OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi Everyone,
I have just suffered a broken blade and am pondering over whether to try Spinpips Red on the forehand of my TSP blade with Grass DTecS 0.6 on the backhand.

How long will I need to start driving and blocking consistently with the short pip?

Bulldog

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Tibhar Stratus Power Defense
Tibhar Evolution ELP
Tibhar Grass DTecS Ox

Nathanso

you have tried a lot of short pips recently! Would you still say the spinpips red is the spinninest for you?

Over the weekend I went into a tournament, playing three events. I've been mostly using Waran for the past month or so, but I had a sheet of the Spinpips Red, 2.1 sponge, as a backup.
Early in the tournament, my forehand was still a bit inconsistent with the Waran. Coming from playing inverted, I knew that I would struggle at times as I learn the short pips strokes, and I've only been doing it for a couple of months now, so being inconsistent was no surprise. I had some nice blocks with the Waran, and my attacks were ok, but nothing I had a lot of confidence in. I was really struggling with low balls and hitting them hard enough to be consistent and not get easily countered.
For my last event I switched to the blade with the Spinpips Red. I only had a couple of hits with it, so I was taking a bit of my risk. In my third match with it, I had my best match of the day. I felt more comfortable hitting low balls hard, and I could tell I was getting a lot more spin. Coming from inverted recently, I'm guessing it was the increased spin capabilities of this rubber that were giving me the confidence to play more effectively with it. I think I will continue to test short pips that are a little more spinny than Waran. Spinpips Red will be one, and I have a Firestorm Soft on the way.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

No, I think Victas VO 102 is spinnier than Spinpips RED. JOOLA Express Ultra might also be spinnier than Spinpips RED. But neither of those two have the control or insensitivity to incoming spin that Spinpips RED has.

nathanso, I think you've tried the DMS Firestorm in the past, how would you rate that compared to Spinpips Red? I have a sheet of the Firestorm Soft coming to try. With the tournament in my rear view mirror, I might put aside Waran for a little while and continue to experiment with more spinny short pips.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

I have tried the Firestorm (regular, not soft) and even posted a brief review of it on this site. But I've temporarily lost track of that sheet of rubber, and it seems I neglected to add its stats to the Rubber Mass Database.. pity.

From what I remember, it's rather different than the other SPs in my current test batch. Compared to them, it:
Has smooth-tipped pips; not hashed.
Has large, densely-spaced conical pips that appear to be somewhat shorter than other SPs.
Plays harder and flatter than other SPs.
Was quite fast and good at blocking.
Made a slap sound; not the click sound that I prefer.

I found it difficult to get the ball to arc over the net using Firestorm. When I did get it over, opponents had no problems returning the ball so the difficulty for me was not paying off in any way. I put this one down fairly quickly, as I recall.

Of course, these properties are altogether different than TSP Spinpips RED which is softer, spinier, with higher arc. The TSP pip seems to be the "raw" style of rubber while the DMS pip appears to be shinier/more synthetic, if that's indeed the opposite of raw. In short these two SPs have little in common.

My sheet of Firestorm Soft came today. You weren't kidding about how densely packed the pips are. Don't know that I've ever seen another rubber like that. It's going to be interesting to compare this to the Waran and to the Spinpips Red for me. Should get a chance to maybe try them out over the next couple of days. Have a blade put together that has Firestorm Soft on one side and the new Dr Neubauer Explosion on another side.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

Should be a really useful comparison. Please let us know how the weights vary - Dr Neubauer pips out rubbers are usually very heavy.

I'll be using it tonight, but I can comment on the weight of the Explosion. I got it in 1.5 mm sponge and it feels heavier than other short pips that I have in 2.0 mm. I will say that it does feel a little lighter to me than Aggressor or KO Pro. The only Dr Neubauer short or medium pip that I've used that I would say felt lighter was the Pistol 2. Tonight is mostly a practice session with a long pips blocker, so I will get a good feel of its attacking capabilities. Tomorrow night I'll be playing more of a mix of players in matches, so I'll get even more of a feel it then. So I don't hijack this thread, I'll start a new one related to that.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

i just wanted to thank nathanso for his reviews! i took the leap and switched from inverted to short pips (but on both sides) i bought spinpips red max for fh and bh i might need to get the 1.8 for bh but it's fine for now. i feel like i have so much more control and i feel that this a good rubber for anyone that's using inverted and wants to try out short pips. i can still topspin when needed or take pace off the ball and bring the opponent closer to the table where they have to pop the ball up and i can smack it for the win!

tldr - thank you nathanso!