OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi,

I have been using Sanwei T88-I and H3 Neo for quite some time now and am used to chinese tacky rubbers in general. I've recently put up a Thor's on my other blade (Modified Yinhe MC-2 with a groove cut into the handle, Super Flexy, Medium Hard / Off-) and am thinking of trying it out.

What changes in stroke play are required:
1. Opening loops
2. Loop drives on long pushes and counters
3. Brush loops against medium backspin, just off the table
4. Pushes from over the table
5. Return of sidespin serves from FH side
6. Counter looping from medium distance, 3 feet off the table
7. Flat hitting 3 feet off the table

Thanks

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Yinhe Venus V-1/ Rasant / Omega IV Pro
Ebenholz NCT V/ Express 2 / Thor's

THe chnage from H3 Neo are not that great at all... very little change is required. Since you've already got it on a blade, you can find out for yourself, and tell us

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
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Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Day 1: 30 mins warmup, 90 mins club matches against people who play with me regularly

1. Opening loops :
More difficult than H3 Neo and T88-I in this regard. Lifting backspin is extremely difficult using only the top-sheet. Could not do any slow spinny loops against backspin serves just off the table.

2. Loop drives on long pushes and counters :
Loop drives against counter works better than H3 Neo and T88-I. Loop drives against pushes with heavy backspin often went into the net. The throw angle is unpredictable and the top-sheet does not grip sometimes.

3. Brush loops against medium backspin, just off the table:
Works like H3 Neo and T88-I. The spin on pure top-spin loops was lower than both.

4. Pushes from over the table:
No issues here.

5. Return of sidespin serves from FH side :
Insensitive to incoming spin. Reacts a bit to side-spin but still lesser than H3 Neo and T88-I by a good margin.

6. Counter looping from medium distance, 3 feet off the table :
Easier than H3 Neo and T88-I. I found that there was enough kick from the sponge to punch where I would normally loop to be safe.

Major issues today:
1. My reverse pendulum side spin serves dropped right off the rubber while serving twice. This was strange as I've never had issues with this serve before with other rubbers.
2. Backspin serves lacked a bit of bite compared to T88-I. Nearly the same as H3 Neo.
3. The throw angle was unpredictable on brush loops against heavy backspin. Some balls skid right off the rubber and hit my side of the table (not even the net).

Will have more updates tomorrow.

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Yinhe Venus V-1/ Rasant / Omega IV Pro
Ebenholz NCT V/ Express 2 / Thor's

Is it very humid where you play? That might explain some of the issues you're having. I found it top be great to loop against backspin

_________________
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

Yeah, I would have thought that even if there was a difference between the 2 rubbers it wouldn't be too dramatic and thus only take a session or two to adjust. Also, you can loop backspin with any decent rubber and Thors is more than tacky enough. Perhaps humidity could explain things?

Yes, it is humid where I play, but I have not had problems with H3 Neo and T88-I. The humidity today was around 50%, but when it rains, it gets a bit higher.

_________________
Yinhe Venus V-1/ Rasant / Omega IV Pro
Ebenholz NCT V/ Express 2 / Thor's

Day 2: 30 mins warmup followed by 2 hrs club play against regulars

I got my reverse pendulum serves going today. The trick seems to be to engage a little bit of sponge while brushing.

Major issues today:
1. On all out brush loops, I found that the ball skids off the topsheet sometimes. Brush looping with H3 Neo and T88-I never gave me problems. It seems important to engage the sponge (though only slightly) while brush looping to get that good grip.
2. The higher speed and lower throw compared to other rubbers meant that some of my loopdrives did not arc down enough to meet the end of the table. This was true mostly for down the line shots and some adjustment will be required for this.
3. I still cannot seem to get enough backspin on my backspin serves.

Due to Thor's being faster than other tacky rubbers, my serves which used to have the second bounce on the white line are now going outside the table. Need to adjust to this too.

I plan to do some service practice tomorrow.

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Yinhe Venus V-1/ Rasant / Omega IV Pro
Ebenholz NCT V/ Express 2 / Thor's

But some rubbers are much more sensitive to humidity than others. I can't remember if Thor's was paticualrly sensitive to humidity as it's usually quite dry where I live, but if it is, this could explain the issues you're having.

_________________
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

Has anyone faced humidity problems with the Palio Thors rubber ?

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Backup C-pen blades:

• TSP Black Balsa 7.0 :
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  2. FH/BH-TSP Spectol/Yinhe Qing OX
• 729 Bomb C-P : FH/BH-DHS H2 Orig/DHS H3 Orig
• TSP Versal :
  1. FH/BH-XOmegaVA/YJupiter-II
  2. FH/BH-*blank*

Fun blades:

• Yasaka Battle Balsa(ST) : FH/BH- DHS TG2Neo/Gewo HypeXT 47
• Dr. Neubauer
  High Technology
  Cypress-Carbon(ST)
  ***************************** : FH/BH-YRakza7/YRakza7

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Yes. Thor's is a piece of s@#%.

Low margin for error, lots of skidding, unpredictability etc. Played with it for quite a while. Had two sheets in a row.

I have tried xiom tau, which I also don't like. Similar properties. Soft top sheet, dense sponge. Vega China was much better, as is h8. They play more like a Chinese rubber. Better control and predictability. Big dipper is also much better but has a softer sponge. Use big dipper on hard blades and h8 on soft.

Serves take a long time to re-adjust when changing rubbers. You may need slightly earlier or later acceleration.

For easy lifting back spin on poly ball you may be best to switch to one of the new generation very fkexible top sheet inverted rubbers with a softer sponge than thors. I am using Xiom Asia Df 1.8mm on an all-round speed wood blade and the added dwell and grip really make lifting back spin much easy than a hard rubber blade combo.