OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Is there any reason why I dont see many reviews (Revspin, etc.) on Gambler rubbers? Other than Reflectoid I dont see much out there although they have an extensive line of rubber. Thanks.

I'm a huge fan of their Mech Tek Predator rubbers. But you are correct, you need to hunt for their reviews. I have noticed that Tom from Zeropong/Gambler is active on this board.

yes he used to be, have not seen him around much... hope he visits again soon, he always had useful information to share.

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I have played with or tried a number of gambler rubbers. I am also surprised that there are less reviews available. If there is one that you are interested in ask away and I will tell you if I have played with it and my thoughts about it. I am not a seller, nor do I receive any gifts or other incentives than to tell my honest opinion. (Of course it is opinion and not fact, so yours and others may and probably will differ )

I think part of it is that it's a US based, and overall a pretty small brand. I'd like to try some but it's very expensive to ship items from the US (it's too bad it doesn't qualify for Media Mail.. ). I must admit, the guy who owns it did allude to how many sheets he sells once, and I it was an eye-openingly large quantity. Definitely more than enough to make it worth his while. Small though table tennis is, the rubber business is apparently quite big, even for a small brand.

Iskandar

Of course they sell for like 14 US dollars a sheet in the USA which means he better sell a bunch just to break even.

Vanjr- would love to hear your impression of the mech Tek Predator and the Burst rubbers? Have you used any of their blades?

I don't think it's that bad. I'm pretty sure these are OEMed in China, so he'd making an adequate profit per sheet. At that sort of price they're fantastic value for money, though, compared to German and Japanese sheets.

Iskandar

Many years ago I used Peacekeeper medium pips for a while and the quality was good. I know a couple of people who have used their rubber in the past, and the quality of the rubber is generally good. Can't speak to the properties of how well the inverted rubbers play, but the cheaper price doesn't mean they are poorly made. They are a good value.

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USATT Rating: 1708
Blade: DMS Carbon Deluxe
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I'm not vanjr but I've had some pretty extensive experience with Mech Tek, Nines UT, and Burst with Thor's Hammer and regular sponges.

Mech Tek was my least favorite and I think it's because I'm used to tacky, hard-sponged rubbers. It still played well and was light, decently fast, and pretty spin-insensitive. My biggest issue was that it would slip on thin, brushy strokes.

Nines UT has all the benefits of Mech Tek but with an acceptable level of tack (way less than H3n and 999T but more than Mech Tek). I didn't have the slippage problem with it.

Burst is my go-to forehand rubber and I'm currently trying it on backhand with some success. Lighter and marginally faster than H3n, pretty tacky but not flypaper tacky, and with equal spin to H3n. With Thor's Hammer sponge it's very fast and stands up well to balls-out loops, but does take pretty good effort to engage. I found that I, as a 1300 USATT looper with subpar footwork, had better luck with the regular Burst sponge. It was easier to engage on imperfect shots and I felt like I had more control with only a slight decrease in top-end speed.

I have not used the Burst rubbers-although I have not read anything negative-they are certainly more the tacky rubber.
I used Mech tek predator as my main rubber for a while. It is a good, non-tacky rubber than can "do it all". I have used it in max sponge on my FH and used it both in 1.9 and 1.7 on my BH where it gives good control and I can even chop with it. I wish the topsheet or the sponge was a little firmer because I would like more put away power-that is why I now am using rasanter R47 because it just gives me that power.
I liked gamber 7s on a fast blade, but as the glue effect of rubber cement wore off it got a little slow. That topsheet on a good dynamic sponge would be very good.
Gamber Wraith I found way too slow for me.

I am currently using the vector hinoki blade which is hard and fast, but the ball stays on the table. I am not sure it works all that well with LP in OX which I have been experimenting with. I would
The gambler fire dragon blade fire was a little oversized and too fast for me-also heavy with double inverted- i would be interested in the fire dragon touch with my LP experiment. A clubmate has a set up I have tried that has nice control and he has improved greatly with it.

I've been using Gambler Reflectoid for years. Kind of slow, but I've never found anything else with better control. The 1.0mm is good for flat-hitting and you can serve and brush-loop pretty decently too.

Gambler Mek-Tek Predator and Gambler Zero, both available in 1.0 sponge, are on my wishlist.

Also recently tried Gambler Vintage with .6mm sponge. It's really slow. Probably ideal for someone learning short pips chopping.

Gambler is a very underrated brand. Many people paying $80 for Tenergy would probably do just as well with a $14 Gambler rubber.

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My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

I know that Zeropong carried Focus 3 (snipe) and no longer does. I thought this was a great all around rubber, esp for the money. Any others you could recommend in that price range- perhaps from the Gambler line?

Bobv

I used Focus 3 years ago.
In my opinion Gambler Zero (non tacky topsheet) could be an alternative.

They seem to have a number of choices available now, ranging from Zero, to X3, and of course Mech Tek Predator. I'm not sure which is closest to the old Focus 3 Snipe, but I'm sure Tom could steer you in the right direction. I'd just get in contact with them and ask, they always seem to be helpful.

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