When to change Blade/Rubbers?

When to get a new setup??

If you want to play seriously, mark V and Sriver is not the best choice , unless you are on a tight budget.
And choose a setup, only after you've tried it.

By the way, if you wanted a suggestion of a setup that would be a partial step up from what you were using without it being a giant jump to the equipment that is trying to duplicate play with speed glue, this might be a decent step faster and spinnier, without being too much of a jump:

Stiga Offensive Classic
FH: Xiom Vega Pro
BH: Xiom Vega Europe

But if your setup works for you, then you don't need to change anything.

amateurplayer said:

If you want to play seriously, mark V and Sriver is not the best choice , unless you are on a tight budget.
And choose a setup, only after you've tried it.

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why do you think that the classic rubbers like mark v or sriver are not the best choice for playing seriously?

dannyreventon said:

why do you think that the classic rubbers like mark v or sriver are not the best choice for playing seriously?

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Sriver was built to be speedglued, which was legal then.

Sriver not speed glued is rubbish. Nowhere near worth what it costs. Sriver is even difficult to tune. Back in the day, it was the bomb of all rubbers for gluing, but now, I wouldn't play with it even if you gave it to me for free.

I have seen a LOT of amature table tennis in Korea and look at everyone's equipment. I ran into exactly ONE sheet of Sriver being used over there in my entire four years there.

Does that say anything substantial?

agold said:

Sriver was built to be speedglued, which was legal then.

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Yes, It was built to be speed glued but its not necessary to do that. Its just a matter of preference.

Hurricane 2 and Hurricane 3 (not the neo versions) was built to be speed glued but some players like those without boosting because it just make the rubber too soft for their style.

I'm using Donic Liga rubbers which i think its first made 20 years ago. It's hard but not fast and with lots of control (because the top sheet is not so spiny) compare to Bluefire, Acuda and other new rubbers. It makes me to have much better short game and better control on the placement of my shots. I don't need that extra speed and spin of speed gluing when i can loop all day long.

I haven't played with Sriver but i have tested Mark V and i liked it. Don't know if Mark V was made to be speed glued or not.

Alborz said:

Yes, It was built to be speed glued but its not necessary to do that. Its just a matter of preference.

Hurricane 2 and Hurricane 3 (not the neo versions) was built to be speed glued but some players like those without boosting because it just make the rubber too soft for their style.

I'm using Donic Liga rubbers which i think its first made 20 years ago. It's hard but not fast and with lots of control (because the top sheet is not so spiny) compare to Bluefire, Acuda and other new rubbers. It makes me to have much better short game and better control on the placement of my shots. I don't need that extra speed and spin of speed gluing when i can loop all day long.

I haven't played with Sriver but i have tested Mark V and i liked it. Don't know if Mark V was made to be speed glued or not.

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I don't know about mark V either, but the same thing for h3 with the old sponge and especially h2--in fact, most people prefer the newer sponges over the old, and especially the neo versions.

This is what I would say: I am used to Tenergy and Omega V and Victas V>01. If I used Sriver and Mark V I might think they were slow, not grippy enough, I may not like the feel of the sponge. The Allround Classic; at first I may think it was too slow. But if I played with it for a few weeks I would get used to it. I would be able to do everything I can do with it. It would start feeling normal and I would feel the touch with it. Then if I switched from that to a blade like a Viscaria with rubbers like Tenergy I would feel like that was crazy fast and hypersensitive to spin for a while before I started getting used to it.

If the original poster has never used anything else and Sriver, Mark V and Allround Classic work for him then there is really no reason to change aside from interest and curiosity.

If the Original Poster wanted to try a moderate step up without spending too much money,

a Stiga Allround Evolution
with Xiom Vega Pro on Forehand
and Xiom Vega Europe on Backhand

would be a decent step up without being too much of a step up.

But he would actually have to do training drills for a few weeks to really get used to it. Otherwise he will probably feel like it is way too fast and jumpy and it might be hard to get basic shots on the table for a while.

Getting new equipment and wondering why you are playing worse can make a player upset. So you need to do training drills till you can do all game skill actions comfortably. Things like serve and receive, third ball attack, looping, blocking. Particularly game simulation type drills. If you feel comfortable quickly then playing matches is fine but playing matches before you are comfortable with doing all the game skill actions would only mess with your mind and your confidence and could cause you to develop some bad habits.


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I would consider vario

And yes, Mark V and Sriver were both rubbers that were used with Speed Glue and they are great with Speed Glue but they can be used and played without. And you can do all the basic shots with them without Speed Gluing.

Also, I believe they may have been around before Speed Glue got popular and they were still used. Sriver FX I believe was developed for Speed Glue. The softer sponge soaks up those VOCs and you get a really good Speed Glue effect. But you can still use Sriver FX without Speed Glue. Just like Tenergy was developed so you don't need to boost but plenty of people boost it anyway. Hahaha.


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An exception to Carl's thesis on equipment performance...

If you add some solid weight to fill in the empty space of a hollow handled blade to solidify it and make balance of blade weighted lower and more solid, the same blade provides better feel at impact, better top end performance, and a satisfying/gratifying feeling on strong impact shots.

You can all start calling it "Carl's LAW" and you read about it here, today Jan 7, 2014, in before the Mayan Apocalypse happens.

Don't worry about Dracula and the Zombie Apocalypse, Der_Echte and his defender friends will bowl those suckas over.

hehe, that rhymes...

Well the LAW that is the exception to Carl's thesis is almost not an exception because the blade is still the same blade. It is just better because of the extra weight in the handle.

Amazing that you wrote that exactly one year ago on Jan 7th 2014 and posted it today, Jan 7th 2015 to befuddle the masses. Foresight beyond measure.

No wonder the Zombies of the Mayan Dracula Apocalypse have no chance.


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Damn, Carl caught it.

I often get by with pushing dates like Feb 31, 2015 right by unsuspecting peoples.

Der_Echte said:

Damn, Carl caught it.

I often get by with pushing dates like Feb 31, 2015 right by unsuspecting peoples.

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How did you know when my birthday was? Feb 31st is the best day of the year.

You might like it right away, but whatever you do it will be a major change that may take adjustment on your part. many players trout perfectly suitable performance rubbers and immediately declare it unusable after only one or two sessions.

So true. Often I need a month of play with something new to really fully adjust to it.


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