OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I'm just starting again, so my tentative plan is to get a basic table, and plenty of balls to use for multiball drills and a robot.

These 3 star balls are priced well, but are they really 3 star quality?

They appear to be celluloid, not plastic, which is fine with me.

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Butterfly French Style
2x Friendship 729 Super FX

That is extremely cheap. Never heard of the brand so I'm suspicious. You can get Gambler platinum balls for about 40 cents a ball and they're quite good.

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

I wouldn't buy balls of anyone unless I knew they were a reputable seller. Very easy to put a 3 star stamp on any rubbish.

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Donic Appelgren Allplay,FH Joola Rhyzm 425 2.0mm ,BH Donic Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm
Yasaka Extra, Haifu Whale, Haifu Shark
Sunflex Hurricane, Milky Way 955 LP OX , 729 802-40 2.0

Currently used by China nationals for daily multiball drills.

Gambler celluloid balls are best value for price I know of in the US.

DHS is good too but in the US the Gamblers are cheaper.

The brand the OP mentioned should not be used for the reason Cobalt mentioned.

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

The 3 star Gambler balls from Megaspin are $.58 each with shipping, and don't have that great of ratings.

The balls mentioned by Igorponger are new material 1 star balls, at $1.10 each.

Based on this information, I'm most attracted to try the 3 star balls mentioned in first message, at $.20 each.

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Butterfly French Style
2x Friendship 729 Super FX

Of course do what you feel like you need to do, but know that just because someone labels a ball with 3 stars doesn't make it true, especially when you buy from Chinese vendors literally nobody has ever heard of.

If you peruse this and other table tennis websites, you will find lots of concern about fake items made in China -- almost identical in appearance to original items, especially Butterfly blades and rubbers -- but often terrible in quality. It comes up at least once a month, someone will have bought something, then post a picture and ask the community at large, "is this fake?". There are also companies in China that "clone" other company's stuff but in general don't make it look identical and are pretty upfront about what they are doing. Many of those companies have a track record, and you can get good deals from them and receive material that is of high production quality. Best known example is Yinhe (used to be known as Galaxy).

I would not trust the balls at the front of the thread. This vendor is totally unknown (and I have played for decades, including many times in China). On the other hand, many of us have used Gambler balls (made in China for an American vendor) and know pretty much what they are. They are legitimately 3-star balls in quality. They are not the best balls in existence but they are good for training and when need balls in bulk.

With these others, you have no idea, and really no recourse if what they send you is bad. How can balls be bad? Deviation from roundness, fragile, inconsistent weight, bad or inconsistent bounce.

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

Baal,

Thanks for the warning.

Based on your message, I checked the ratings and they look pretty good.

I need to find a table next, to practice at home, and then will post my impression of the balls.

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Butterfly French Style
2x Friendship 729 Super FX

Well they might be ok and of course it depends a bit on how seriously you are planning to play. But no guarantees with unknown brands and as for the ebay ratings, you don't know who those are coming from. I think all they mean is you will get what you order and fairly quickly (which is not trivial), but they don't necessarily mean that the product is one that would pass muster for serious players.

There is a thread here for tables for home use. Try to find one with as thick a table top as you can afford.

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

Anyone can put 3 stars on balls they sell. The stars rating does not mean anything unless it is accompanied by a statement that they are "ITTF approved", and/or an ITTF logo.

I have not tried this particular brand, but other no-name, no-approval "3 star" balls, and they are nice toys, unfit for serious sport. The 1-star Double fish balls we currently use at the club are far better. (In a playing situation I would be hard pressed to tell the difference between a 1-star Double Fish and a 3-star from DF, Stiga or Butterfly).

You can get some 4 star balls here.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Champion-Sports ... 1279515435



They're even ITTA approved!

I concur with the double fish 1 star balls - I bought a hundred based on recommendations here, and I can't tell the difference between them and 3 star balls. Bought another hundred, now I'm set for a few years. Less than thirty bucks per hundred post paid on Aliexpress.

Iskandar

At Eacheng in China, the Yinhe *** balls (ITTF) are actually at US$4.99 for a box of 6. This is a very good price.

http://www.eacheng.net/index.php?act=detail&ID=3980