opposed to his Outerforce ALC + Tenergy 05.

So overall, passive blocks were very satisfying and one of my favourite shots with this rubber during matches. You can absorb the opponent's power very easily and return these annoying dead passive blocks that are difficult to attack again.

Active blocks and mini counters were also very stable due to the direct feeling of the rubber. Overall, I'd say that blocking is definitely a strong area with the Big Dipper 5.

Flat hits and counterhits

I thought that flat hits would be slightly better than with the boosted Hurricane 3 Neo but this was actually not the case, I overshot a bit more and had less confidence on those shots, so that's something to note here when comparing both rubbers.

In any case, and at the end of the day, this still is a hard and tacky Chinese rubber with a hybrid touch, and those are not really designed for pure flat hitting. So if you enjoy that kind of game, I'd look somewhere else for a more comfortable ESN rubber, that will give you better quality and feeling on those shots. Or a hybrid, I think the Donic BlueGrip S1 or the Andro NUZN 48 are much better in this regard.

Boosting

I have mixed feelings in this category, I'm not gonna lie to you.

On the one hand, I did not want to boost the rubber because that is the whole point of the Big Dipper 5, a rubber that gets as close as possible to the Hurricane 3 Neo, but without the need for boosting and for half of the price.

On the other hand, I can imagine that some of you will still want to boost it slightly to soften the sponge and increase the amount of spin plus improve the trajectory (perhaps also the speed), but remember that you will likely not need this unless you are a high intermediate. And even then, I would personally still prefer a boosted Hurricane, the feeling of that is really hard to replicate.

But if you do boost it and try it out, let me know! I may boost mine in some weeks and see how it fares.

Price & Durability

The price of the Big Dipper 5, wow, that is where it becomes a tough contender.

I bought mine for around 15€ on AliExpress during a special promotion (we all know there is always a campaign going on), while the normal price is usually around 25-30€. For that amount of money, the performance is just crazy good, there is no other 15 euro rubber that I have tried that plays like this unboosted. Maybe there are some, but even then, for 15€ it is incredibly good!

Durability also seems pretty strong so far. The tackiness has barely faded after one and a half months, and the rubber still plays very similarly to day one, just a bit less explosive than before. I expect I can easily get 4-5 months of very good performance out of it, especially if you cover and clean it properly after each session.

So in summary, for the price you pay, this rubber is an absolute steal in my opinion.

So who is this rubber for?

I'd say the Yinhe Big Dipper 5 is a fantastic option if:

1. You love Hurricane 3 Neo but hate boosting constantly.

2. You want a cheaper Chinese forehand rubber with a boosted feeling already built in.

3. You don't mind the trajectory tradeoff.

And who may not enjoy it?

If you are not into hard and tacky Chinese rubbers overall, this rubber will not change your mind. It still feels dead and demanding compared to your average ESN hybrids and tensors.

Likewise, if you are searching for the maximum possible spin and arc on loops, a good boosted Hurricane 3 Neo still remains king in my opinion. Big Dipper 5 gets close, but it is not fully there.

Final thoughts

After a bit more than one month of testing with the Yinhe Big Dipper 5, I get that there is a certain interest in the community around it.

No, it is not the perfect Hurricane 3 Neo replacement. The spin is slightly lower, the trajectory is flatter and the feeling is a bit more direct and bouncy. But at the same time, it gets pretty close to the boosted Hurricane experience while being significantly cheaper and requiring basically no maintenance. And again, for 15-30€, that's pretty impressive.

So yeah, will it fully replace my boosted Hurricanes long term? No, I don't think so.

But what I can say for certain is that the Big Dipper 5 is one of the best value Chinese rubbers I have tested recently, and definitely a rubber that I can recommend for those of you looking for a cheaper, non-boost Hurricane experience.

That was my review of the Yinhe Big Dipper 5, until my next review, and see you at the table!