OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Has anyone had any experience with Meteor 71-2? Eacheng lists these on ebay as "New" though the rubber was on Authorized Racket Coverings list 29B as non-new. Yet there's not much mention of it here on ooak, for whatever reason.

Anyway, I had a first look and a 15-minute hit with Meteor 71-2 (in black) on 1.5mm sponge today at my local club. This medium pip has narrow, widely spaced pips that are quite springy. It must have been pretty light because the paddle (wearing Outlaw on its other side) was rather light itself. In play, 71-2 is quite slow compared to my Hallmark Half-Long 1.5mm, and way slower than 563 on 1.5mm soft sponge. I'd guess that its speed is similar to 8512 which is slow compared to other LPs. This makes it good for both blocking and hitting. And what a hitting pip it is!

Playing in aggressive backhand attack mode I seemingly couldn't miss a shot. That's unheard of for me when just picking up a new pip, and it speaks volumes about the playability and forgiveness of 71-2. This pip hits through spin better than any MP or attacking LP I've used. It also reverses spin! Yet it also can generate plenty of its own spin as topspin drives are a piece of cake with 71-2. In short, after having tested dozens of LPs and a few MPs and SPs, I came away feeling that this was the best-hitting, easiest playing, most versatile pip that I've used. My Eacheng order is en route.

That sounds pretty good! I'll have to try that, too.

There are quite a few rubbers that have been on the ITTF list for ages but have never been released, such as Hallmark Friction Special 2 and Hallmark Friction Super Special. Maybe this is another one of those situations.

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Wonder if it is better than the Pluto... might have to order it in ...

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FH: Joola Express Ultra Max, BH: Giant Dragon Talon OX , Blade: Nexy Hannibal
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Interesting... I've never even looked at this pip. I wonder if it's the sponge that makes it so slow?

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I have both OX and a few sponged versions coming from Eacheng, but if it's anything like 8512 then it's the rubber itself as 8512 OX is one slow LP.

I'm currently playing this rubber. Toghether with Meteor 71-1 it's one of the most underestimated long pips rubber I know.

The pips are compared with the 71-1 a little bit wider, which is possibly the reason that the sheet is not listed as Long at the ITTF. The surface is of the masses in any case a long pips rubber and plays like a LP. Since this year the 71-1 became the status as a long pimples rubber for example.

The heads are just even and non-riffled and therefore rather directly comparable with the RITC 755. The 755 has slightly less grip and is designed a little faster.

The elastic necks and the soft sponge provide a fairly high tempo control. The grip is a rather low and offers a very good control against rotation.

Defense balls have pretty much cut when hit with a rather flat blade. The passive block is very safe and the active block is a bit harder to controll. But the shot on too high balls goes very well and is usually fatal. Push is a bit strange as the balls have the tendency to rise. I rarely play aggressive pushing because I'd prefer to flip above the table which works very good. Topspins on easy cut balls is also very safe. The rubber on a low to medium wood is very secure.

The 71-2 is a great allround rubber and it's almost every stroke possible. The distrubing effects are not very pronounced because of the softer surface and the rubber plays rather directly. Rotation and speed can be varied easy by a different angle of the bat. For a typical allround player like me the 71-2 is very ideal because I want to play different against different opponents. As for the orientation, I would not take this sheet as base for a BH-oriented game system and not for a VH-oriented. To play variable with both sides is the strength of the rubber in the game.

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Cheers, Martin

DMS Spinfire OX | STIGA Hornet | YASAKA Cobalt OX

Good to see someone else here giving this inexplicably obscure pip a try. I've come across my 71-2 in my spares box a couple of times, slapped it on a blade (cleaning it this time.. something I wasn't aware of when I created this topic a year ago).. and the results are always the same: Maddeningly inconsistent results when used in an offensive mode. It's as if it wore out/changed in a matter of hours. When new, I recall falling in love with 71-2's combination of wobble/funkiness on the flat hits, and ease-of-use for BH rolling topspin kills where such balls were deadlier than Pogo.

I finally found the reason for 71-2's rapid degradation: Partially broken pips, and lots of them. Seems it and all my other Meteor pips are amongst the weakest I've encountered.