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I'm going to my local shop next week and want to buy some plastic to prepare for next season (2015-16) when our league will make the transition to the new balls

The shop only has these balls below:
- Joola Super-P***
- Donic 40+***
- Nittaku SHA 40+***
- Tibhar 40+ Syntt***

What would be best choice in terms of durability, bounce, "feeling", closest to what could be the standard? Are all seamless? Anyone who has experience with any of these balls?

Thank you

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I have only tried Donic. But that one felt nice in the hand (grippy). But speed and bounce is rather low (like most plastics from DHS's fabric I guess). Most obvious problem is that it isn't very round. It wobbles when spinned on the table. Also, the grippy surface wears down to the same slippery feel of an old well used Stiga Competition.

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They are all supposed to be the same ball, a DHS clone. I don't think there is a significant difference between brands, but there might be a difference when they are produced at a different date. Watch for the code that is imprinted on the box. It's a four lettered code. Something along the lines of XFAD. A=1, B=2,...X=0. The first two letters=month. The last two letters=year. So you might want to pick those that are produced at a later date.

Oh yes: buy a couple of them: three or six are not enough. They break easily (as one team - we have six teams - we break three/four/five balls during one evening - that's sixteen games).

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Just buy the one your league is using. Wait until you know which one and maybe be a few if it will be a while.

Yes I suspect they're all the same as well (DHS), apart from variations in batches... so vanjr's advice seems sensible... buy the one your league is going to be using.

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I suspect the problem will be that our league (I play the same league, only other province) will allow the use of several brands like they did with cell. They did it this year.

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I have used Joola, Tibhar and Nittaku SHA. They are all the same (and bad) so buy the cheapest and if they are the same price, then maybe try to buy the newest made ones (four letter code). X means zero, and the other letters are in order. A ball made in June 2014 will have the code XFAD stamped on the box somewhere.

I think your league would be much better off using a seamless ball, which is cheaper, rounder, more durable, and has a better bounce (more like celluloid).

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I would add IF you have any influence in which ball your league chooses suggest the XSF or variants for best combination of value and price.

Thanks for all suggestions and information!

I kept away from all plastic ball discussions here at the forum, so I wasn't aware they are still working on one plastic ball standard. Many of you seem to be in favor of the XSF-ball, so let's hope they can deliver the standard and cooperate with the more powerful DHS...

As Lorre said, in the Belgian league, each 'home team' chooses what three star brand is used. This year, each home team even has the choice between plastic (any brand) or celluloid (any brand). Fortunately, I haven't encountered a single team that used the plastic ball...

So my conclusion is that I will not buy (and waste energy to) plastic yet, given:
- they're still working on a standard: DHS-model or XSF-model
- the balls I mentioned (DHS clones) are roughly the same (and bad)
- the balls I mentioned break easily

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Maybe I didn't make myself quite clear in the PMs we sent each other. It's possible DHS might go together again with XSF which will probably result in the standardisation of the XSF ball. But that's a rumour. I didn't read anything substantial/concrete about it yet.

So it might be that the current balls might become the standard. That is: they'll weigh some 100ths of a gram less beginning from Jan 2016, which with the current technology will cause some more breaking than currently is the case (and that's already a lot). Off course they might change technology etc., even apart from the technology used by XSF.

My hope is that the standard ball will be a decent playing one, meaning it will be identical to celluloid, except speedwise and spinwise (a bit slower and a bit less spin due to the ball being bigger). My biggest fear is that the current DHS ball will be the standard and will break even more. That might ruin the sport IMHO.

Your conclusion is right, though: no need to bother with them yet if it isn't necessary. You might follow the discussions a little more, though: they are quite interesting and you'll be informed what balls are good and what balls are bad.

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Our club uses Tibhar balls. Their durability is quite poor and bounce uneven, so I definately would not recommend buying them.

Yes, we're using the same balls. Well, they were better than the Joola ones.

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As far as I understand, the teams in Belgium leagues are absolutely free to choose any ITTF approved 3*** ball, so are the rules.

What makes you think that this particular regulation is going to change next year? My guess would be that some people including possibly financially motivated officials spread such rumors, but no such a regulation has been passed passed.

My guess is they feel they have no choice, since they need to ready their top players for international competition where only plastic is used, and they don't want to have two different types of balls within the same league.
This seems to be the same for every league that I know off.

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I assumed that from 2015-16 the plastic balls are obligatory at all levels.. Is that correct? Even if it isn't, in a while there will no more supply of celluloid balls



The few top players for international competition all play in our 'super division' (< 1%) and they already use plastic. But Belgium has over 25.000 league players. About 95% of them play at 'provincial' level. It could be that on that level, the ambiguity continues. I hope this will not be the case.

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