OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi all, this is my first post here

I am an amateur player (who trained for a year or so, when i was around 15y old - i am 30y now and i mostly play at work with my colleagues) - I always enjoyed TT and the love never stopped for the sport... (don't know why i stopped training... ;/)
However, when i trained back than, at some point we all should have buy our racquet and our trainer picked the blades/rubbers for us.
For me he picked Tibhar Samsonov Carbon https://revspin.net/blade/tibhar-samsonov-carbon.html and Tibhar Rapid rubber (for both FH and BH) https://revspin.net/rubber/tibhar-rapid.html

I never learned to control this setup! Not to this day, some of the shots would go over the table some of the shots would just fall off the rubber when i try to brush it up with top spin.. short play is challenging for me with this.
The speed was really nice for smashing however looping in real matches was really challenging back than for me and even now after 15 years!
I've read about FEEL of the blade/rubber, so much and heard about it.. But for me is like WHAT THE HECK IS FEEL in TT? I could hardly feel the ball on the balde.. so numb and senseless to me, they talked about a feel that i could never experience.

I've read lots of sites and did many research and i decided that i should at least try a new setup after so many years, something with more feel/control within my budget limit..
So i opted for the Tibhar Stratus Power Wood https://revspin.net/blade/tibhar-stratus-power-wood.html and the Nittaku Fastarc G-1 https://revspin.net/rubber/nittaku-fastarc-g-1.html
I already ordered but has not yet arrived and i think i might have made a mistake with that rubber.. on the other hand i think i made a nice choice with the blade, lots of good feedback from lots of people for an attacking style of play who also wants more control (which i prefer - it's called allround blade right?)

What REALLY annoys me with my old setup is that i cannot lift underspin with forehand loop ITS SO HARD it just slips, even if there is little spin - i know very old rubbers - but i rejuvenated them to some point and the result was pretty good - i used little lemon juice and after that a layer of sunflower oil - the ball now sticks to the rubber firmly when i try to rub it against it, but when i tried to lift, the ball still slipped from the rubber very easily... ALSO when i serve it has better spin now but not as much as i would like, it produces less spin than it is sensitive to incoming spin which is a little strange to me... because with the people i play with their rubbers suck - they are like almost anti-spin rubbers, their technique suck and produce low to medium spin.. And my (rejuvenated rubber) is soo sensitive to their spins, its so hard to return their serves with low side spin.. I don't mind that okay, i should improve my technique BUT WHY i can't produce heavy spin on my serves? With the most effort on my small training sessions alone improving my serve, i could barely make the ball come back to the net when i try underspin serve.

Before i decided to buy the Nittaku g1, i was ready to buy the Tibhar Evolution MX-P - i've read so many good reviews every comment every review.. but allot of people also said that they are not durable, that they are pre-tuned boosted and their touch was lost after 3-4 weeks of play - that was unacceptable for me and in the last moment i decided to go with the fastarc g1 - cuz on the other hand all said its very durable rubber and very spinny and fast. However, after i made the order, i found out that some people couldn't brush the ball up thinly, and it would just slip (same problem as with my old rubber?!?!) and it's insensitive rubber to spin? (at least thats what i read after my order LOL) - how can a insensitive rubber to spin be spinny as well? hmmmm

My new setup should arrive by the end of the week, and i am bit skeptical with my choice (especially rubbers) What should i expect and prepare for the change (Lately i've been very enthusiastic to improve my game - that's why i ordered the new setup, even if it was not the old gear i own, i would love to have good setup and i would know that it's not the gear that holding me back at all)

Thank you!

edit: I would love to start training again, in fact i searched for, but i couldn't find clubs that train people around my age. - ill keep looking, i really wanna back in!

Hee hee hee… Try this:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SANWEI- ... 74001.html

Don't let the price fool you, it's EXCELLENT. No need to worry about the rubbers going dead in a month either. And if you don't like it? You're out $15.. What's to lose? ($15.. ) The only problem is it takes 3 weeks to arrive (sometimes less).

If you want the bare blade:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SANWEI- ... 01460.html

Iskandar

Thanks, but i already ordered!

BTW, after my post, with the SPW and Nittaku, do you think the rackquete you linked me would still be better for me?? (was my choice so bad?)

Oh, it should work OK. So would a thousand other combinations. The blade is all wood but according to the reviews on tabletennis11.com it's a little on the fast side (I'd have gone with something a little slower - like a M8.. ). And mind you, Fastarc G1 is yet another Tensor rubber made in Germany by ESN, so it probably lasts just as long as other Tensors - which means a couple months or so. I had a good laugh at the lemon juice..

Get the M8 anyhow... You can always keep it in your bag to lend it to someone else if they forgot to bring their bat or don't have one. You never know, you might like it. And you can always write an awesome comparison review.

Iskandar

That's actually a good idea, i might get it for a friend the least - or who knows might be even better for me LOL!

Although, i am so biased reading forums/reviews already - about the g1 i've read:
- Very durable, even after 2-3months still feels almost as new (many reports)
- Some people said it's really grippy - which makes sense (advertises as high spin rubber)
- Some people said they couldn't perform soft brushes with it, due the ball slipping off - so which is it??
- Some people said it's very forgiving, some people said it will amplify your errors by allot .. so which is it...

It's either the difference the blade people use with it, or Nittaku g1 is not consistent by the manufacturer.

Thanks

edit: why did you laugh at the lemon juice ? It really did bring my old rubber grip by quite a noticeable amount (even fixed some grippy/ungrippy patches)

It might indeed be very grippy for shots which involve the sponge. Brush loops don't, perhaps the surface needs some pressure to keep the ball from slipping. They say Chinese rubbers are tacky for this reason - so that you don't get slippage with brush shots (which also include a lot of serves, by the way). In any case.. it does sound like a soft Tensor (others in the same category would be Baracuda and Rakza 7). Maybe it does last longer than the harder Tensors - the fact that people actually comment about it (and specifically say 2-3 months) is significant. Chinese rubbers, in contrast, last 6-8 months or more.

I think the reasons you find divergent opinions in reviews is the old adage which is abbreviated as "YMMV" - their mileage simply varied due to different expectations, different conditions, comparisons with different other rubbers and different ways of "measuring" (which are all subjective in any case). I've learned to take crowdsourced ratings and reviews with a HUGE chunk of salt. In my experience rubbers are more alike than different, the differences are often pretty subtle and it's sometimes difficult to even tell them apart even when mounted on the same blade. Most work pretty well for a lot of people. (Blades are a different matter - they REALLY DO differ from each other and can REALLY feel different.)

The lemon juice? It's just that I'd heard of all sorts of stuff being used on rubber - kerosene, baby oil, olive oil (extra virgin), dishwashing detergent - but never lemon juice.

Iskandar

Fastarc g1 is an excellent rubber. Why do you think you made a bad choice there? Mx-p is faster and bouncier = harder to control. Either one would be fine with SPW, but your setup should be excellent for looping. Give it a chance and don't worry too much about reviews. If you read Japanese you would probably see more 5* reviews of the G1, since I'm told it is the top selling rubber in Japan.

Anyway reviews are crap. I just switched to G1 from T05 and I love it. I hated Mx-P when I tested it. Somebody else who plays the same dtyle same level might say the exact opposite. Doesn't matter for you. Stop worrying, try what you ordered and see if you like it. I think you probably will.

_________________
Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you'll start to see a big difference in your life.

Yoko Ono

Because i've read people say the ball slips off the g1 when they tried to do soft brushes (something i really hoped to achieve with my new rubbers )

Thanks for the insight mate, i appreciate it!

Interesting. If I'd had to guess I'd have guessed Tenergy 05. I agree with what you say about reviews... different people will write different things for many reasons.

Iskandar

It's consistent with the ranking here:

http://world-tt.com/ps_goods/goods_ranking.php

_________________
2. S&T Black & White / Armstrong SH-I 1.8 / TSP Curl P3 Alpha R OX

Interesting that Rozena outsells Tenergy 05.. And what the heck is Factive?? (Blurb on tabletennis11: "The Nittaku Factive uses specialized rubber to provide power to the player's strokes. The rubber combined with the mid-hard sponges allows for versatile play. Made in Germany. " Like THAT'S helpful... )

Iskandar

I'm curious about Yasaka Rigan too.

_________________
2. S&T Black & White / Armstrong SH-I 1.8 / TSP Curl P3 Alpha R OX

Blurb on TT11:

'When Yasaka developed Rigan, the goal was to combine the durability of "classic" rubbers with the speed glue effect used in "modern" rubbers. The result is a quality product with long lasting durability and a high level of speed potential for the modern attacking game. The topsheet is made of natural rubber and has high grip allowing for stability and spin on all strokes. MADE IN GERMANY. '

Hmmmm.... Sounds like it's supposed to be a Tensor (Made in Germany = ESN) that doesn't shrink. So how does it compare to _other_ tensors in playing properties? Doesn't say.. Kind of makes you wonder - if ESN has the technology to make Tensors last a long time, why don't ALL the brands they manufacture use it? Maybe they do, in some sheets but not all. Maybe it requires a reduction of Tensor-ness so they can't put it in all of the sheets.

Iskandar

Maybe if they were used to tacky rubbers and their brushing was too thin? Anyway I switched from T05 and I can do a soft spin loop with g1 no problem. It's quite grippy.

_________________
Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you'll start to see a big difference in your life.

Yoko Ono