New user intro + advice on gear experimenting + advice on Lodro (just kidding)

[nzbloggs]

Greetings TTD folks.

Lodro... Who is this man and why does he appear on all my internet searches? (strictly table tennis related searches...)

Seems all the equipment I search info for eventually lead to a comment by Lodro 🤣 If you're reading this, thanks for your comments regarding Sanwei T5000, it sounds like an amazing budget blade discovery. Mine is in the mail

-------------------

Hi all, I panicked and bought some things on sale, and will probably buy some more. I havent played in years and just started playing again and contracted some form of consumerism disease combine with new hobby fascination that appears to be have named EJ

Prices in $NZD if anyone is curious. From AliExpress unless stated

- Sanwei T5000 blade ($5 NZD from Taobao)
- Sanwei T5000 blade ($12)
- Sanwei TR-3 ($7)
- Loki Rxton 3 Pro ($13)
- Friendship 729 Battle 2 SOFT 37 ($18 from Taobao)
- Mercury 2 Medium Red x2 ($4.30 each)
- Mercury 2 Medium Black x1 ($4.30 each)
- Kokutaku 868-Blue x3 (Black rubber) ($4.60 each) (Kokutaku states mid-hard)

Some comments say people prefer Kokutaku 868-Blue for FH over Mercury2. Idk if it makes much difference at this price point.

I want to assemble some bats with my friends, so we can get a feel what budget Chinese gear is like.

We're probably mid-beginner level. Can handle decent spin and can identify different shots enough that at least we can youtube it later and learn what we were doing wrong. Our natural skills seem pretty good for casual players, but lacking training or fundamentals... seems I can't buy those from AliExpress 🤯

Existing gear:
- Sanwei Echo with T88 III rubber both sides.
- Random 10 year old stuff collected from garages.

Gear coming / To be purchased:
- Budget #1: Sanwei TR-3 / FH Kokutaku 868 / BH Mercury 2
- Budget #2: Sanwei TR5000 / FH Kokutaku 868 / BH Mercury 2
- Premium Budget #1: Sanwei TR5000 / FH Loki Rxton 3 Pro / BH Battle 2 SOFT
- Premium Budget #2: Sanwei TR5000 / recommend different style rubbers?

It sounds like the Battle 2 Soft is very tacky, and can lift a ball for a few seconds.

After checking our group's bats none can lift a ball for even 0.1 seconds, so we're interested to experience the Battle 2 tackyness and how that affects playstyle.

For Premium Budget #2 does anyone have suggestions? Perhaps we could try hard rubbers?

Previously I've always been told soft rubbers give more control, but actually in my searches recently I see people saying the opposite. Harder rubbers give more control... seems like a very personal opinion and you need to experience it yourself.

I've read there is many styles of rubber. Euro, Chinese, hybrid, grippy, tacky. I found it hard to identify exactly what some of those are. Is there a budget option missing from our list that would give us a different playstyle to experiment with?

I welcome suggestions... and also open to purchasing a 5th budget option if there is a particularly different style that would be interesting to try.

Thanks all 😁 I've had a great time reading through this forum and finally joined

 

[Ultravisitor]

Yinhe Moon 12 is a really nice rubber, only comes in blue unfortunately. I recommend it for bh. Has a classic feel to it, but can get really fast if you put it power. Very easy to play with.

Palio AK47 is another budget classic many people like. Cheap Tensor-stlye rubber. Pretty bouncy and fast.

Loki Telson 100 probably the most "Japanese" Chinese rubber you can get. Very fast and very spinny, not easy to play.

In general Loki rubbers are worth checking out IMO. Check the big loki thread.

You can get Tibhar Aurus in different hardness on AliX pretty cheap. Its a older gen Tensor made in Germany, it has many gears and is very durable.

IMO control comes from rubbers that behave predictable and let you vary speed and placement easily. Some rubber are bouncier than others and are harder to predict regarding their power input.

 

[yamagata]

Welcome to the forum! I am a beginner since 8 months and have two problems. One - there is not enough time to test everything I want to test. I already have 7 different blades and 10 different rubbers. It would take many years to truly test these setup combinations out. The other problem I have is that I am not good enough to understand the differences. I can feel that there is a difference, but not if it is good or bad. For now, I will play out my Pimplepark Epos for the next 3-4 months after I probably will go all in on Yinhe Mercury 2 and Yinhe 12 Moon Green (available for purches in Sweden), so I look forward to hear your comments on your rubber choices going forward!

 

[Larshos]

Both Mercury 2 and Battle 2 Soft should be very tacky. Very different from most premade non Chinese-style bats.
Softer, slower non-tacky rubbers usually gives more control in looping, driving etc. but tend to be "springy" in short game, where good touch is required to not give the opponent a high ball that is easy to attack. A harder, more "dead" rubber is better in that compartment. Dead is maybe not the right word, but such rubbers require more effort to compress and activate the rebound of the sponge.
With that being said, the tackiness of Chinese style rubbers usually mitigate this on softer variants.
Your T88 III should also be a tacky rubber, however if it is worn out and/or not protected/cleaned properly then the tackiness i probably worn away. Get some rubber protectors and a sponge.

I would stay with the Sanwei Echo, and buy several different rubbers to try on it. It's a very good allround blade.

 

[nzbloggs]

Both Mercury 2 and Battle 2 Soft should be very tacky. Very different from most premade non Chinese-style bats.
Softer, slower non-tacky rubbers usually gives more control in looping, driving etc. but tend to be "springy" in short game, where good touch is required to not give the opponent a high ball that is easy to attack. A harder, more "dead" rubber is better in that compartment. Dead is maybe not the right word, but such rubbers require more effort to compress and activate the rebound of the sponge.
With that being said, the tackiness of Chinese style rubbers usually mitigate this on softer variants.
Your T88 III should also be a tacky rubber, however if it is worn out and/or not protected/cleaned properly then the tackiness i probably worn away. Get some rubber protectors and a sponge.

I would stay with the Sanwei Echo, and buy several different rubbers to try on it. It's a very good allround blade.

Good info thanks.

I checked the T88 III and they cannot lift the ball. 3 months old and didn't know about rubber protectors so maybe any tackiness is gone?

I've got rubber protectors now, and I'll grab a sponge also.

Yeah the Echo does seem nice. I was tempted to buy another and have one as stable setup and one for experimenting. But I can buy 3 or 4 budget blades for the same price as Echo

 

[nzbloggs]

Welcome to the forum! I am a beginner since 8 months and have two problems. One - there is not enough time to test everything I want to test. I already have 7 different blades and 10 different rubbers. It would take many years to truly test these setup combinations out. The other problem I have is that I am not good enough to understand the differences. I can feel that there is a difference, but not if it is good or bad. For now, I will play out my Pimplepark Epos for the next 3-4 months after I probably will go all in on Yinhe Mercury 2 and Yinhe 12 Moon Green (available for purches in Sweden), so I look forward to hear your comments on your rubber choices going forward!

Haha that's a lot of gear to try. I'm probably in a similar position in terms of feel. Can feel a difference but not understand if it's good or bad.

Yinhe 12 Moon has been recommended twice already to be so I'll definitely check that out. I love the colour options too

 

[Tyce]

Moon 12 is the most disappointing rubber I tried in my Aliexpress EJ period. It just doesn't work as a Euro tensor, yet it's not tacky and there's no grip unless you apply some serious impact.
It looks gorgeous, but it was a waste of money.

 

[Larshos]

Moon 12 is the most disappointing rubber I tried in my Aliexpress EJ period. It just doesn't work as a Euro tensor, yet it's not tacky and there's no grip unless you apply some serious impact.
It looks gorgeous, but it was a waste of money.

I wholeheartedly disagree. It's not tacky, no, but IMO there is a lot of grip. Well worth trying for the price.

 

[Tyce]

I wholeheartedly disagree. It's not tacky, no, but IMO there is a lot of grip. Well worth trying for the price.

I'm not denying others' experiences, just sharing my own. Ball slippage to the max, dumped it in the bin.

 

[Zwill]

Moon 12 has two different topsheet. One with the old Yinhe logo and one with the new Yinhe logo. The old Yinhe logo version is stiffer and not so grippy, the new Yinhe logo version was much more grippy and more flexible.
I only saw the new topsheet on Moon 12 M- hardness so far and everything else had the old logo. Not sure if this changed over time or there's any logic behind or just random.