OOAK Table Tennis Forum

That info was from news accounts that included player interviews.

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Butterfly Viscaria Black tag
2.2 mm Nexy Karis M on FH and BH

The only thing I can find is reports a couple of players broke some balls in training before this switch. If this were a problem during matches surely there must be some controversy afterward.

From personal experience, the durability of the Chinese seamed balls is a big problem, at least as things stand for balls that were manufactured in June and before that. Hopefully they will improve that, and also develop a ball that can bounce. Seamless balls at least bounce, and I really hope they will develop a strong following. If we have to use plastic balls, so far those are the ones that are least messed up.

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Butterfly Viscaria Black tag
2.2 mm Nexy Karis M on FH and BH

Thanks Baal!
Yes you may well be right, you've tried a lot more than me, so you're in a better position to judge. Hopefully over time both will get better and much closer to each other too.

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I am still really happy with the XSF balls. I have to say, after playing with them for awhile, it is a little easier to play with the seamed balls because I am pretty much entirely accustomed to the slower speed and lower spin now. That part is the same with all of the polyballs because they are larger -- indeed since according to some measurements the seamless balls are actually the largest diameter polyball, it may be more pronounced with them, but it doesn't seem to matter (given a bit of time) if the bounce is logical and predictable. I still find the bounce of seamed balls to be too low and unpredictable. I still find them really annoying.

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Butterfly Viscaria Black tag
2.2 mm Nexy Karis M on FH and BH

It does make you wonder why they make the seamless bigger. You'd think if they make them closer to 40.00mm they would perform better AND be more durable.

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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

One update. Today somebody brought some IPong seamless balls, presumably made by XSF, but not ITTF approved. They were terrible, essentially the are the same as the XSF balls were a year ago. Horrible sound, funky play. Only good for serving practice. My guess is that XSF had a bunch of these left over from before and are selling them as basically practice balls or something. My advice is avoid seamless balls that are not ITTF approved.

Edit. It was pointed out to me that Ipong is marketing these balls a training balls.

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Butterfly Viscaria Black tag
2.2 mm Nexy Karis M on FH and BH

Surely training balls' quality are not as good as 3-star balls. You guys may have to lower your expectations. but I'm sure the balls left over will not stay in the market for long. Very soon the new version of training balls or one-star balls will come out.

Yes, that's why I edited my post.

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Butterfly Viscaria Black tag
2.2 mm Nexy Karis M on FH and BH

Yes, that's why I edited my post.[/quote][/quote]

Baal, are you a pro or amateur player?

Actually, come to think of it... Are there any actual table tennis professional players (as opposed to professionals - which would include coaches, etc. who make money doing table tennis things but don't compete against others for money) here?

(Real "amateurs" would be people with much higher ratings than 1300.. People like me would be, um, rec players.)

Iskandar

[/quote]

Baal, are you a pro or amateur player?[/quote]



Amateur --- for a very long time. I also do coaching for adult players. I think the Ipong balls should be find for teaching, for example multiballs and things like that.

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Butterfly Viscaria Black tag
2.2 mm Nexy Karis M on FH and BH

About the two colored balls. I've been doing some experiments, the best for seeing spin so far I've tried is three large 1cm black dots (applied with a marker pen) 120 degrees apart on a great circle. No matter what the spinning axis, two of the dots (and these are big, visible dots) will be off that axis and close enough to the "equator" to be visibly spinning. Really heavy top and backspin produces a blur but slower spin is quite visible, at least to the players (and to cameras trained in the right place). There's this really cool optical illusion (at least, I think it's an illusion) of the ball coming to a stop when it hits the table, and then it resumes spinning when it bounces off. Don't know if it actually allows you to play any better, I find myself watching the spin too much and forgetting to hit the ball properly. But it's worth trying at least once. And would be of great value for serve practice.

Three dots like this would be very easy to apply during manufacture.

Iskandar

I tried this when I first started out, the problem is when you get past a certain level any moderately spun ball is a blur and it's only useful for distinguishing spin/no-spin. But that's still something. Look for the brand logo in the short game, when not sure about opponent's contact thickness; it helps on 3rd ball attack, etc.

Even if it's a blur you can still tell topspin from backspin (not that it's that hard to tell, just based on the stroke used to produce it). More interesting is strong sidespin (or side+top or side+back).

How it looks on slowed-down video remains to be seen.

Iskandar