OOAK Table Tennis Forum

My first post! I'll try to make my long story fairly short. Please, bear with me...

A couple of months ago I decided to take on TT again after 26 years of abscence (and abstinence!). I stopped training and playing competitively in 1982. Badminton and tennis became my new friends instead.

After returning to the sport I realized that a lot has happened:

- A set nowadays goes to 11, not 21
- You have to have a red and a black side on your blade
- There has been some "glue thing" going on in my abscence
- The ball is 40 mm instead of 38 mm
- A man called Adham will make this list longer with time

Right now I'm training a couple of times a week and is a part of a team in a local tournament. I consider myself a hard looper with fairly good technique, sort of "by the book", although some strokes feels hidden inside my body. But I'm sure they will come back at some point. Practice, practice...!

After lurking around here and other table tennis related forums for a couple of months I used the "least common denominator" technique to find a new setup. I sold my last setup, the trusty Butterfly with Mark V and Sriver S(?) a looong time ago.

I settled for a Galaxy M-6 blade with Dawei IQ 2.0 40° (FH) and LKT Pro XT 2.0 (BH). From what I've read people like the quality of the Galaxy blades and the M-6 is rated Off but is more close to Off- if I understand correctly, which, with my limited knowledge, should suit my style. And, the IQ and the Pro XT return as recommendations quite often. It worked fine in the beginning, but as the technique returned I found this setup boring. The ball seems to stay on the blade forever before leaving off. The "tock" sound is quite annoying too, but I can live with that. I do not get the catapult effect I would like and it is hard to steer the ball.

So, I decided to try something faster. I read this thread...

Choosing the right equipment, not expensive equipment: a guide to choosing middle price range equipment for various styles
http://forum.oneofakindtrading.com.au/v ... php?t=4485

(Thank you, Gekogark1212, for the translation!)

...and ordered a Galaxy T-2 with God-Favored SST 2.2 (FH) and Focus 3 (BH) - one of the recommended setups for a hard looper.

A new annoying sound, "ping", but now I get the control I want! The God-Favored is, to say the least, ridiculously hard and the Focus 3 is soo soooft. The setup feels dead in a way and, no catapult effect to finish off the points in a quick and humiliating way!

I think I love the blade (or should I reconsider?) but I am not so sure about the rubbers. What should I do? I do not want to become an EJ. I do not want to spend too much money. I do not want something that I cannot handle. I just want a setup that will keep me happy and the opponents sad. Dear almighty Forum members, help me with your words of wisdom!

Hi Gieves, welcome to the forum

Rubbers are so subjective, it's hard to really recommend something that will suit you personally. However, at my club, a lot of players have opted for the Andro Plasma rubbers. They come in three flavours, all with the same top sheet, but all with different sponges. I used to use Sriver back in the day and personally speaking, the Andro rubbers to me feel like the 21st century version!

There are three types:

Andro Plasma 380 - This softer sponge version will inspire all transitional allround and cautious offensive players. The ultra soft super elastic attacking rubber has extraordinary good control with a large margin for player error. The speed level will feel primed and synchronized and ready for exploiting! This should make it easier than every before to execute your attacking game.

Andro Plasma 430 - The 430 will appeal to all high level attacking players. The sponge is 5` softer than the 470 and in combination with its high performance rubber sheet every topspin ball will get immediate acceleration. This trampoline effect is also felt when playing slower strokes. Now the advantageous characteristics of `speed-glue` can be used by everyone - thus evening up the playing field within each playing level!

Andro Plasma 470 - The built-in SPEED GLUE EFFECT is the most powerful in this Plasma 470. It has really been designed for top level players. Despite its medium hard sponge density it still provides a soft and controlled playing feeling. During fast topspin strokes it is clearly a rubber that offers pure out and out power. Only players who hava a high level of competence will extract the best performance from this rubber.

I have been using the 380 (even in the top division) due to the control it offers, but now I've moved over to the 430 which is a good balance between the two. I also have the 470 on a softer balsa blade as I need the harder sponge to negate the ball being absorbed into the wood. In fact on a balsa blade, the 470 plays very much like the 430 on my harder wood Andro blade.

Anyway, I can only give you my advice from the experience I have. I've tried a LOT of rubbers and have found these ones as the best for feel, control and power.

Hope this helps

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

Butterfly Amicus Professional robot
-----
Ever tried, Ever failed? No Matter.
Try again, Fail Again, Fail Better!

Firstly thanks for reading the article.

Also, only recently have I truely gotten over the whole ing sound thing and finally really learnt how to hit with Chinese rubbers. The keyword there is "hit".

During this epiphany I have come to realise why some stupidly hard 50 degree chinese sponge can be considered easy to hit through. You actually have to hit the ball rather hard at the top of bounce to feel it. Forget for a second that you know how to loop and just whack the ball.

If you really just want to enjoy the game, I agree with just getting a tensor rubber. Any of the donic/andro/joola tensor stuff will work fine...it's all a matter of preference.

_________________
(\__/)
(='.'=) But there's no sense crying over every mistake,
(")_(") You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.

Joola Tango for great catapult and finishing power

And welcome to the forum Gieves. It'd be great to have some of your other background introduced in the Intro section at the top of the TT General section. Cheers!

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

@Gieves

the challange of finding right equipment, without too much testing is related to the challenge of finding good advice from actual profssionals in forum. ufrtunately forums are also crowded with people with limitd knowledge (like me)... who get excited on some new equipment they played with .. and tries to make a case for it.

i succummed to this and spen 2 painful years, spending literally more than a grand (us $) till i realized who are the true experts and who are not.


fo eg what chris is suggesin here, andro plasma .. probably workd for him ... sometims back... but in todays context, this 3rd gen tensor may not be a good option compared to 4th gen tesors like andro roxon because:

- plasma oxidizes faster and loses surface properties
- plasma's are less tolerant against hitting the edge of the table
- plasma's are too bouncy for pushes , compared to new tensors

you will find users like silver, haggisv etc. are the most knoledgable ones.


now i am a galaxy yin he fan, and tried quite a few blades. if you don't want the ping but still love the speed and feel, T-4 is a better option. if you want it stiffer and absolutely no ping... t-8 is great and probably fastest. but loops and flips may require a little flex.

for rubbers after my painstaking journey throuh chinese japanese and europeans, i zeroed on:

- butterfly tenergy 05 for my FH: great spinny loops, good speed, and good throw angle, and control

- xiom zeta for BH: because tensors compensate for my relatively poor BH. and zeta being a 4G tensor still costs only $30 ...probably the lowest cost 4G tensor together with palio macro pro.


best of luck

I would recommend Tenergy for the FH and Platin for bh, I use it myself
Most of Butterfly`s sponsored players play Tenergy and the Platin Is a very good rubber too.
Both rubbers are having very good catapult effetct and nice control.
They are not too soft - this will make the short game more difficult.
I Think that Tenergy is a very popular rubber and will be the néw "Sriver" rubber.

Hope you find this usefull.

_________________
BUTTERFLY JONYER HINOKI SPECIAL + Tenergy 05 FX 2.1 RED + TENERGY 64 1.9 BLACK.
BUTTERFLY JONYER HINOKI SPECIAL + Tenergy 05 2.1 RED + TENERGY 64 1.9 BLACK.
!! TENERGY IS KING HINOKI IS QUEEN !! - !!!!

Thank you all for your advice! Something European stylish then, right?

My first thing will be to switch the rubbers around. The IQ is moved to T-2 FH and will be put to test this weekend. Match again on Tuesday.

I can't remember TT being such a material sport. You found a blade you liked and a couple of rubbers which you changed irregularly, practiced and played competitions - that was it!

I'll get back with a verdict and my final choice for the setup. If not someone has that golden solution, given my preferences and style of play.

Thank you!

Actually, you could find a blade and a pair of rubbers you liked, and you're all set.

Good practicing, mate!

_________________
Viscaria. H2 Neo 2.15. Tenergy 05 1.9.

Gieves


I would sugest to you an All+ or Off- blade with mark V rubbers in 2.0mm
Regards blade Butterfly Primorac Off- with Yasaka Mark V is absolutley Loopers combination with exelent control and plenty power to finish the point off and all together is about 120 $ AU.

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Blade:
F/H:
B/H:

Tacky or grippy...? A tough one, indeed! I remember back in the days when Chinese rubbers were considered extremely exotic and full of hidden, secret qualities. My first experience was one of the first to be launched in my home country, a cherry red extremely tacky rubber from Friendship, I believe?! You pressed the ball to the rubber and there it stayed. Forever! Never came to terms with that one.

I think I want grippy for my forehand and tacky for my backhand, but as a newbie when it comes to equipment I would appreciate any comments about how wrong I am! I came to terms with those properties on my M-6 and blamed it all on the blade. Although the bouncyness I am looking for doesn't seem to be embedded in neither the IQ nor the Pro XT.

Speedplay: Inspirit is dull, at least in combination with Galaxy M-6 and my style of play. I'll try it with the T-2 tomorrow. The Focus 3 on BH will get a couple of more chances in upcoming practice and matchplay. And, you are right about the money. In a perfect place it would be possible to find that perfect combination of rubbers for, let's say, 30 USD. But I realize that excludes everything but the Chinese rubbers.

My denominator technique to find the first setup gave me an idea: How about a poll where people describe their style of play, rating, experience or similar, and choice of equipment incl properties (rating on the blade, the build eg. 3+2 wood/carbon, etc)? If enough people would register we would have a database where a newbie like me could look for what players like me prefers. Or, is it already done?

Thank you all for your candid advice and the warm welcome!

Speedy did you play with Mark V?
There is a big diference betwen Tensor and MarkV

Mark V is ideal rubber for short game as well for looping.If you didnt try Mark v put that on try out list wont disapoint you very versitale rubber and lasts for wery long time to.

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Blade:
F/H:
B/H:

You have only few options with your budget on rubbers 729 FX or FX lightening.

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Blade:
F/H:
B/H:

Witness the birth of a EJ when he last played, the rubber choice consisted of Sriver, Mark V and Tackiness, with a few dark purple sheets of Chinese Friendship if you could get them. The choice now is overwhealming, I say he's got no chance, sorry Gieves, you'll know what I'm on about soon enough.

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the covers blown, mission over

Aah... The quest for the holy grail!

How does this EJ thing work? Do you have local chapters around the world where you meet? Do you sit in a ring of chairs saying "Hello, I am Gieves and I'm an EJ"?

I... must... resist...

I found the holy grail this week. I knew instantly it was better than last week,,,or the week before,,,,,or ,,,,,,,,,,,

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Shakehand, left handed.
Blade, Yinhe, W-1
Forhand, H-3 National
Backhand, Sriver FX Max