Need help with choosing the right combinations of rubber.

Off-/All+ blade with 2 Sriver L/FX 1.9mm or Mark V 2.0mm

Blade : Butterfly Boll Forte OFF
VH : Butterfly Sriver L 1.9mm
BH : Butterfly Sriver L 1.9mm

For starters, the best!

You've been given good information to start with.

Good blades for starting out:

Stiga Tube Allround
Stiga Allround Evolution
Butterfly Primorac Off-

Those blades all have good feeling and good dwell time. They are all wood. They are all Off- speed even though the two Stiga blades have the title of Allround.

Rubbers:

Butterfly Sriver FX (This, in my opinion, would be a top choice).
Butterfly Sriver
Yasaka Mark V
Joola Mambo (This is actually a great rubber for starting as well).
Nittaku Hammond

All those blades and rubbers are good. I am confident that every brand has good blades and rubbers for starting. With Mark V, for starting, you would just want the plain version of Mark V. With Hammond, the same thing.

+ for tube allround
+2 for sriver

but you could go with Stiga Mendo as well

decoy said:

+ for tube allround
+2 for sriver

but you could go with Stiga Mendo as well

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I'd second that with Mendo, especially on the backhand. It's a good steady rubber like Sriver and feels hard to miss with! Doesn't do anything special but will definitely be good for improving your technique.

In terms of rubber thickness I've always got on best with max but that's my preference, wouldn't go too thin with Sriver or Mendo.

integration said:

Hi all!

I'm an intermediate player looking for some help! So... I've taken up table tennis seriously over the past few months and I needed some professional advice. I understand most of the basic mechanics of table tennis but i am looking for rubbers that can help improve my stroke and technique (especially with the backhand flick return service). I find my current setup-tibhar offensive classic blade made in Germany with Japanese samurai rubber a bit out of my league, especially with control.

Sorry if this question has been asked numerous times! I just need a personal opinion from you guys Thanks

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You are in land of Aussie, eh?

Ask Rob at affordablett.com or Haggisv at oneofakindtrading.com as they are both great people and are in land of Aussie.

Too many possible combos to list.

If you slap some more control OFF rubber on your same blade, you might get by with less money spent. Some people like to have het BH rubber in thinner sponge, like around 1.8 and myself, I say learn from 2.0 or higher. You cannot sponge loop without sponge. That crap about the ball going out is because players are hitting too far in front of zone, swinging too far upwards, or have too open bat angle. A good coach will sort out all your issues nearly instantly.

I say you can simply change rubbers to whatever is suitable for your preferred playing style leaning more towards control versions of suitable rubbers for your style.

You wont go wrong with a Sriver, but why pay all that money when other alternatives are 1/2 the price or less? The blade you have, while on the OFF side, isn't a mission impossible with a self-destructing tape recording.

You will find at first an ALL+ to OFF- class blade with control rubbers will be hard to control until you adjust strokes and technique. The argument is such a class of blade and rubber allow one to better learn proper strokes over a long term for development. I can agree to that possibility and that is not wrong advice, but I have seen some beginners start on ridiculous fast OFF+ blades with Tenergy fast expensive rubber and grow to an average club level within a year or two.

Again, a good coach will smoke that stuff pronto, but you are only asking about equipment. I give an honest answer about equipment AND technique/coaching, even if it is not asked for specifically, because I feel that aspect is also important.

To simplify the last paragraph...

Equipment that is suitable for the player and playing style is very important, but good coaching and training are equally if not more important.

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There are always more than one way to do anything.

A lot of these forum members who have been in this sport longer than me have been there and done that. they know where they are coming from. They all have their preferences based on their experience and their mentoring from others when they were new. Their advice shouldn't be ignored, but valued.

I am more of a maverick one looking and open for other ways. That is just me and not the mainstream. 9.5 out of 10 really experienced players and coaches will give you generally the same type of advice you received and they are not wrong at all. They have seen that work for them and others.