Nittaku Premium 40+ balls (Japan)

says ok, I will go back and make sure you have access. Be...
says ok, I will go back and make sure you have access. Be...
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Nov 2010
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Have been using these balls for last several days (I got them from Iruiru in Japan at the relatively high price of 895 yen per box of three balls, which is about $3 (USD) per ball and that does not include shipping. I have also let my clubmates try some. Most of them have been using other 40+ balls recently and the ones who have tried the Premum balls have ratings from 1600 to 2500. The Nittaku Premium is a seamed ball but it is much harder to actually see the seam compared to the Nittaku SHA 40+ ball that is made in China. Visual inspection immediately reveals that these balls are quite different.

Unanimous conclusion over a few days from everyone who has tried it: Nittaku Premium is the best playing 40+ ball any of us have tried (in my opinion XSF is next best). The better the player, the more quickly they come to this conclusion. Then there is a gap. Then there are the other balls which nobody really likes but which we can play with if necessary since we have gotten used to the size and speed of the newer balls. My own personal experience with 40+ balls dates back about three months now. I have tried most of the available brands, and have most extensive experience of XSF, Joola, DHS and DF. Before trying the Nittaku Premium my favorite among these was XSF.

Nittaku Premium has a nice high bounce, identical to celluloid (quite a bit higher than Nittaku SHA, slightly lower than XSF). l have the impression that it feels more solid and possibly slightly faster than the XSF, interesting since it is a little bit lighter on average.

I have not yet seen one break (yet) and some of the people who have used the ball hit very hard. That's good news. However the surface seems to wear more in normal play than XSF. Finally, it is definitely a 40+, so it is a touch slower and less spinny in the air than celluloid, but it is by far the closest to celluloid of all polyballs in terms of playing quality. However, I am not prepared to say much about durability yet. Some people are worried that these balls will break easily, as with other seamed balls. Figuring that out will take more time. (I can say however that the XSF ball has excellent durability, while the Nittaku SHA ball has poor durability).

I am quite content with either Nittaku Premium or XSF. XSF wins on price. Nittaku wins on play. Nittaku will dominate the market if they set a reasonable price. If they go the Butterfly route, they will lose an opportunity. IMHO these are the two balls that deserve to dominate the market. It was pretty easy to tell the difference between the SHA and Premium balls today just comparing. (The Nittaku SHA balls I have used all have a June manufacture date, whereas the Nittaku Premiums have a date of October.

Here is some information on weight in grams, six balls in each sample (mean +/- standard error of the mean). Unfortunately I don't have information on diameters.

Nittaku 40+ Premium from Japan (these are unused balls out of the box) 2.694 +/- 0.007

XSF 40+ ITTF approved (unused balls out of the box) 2.753 +/- 0.004

Butterfly 3 star white celluloid ball (these have been played with quite a bit, I just don't have any new celluloids to compare) 2.74 +/- 0.012

Joola P 40+ (these have been played with, but only once or twice) 2.801 +/- 0.008
 
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says ok, I will go back and make sure you have access. Be...
says ok, I will go back and make sure you have access. Be...
Well-Known Member
Nov 2010
3,568
5,931
10,356
Read 8 reviews
Very possible. I have not had a chance to use any that were made more recently than June. (You can see month and year of manufacture from a 4-letter code on the side of the box). Or it could just be a matter of chance for the matches you watched. I am sure that DHS is actively trying to find a way to improve their product because the ones that I have seen made in June would not pass the impending ITTF requirements for weight and bounce.
 
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