OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I've been playing table tennis for about 5.5 years now. My setup is Tibhar SPW + Nittaku Fastarc G1(FH) + Rakza 7. I play middistance from the table, can loop both wings. I neither play in a dedicated club nor have access to any coaching, just play in my office. I feel like I have reached a point where I can't improve any longer(without coaching).

My biggest weakness in the game is serve return, from my setup you can see that I have very spin reactive rubbers and plus my inability to effectively read spins makes it a lot worse. Plus my backhand looping is also rather weak though very consistent, I get pinned down to my backhand side, so I'm thinking of sacrificing my backhand and trying out pips.

I've played with short pips and hated it, I don't like playing so close to the table. So I've decided to go for LP, also I have no clue about medium pips.

So far reading from many long pimples topics, I've decided that I want to play push, block style with long pimples instead of the staying back and chopping style. I've read that OX pips are the way to go and some others have suggested a 0.5 mm thickness sponge pimple rubber. So my requirements are following,
1. Should help me in serve return
2. I've seen long pip players playing drives and strokes instead of just being defensive. I would like to play like that.
3. Should be a bit easier to play with(no coaching for me), have to rely on YouTube vids to learn how to play
4. Should be cheap.

I got crazy choosing my current setup(got tired of reading so many reviews), don't want to get into that again, I have a budget of 50 USD for this setup. Please suggest a good blade + a long or medium pimple rubber for me, I'm going to choose from top 5 suggestions here(will be selecting one based on availability and price). Please help me out guys.

You're saying you hated short pips because you didn't like playing so close to the table. Now you're looking for long pimples to play push and block style, as opposed to the staying back and chopping style. Don't you see a contradiction here?

My bad. I don't like playing very close to the table, I also hate playing far back from the table like a LP chopper, I tried Spectol and 652 short pips, I found it very difficult to play the moment I stepped a little back, that's why I'm thinking a LP + sponge would be better for me that short pips.

Also I'm trying to have some fun as I'm not going to face any serious players, so I'd like to see my opponents struggle with the spin reversal of LPs, they weren't having much trouble with the shortpips.

Think about what you will lose by switching to long pips, though... you lose the ability to loop on the backhand. And long pips really aren't all that easy to play with, there's quite a bit of difference in the way the ball comes off the pips compared to inverted - pushes will tend to pop up high, for instance. You'll have to get used to it, and for a while you'll play worse.

However, don't let me discourage you... you should by all means try it and make up your own mind. I don't have any recommendations for equipment - I suppose it depends on what you want. Do you want an oversized chopping blade or a normal ALL to ALL+ blade or something for blocking/chop-blocking? Do you want to be a chopper or a blocker? If you want a "normal" blade and don't want to spend much just get one of these:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32864701460.html

It's what I use myself.

Iskandar

Yes I understand I won't be able to loop with my backhand and there will probably be a steep learning curve with pips, but I'm just going to try out and see for myself anyway, my backhand loop as I have already said is not strong enough anyway and I'm bored of doing the same things over and over again, may be after playing with pips for a week, I'd move back to my old setup. That's why I'm trying to get a cheap setup.

Also if pips can help my serve return, then I think my weak backhand loop is a good sacrifice to make.

Thanks for your blade suggestion, but I reallly need help with the rubbers.

Oh and I want to be a blocker definitely.

Try cheap chinese lp,Dawei 388d ox works for me against strong local players and was fairly easy to use from the start when I moved away from thin inverted chopping,I can use it on all+ blades ok too,chop,block, chopblock, side swipe attack all works

_________________
Tsp Black Balsa 3.0 Tenergy 05 1.9 388d ox black

I'll second that

Thanks for the help, 388d seems to be the most suggested pip. Should I use an OX or thin sponge? If I choose an OX, will I able to return even when I'm a bit far away from the table?

Also what do you think of this setup? Sanwei M8 + Globe 979 0.5mm sponge? This one seems to be rated higher in revspin and also is very cheap?

You should be able to return balls across the room with OX pips.. it's a matter of hitting the ball hard enough, I think.

Be careful, there's also a 388D-1. Both are long pips, and both are available from many dealers on AliExpress. To be honest, I have no idea what the difference is, if any. And also, 388A and 388A-4 are inverted, while 388C-1 is medium pips! (LARC just says "out".) No idea what happened to 388B.

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?ca ... _new_app=y

Iskandar

Thanks for the help, 388d seems to be the most suggested pip. Should I use an OX or thin sponge? If I choose an OX, will I able to return even when I'm a bit far away from the table?

Also what do you think of this setup? Sanwei M8 + Globe 979 0.5mm sponge? This one seems to be rated higher in revspin and also is very cheap?[/quote]
I can chop ok with ox away from the table .you could get both ox and sponge versions to try,for at the table serve return blocking and pushing ox will give more effects. I founde Globe 979 ox is slightly faster than 388d with less effects and a little more difficult to use,don't know about 0.5 version,

_________________
Tsp Black Balsa 3.0 Tenergy 05 1.9 388d ox black

Normal Dawei388d long pips (smooth tips) - slower and better for defense. Great passive blocking. Dawei388d1 (textured tips) - faster (I believe!) and better for attacking. There should not be a great deal of difference between OX and thin sponge. You just lose a bit of the long pips effect. I have always preferred the OX version. But that's just my personal choice as I block and hit close to the table. Have also played Globe 979 OX which is certainly faster than Dawei388D and another great do-it-all long pip.

Ha... Apparently 388B AND 388B-1 are still available on AliExpress (even from the Eachengs), both with and without sponge. Typically $8 to $9 (so not a bargain - 388D and D-1 OX can be had in the $4-$5 range). Seems to be short pips. So the pips get longer - 388A = NO pips ( ), 388B = short pips, 388C = medium pips and 388D = long pips. 388B is no longer listed in the LARC (and the vendors list "only 5 sheets left" and such. If you want a sheet (there are such people as rubber collectors I imagine) better get it now..

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?ca ... _new_app=y

Dawei's other long pips - Saviga V - now... if you search for "Dawei Saviga" it doesn't come up, but "Saviga" alone does. $10 to $15 so considerably more expensive. According to that big master long pips list on the other thread, Saviga V is even more of a "generate it's own spin" pips than 388D-1, so it lies on the far end of the 388D -> 388D-1 -> Saviga V continuum.

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?ca ... _new_app=y



Looks like there's also a Saviga 27 - even more expensive ($16-20). Doesn't seem to have any mention of Dawei at all. On the Saviga V, there's a logo that says "Dawe".. Both claim to be made in Japan - I don't believe that for a minute..



And one wonders what this might be:

https://www.tenryu.com.my/store/Dawei-S ... =1524&in=2

Anything called "Monster" has got to be good.. especially at that sort of price for an OX sheet...

Iskandar

Apart from Dawei 388D, CTT National Pogo and Yinhe Qing are other good LPs for beginners..

I started with LPs, around a 1.5 years back, and Pogo was my first LP .... Very user-friendly, a do-it-all (but nothing exceptionally well)...

Hmmm....

388D



388D-1



And just for the heck of it..

388C-1 (medium? pips)



388A



388A-2



388A-4



Iskandar

I would recommend tsp. Curl in .5mm. I heard many reviews about this, and some said it was hard to play. Well, now I am use to it I must say it is awesome. What I like personally is it's great for attack and defence. And. Switches well between the two. It's solid. Quality is very good.. the .5 is just enough away from ox, and helps with hitting. I find you can manipulate spin well, combining firm and soft grip.