OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I have an aluminium-composite-topped outdoor table (6mm thickness) that has about a 10% lower than ideal bounce (a celluloid 729 1-star ball bounces about 23cm when dropped from 30cm; the rules require a 24-26cm bounce). Despite this issue, I've been making good use of it and can live with it. But if possible, I would like to compensate by using training balls that are a bit bouncier than most.

So far the Butterfly 40+ Easy Ball looks promising. I've played with it but haven't measured its bounce. I read that the XSF 40+ seamless have a good bounce too, but have never played with them, or their badged versions.

Any suggestions in either celluloid or plastic?

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

I've got 1 star DHS celluloid and the bounce is similar to the 3 star, if not the same. I also just did a bounce test with 3* 40+ Donic and 3* Butterfly celluloid and the bounce of the 1* Dhs was better then both these. Might be worth a go, just make sure they are genuine from a reputable dealer like ooak shop.

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Donic Waldner Senso V1,FH Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm ,BH Victas Triple Regular 2.0mm

Thanks, Cobalt. I'm going to bring a ruler, and slo-mo video the bounce of various celluloid & poly balls at the next coaching session on Saturday to see if any candidates stand out. The Butterfly 40+ Easy Ball is used at coaching but I don't own any, so I'll take all the measurements on a tournament table at Kilsyth instead of on my outdoor table at home.

I have the Nittaku Premium in both materials as a benchmark, but obviously I ain't gonna shell out for 120 of them!

There's also the 729 1-stars (I still have ~100 left of the gross I bought last year from OOAK, after giving some away and losing some), and a handful of other miscellaneous 3-star celluloid balls. I also bought a jar of 36 no-name cheapo cell balls from Kmart last year for $8, but they aren't much good – OK for basic robot work, but they feel a smidge softer and maybe lighter than the 729s.

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

The old favorite was the celluloid Double Fish 1 star - they used to be available $25 a hundred through Eacheng, but the price shot through the roof - it went up to $75/100, though it's probably back down again, if it's available at all. I've got 3 boxes!

Iskandar

I keep forgetting to bring a ruler to Saturday coaching to measure the bounce heights! – not that it's urgent.

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

Will all these fit in an amicus? I have an aluminum table also at home but I must have mistakenly thought my opponents were just hitting the ball higher at other places I play.

This is really appallingly unscientific, but I took some grainy, poorly-focussed slo-mo video of a Nittaku Premium celluloid vs a Butterfly 40+ Easy Ball yesterday after coaching.

Dropped from where the bottom of the ball lined up with 30cm on a ruler, the Nittaku bounced a bit less than 10" or 25.4cm (I'm mixing units – couldn't make out the smaller cm marks on the ruler – see: "unscientific", above) and the Butterfly just about 10".

The Easy Ball might have about 4-5mm more bounce than a Nittaku Premium celluloid ball on a tournament table. On my aluminium outdoor table, the Easy Ball would be marginally better at approximating the bounce of a ball on a proper table, but the bounce would still be perhaps more than half a cm below minimum regulation height, and >one and a half cm below a "good" bounce of ~25cm.

So, no magic bullet here.

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible