i dont think chinese rubbers do most people any favours

[Windkanal]

I want to state that this is just my opinion, based on my observations but also on various people trying and playing my setups.

when i started, i just got trapped in a little EJ-journey to test various things to see what i might like and like, many others i guess, i got drawn towards chinese equipment (rubbers especially) ... simply because they are cheap. i mean, whats not to like about spending 10$ on a sheet compared to 40$?

well... i took quite a round trip with the conclusion:

i actually dont think that chinese rubbers do MOST people any favours at all. if you step back and look at it from clean view, there is a huge difference in using ''what you would like to work'' and ''what actually works''
i noticed that specifically on the sound. when i played with chinese hard rubber, my shots where always really loud with a clear hit-sound to it instead of a brushing sound. made me realize, i dont even use chinese-technique to make use of those rubbers to begin with.

a friend of mine gave me some used tensor rubbers to play around with and what can i say... my game pretty much jumped up multiple levels instantly. i pulled of the rubbers from a cheap 20$ prebuild racket i still had from before (spinlord) and slapped some used T05 on and another friend gave me a victas he still had laying around and it did multiple things pretty much instantly:

i play way better
i have way more control
i can generate way more speed with less effort and ultimatively play with more gears
i can generate way more spin
my entire play became way more efficient because i dont get tired by putting a lot of energy into every stroke.

it just worked. i think, it was probably the biggest upgrade yet in my play. never played that well.

and even if i would now replace those rubbers in the future i wouldnt even pay that more either because the money spend to test chinese rubbers and buy multiple things, i could very well just bought some tensors with to begin with already.

and friends who played around with my setups noticed and said very similar things too. i would have liked it, if chinese tacky rubbers would work. but neither am i chinese, nor do i train with chinese people, nor do i have a coach with chinese gear, nor does anyone in the local clubs use chinese gear. every person you learn things from here, is using Tensors so it just makes way more sense to use that instead. every player is different tho but overall, i came to the conclusion that chinese tacky rubbers are extremely specific. some people might do well, but i think MOST people...will just do way better with tensors instead. if you re not a chinese, or you live in china or you train with a chinese style coach or you play around a community where everyone uses chinese rubbers... just dont use them, honestly. get similar gear to what your coach and the people around you use, so you can actually learn from them.

 

[Angerer]

Facts

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

And on the seventh day, after creating ESN tensor; GOD rest.

 

[Spartan-727]

Congrats on finding what works for you. Since everyone hits and feels the ball differently, hard to say what rubbers would be good for everyone.
I like Chinese rubbers because they're predictable. No extra catapult, no sliding, just something that will do what I want.

 

[Windkanal]

Congrats on finding what works for you. Since everyone hits and feels the ball differently, hard to say what rubbers would be good for everyone.
I like Chinese rubbers because they're predictable. No extra catapult, no sliding, just something that will do what I want.

tbh, a human can personally adapt to about anything.

i just think, that its way less about ''you''
the training and the coach is pretty much 90% of your journey and therefor it just makes way more sense to use gear thats relatable to what your coach and your community uses. if my coach isnt using chinese rubbers and chinese stroke technique...its completely pointless to use chinese rubbers.

 

[Tyce]

I share the sentiment. I've had my round trip too, from Rakza 7 to a few different Chinese rubbers, and now back on a Fastarc setup.
I believe it actually taught me to make better use of the tensors after really getting to know the difference with Chinese.
I've also learned to appreciate a good factory tuned combo rather than having to do my own boosting and crossing my fingers that the result is OK... And 2 weeks later, start wondering if it's me, or the booster wearing off.

I've encountered a spectacular amount of 3 Chinese rubbers in the past year. 1 was an actual Chinese person (H3) , 1 foreign student (battle 2)and the last was someone who took to Aliexpress to get the cheapest half decent setup he could get because his old gear had disintegrated over the years (Mercury 2)

Other than that, you only see cheap 729 on the club's loaner rackets, because it's cheap and it lasts. The tackiness wearing off is considered a good thing, because then the softer sponge stuff plays similar to a Euro rubber.

People have been amazed at H3 and its tack, as well as the sheer amount of spin. But because I couldn't get consistent power into it, mostly I produced slow balls.

I don't agree with the part of "most people" though. The market is huge, and the biggest TT countries in the world predominantly use Chinese rubbers. I would nuance it to "most Europeans" perhaps.

 

[K.K]

depends on your game too. if you play an allround offensive game and are not coached then yes a tensor is easier to play, easier to activate power, easier to create spin and arc and easier to get the offensive balls on the table. they have their downsides for shure! but they mostly don't matter in amateur game like nobody needs to get the receive really short because most opponents are not good at attacking anyway and most serves are long anyway. so always look for your game and how you play and see if the downsides are things that matter for you, because every material has it's pros and cons and you need to find something that matches your game and the style you encounter in your matches. that is the reason why most people are better of with tensors, because no downsides that matter for amateur league game

 

[ttarc]

... i actually dont think that chinese rubbers do MOST people any favours at all. if you step back and look at it from clean view, there is a huge difference in using ''what you would like to work'' and ''what actually works''
i noticed that specifically on the sound. when i played with chinese hard rubber, my shots where always really loud with a clear hit-sound to it instead of a brushing sound. made me realize, i dont even use chinese-technique to make use of those rubbers to begin with.

Sound matters... Hit than brush is the more reliable way
https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/brushing-the-ball-is-useless-world-champion-fangbo‘s-training-class.33665/ but "pure" brush loops are definitely useful and sometimes the only possible way.
Problem is that the thinner the ball contact the more error-prone it gets especially when we add humidity (and try to loop thinly with rubbers like T05...).

More importantly (for me): the average rally length is about 3 to 4 ball contacts... serve, receive, open up + x
No (grippy) tensor can compete with H3 when serving and receiving. Opening up against backspin is a matter of technique and practice regardless which rubber, counter looping (open game) i.e. when we can work with the incoming spin and speed is also an area where H3 shines (on a not too slow blade and for sure way better when boosted). Against choppers or long pimple/anti players it is mostly consistency and placement/tactics that matters (and knowing when to brush instead of trying to loop kill a ball).

And on the seventh day, after creating ESN tensor; GOD rest.

And on the eighth day he saw what he had done and created H3 and booster
1998 Tensor https://www.esn-tt.de/de/unternehmen/historie
2000 H2/H3 http://en.dhs-sports.com/chroniclebrand.shtml

 

[Windkanal]

And on the eighth day he saw what he had done and created H3 and booster
1998 Tensor https://www.esn-tt.de/de/unternehmen/historie
2000 H2/H3 http://en.dhs-sports.com/chroniclebrand.shtml

and on the 9th day, ITTF introduced a rule that 1. boosting isnt allowed and there are (god forbid... people who actually follow rules) and i dont care if ''everyone is doing it anyways and gets away with it. rule is: boosting is not allowed, therefor i will not boost.

i dont cross the street when traffic light says red, just because no car is coming and noone cares either. i ll stand there and wait until its green because thats what the rules say.

there is a reason doping in sports isnt allowed. boosting is basically doping for your equipment. if i would boost my body in a way to get an advantage over people who dont do that, would you be okay with that?

neither do i want to nor do i have the time to constantly worry about boosting and buying boosters, and praying and the reboosting every few weeks.

if pros do it... its a different enviroment. they simply boost, use the rubber for a week and then put a new rubber on anyways but for most normal people, its completely unpractical to do these kind of things on top. its just such a fkd up mentality somehow. ''lets buy a super hard rubber and because its way to hard and feels like playing with a frying pan, we then use illegal things to make the rubber somehow playable instead of just buying a playable rubber to begin with''

when i buy a product, i expect it to work. if i have to manually make a product usable, the product itself is fundamentally flawed

 

[Tyce]

It's like the Dutch system for soft drugs, the shops are legal, the supply isn't.
The system works because it is condoned, not because it's legal.
In the same way, H3 works because the rubber is legal, and the boosting is condoned.
It makes sense for DHS to not involve themselves in the boosting. They just take care of the legal part and keep their nose clean.

But legality aside, boosting is an inconsistent hassle of a process and introduced doubt in my equipment. That's the main reason I don't like it.

I still feel there's nothing quite like cracking a loop on Hurricane 3. But the downsides of inconsistency (boost), not getting used to having no catapult on low power, and not getting good power out of it consistently, make it too hard to use.
I can produce equal quality service, maybe slightly less receive, but I can dose my power output much better with tensors, and use passive shots when in a pinch.

 

[John_]

I agree and disagree. I've played with euro and chinese for years, alternating between them. I find that Chinese rubbers are much better on the table, much better serve, receive, and their block is also much better.

Last year that I started boosting, I saw great improvement in the open rally, my topspins came lower with more spin and I was much more consistent. But after a while when I got tired they became more dangerous to myself because I wouldn't always put the same power in. That's the main drawback for me. T05 for example with very little power will generate a lot of speed and spin with a consistent safe high angle, and the Chinese will need more power for similar results, minus the angle, that makes it much more dangerous for the opponent, plus the better control overall.

Something like the bluegrip s1 should be the best of both worlds, nothing crazy, but good enough. Tacky surface on the 47.5° sponge of the acuda s1. I think that's where the future is for our level, and for the pros, the harder hybrids like 09c and bluestar.

 

[Jslick89]

OP- what is your rating or general level? I ask because I had sort of an opposite experience as you. I used tenergy rubbers for a couple of years before i switched to DHS hurricane Neo on my forehand (and D09C on my backhand). Once switched, i experienced a siginificant rating increase- mostly from a noticeable improvement in my short game, serve return, and my forehand shots becoming lower arc and spinnier. I have a lot more control with H3N rubber. Sometimes i dont get my full power into the shot and its a lame duck, but so long as my footwork is good, and i'm using the full kenetic chain in my stroke, i'm getting way more quality on my balls with H3N than i ever did with tenergy. I do agree its not for everyone. you need to have a certain level of technique to use a hard chinese rubber. you have to be able to engage the rubber to get the full potential out of it too. if you're too low of a level, you simply cant do that, and a springier sponge will probably be better for you.

 

[d3nium]

Cheap Chinese rubbers are crap & boosting is cheating.

 

[Jslick89]

Cheap Chinese rubbers are crap & boosting is cheating.

show me on the doll where the hurricane touched you

 

[zeio]

https://youtu.be/igaXsfQlYy8?t=81

 

[d3nium]

show me on the doll where the hurricane touched you

Hurricane isn't cheap.

 

[joshmak10]

Switching AWAY from Euro/Japan rubbers on my FH to Hurricane made my game miles better

 

[greenbeanmachine]

I've also had the opposite experience. I tried playing with Rasanter R45 when I started and I couldn't control it at all. Hurricane 3 felt WAY more safe and controlled, and Skyline 2 turned out to be even better. I'm glad you found what works for you but I think Chinese rubbers do help some people. I do a lot of rock climbing, so my hands and wrists and shoulders and elbows and fingers are strong and stiff -- in particular, I have a lot of difficulty touching the ball lightly. Playing with Chinese rubbers lets me hit the ball harder and still control it, and gives me have a better range of gears within the circumstances of my own body mechanics.

 

[mamedium]

let me take a wild guess here:
the OP doesn’t have a complete stroke but rather short and (hopefully) compact

or doesn’t have enough power/ know how to use the power properly

 

[Windkanal]

let me take a wild guess here:
the OP doesn’t have a complete stroke but rather short and (hopefully) compact

or doesn’t have enough power/ know how to use the power properly

none of that is even the issue here or the point at all. i COULD also just play with chinese rubbers. its just that tensor work better, especially based on my situation. so why would i play something that obviously isnt the optimal choice just ''because'' ?

i wonder if people read and even get the point? all i am saying here is: that using equipment, that is relatable to your actual training and your coach simply works way better. why would i try to brute force a playing style with equipment... that is the complete opposite of what my coach teaches? and the complete opposite of what everyone in the clubs here use.

i am talking broad picture. i am not an individual who self teaches and does whatever i want to. there is a reason it is called ''chinese style'' i dont live in china. neither is my coach chinese or plays chinese style. every club and every coach here teaches european style...short and efficient strokes. therefore it makes absolutely zero sense to bruteforce something to become a snowflake even tho its highly inefficient.

it doesnt matter what I WANT. it matters what WORKS. and how the local TT scene is build upon. wich is actually quite funny because it also goes in hand with what you just said.

''doesnt know how to use the power properly'' just as an example
...and how exactly do you think someone is learning how to use power properly for chinese style and how to use the technique for chinese style strokes...

if literally noone here even teaches it because noone is coaching chinese style. some clubs i visited, the coaches didnt even understand that i was using chinese rubbers and told me to adapt more efficient strokes, wich wasnt even working at all. the coaches in the clubs literally had no idea how to even play chinese equipment themselves, because they are playing a completely different style.

see where i am going? it literally doesnt matter what gear i use, you use, or what gear i want to use. it doesnt matter. the coaching and the training matters. and you pick the equipment that is apropiate to what your coach is teaching you. you dont take car driving lessons and show up in a helicopter because you prefer helicopters. it makes no sense because thats not what the lesson even teaches in the first place.

if i would be chinese, and i lived in china and i had a coach teaching chinese style with chinese rubbers... yeah sure thing i would use chinese equipment then. but i dont. so why would i want to?