Stiga ITTF Approved Plastic/Poly Ball Review

Dan said:

Looking forward to your review @lefty I understand what you mean, it is not easy to see the size difference, some seem to notice it and others dont. @Tom thought they looked slightly visually larger. Yes I thought that, they are certainly more white.

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Sorry Dan I've just seen this! I've been on hols so been off the radar a bit, otherwise I'd have been at the Waldner Persson exhibition as well :-( I'm very jealous.

I did a full training session with the new balls recently using both the Tibhar ball & the new Donic ones. Firstly the Donic are much better imo.

I go along with a lot of what people have said, as far as the differences go, slightly less spin, slower, I also did the bounce test and it does possibly bounce higher at first but not for as long. This could be because they're heavier, but I think it's because they're harder & have less flex. In golf a harder ball spins less due to the ball not flexing as much which means it doesn't stay on the club which doesn't then grab it as much so less spin, does that make sense?

All in all though we both thought it wouldn't take that long to get used too, especially as the balls get better with every new release.

We did however have more trouble in the games, all the differences as well as trying to just react like a match situation definitely had an effect on us both, again though I don't see it being a long term problem.


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lefty said:

Sorry Dan I've just seen this! I've been on hols so been off the radar a bit, otherwise I'd have been at the Waldner Persson exhibition as well :-( I'm very jealous.

I did a full training session with the new balls recently using both the Tibhar ball & the new Donic ones. Firstly the Donic are much better imo.

I go along with a lot of what people have said, as far as the differences go, slightly less spin, slower, I also did the bounce test and it does possibly bounce higher at first but not for as long. This could be because they're heavier, but I think it's because they're harder & have less flex. In golf a harder ball spins less due to the ball not flexing as much which means it doesn't stay on the club which doesn't then grab it as much so less spin, does that make sense?

All in all though we both thought it wouldn't take that long to get used too, especially as the balls get better with every new release.

We did however have more trouble in the games, all the differences as well as trying to just react like a match situation definitely had an effect on us both, again though I don't see it being a long term problem.


Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk

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Yes I agree with all of this. The effects on timing are subtle but can really mess you up when you don't know exactly where the ball is going. I weighed some Joola 40+ with a very accurate laboratory analytical balance (accurate +/- 2 milligrams), and to my surprise they were not heavier than celluloid balls, but they felt heavier when I played with them. Is the heavier feel some sort of "placebo" effect based on my expectations? Possibly, but they felt heavier when I played with them, even after I knew that they weren't. The sound is only slightly different. Mine (Nittaku and Joola) have all bounced lower than celluloid in a simple bounce test, every time, about 80% as high as celluloid balls. I agree that greater hardness could cause this. The bounce when you actually play is sometimes higher, sometimes lower (more often I think), depending on the shot, but always a little different than you are used to. It drops like a rock at any distance from the table. It is hard to judge which of your opponent's serves are going to come out long for attack and more of them stay short. It was hard to flick returns first few times I played and later got easier. Balls that hit deep on your table with the polyball seem to have a lot of penetration power in spite of apparently less speed and spin. I really do not like them and that is after using them a lot over the last two weeks. In terms of play, I could not tell any difference between DHS, Joola, and Nittaku China versions. All were depressing. I have not tried Stiga or Donic. Do not underestimate the number of ways these balls will subtly mess you up in actual free play where you don't know where the ball is going. Actually, the more I have played with them, the less I like them and I am up to about 20 hours or playing time with them now. (I am at this point switching back to celluloid). Also, if you try to overcompensate too much for the lack of spin, by trying to generate more spin, you will have even more timing errors. One last thing, I did a trick of using a joola polyball without telling my regular practice partners. Both are around 2100 US. Both could tell the difference immediately; one on the second rally caught the ball in his hand, looked at it and asked what it was.

lefty said:

Sorry Dan I've just seen this! I've been on hols so been off the radar a bit, otherwise I'd have been at the Waldner Persson exhibition as well :-( I'm very jealous.

I did a full training session with the new balls recently using both the Tibhar ball & the new Donic ones. Firstly the Donic are much better imo.

I go along with a lot of what people have said, as far as the differences go, slightly less spin, slower, I also did the bounce test and it does possibly bounce higher at first but not for as long. This could be because they're heavier, but I think it's because they're harder & have less flex. In golf a harder ball spins less due to the ball not flexing as much which means it doesn't stay on the club which doesn't then grab it as much so less spin, does that make sense?

All in all though we both thought it wouldn't take that long to get used too, especially as the balls get better with every new release.

We did however have more trouble in the games, all the differences as well as trying to just react like a match situation definitely had an effect on us both, again though I don't see it being a long term problem.


Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Hey @Lefty, no worries at all, hope you had a nice time away.

It was a shame you missed out on the exhibition, however Jorgen did say they want to come back again and he said maybe next year we will return. Fingers crossed!

In regards to the ball, that's some good positive feedback there. I think you are right, a lot of us are worried but we should all adapt fairly quickly. Both players are also in the same both using the same ball so all should be okay.

That's a good analogy there, comparing with the golf balls, that makes a lot of sense.

Thanks for the review!

Thanks for this review... I've found a really good setup and the new ball is coming.
I hope i don't need to change my setup, because i am tired of testing new blades and rubbers

Dan, have you tried the polyballs with calibra tour M ? Since the calibra tour topsheet is so "special", i wonder if it still works fine with polyballs.

I'm testing Tour M in combination with Innerforce AL, it is playing realy great.....with C-balls at least