OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Here in Sweden most clubs uses Stiga plastic with seam. It works ok, the new version is much more durable than the first ones. Balls behave like they should more or less (no sudden moves to another direction like before) and they carry spin rather good. I have heard that the same goes for many other new versions of seamed plastic balls. Thos has led to that almost no one here uses seamless anymore.
Nittaku Premium feels more like a seamless ball, it carries very little spin and is heavy (like a canon ball). I don't like it but I guess all-out-offensive players would like it... just hit as hard as you can all the time never caring about spin It is an expensive ball but not much more expensive than others.

_________________
Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack | Getting better - health and game |
My Youtube

I find an interesting article about the balls from Internet for reference:

http://www.experttabletennis.com/best-t ... nis-balls/

It says there are only 4 manufacturers for the new balls, all different brands' balls are from these four manufacturers: DHS, Double fish, Xushaofa, Nittaku Premium.

To me, I just think the old balls are better and cheaper.

The seamless new ball is too expensive! Ridiculous!

_________________
The Buddha said: “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly,...” And to play table tennis.

天下武功 ，無堅不摧 ，唯快不破。

That article is old Pingpong Buddha...things have changed a little as described in this thread.

I think everyone agrees that the old balls were better and cheaper for sure!

Def-attack: The Stiga ones may be made by DHS as well, as I've had similar findings with these balls.

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Weeeeeell....

You can get XSF seamless for just over $1 a ball, and although you can have bad luck with breakages (edge hits mainly) they last a long time. Compares well with the old cell ball.

Nittaku Premium and Butterfly G40+ are too expensive for sure, but play well.

Seamed chinese balls are grim in comparison with the others IMO. Yuk.

Couldn't resist. Went and got Yinhe and Nittaku this afternoon. Got the xushaofa on order, should be here by the end of the week.

_________________
instagram: rokphishtt

The new versions of seamed chinese balls works just fine, even compared to others. Just make sure you try new ones, not older than summer 2015 or so.

_________________
Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack | Getting better - health and game |
My Youtube

How could you tell?

_________________
instagram: rokphishtt

It is of course how I have found them to be, but also what many other players in Sweden have said about them. The first DHS seamed balls (autumn 2014) were horrible and we ignored them for the first part of 2015, using seamless balls instead. But after summer 2015 we gave Stiga a new try since we heard that this ball was to be used in many team matches and competitions. And it proved to be a much better ball than their first version. I haven't tried the new Donic or Yasaka but I have heard that those ones also are a lot better than in early 2015.

_________________
Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack | Getting better - health and game |
My Youtube

I meant how could you tell when buying whether you're getting older or newer balls.

_________________
instagram: rokphishtt

The video at around 6 minutes shows the stamp of manufacture date all balls get.

I honestly don't see why it would be difficult to get the NP40+ balls (made in Japan). All of the USA major distributors have them and I see lots of other web sites outside the USA with them too. I know they aren't that cheap - but neither were the highest quality celluloid balls.

Right now, being perfectly honest, if you do not buy NP40+ or the XSF seamless you are throwing your money away. The rest are junk.

Yeah, this is a problem. You have the date code on the box, but it adds another little bit of messiness when ordering online. I wouldn't ask ttnpp (for example) to only send specific date codes and expect them to be bothered.

I've tried to stop worrying about it for now. Seamless play well, are cheap, durable in the main, I enjoy using them, and most teams in my league are sticking with them for now. I've practiced a fair bit with the others to know what the main differences are, but still find it frustrating when I have to switch between them. No real answer to that though.

Some people also like the Butterfly G40+, actually I prefer those to XSF these days. But above all, don't buy Chinese seamed balls unless you are training for an event that will use them -- in which case you will need to train with them.

By the way, I have tried the most recent versions of DHS, from October 2015. They are rounder and seem a bit more durable but they suffer from the same very very low bounce, and to me that is a deal killer.

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