OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Just a quick comment on these as promised...

those of you who have followed my meandering gear-path will have noticed I keep going back to the Joo, loving it, then going off looking for something that loops better. Now with two pips on the blade, the Joo is coming into its own. The control I have with Insider was really good. By control I don't mean the ability to get the ball back on the table, but the ability to put the ball long, short, right by the net etc etc. Reversal is good but not quite in the cayman class, but folk who I play against regularly all said their life was made much harder by the ability to shunt the ball around and to drop hard loop attack short.

The diamant is classed as a medium pip. It has thinner pips than the leopard with a tad less grip and a deader sponge. I have it in 1.5mm which gives me control and enough pace to attack. Hitting with leopard gave a no spin ball, hitting with diamant gave a VERY dead ball or a slight backspin depending how hard I hit. Blocks with diamant are very dangerous, as you can block slight top, no spin, or back spin. Both pips are spinny enough to play a classic inverted top spin against back spin stokes. The leopard is better at this as less effort is needed. with Diamant you positioning needs to be spot on and you really need to use you legs. I'm much more comfortable hitting the ball with the bat open. Both pips also are spinny enough to serve with and generate popups with misread serves.
I'm sticking with the Diamant. It is harder to control, but I think it will be more dangerous in time. I've taken a level hit swapping to sp but I'm really enjoying it and see it could work for me in time. I've given myself 2 months. One bad consequence is my normal training partners. who love training against LP, hate the diamant, as they are having to think hard against both forehand and backhand rubbers.

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Yasaka Dynamix 17
Tibhar Q 50
Butterfly Raystorm

Hi julian

Are you still playing the diamant?

Last week i played for two hours with the diamant 1,2 mm. An interresting rubber. Of all the pips i've tried this one is the hardest to get control of. But in a way i like it. I think it has to do with the sponge. You can really take the pace out of the ball when blocking which i like in a pimple rubber. And if you hit hard the ball really goes fast.

I think it's faster than the 1,5 mm armstrong i'm playing right now. With the armstrong i'm able to produce a good backspin ball defending.

Like you said before i also have trouble adjusting the block. Balls tend to go into the net passive blocking. Rolling is great although i tend to hit to hard and go for the kill.

I'll give it another try next week. If it doesn't work i can try the kokutaku 110 which i also ordered.

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brokkie