Equipment Prices

says Spin and more spin.
says Spin and more spin.
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I read a lot of posts that complain about the price of equipment. I am okay with inexpensive equipment but I also think some of the complaining is unfounded. I just went and looked at the price of Tennis rackets. I saw prices ranging from $20.00 to $300.00. My guess is that the ones that cost $20.00 are in a sense equivalent to the toys you get in a store that they call Table Tennis Rackets that cost $5-$30.00 pre-assembled. The key word here is: Toys.

The $300.00 rackets need to be strung. Then you need a court. In the US there are places you can play Table Tennis that are free and there are places you can play Tennis for free. Both come at a cost: the number of people who are trying to play for free and who those people are. With Tennis, the places where you have to pay, you pay exponentially more for the court than if you played Table Tennis. When you play tennis, usually you are reserving a court for a block of time and you have to bring the people you are going to play with. When I go to play at the club I play at, I pay a small monthly fee for unlimited play and I can just show up and end up playing with 1-30 different players in a given evening. The amount I pay for one month is probably what I would pay for two hours of court time at a tennis court. And if you look at the social aspects of the scenario, you get much more from the table tennis club than from the tennis club.

If you really look at the price of the sport, I cannot really think of another sport that is quite as affordable. And, although there are rackets that cost $250.00 for just the wood, there are setups that are quite affordable ranging from $40.00 for something pretty decent from a place like ZeroPong.com (rubbers included) to something like a Stiga Energy Wood for $40.00 and then adding good Chinese rubbers for $15.00 per rubber and you have quite a good setup for $70.00.

I think the high-tech blades are really good equipment, but, it is not the kind of equipment I like using. All the high-tech blades have things like Carbon in them. I personally do not love the way Carbon feels, even in a great blade like the Timo Boll ALC. It is a great product, but I think the Stiga Allround Evolution at $35.00 is not any worse of a blade and I would rather use a blade like that or the Stiga Energy Wood to develop my strokes.

In my opinion Table Tennis companies should have the high-tech equipment. They should have the old standards as well. They should have a variety of products. They serve a purpose. Tenergy is great rubber. I love it. But I also like DHS Hurricane which is not so expensive. You can get top quality equipment at lots of different prices.

When you buy equipment that has been made using the newest technology, the stuff that is cutting edge, you always will pay more. Part of what you are paying for is the research that goes into developing those new technologies. And what ever I think of Carbon, what a company like Butterfly is doing with Arylate-Carbon, and Zylon-Carbon combinations is very cool technology. Fast blades with a lot of dwell time usually do not grow on trees (literally), unless they are Swedish trees. :) And I personally think that the development of these new ways of making equipment is helping the game progress.

Same thing with speed-glue effect, pre-tension or spring-sponge rubbers. If you compare the new stuff to Sriver without speed glue, there is no comparison. You can get good equipment that is not exorbitantly expensive, but if you want the latest technologies you will probably have to pay for it.

In the end, this is actually good for the sport.

That is at least my opinion.
 
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I think Butterfly rose all their prices for some reason. But u are absolutely right, there are a lot of brands out there that sell same quality rubbers as Butterfly for a very affordable price. They are just not as famous as Butterfly and you have to take little risk trying them out. But I think based on reviews you could make a good choice of equipment that fits within your budget.
 
says Spin and more spin.
says Spin and more spin.
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Dec 2010
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Read 11 reviews
It is true, Butterfly has artificially raised their prices. I am still okay with that. I never loved their blades. Most of them feel too solid and do not have much feeling. The blades like Viscaria, Timo Boll Spirit, ALC, ZLC, Jun Mizutani, Michael Maze, those blades I do like but they are way too expensive for me to actually want to use them. And the truth is there are a lot of all wood blades made in Sweden that I like more than those blades.

The Cornilleau Hinotiec All+ blade that I am using right now I really like and it is not very expensive, Stiga Allround Evolution, Stiga Allround Oversize, Stiga Energy Wood, I love those blades. They have this snap that I love: A lot of dwell time, slow for the short game with a lot of spin, and when you swing a little harder they kick into a different gear and the ball flies. If I ever want a faster blade I will go back to using a Stiga Clipper or the Cornilleau Hinotec Off. There are several blades from Yasaka that are inexpensive and feel great as well, like the Extra series blades. And Donic's Applegren, Person and Waldner blades that are wood are affordable and good quality.

In my opinion Nittaku's blades are overpriced as well. They are good and their quality control, like Butterfly's, is better than the other companies. But the products are overpriced. I am okay with that. There is room for there to be a few companies where the products are top notch and the prices are higher than they should be. There will always be the players who play with the highest priced equipment and can afford it. And then there will always be players who have researched things and get products that are just as good without spending as much. Table Tennis is a sport where you have to use your intelligence, your intelligence is at least as important as your technique, in game play. In buying equipment we should also use our intelligence. If the mark up is worth it to you and you want the Timo Boll ZLC and can afford it, go for it. Otherwise research and find something that will be good for your game for less. There are benefits to both options.
 
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Timo Boll Spirit is definitely a very good blade. It's rather expensive but I don't mind paying a lot of money for a good blade. As long as you're careful with it and you don't damage it, you can use it for several years. So you don't have to renew it like you have to buy new rubbers every 2-3 months. I think you should reconsider buying an expensive Butterfly blade as you're sure to get a high quality blade that will last a long time.
 
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