OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Well, recently i had our 1st night using a polyball with my mate and i using a Kingnik! Feb2015!!!
( I just realised that says King & King backwards!!! )

Looks like rubber changes for both of us!!
Grippy softer rubbers seem to be the order of the day and a change of style to come through the ball instead of brush stroking, this will require a lot of work after 15+ years with tacky!!

Anyone else have similar problems???

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Tried the same ball last week,felt heavy ,slow and didn`t spin very well,upgrding from fx to normal 05,may go with a faster blade

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Tsp Black Balsa 3.0 Tenergy 05 1.9 388d ox black

Don't make any equipment changes at all for a couple of weeks. You will get used to it.

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Butterfly Viscaria Black tag
2.2 mm Nexy Karis M on FH and BH

I understand your sentiments Baal, but i had tried, previously, for 4 sessions the N40+SHA with the same observation, i think those using tenergy type rubbers only have to get used to the ball, tacky for me just does not work brushing the new poly balls!!
This did surprise me lots!!!
Approx 6 weeks to start of the new season, i can't afford to waste time!
My teamy is also adept at assessing suitable rubbers equipment!!

By the end of our session, yes we were getting used to the ball, but only by compromising using different strokes.
Serving (a strength for us both) was way off the mark.

I have been an EJ for years, less so in recent times, i can very quickly make accurate assessments about what works or suits my style and others (when helping out), this, i can see is an obvious ITTF money-making ploy in bringing in this ball.

I look forward to hearing from any other Tacky users.

I should've entitled the thread "Tacky is dead with the Poly Ball!"

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I use tacky rubbers, but don't play much with the seamless balls (because our associations have decided to go with seamed balls). With the seamed balls the rubbers work just fine, with only a little adjustment required the first few times. I find the seamless certainly less spinny, but I'm not sure if a different rubber will fix this.

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To be frank, I can't tell the difference. I have three different N11 blades, with different rubbers on them, both tacky and not, and usually I just grab whichever one strikes my fancy on a particular day. They all play about the same. And yes, I do tend to brush loop a lot, particularly against backspin. Balls? Usually celluloid but we've used XSF and Kingnik balls a few times.

Then again we aren't even 1500 level players.

Iskandar

I am still with tacky rubber (729 battle II) and it is fine. I like how it serves and blocks. I do not feel like I have to go non-tacky yet. You do need to stroke the ball cleanly and no hesitant strokes however.

Hi RB! I don't use tacky rubber, but my club switches from celluloid to plastic and back on a whim of what they have available to use on any given day it seems. And to be quite honest, I barely notice a difference between plastic and celluloid these days. However, I do know players who complain about using the plastic ball and say it upsets their timing. I think most the ones who complain tend to be loopers...so I guess that says something.

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I'm not a tacky rubber user but did for fun use a skyline 2 neo on the FH but stopped using it do to lack of consistency.

If you're not having any success with your current tacky setup you could try a sheet of Evolution MX-S.
This is super grippy and with a harder sponge on harder hits it compensates for the slower plastic ball.
I have MX-S on a XVE and anyone who uses it is amazed at the difference. I stopped using it because when I was using a seamed Joola poly ball in competition I had difficulties in counter rallies possibly because the super grip of the top sheet was causing a different set of problems. This may not be the case with the seamless XSF ball but once you lose confidence in a rubber you don't go back.
The Omega V Tour has probably be the best of the plastic sensitive rubbers to-date but then I've been using the XSF ball extensively since the end of June. I haven't tried the new Hurricane 8 rubber but that was supposedly brought out for the new ball. I do occasionally go back to using a T05 and this still plays really well and surprised how soft it feels now after developing a stronger stroke. Maybe that's possibly an upside of the introduction of the poly ball.

You are just too used to catapult, that's all. MX-S lacks it so you can't counterloop off the table and let the rubber do the work.

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One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

I would also recommend Big Dipper as a plastic ball alternative or 729 Battle 2. Softer sponges for a more Euro feel, harder for more Chinese. QC was an issue for the softer Big Dipper sponges.

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Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

Do you mean - make a positive contact and engage the sponge a little possibly?

I found my usual contact meant the ball sliding off the blade in play and on serve, ball going under the table fairly often, no margin of error on contact!
Seen it happen to others of all rubber types too!

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Hi Reb hope you are well and playing good,

yes my core stroke is the loop so timing and contact are so vulnerable with the new balls!

I guess you adjust between balls NOW, but there IS a massive difference in the ball bounce imho!!!

You got dem new, softer sponge "tenergy type "expensive rubbers, i have been trialling them and will post soon, suffice to say
i think they are easier to use with the new balls, less margin of error n all that!!!

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Thanks to all who have posted supportive replies, i'm glad to see that tacky still seems ok for you guys, Alex, Baal n Vanjr,
i will keep trying n see where we go for a few more sessions and continue to evaluate!

Suffice to say, these new balls are a step back in skill sets as our 1st session was pathetic and more akin to church hall ping pong!!!!

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Interesting thread.

My first impression with tacky/plastic wasn't great either. I find that using tacky rubbers takes a lot more physical effort than eurojap, but the rewards are a very spinny, low-after-the-bounce ball. I would force a lot of errors by simply outspinning the opponent. With plastic I found that the spin was reduced significantly, so the whole full-arm swing/body rotation/high commitment tacky stroke was quite a bit worse in terms of risk/reward.

Then I tried Hurricane 8, which had a softer topsheet, less tack, bit more elasticity from the sponge. The tack still helped to avoid ball slip on contact (a big issue for my brushy stroke with the new balls and older eurojap rubbers), and although pure brush loops were still less effective, it was much better in all other departments than H3N (for example) - regular drives, blocking, hitting. For my plastic game I prefer a slightly less focussed tacky rubber - H8 is definitely a better bet for me, but (as already mentioned) Big Dipper 38 was also working very well for me (until I couldn't guarantee getting an actual 38 degree sheet any more).

I think plastic requires more of a rethink in terms of game style rather than equipment, but that might lead you to select different equipment to suit. Those all-in 3rd ball attacks will come back more often now and leave you scrambling, and I tend to find that my general rallying ability with plastic is better without traditional tacky stuff. Other players at my club have stuck with their H3 Provincial but are now lightly boosting to add flexibility.