Help me decide on my new purchase

I often mention the "Der_Echte Special" which would be a new Coles TT sourced 896 OFF- blade, a new XP2008 rubber, and recycle a FH rubber... all for $24 before shipping.

Sometimes, I use a slower setup like this a few months when in between main bats, always improve several aspects of my game doing this.

I think a new setup of that 896 blade and 2x XP2008 rubbers would be around $40-$45 delivered.

That would be a totally appropriate setup for a developing player for less than the cost of one sheet of modern popular rubber.

Fiftysomething said:

I know nothing about Yinhe, but I would not want to spend $50 to get same performance that I get from my Slyspin ready made bat. I would rather spend a little extra now for something that can get me more control or more spin in my attacks. Chances are I'm not going to buy another bat for a long time.

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The setup Der_Echte is talking about could be used at a professional level. I use a similar-priced setup from Zeropong.com ($55 and came with a free t-shirt) and traded with a men's national team coach for a few rallies. His shots were the exact same quality as with his $150 setup. Everything will feel like a rocket launcher compared to a department store premade.

thekleifheit13 said:

The setup Der_Echte is talking about could be used at a professional level. I use a similar-priced setup from Zeropong.com ($55 and came with a free t-shirt) and traded with a men's national team coach for a few rallies. His shots were the exact same quality as with his $150 setup. Everything will feel like a rocket launcher compared to a department store premade.

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This isn't quite true. I have an idea of the point that you are trying to make but what you used to test it probably wasn't a valid test. You would need to have him hit shots to a player around or above his level and see whether the player has more or less issues with the ball quality and how much effort he needs to produce that.

Yeah. Good enough for a mid-level player. The higher quality stuff is better. But not enough better for someone mid-level or lower to need the more expensive stuff.

Personal choice is fine. Nothing wrong with getting the products that are slightly better quality from more expensive companies.

I would notice the difference myself. But it would not change my level. Someone who is higher level, it would likely affect the level to some extent. But they could still use it when playing a lower level player.

Just for information, if you want to use H3 on BH, try to get 37 degree version, which is now available in commercial Neo. This is quite soft and very usable on BH. I recently got some from GH Sports on Aliexpress, but they may be OOS currently. I paid under £15 for it, slightly more expensive than harder versions.

NextLevel said:

This isn't quite true. I have an idea of the point that you are trying to make but what you used to test it probably wasn't a valid test. You would need to have him hit shots to a player around or above his level and see whether the player has more or less issues with the ball quality and how much effort he needs to produce that.

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That's a fair point, but what I was trying to say with my post is that he was able to pick up my racket and use it well, by any mortal's standards, without significantly changing anything about his swing. You're completely right about testing the true validity of my statement, though - he would have needed to play someone 5-6 skill levels better than me at least to see the true effects on his game.

I could prolly play 1900 plus level with 24 usd Der_Echte special... but my main bats will be better for my 2000 game.

Still, every time I used a slower setup for 3 months, I got better in a fee ways - namely point construction and consistency.

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Yeah here in the states my fav two places to order from is colesTT and/or Zeropong.

I think for anybody not super advanced to know the nuances of the differences from rubber to rubber, it really doesn't matter all that much IMO. Euro rubber, chinese rubber. They play differently but you'd figure them out and adjust your game accordingly in short time.

For me, I don't like spending $40+ on rubbers and I actually prefer tacky Chinese tacky rubbers that mostly Coles & Zeropong offer.

H3 Neo is my fav FH rubber. On the BH, take your pick. Maybe not something super tacky but it's up to you. I've actually found Dawei 2008XP from Cole at $10 to be quite a steal.

As far as blades, both probably would be fine. But I'll put in a plug in here for Gambler's Fire dragon series. I've had the touch & currently playing with the Fire Dragon Fast and it might be the best blade I've ever had. Even topping my Stiga Clipper in terms of quality. But it's all subjective.

Anyways, be sure to check out Zeropong.com also. They have good stuff. Their rubbers are solid also. But I still prefer Hurricane.

The thing about fast equipment is that it is usually good for general looping. The issue is all the other things that you need to do to be a good player that are not general looping and that occur more and more as you get more advanced - like returning serves with touch to prevent attacks or serving short or controlling spin from players you don't play all the time.

In general, the more powerful a player you are and the more advanced your technique, you will tend to play with something slower or less bouncy either on the rubber or on the blade. You want a general feel of linearity.

But I also find that people who practice a lot can use almost anything. But if you don't play 10 hours a week with roughly two hours of coaching, you are better off getting something middle of the road because you won't be able to control faster stuff. But some people use the fact that they don't play a lot as an excuse to get anything they want. You really can't change people from what they are set on doing.

I spent many years using slower stuff before finally switching to faster stuff. But the plastic ball was a part of the reason. That ball is hard to get moving.

thekleifheit13 said:

That's a fair point, but what I was trying to say with my post is that he was able to pick up my racket and use it well, by any mortal's standards, without significantly changing anything about his swing. You're completely right about testing the true validity of my statement, though - he would have needed to play someone 5-6 skill levels better than me at least to see the true effects on his game.

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Yes. The thing is that every once in a while I try to change rubbers and unfortunately most of my practice is looping ( I am working on changing that). And I can tell when I loop to people with a Chinese rubber like Mercury 2 that I have to put in effort and they don't block my ball long. But when I switch to looping with Tenergy 05 hard, the loops start getting long blocks and the smashes of my opponents star going off the table. That said, if you asked me to return my opponents serve, which is unfortunately not how intestinal rubbers, I would probably drop balls short more consistently with Mercury 2 or even generally push, loop and return serves more consistently. Whether I would win more points, who really knows. It takes time to figure out how to use equipment to play to your strengths - we don't put in the hours pros do.

Stiga blades also has nice vibration and feeling which could help you as you advance in your game.