OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Actually I tried a very old worn out Butterfly Tacky C soft (along those lines) . Now that was quite allright for looping. Felt and played better than Bryce for me but then again I am far from high level player. I've played people using Bryce who play some ripping shots...

Butterfly Tacky Soft...whack that in. Actually you might like that going by your description on soft looping rubber...

It wasn't wild like Bryce can be... had control and feel as you kinda get from Chinese rubbers but also had a real Butterfly/Jap feel to it... Very spinny loops and loop drives...

Mind you it was well worn and old. If it had more of that fresh new feel and tack, would be much nicer I imagine...

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Cuts hard, but not short and not down. I'm a cut above that, and not a cut out. I cut back, and am fully cut UP! I am cutting sensational.

Quality post Atomica...I've not tried the specific rubbers you mentioned but have tried several around them. eg Andro Revolution C.O.R. Supersponge, Tibhar Torpedo Soft and Nimbus Soft, Stiga Neos Tacky, Joola Tango Extreme. In fact the only thing I've never tried is Donic brand rubbers though I’ve been impressed with the spin and speed playing against some of them. Ahh...so many rubbers tried and so many yet to try. I have ordered my first Donic blade…the Persson Dotec OFF to try out the specifically handed (left-handed in my case) handle design.

I really have to stop this table tennis spending spree…including related costs such as clothing/equipment, tournament fees, coaching fees, training fees, pennant fees, myotherapist fees it's adding up to $9,000 per year. And that doesn't include big ticket items like $4,000 for a two training stint in Germany, $800 for Queensland tournament later this month, 2K-3K for Sri Lanka in October, $2500 Video Cam-corder, a faulty $3,400 Amicus 3000 Plus table tennis robot. Ouch…time to stop counting. The cost is getting scary and I don’t even own a table! Who would have thought you could spend so much on table tennis? There’s a new thread idea…”How much do you spend on table tennis per year?”
For some with a home table and 10 year old bat it may only be a few bucks for replacement table tennis balls.

Damn you asr1990...though hopefully in a good way.
You just cost me two and a half thousand dollars!
All that talk about video was the straw that broke the camels back. I walked into a Sony store today and brought a high end camcorder (tripod coming tomorrow). The next step is to force myself to use it, and after that...watch it and analyse.

Leeroy, I just threw out two well-worn sheets of RITC 729 FX Super Soft. It's not a bad rubber as is 729 Geospin Tacky but I've moved on from them now.

Tried someone else's Butterfly Cermet tonight. It has fairly soft sponge and I have to admit it wasn't bad. Again though the control of Tibhar Nimbus Soft was better. The other player agreed.
I also picked up a sheet of original Tibhar Nimbus to confirm for certain that the soft version is best.

In terms of the above rubbers, the Gaillardo Sound has a softer top sheet than the Torpedo Soft, Tango Extreme and the Stiga Neos, it's one of the softest rubbers (sponge and top sheet) that I have ever used. The Neos sound has a slightly stiffer top sheet, as stiga rubbers tend to have.

Both these rubbers and the others I listed would be far softer than the ones you listed above. Tango, Tango Metallic and Tango Extreme all felt like medium sponge rubbers when I tried them, compared to the softer ones, with the Torpedo Soft feeling slightly better but still not *soft* soft. However I never tried Topedo Soft when it was glued up, just stock.

And I agree about how much table tennis costs. It's too hard to just find some rubber and stick with that when there's such a temptation to find a rubber or a blade that provides that extra feel or kick you're been missing. People will say that it's not the equipment, it's the technique that wins you games/matches, but there's something about using rubber that you really like that gives you that feeling of being able to pull off 'any' shot, and more confidence to go for you winners and pull them off. And along with all the other associated costs, I guess that's part of tt. I am just getting back into competitive play again after 4 years out and I know the travel and tournament costs are going to be a bit of a kick in the pants, but it's better than playing the same old people all the time at my club.

Oh, and I would consider Cermet having a medium sponge, nowhere near soft haha. I tried it expecting it to be soft but it felt quite dull and didn't seem to have much feeling/response.

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** Never play leapfrog with a Unicorn **

BH: Inspirit Quattro 39deg
FH: Inspirit Quattro 42deg
Blade: Andro Supercore Off- / Gambler Black Diamond Balsa Texalium Off+

I guess there would be no room for experimenting? I've found that superpriming could soften some rubbers up quite a bit.

My only contribution would be Butterfly Tackifire Special Soft. Almana Soft seems to be medium or medium-soft -- but you want mushy soft, right?

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Viscaria. H2 Neo 2.15. Tenergy 05 1.9.

try Desto F2 - is fragile, but very elastic and spinny . Not mushy !

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Xiom Strato , St
FH: DHS H3 prov, max
BH: Butterfly Tenergy 05FX, max

Thanks Vali...Destro F2 sounds interesting but fragile rubber is why I left my last "favourite". The topsheet on Andro Revolution C.O.R. series of rubbers has the worst durability of 30+ rubbers I've tried. After the first week the topsheet surface looks old and worn looking. After several more weeks it has chipped badly around the edges and developed tears that work their way inwards towards the centre. The sponge meanwhile remains good as new. This happened time and again but I actually thank Andro for this problem as it led me to my new favourite...Tibhar Nimbus Soft!

I'm not tempted to buy Donic rubbers at the moment but I'll seriously consider them once Haggisv gets some in stock. The next rubber to rouse interest is actually LKT Torrent.

Tonight I retested Juic 999 Elite Ultima (I had to give it a second chance) and Tibhar Nimbus (original version) against Tibhar Nimbus Soft and their is no comparison. Tibhar Nimbus Soft has so much better feeling and control and is not that much slower. In fact, non-speed glued Tibhar Nimbus Soft actually looked and felt at least as fast, if not faster, than glued up Tibhar Nimbus!!!?

Marketing ratings on packet:
Tibhar Nimbus Speed 104 Control 93 Spin 99
Tibhar Nimbus Soft Speed 100 Control 95 Spin 99
I expected them to be very similar but in fact they play like totally different animals.

It's really helpful that nothing is comparing to Tibhar Nimbus Soft...if the next few test rubbers don't excite then the search is over (coaches rejoice). I need to focus less on equipment and more on technique.

It was great to have someone use my bat against me...I was pleasantly surprised at how much more spin my training partner generated on forehand loops with my bat compared to his Butterfly Cermet bat. His increase in control was also noticeable.

Note that everything is tested on the Juic Air Texa (Off+ 1cm thick balsa blade). Thumbs up to oneofakindtrading for selling this blade.
A soft blade coupled with soft sponge rubber is not normally recommended but when using correct technique I have no trouble forehand looping the ball past opponents with sufficient speed and copious amounts of spin. Now if I could just backhand loop...ah well the backhand punch will have to do...for now

When I say is fragile it's not so dramatic. The problem is on the edges if you hit the table with it. If you cover the blade and the rubber's margins with some tape it is not a problem. However the next rubber (nontacky) that I will buy it must definitely be Desto F2 !

And I had BTY Cermet too. With both unglued Donic wins .

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Xiom Strato , St
FH: DHS H3 prov, max
BH: Butterfly Tenergy 05FX, max