OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Anyone here tried Meteor 9012?

Very little written about it here or elsewhere. What I did dredge up described it as a ho-hum all-around LP, apparently after limited testing. But could there be more to it, I wondered?

I was recently given a sheet of red 1.0mm Meteor 9012, and not expecting much, slapped it on a blade and took a few strokes against the robot.. only to be pretty impressed with it. Now, mind you, I'm presently trying to transition from OX LP to sponged LP, and have decided to see if I can incorporate Guillotine S 1.2mm into my game. So the last thing I need muddying the waters is yet another new sponged LP to distract me. But I digress.

9012's pips are thin, grippy, and on the stiffer side, kind of like 1615 only grippier. Pip size and spacing are similar looking to CK531A but 9012 is softer. Meteor markets 9012 as an medium pip but it looks and plays like a long pip (a la Meteor 71-2), and the ITTF approved racket coverings list shows 9012 as Long, not Out. The sponge is yellow and appears to be the same sponge I have on Meteor 8512 where the white sponge was billed as OFF and the yellow sponge as DEF.

Why do I like 9012? First and foremost, it may be the easiest to use LP I've ever played with. Balls simply do more of what I want, how I want, with 9012 than with other LPs I've used. Speed-wise I'd say it's on par with Pogo 0.6mm. When chopping, 9012 keeps the ball low and flat, and landing the ball near the back line is not at all difficult. Topspin drives are unusually easy and I find I can vary the spin from near zero to full dip-and-flick LP loop and still maintain consistency.

Thus far it's been very durable with no broken pips or other signs of wear. I'll be pitting 9012 against some live opponents tomorrow at the club and I'll report back with more info. Hopefully 9012 won't end up being a pussycat in actual combat.

I wonder how it would be in Ox then? I have now tied Pogo 0.6 and while it is ok against flat hitters and weak topspinners, its a fail against heavy loopers (for me). Pogo Ox is way more effective.

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

I used this for a couple of matches at my club's weekly RR last night and it worked very well. In particular, chopping was unexpectedly effective, driving opponents' balls into the net when I thought I hadn't put on much spin. In practice, an 1800 player's first loops against my chops were going into the net.. something I've not seen from any LP save perhaps C-8, and 9012 is far easier to use than C-8. I'll be bringing 9012 to new Zealand next week to test against Greggy in Christchurch. For $7 a sheet (from Eacheng) I think 9012 is well worth trying!

So after playing 9012 in two successive club RRs I'm setting it aside. Reason? Opponents did not struggle against it but I sure did. It has a longer arc than Talon OX which made many of my BH drives go long. It also lacked sufficient speed to keep blocks and pushes against short serves from being attacked given the abundance of available reaction time.

Wow that was quite an about face in it Nathanso. Your second last post had me readying to go to ebay!

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

The perils of robot vs live opponent comparisons, I'm afraid. I'll hold fire next go round until I've put the next rubber thru all the requisite paces.

Sent from my Android phone

Perhaps what happened was that the rubber's combination of speed and friction at first presented itself positively in that it made more backspin off low-spin balls than you were accustomed to, Nathanso, but at the longer term this would make the rubber more difficult to control. Meteor rubbers seem to attract players looking for more juice in their chops, these days (not the 8512, though), perhaps in part because Martinspin has been very enthousiastic about LP's having these pseudo-SP-characteristics, and his enthousiasm has inspired others, but as I understand it M. has been using a fast blade and relatively fast and spinny LPs for a very long time, so he knows how to deal with them and they have become a part of his style of play, whereas most defenders are used to All or DEF blades and LPs with less speed and friction, so they are likely to have difficulty adapting their own style of play to faster and grippier stuff. This is how bias generally works. Martinspin is certainly posting info of great quality, but one has to keep his bias in mind when interpreting his opinions for one's own situation. In fact, this applies to everybody's posts. So if one would be looking for info for one's own particular use, the trick would be to have it from a player who is using similar equipment and style as oneself, but is more advanced; or from someone who knows about bias and is able to connect different players with the equipment which would suit them best. Man, I would love to find someone like that.

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Without opponent, no match.

Kees, My BBC blade is stiff and OFF-rated, and like Martinspin I prefer LPs that support SP type strokes. In addition to what I already noted about 9012, it also had the annoying tendency of making opponents' returns fly slightly low so an inordinate number of balls skimmed the net on their way to landing on my side, or so it seemed! I'm now testing Guillotine where higher-rated Greggy has been giving me pointers, and with whom I'll be playing tomorrow in Christchurch.

Sent from my Android phone

Welcome downunder Nathanso! You stopped short of the best "island" though

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Nathanso wrote:
Guillotine... Hope your opponents lose their heads over it...
That bit about returns of opponents skimming the net is isteresting. Did these returns come when you were chopping (so they expected backspin) or when you were blocking (when they might be expecting some topspin)? If they came when you were chopping, it might suggest that you were on the right track and that just a bit more backspin (after you had come to get to know the rubber better and found the perect strokes for it) would send the balls into the net. On the other hand, it might suggest that even when you were chopping well, opponents could get it back - just, but that is enough... If they came when you were blocking, that reminds me of experiences I had with playing SP, opponents hitting the ball into the net when I hit or rolled; seeing the stroke they apparently expected a lot of topspin and closed their blades too far.

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Without opponent, no match.