OOAK Table Tennis Forum

When you choose a

- table tennis rubber
- a blade

what are the key factors you consider before buying one?

Edit - the following is based on replies so far (01/09/2019)

Blades:

price

weight

hardness

feedback

balance

linear power

playing style

speed

personal testing

Rubbers:

price

reviews

friend recommendation

personal testing

hardness

weight

production type / tensor non tensor

comparison to other rubbers

spin

feedback

speed

For a blade: 1) weight. 2) weight. 3) weight.

I don't like blades that weigh more than 80 grams or so, so I haven't tried any of those arylate-carbon blades (still looking for a lightweight one). Haven't tried any of those balsa blades, either (I used to make and play with my own years ago, though). And I've pretty much stopped trying different blades since I started playing with the Sanwei M8. I've got a couple of tote bags full of blades by now, including some rather expensive all-hinoki ones, just sitting there unused.

Rubbers? 1) I never buy the same expensive rubber twice... Other than that, I'm usually tempted into buying the more inexpensive rubbers based on stuff posted about them, usually on this forum (the last three being AK47 Blue, Reactor Tornado and Three Swords Red Dragon). I will usually buy a new rubber if it's relatively inexpensive (less than $15) and if it's gotten a bombastic recommendation. In pretty much all cases I've been disappointed.. not because the rubbers weren't good (they usually play just fine), but because they weren't much different from others I've already tried and didn't immediately increase my playing level by 50 ratings points. I've yet to come across that super rubber that only pros can use and I can't because it's too fast and uncontrollable (haven't tried Tenergy 05 yet, though). I HAVE found rubbers that were too SLOW for me (H3 and Ckylin come to mind).

Iskandar

Are my existing ones still serviceable?
/anti-EJ

_________________
Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

I suppose, if I'm an EJ, I'm a cynical one...

Iskandar

I buy based on my budget!

Mostly I look at weight for blades. Anything above 80g I tend to avoid. Nowadays, I might start making exception to that rule but I doubt I will be buying non-Balsa blades, if you haven't guessed, Cork or Balsa core blades are the lightest you can find and buy.

Rubbers are the only things I buy regularly, and I prefer Yasaka rubbers.

For "experimenting" and for "science" I tend to buy anything that meets my fancy, I avoid extra-hard, extra-fast, extra-tensor and extra-heavy rubbers like the plague

Also I have a tendency to select for Control+Spin similar to how TG2, TG2Neo ratings. I have mostly avoided DHS rubbers except for H3/H2/TG2. I did have G888 once, that was a stupidly heavy thing like a big rock

I recently got Hype XT 40 pro and Yinhe Jupiter II and some other rubber I forget

All I can say is either EJ'ing for incremental variety or for vast catalog disparate variety it really doesn't matter much. As long as you can find the "perfect" and "feels good" equipment and you keep practicing and playing and perfecting the techniques with the same setup is the key to unlocking the next level of each player's game.

Problem is how can you find the "perfect" setup quickly ?

_________________
__________________________________________________________
Backup C-pen blades:

• TSP Black Balsa 7.0 :
  1. FH/BH-YRakza9/XOmegaVT
  2. FH/BH-TSP Spectol/Yinhe Qing OX
• 729 Bomb C-P : FH/BH-DHS H2 Orig/DHS H3 Orig
• TSP Versal :
  1. FH/BH-XOmegaVA/YJupiter-II
  2. FH/BH-*blank*

Fun blades:

• Yasaka Battle Balsa(ST) : FH/BH- DHS TG2Neo/Gewo HypeXT 47
• Dr. Neubauer
  High Technology
  Cypress-Carbon(ST)
  ***************************** : FH/BH-YRakza7/YRakza7

==========================================================

Being a short pips hitter, I'm probably against the grain compared to you guys.

Blade: Heavy, 100-120g, anything less feels flimsy.
Balance between maximum high-end (smashing) power, linear output, and adequate crisp, penetrating, unfiltered/non-dampened impact feedback. Prefer medium hardness but high density, opposite of hollow (I'd rather eat a balsa blade than play with it).

Short pips: Again, best feedback and highest spin possible in the short pips category. Faster the better. Either very soft, or very hard, anything in between dampens/dulls the feedback.

Best in the soft category: Victas 102, Spinpips Red between 1.8-2.0mm.

Best in the hard category: 802-40 42 degrees, Haifu Dolphin max thickness.

Sort of off topic here, but I'm curious. When would you choose the "very soft", and when would you choose "very hard"? Or are they totally interchangeable? Would the choice depend on the blade? Would you choose thicker sponge with the "very soft"?

Iskandar

How do you decide if they are not serviceable ie what factors?

Cost: I will not pay more than 35 bucks for a rubber. And the cheaper the better.

Blades, I'll spend more on because they are less consumable than rubbers and I find them to be beautiful and fun to collect. Especially Jpens.

Otherwise, it depends on the style I'm going for. I usually favor slower rubbers and ALL to DEF blades, but lately I've been starting to like the JOO blade again. Of course, I've only played 4 times in 3 months so there's that.

_________________
Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions

for rubbers i consider if the rubber suits me (my style of play and also my level of skill)
i do a lot of research on the net by looking up reviews of rubbers before placing them on my wishlist

i also look at the price, if it is worth it or not to have a rubber
the price should not be over 35.67 USD (150 MYR) too

its prob the only reason why i havent tried a tensor rubber so far, yet

for blades not much honestly other than price
i have a 1 ply kiso hinoki jpen i got for around 35.74 USD (150.3 MYR) without shipping fees included

Blade: how battered are the edges? Does it still feel positive and balanced?

I've not changed blades very much, on balance. There have been a few experiments, usually based on something I read or something someone recommended, or something I tried, but the following stand out:

- Tibhar Defence Plus -- the first defensive blade I used. Used it for a long time, but replaced it with something faster. Sometimes used it as a backup, or for a bit of fun, and loved it right up until this year, when I started to feel it really was too slow for the way my game was developing
- Andro Hiloom -- first 'expensive' blade I bought -- hard to remember now, but I think it was very fast, and good quality. I bought it on recommendation, but I think my game wasn't ready for it.
- Barwell Fleet -- the faithful replacement for the Defence Plus. Used for 2.5 years I think, and only just sold it. Bought on recommendation - was a lovely blade.
- Donic Li Ping Kitex -- impulse replacement for Barwell Fleet, but feels like a blade I could live with for a long time. Bought after comparing with Barwell Fleet over several sessions.

Rubber: change every couple of months, because I play a lot. I simply get the drop-in replacement for the rubber I was using based on the sponsorship deal available at the time (ie now, I'm back with Donic)

Since abandoning SP on my FH, I've used Tenergy 05 or one of the Tensor competitors (Donic, Nittaku, Andro, Xiom). I did flirt briefly with triple spin chop, which I absolutely love, but my coach insists is too slow for a modern defender. When I have access to discounted stuff via club / friendly pro I use whatever is best value. If I don't have value option, I'll buy Tenergy, on the thinking that if you're going to pay full price, you might as well go for broke. Probably flawed thinking!

On BH I've learned that for my game, it takes a lot of time to become intimately familiar with how a LP behaves, so I prefer not to change. I've used Hellfire for the last few years, without change, and that was based on the recommendation of a good friend, who also plays LP at a high level. I've switched to Dtecs now, based on a comparison over a few sessions, and on recommendation from my coach. Other than being gently tempted by all the praise for Troublemaker, I don't see that changing - certainly not this season anyway.

So in summary: recommendation and trying out, together with availability of sponsored pricing.

_________________
Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

Thanks for the replies. Interesting, so far

Blades:

price

weight

hardness

feedback

balance

linear power

playing style

speed

personal testing

Rubbers:

price

reviews

friend recommendation

personal testing

hardness

weight

production type / tensor non tensor

comparison to other rubbers

spin

feedback

speed

Whilst feel has been mentioned, "control" isn't up there. Maybe because control is relative to a players ability? Either way, why market a rubber with a "control" rating if "control" isn't a factor consumers consider important?

Any other factors, or which do you think is the most important?

I like where this discussion is going!

You are right about control being subjective.

For some people, "forgiveness" as in having a high chance of landing a shot despite poorly executed stroke means control.

For others (ie me): predictability/linear response = control.

Some people feel a soft rubber on a balsa blade is controllable because it is very "accommodating" to mis-hit balls. After playing with these setups, they grow accustomed to the non-linearity. To me, such a set up would lack precise feedback and have unpredictable playing characteristics, thus low control.

IMO "feedback" can be very personal and to me, very important. I like a blade to be fairly stiff (1400+1500hz) yet can still transmit the "feel" of the impact "cleanly".

Its very easy to make a blade that becomes too stiff or too hard that they begin to dull the feedback. To me, this happens in blades that records higher than mid 1500's in frequency, or are made with very hard materials, or those that have composite materials (composites have very high vibration dampening properties, I haven't tried a single carbon blade that offers the crisp clean feel of all wood). Once sensation becomes "interrupted", you get the impression that you are not hitting hard enough on all but the highest effort strokes.

To me, a crisp hitting stiff blade with a small sweetspot is more desirable than a blade with a "superficial" large sweetspot, that yet dampens the feedback.

Hi Iskandar,

Its all theory at the moment but the ideal outcome is to cause sufficient deformation to the ball that your get the "pop" sound, and also to have "spike" vibrations transmitted to the fingers.

With very hard rubbers, I can get the ball to pop earlier (rubber is hard enough to deform the ball without completely bottoming out). With very soft rubbers, the rubber bottoms out easily and the blade easily deforms the balls. But anything in between "cushions" the deformation and pushes back the "sufficient deformation" stage on mid-impact strokes.

With blades that I feel are ideal after an exhaustive selection, I prefer soft rubbers because it best allows the blade characteristics to shine through. With blades of less than ideal feedback characteristics, I prefer very hard rubbers because those are less picky and "masks" some of the blade's deficiencies.

When I go blade-shopping, sure, I look at ratings for control, speed and spin, number of plies, type of wood etc... but at the end of the day, 90% of my reason for selecting a blade is just how comfortable it feels in my hand. Personal preferences are just way too important for me.
Rubbers... well, I don't change them a lot, so I try to look for something similar I got used to. And cost effective too.