really? I read that it is slightly softer with more dwell. But maybe this is just differences in the wood.
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Be...
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No systematic difference. I have owned several of each. Small sample size causes people to conclude all sorts of things, more so about blades that are more or less the same thing.. People expect that there to be differences. They tend to confirm that bias. Not all of the Viscarias i have had are the same. But they are all the same .model.
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So, I have finally read the Nexy Diary thingy ma jiggy.
Please correct me if I am wrong, as it is a lot of information to process- The key factor if the Tenergy's success is the uniform distribution of pores in the sponge, which causes the sponge material to stretch out in a PHYSICAL manner, whereas ESN (Donic, Andro) use some chemical to stretch it out in a CHEMICAL manner.
What I do not understand is how this means that Tenergy is superior to ESN. Nexy mentions that ESN regularly "bottoms out", as he (or she?) describes it, which along with the lack of harmony between the tackiness of the top sheet and the springiness of the sponge leads to an inferior rubber.
So does that mean that Tenergy is better simply because of a great combination between a technologically superior sponge and a topsheet which perfectly complements the super sponge?
And to answer Carl's question about whether I think that equipment is more important than technique. Of course, I understand that technique is more 'important to develop than purchasing the best equipment. But the world of all the different types and technologies of table tennis rubbers and blades is fascinating, and I do have a desire to know more about them. And just to reassure you, I have only ever used 2 real blades in my whole table tennis career, so I am not really an equipment junkie (or at least I do not think so), it is just I have an interest in the equipment.
Please correct me if I am wrong, as it is a lot of information to process- The key factor if the Tenergy's success is the uniform distribution of pores in the sponge, which causes the sponge material to stretch out in a PHYSICAL manner, whereas ESN (Donic, Andro) use some chemical to stretch it out in a CHEMICAL manner.
What I do not understand is how this means that Tenergy is superior to ESN. Nexy mentions that ESN regularly "bottoms out", as he (or she?) describes it, which along with the lack of harmony between the tackiness of the top sheet and the springiness of the sponge leads to an inferior rubber.
So does that mean that Tenergy is better simply because of a great combination between a technologically superior sponge and a topsheet which perfectly complements the super sponge?
And to answer Carl's question about whether I think that equipment is more important than technique. Of course, I understand that technique is more 'important to develop than purchasing the best equipment. But the world of all the different types and technologies of table tennis rubbers and blades is fascinating, and I do have a desire to know more about them. And just to reassure you, I have only ever used 2 real blades in my whole table tennis career, so I am not really an equipment junkie (or at least I do not think so), it is just I have an interest in the equipment.
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The main point is that hard shots from pros can push rubbers to limits that they want something that responds well under those circumstances. I remember a high level player telling me that he would test rubbers by putting then through a heavy serve, heavy push, heavy opener and countertopspin drill, and listen to the response of the rubber on the countertopspin. If the rubber made a funny noise or slipped, he would write it off. If the rubber didn't, he could trust it.
That's why it's always funny for me to see people reviewing rubbers/blades without video or talking about their level of play. Just seeing you loop can give me an idea of whether I should trust your evaluation of a rubber, and there is stuff you can get away with at the 2200 level that falls apart at the 2600 level. So all reviews are level sensitive, so to speak.
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This. It's always funny seeing people say "this is enough for me" or "oh I need something better" when they could barely create proper spin on their loop or able to control their spin on pushes.
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Be...
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Of course, outside of the table tennis skill level stuff, there is some of the chemistry and engineering part. I read the Nexy posts about rubber history at the time with interest, and the history was interesting, but honestly was not convinced by all of it. I trust his expertise more on blades than rubber as things stand now. Some of it I couldn't tell if it was a language issue or maybe some other limitation, but bear in mind that the whole thing was a preface to the introduction he was making for his own "latest and greatest newest most advanced thinking in table tennis" product, which is now available, recently. A lot of what he writes is self-serving in that way. I think it pays to be aware of that when you read him.
For what it's worth reaction relatively high level (2450-2600) Tenergy users in my city have to MX-P is generally "not bad at all, I could use this, how much did you say it costs again?". The grain of salt is that none of them hit with it for more than a couple of minutes. But I think it is actually possible that some world top 100 players use an ESN rubber because they like it and not just because they are contractually obligated.
For what it's worth reaction relatively high level (2450-2600) Tenergy users in my city have to MX-P is generally "not bad at all, I could use this, how much did you say it costs again?". The grain of salt is that none of them hit with it for more than a couple of minutes. But I think it is actually possible that some world top 100 players use an ESN rubber because they like it and not just because they are contractually obligated.
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I find it interesting that you trust his expertise on anything. Yes, a lot of it is promotional hype, but I doubt he is saying anything that he hasn't discussed with good players.
For me, as much as I like Karis, and I use it largely because I prefer harder topsheets, the one thing that leaves me skeptical about it is that it is a close cousin of Airoc Astro and I never used Airoc Astro. Without that, I can't tell what Karis does better or worse.
Oh. So you are saying that this Nexy guy/girl writes for the purposes of the Nexy company.
And what exactly is Nexy? Is it a toy company which is vertically integrating into professional table tennis equipment? Because I see a lot of toy bicycles and things like that
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The guy has definitely built some blades people seem to like. He is willing to do what seem to me to be some pretty unconventional things with wood, also. He was insightful enough to start marketing seamless balls early on (even though he doesn't make those himself, and he made some fairly inflated claims about how his are somehow different and better, which was not even remotely obvious to me, and I feel like I know quite a bit about balls).
Compared to everything else in TT equipment design, rubber is a whole different thing, and specifically requires are pretty high level of technical expertise in a LOT of different things, which makes it orders of magnitude more complicated than almost everything else in the sport. Thing is, I can't say anything about stuff I haven't tried and I have never tried Karis. This guy's diaries at MyTT get my BS detectors vibrating, sort of like a special Spidey Sense. Of course, unlike Spiderman, my version is not infallible. Even though I am pretty skeptical, I would definitely be interested in hitting with it in the unlikely event someone here shows up with a sheet.
Like you I am sure he discusses his stuff with good players but my experience is that good players have really good hands for feeling when they like something, but in a lot of cases would not be able to tell you anything about what went into the design of the blade or rubber that caused them to like it. (I am also bad in that way, threads where people talk about how wood affects the playing properties of blades, for example pass me by).
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I think for rubber design, building a rubber from scratch via a chemical process is different from selecting and specifying a pimple geometry and topsheet thickness. The rubber in terms of physical appearance and composition is clearly a variant of Airoc or Airoc Astro. What could be different I'd what the specific parameters of sponge density and topsheet pimple configuration were tested and that is largely experimentation (I mean, looking at the differences between the T05 and T64 and T80 sheets, I could come up with something and I know next to nothing about the chemistry or rubber design).
Making blades is kinda similar. You can experiment without knowing the actual physics and get something playable.
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Be...
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Yes, this is all true. I think there are more tricks to sponge than just density, but in general this makes sense to me. It still amazes me what big differences in playing properties you can get from the pip geometry and layout within the Tenergy series.
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says
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Be...
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Sorry. I was a little confused
At first you said that you understood a lot more about stuff from this guy, and then you implied that some of the things he said was incorrect, but I understand that you were talking about something else
Also, I am not a troll
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Who exactly do you mean by "good players?" Are there any top players sponsored by Nexy?
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I have now also read the Nexy-posts on MyTT. Very interesting read. However, I agree with Baal that part of what he is writing is to convince the readers of where Nexy Karis excels and which part of the market share should be theirs. I mean, they basically say they can't compete with Tenergy, so that leaves the nearest competitor which now is Tibhar MX-P. A big part of his posts is down talking MX-P but praising Stiga Rubbers (which to my knowledge don't have a big market share).
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I don't know what's up with you, but the reason why I care that much for equipment because I enjoy it. Just feels so good to try new blades, rubbers and understand them! Of course I am also looking for the best equipment for me, but it's like looking for the holy grail, or philosophers' stone.
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