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Nittaku 40+ Premium balls
https://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=28152		 Page 1 of 5
Author:  haggisv [ 29 Jun 2015, 20:28 ]
Post subject:  Nittaku 40+ Premium balls
Has anyone tried these Nittaku 40+ Premium balls made in Japan (as opposed to the Nittaku SHA 40+ which are made in China)?
Author:  AndySmith [ 29 Jun 2015, 21:29 ]
Post subject:  Re: Nittaku 40+ Premium balls
My first box arrived at the weekend. Will be trying them out tonight.

They feel very uniformly hard all over, unlike the DHS balls. And the seam is very hard to see. One ball of the three does have a small horizontal dent along the seam though - not sure if that will actually make any difference.
Author:  AndySmith [ 30 Jun 2015, 18:33 ]
Post subject:  Re: Nittaku 40+ Premium balls
So, during a 3 hour session last night we had a lot of things going on. 9 tables and all sorts of balls.

For seamless, we had XSF, Yinhe, Kingnik 3*, and some of the juniors were using XSF 1* seamless too. On the top three tables we had the Nittaku Premium in use all night.

The NP is excellent - easily the best ball "available" at the moment (I have to use "available" in the loosest possible sense here). It has a hard feel in comparison, and is crisp on impact. Like all plastic balls it doesn't carry spin like cell, but the NP has the closest bounce to cell and doesn't skid low (like seamed chinese plastic) or hold up on the table and not carry to you (like the chinese seamless plastic). We didn't feel any change in ball characteristics as the night went on either (unlike the seamed chinese, which can get soft after a few hours).

IMO the NP is the real deal. The general ball behaviour is the closest to cell so far, so you need to make far fewer adjustments to the flight and bounce. Also the feel on contact is very definite, unlike some other plastics I've used where the feel is soggy and vague.

There are downsides. Cost and availability are two big ones. None of the three balls broke during the session, but it's early days for us. They did start to discolour though, and they aren't the bright white they were when new.

All of our better players wanted to use the NP, and several asked me to order a few boxes for them. I had to laugh, but it's important to have dreams, no? It does give us a problem of course - I doubt we could order enough of the NP to cover the club for a whole season, but now everyone wants to use them. It's almost a bipolar experience - wow, this ball is the answer - boo, can't get enough of them.
Author:  dunc [ 30 Jun 2015, 19:03 ]
Post subject:  Re: Nittaku 40+ Premium balls
Sounds positive Andy. Where did you buy them?

I heard early on that the Nittaku Premium was a brilliant ball. Glad someone has been able to ratify that.
Author:  AndySmith [ 30 Jun 2015, 19:16 ]
Post subject:  Re: Nittaku 40+ Premium balls
dunc wrote:
Sounds positive Andy. Where did you buy them?

I heard early on that the Nittaku Premium was a brilliant ball. Glad someone has been able to ratify that.


I got them from...deep breath...ttnpp.

However, they shipped almost immediately and I've been in touch with them this morning (their communication is much better these days). They say they have "plenty stock" of the NP+.
Author:  dunc [ 30 Jun 2015, 19:44 ]
Post subject:  Re: Nittaku 40+ Premium balls
Gonna get an order in I think.

Definitely legitimate Nittaku balls?
Author:  AndySmith [ 30 Jun 2015, 19:48 ]
Post subject:  Re: Nittaku 40+ Premium balls
dunc wrote:
Gonna get an order in I think.

Definitely legitimate Nittaku balls?


Yup. 100%.
Author:  dunc [ 30 Jun 2015, 20:12 ]
Post subject:  Re: Nittaku 40+ Premium balls
Ordered the Nittaku Premium and some Kinson balls :)
Author:  NextLevel [ 30 Jun 2015, 23:35 ]
Post subject:  Re: Nittaku 40+ Premium balls
The QC on the early NP 40+ wasn't perfect either and they still have a liability to crack (and they play surprising well even when they crack until they REALLY crack). But in general, they are durable. It's just whether you would prefer that or XSF given the price differential - $3 per ball is nothing to sniff at.

I got them last year because of the US Nationals and bought some for TTNPP recently.
Author:  AndySmith [ 30 Jun 2015, 23:45 ]
Post subject:  Re: Nittaku 40+ Premium balls
My one box of 3 balls is a long way from a reasonable sample size to make judgments. But man - it's a massive relief to find a ball with a more "natural" flight and bounce. We had a few very happy players last night.
Author:  vanjr [ 01 Jul 2015, 01:07 ]
Post subject:  Re: Nittaku 40+ Premium balls
We use yinhe seamless balls at our club. One player has a stash of NP 40+ and uses these balls only. (He also has a set of butterfly 40+ but has never used them except for serve practice). I think his set of NP 40+ are from the last US nationals-not a more recent batch. Anyway I prefer the yinhe.
Author:  Bijou [ 03 Aug 2015, 12:16 ]
Post subject:  Re: Nittaku 40+ Premium balls
Attachment:
Japan Plastic 5.jpg
Japan Plastic 5.jpg [ 60.37 KiB | Viewed 5271 times ]


Breaking news: Nittaku Premium 40+ is now available in Australia.

I highly suggest watching Australian online stores over the next few days for availability. : )
Author:  haggisv [ 03 Aug 2015, 12:54 ]
Post subject:  Re: Nittaku 40+ Premium balls
That's good news, although I'm bracing myself for the pricing. :( :lol:
Author:  AA [ 04 Aug 2015, 05:44 ]
Post subject:  Re: Nittaku 40+ Premium balls
they definitely are the most durable...but they really need extensive washing at first...feel all furry at first.. :^)
Author:  Baal [ 04 Aug 2015, 10:16 ]
Post subject:  Re: Nittaku 40+ Premium balls
I have had many of the seamless (started using them earlier than nearly anyone else, and promoted them as hard as I could through forums as some of you recall).

Through patience I have now acquired a pretty good stash of NP40+ so I can play with them pretty much whenever I want without hoarding. IN order to get a supply, I would order 3-10 boxes from pretty much anyone who has them -- as many as they would sell me each time -- and often have had to wait for months while they were back-ordered before they would ship. SO I have gotten some from Megaspin, TTNPP, TT11, and tt-japan. I have a lot of experience now with the NP40+ balls and also with seamless. For the last six weeks I have played mostly with NP40+

The NP40+ play more naturally (like cellluloid), and I prefer them from a pure playing perspective, but seamless are good too. The key to both is the roundness and the nice high bounce. It takes a bit of time for me to switch from one to the other, say an hour or so, before I feel comfortable. NP40+ just seem to fly a little faster and while they are lighter, they feel more solid, essentially as if they were a little smaller. Both are much much better than the earlier Chinese seamed balls. I need to check some of the more recent ones of those to see if the gap is narrowing.

I agree with the guy who says NP40+ takes a rinse or something. I have never seen such a dusty ball right out of the box! Very weird and different from seamless.

With extensive experience I can say definitively that on average the seamless is more durable, but NP40+ is not bad in that regard (although the surface discolors almost immediately). They break in very different ways, the seamless shatter on edges, whereas the NP40+ can develop a small crack that you hardly notice and seems to hardly have any effect on play for awhile.
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