OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I have been using XSF three stars, and I like the way they play compared with other poly balls by along chalk.

Based on that

I decided to take a flyer and go to the source (Shanghi Minkow Ltd) of the current crop of seamless balls, including the XSF 3 stars. Minkow sells their own house brand of ITTF approved balls, Kingnik three star balls. When I contacted the company about the quality of their "house balls," they assured me that their 3 stars were an equal to any seamless product sold.

My encounters with the staff at Minkow:

The folks at Minkow were universally helpful and pleasant and they were as good as their word at all points. I ordered on 4/21 and the balls arrived at my door 4/29. They sell three different size packages of balls, ranging in quantity from about five hundred to about a two thousand. I elected to go in at the shallow end of the pool with the smallest package. The price for the balls is excellent when compared with others currently available. When the price, with shipping is caluculated they come in under the best price I could find on the XSF club balls.

I already have the bulk of the first order spoken-for. The balls come packaged six to the box and I randomly picked 2 dozen balls for testing. They spin as true as any of the XSF three stars. I will take some to the club tomorrow for players to try, but in the robot I put them in with my XSF Three stars and in about forty-five minutes of play I had no outliers except for a couple of XSF club balls that I failed to remove when I went to the Three stars in the robot.

I will try to add to this after the session at the club.

We have yet to break any of the XSF 3 stars in practice or match play and I hope the Kingnik Three stars will be as long lived.

My one complaint, thus far, is the same as I have with the XSF balls, I wish the logo was bigger and multi coloured.

tOD

Very good information, thanks theOldDuffer!

This does make me wonder what the relations are between XSF and Shanghi Minkow Does one make balls for another, or are they independent?

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CLEVER BOYS...

Yes, Minkow Sport proved a trusty supplier.
The best ever bargain from them, the most agreeable price on market, DOUBLE CIRCLE Celluloid 40mm, we enjoy this ball best of all, great acquisition for multiball practise, everyway,.
0.06 US$ per one.
The rigid carton of 144 pcs, reasonable postal cost by China Post Airmail.
---------
Clever boys will always obtain balls on wholesales from factory source., yes.

PS// Minkow did claim the DC is the ball of choice with many sport centers all over China. Great ball for the multiball, indeed.

They seem to be the source of Double Circle and Shield balls. Shield and Champion were the most common "drugstore balls" sold around here, Double Circle are far less common (I think I've seen only one or two over the years). I'm tempted to get some - 6 cents is 1/4 of the old cost of the Double Fish 1 stars I like so much, a box of 144 will only come to a little less than $9. Even of the shipping is the same as the balls that'll mean they're 1/2 the price of the Double Fish. Which, by the way, has gone up in price to $70 per hundred!!! I haven't actually played with any of the Shield balls I had, I used them to entertain the cats.

I wonder if they'd ship samples (or small quantities) of their 38mm balls and Kingnik balls with the Shields if I ask for some.

http://www.minkow.com.cn/Table-tennis-series?_l=en

They are supposed to be the OEM for DHS, Joola, Stiga, Tibhar and Donic:

http://www.minkow.com.cn/?_l=en

Which means you've probably already been playing with Minkow balls for a long time.

Iskandar

Great day at the club, practice day today using half a gross of Kingnik in the hopper. All played as well as the XSF Three Stars, we will give the Kingnik *** a go again tomorrow during our weekly round robin. The club owner elected to purchase a gross for practice and competition play.

Considering the state of Poly ball development, I think most players would find them a great addition to others currently available.

tOD

Things went well with the KingNik *** seamless 40+ today.
tOD

I emailed them, they said the Double Circle balls were 15 cents (USD 0.15) each. Hmmmm... How many did you buy to get that price?

Iskandar