Poll: Do you like the new plastic ball?

TTHopeful · Mar 8, 2015

So pretty much everyone has tried the new plastic ball now with many associations having to implement the new ball this July.

What are your thoughts? Do you prefer playing with the new ball? Do you think the sport is more attractive with the new ball?

Looking forward to your discussions.

Baal · Mar 8, 2015

You really can't talk about "the" plastic ball since there are 3-4 versions that are quite different from each other and from celluloid. There are currently 5 factories in the world making plastic balls, 4 of which have brought balls to market that are ITTF approved.

Two factories are making seamed balls in China (DF and DHS) and sold under many company's names, including every major European company (unfortunately). Seamless balls are made in China and sold as XSF, Yinhe, Nexy, Stag, Palio, and some others. And the Nittaku Premium 40+ are made in Japan (and not to be confused with the Nittaku SHA, which is a re-branded DHS).

All are somewhat different. The ITTF-approved versions of seamless balls and the good Nittakus play reasonably well and are not hard to get used to, but the others until now have been complete garbage (but maybe there is some hope that this will improve).

All 40+ balls have somewhat reduced spin and speed compared to the 39.5 mm celluloid balls we were using before. All of the plastic balls have a rougher external surface as well, which causes the ball to jump more in response to sidespin, and to sit up a bit more on pushes. All but seamless have had durability problems up to now. The Chinese seamed balls bounce quite low and IMHO are very hard to adjust to. They are the least durable in general, and they have the highest percentage of deviation from roundness, which I think can occur after a hard hit to the table. This doesn't happen with seamless because they will just shatter on the rare occasions when they break. Nittaku Premium balls are less than 2.70g, seamless balls are around 2.73-2.76g, and DHS-made balls are almost always over 2.80 g.

I have come to prefer the seamless balls and the good Nittakus to celluloid, mainly because it's all I have been using for last 9-10 months. I still hate the Chinese seamed balls.

So my answer to your poll is yes (seamless and good Nittaku) and no (everything else at the moment).

It is a problem right now that we have so many ball variations in legal competition. That situation I vote big NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The increased price is a problem. And only the seamless balls are highly durable. Finally, Nittaku Japan balls have major availability problems.

Der_Echte · Mar 8, 2015

Stimmt. Like Baal said. Too many different animals, cant classify them all the same.

TTHopeful · Mar 9, 2015

Baal said:
You really can't talk about "the" plastic ball since there are 3-4 versions that are quite different from each other and from celluloid. There are currently 5 factories in the world making plastic balls, 4 of which have brought balls to market that are ITTF approved.

Two factories are making seamed balls in China (DF and DHS) and sold under many company's names, including every major European company (unfortunately). Seamless balls are made in China and sold as XSF, Yinhe, Nexy, Stag, Palio, and some others. And the Nittaku Premium 40+ are made in Japan (and not to be confused with the Nittaku SHA, which is a re-branded DHS).

All are somewhat different. The ITTF-approved versions of seamless balls and the good Nittakus play reasonably well and are not hard to get used to, but the others until now have been complete garbage (but maybe there is some hope that this will improve).

All 40+ balls have somewhat reduced spin and speed compared to the 39.5 mm celluloid balls we were using before. All of the plastic balls have a rougher external surface as well, which causes the ball to jump more in response to sidespin, and to sit up a bit more on pushes. All but seamless have had durability problems up to now. The Chinese seamed balls bounce quite low and IMHO are very hard to adjust to. They are the least durable in general, and they have the highest percentage of deviation from roundness, which I think can occur after a hard hit to the table. This doesn't happen with seamless because they will just shatter on the rare occasions when they break. Nittaku Premium balls are less than 2.70g, seamless balls are around 2.73-2.76g, and DHS-made balls are almost always over 2.80 g.

I have come to prefer the seamless balls and the good Nittakus to celluloid, mainly because it's all I have been using for last 9-10 months. I still hate the Chinese seamed balls.

So my answer to your poll is yes (seamless and good Nittaku) and no (everything else at the moment).

It is a problem right now that we have so many ball variations in legal competition. That situation I vote big NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The increased price is a problem. And only the seamless balls are highly durable. Finally, Nittaku Japan balls have major availability problems.

Very detailed post Baal. You are very right. It is crazy the number of variations each new plastic ball has. I mean during the celluloid era, there was not much difference between lets say a TSP 3* and a Butterfly 3*. You never noticed the difference. However with the plastic balls you notice the variation by a large amount.

And plus as you have mentioned they break easy. I saw players having problems at the German National Championships last weekend with balls breaking. Perhaps plastic is not the right replacement for celluloid? Plastic just cannot withstand the forces of table tennis..

Baal · Mar 10, 2015

I like seamless balls and the Nittaku Premiums are not bad. I think the makers of the Chinese seamed balls have discovered that it is not so easy to simply transfer the old technology from one material to the other, but in time maybe they will figure it out. Of course, there are many different kinds of plastic.

mahomedy13 · Mar 10, 2015

I really like the nexy 3* ball.prefer it over the celluloid.

garbol · Mar 10, 2015

i still prefer celluloid most cause of durbality
second reason is plastic balls has sometimes unusual bounce (pop up or slight with low bounce)
this bounce is significant... its like 10cm or so
eg. im wating to block topspin but ball bounces 10 cm into my face

jen_molina · Mar 11, 2015

I hope that the 5 makers of the poly ball we have the same weight and make their decision that the price of he poly ball is not to high or low. Because not all players could afford to buy the new ball. That only my suggestion.

Iczy · Mar 11, 2015

I currently play with Stiga Optimum 40+ polyballs and they are not bad. No adjustment needed for me and my club members. In Thailand, if you want to compete in TTAT tournaments, you need to play with polyballs so we really have no choice in the matter.

aznalanx32 · Mar 11, 2015

We competed with Poly balls for a while already but we(our clubs) just started seriously training within the new Usatt guidelines.

M51 · Mar 11, 2015

This really shouldn't be a "yes or no" question. I've tried two different poly balls so far, and they were practically incomparable. One was barely distinguishable from the celluloid ball (DHS ***) and the other was pure horror (JOOLA ***). Like they weren't even made from the same material.

EricTian · Mar 11, 2015

My friend came back from a Korean table tennis club a few weeks ago with eight plastic balls from eight different companies - and the bounce test we did was horrifying. Some balls were bouncing four times in the time others were bouncing three. Never touched plastic balls since, but will probably have to..

fanTT · Mar 11, 2015

EricTian said:
My friend came back from a Korean table tennis club a few weeks ago with eight plastic balls from eight different companies - and the bounce test we did was horrifying. Some balls were bouncing four times in the time others were bouncing three. Never touched plastic balls since, but will probably have to..

It would be really interesting to see that bounce test all of those balls. Maybe you filmed it?

ronz91 · Mar 11, 2015

Are there any ebay sellers or sellers in general that offer poly balls at a decent price with free international shipping? What are fair prices to pay for poly balls?

mahomedy13 · Mar 11, 2015

ronz91 said:
Are there any ebay sellers or sellers in general that offer poly balls at a decent price with free international shipping? What are fair prices to pay for poly balls?

Contact Tony(ttshop.co.za).he stocks them at an affordable price.he stocks both seamed(DHS) and seamless(Yinhe).

That should be the cheapest option

Poll: Do you like the new plastic ball?

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