Probably yet another help thread!

[Brokethebox]

Hi all, and loving your forum.

I'm looking for some advice. In my teens and young adult I played a lot of table tennis, and then for 15 years gave it up. When I started playing again just precovid, it was because I found some unopened rubbers in a box, put them on my blade, and have been enjoying that, but it's time to replace them, and the world is big and opinions many.

To describe my play, I play at a local club, not competitively, and I'm probably in the top 2 or 3 who play there. We don't have a coach it do any training really, just turn up and play.

I'm more of a middle distance looper /counter striker of the ball than an offensive player.

Currently I have an appelgren allplay blade which I've had 25 years, with a butterfly salvo speed on FH and yasaka mkV on BH.

Could I ask advice? Ideally I'd just like to replace the rubbers.

Many thanks,

James

 

[Lazer]

Yasaka Rakza 7 is a good next step up from Mark V.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[ZFT]

Damn here I was thinking OP was brokenball and mellowed out…

Yes Rakza 7 is easiest to begin with and relatively cheap, plus the majority of members here are familiar with it so can advise on your next journey if x characteristic of whatever from R7 is needed.

 

[OldUser]

Now we're talking old school gear hahaha the BTY Salvo rubbers were the BTY attempt to make the sriver a bit faster and spinnier in the 90's era.

The Donic Appelgreen Allplay is a wonderfull 5 ply all wood blade when it's new or not more than 5 years old. Yours is probably really, really slow now after 25 years, it's mostly a kind of defensive blade and you probably feels that it's not as fast as even 15 years ago.

Just find a new one, specially the senso V1 version that will give you more "zing", with 47° hardness rubbers indeed like the rakza 7 mentioned by the people here: I've been playing with Donic Vario and JO Waldner rubbers on Donic, Stiga, Andro All+/OFF - blades for most of my TT journey, and I've found that raising the hardness just 2 degrees more with tensor rubbers was OK with the same thickness for the modern days with plastic balls, so as I was using Vario with a 2.0mm thickness, the Stiga DNA Pro M is now my go to rubber both sides, but any modern tensor at 47° at best will do just fine, but depending on the brands even some 45° or 42° ones like the Rasanter 42 will be fine as those Rasanters are really bouncy.

 

[Brokethebox]

Yasaka Rakza 7 is a good next step up from Mark V.

Cheers
L-zr

Thank you, I'll have a look. Are you advising that for both sides?

 

[Lazer]

Yep, until you know exactly what you like it doesn’t matter much… If you like something a little bit slower you can try Xiom vega Europe or Mark V HPS. Both are faster than regular Mark V. This category of rubbers are plentiful so there are many others. I will only recommend what I have tested.
Next step up from Rakza 7 is Rakza X. Rakza X is harder and a bit faster. I like my rubbers to be a bit on the soft side.

It can be beneficial to have different rubbers on each side then you can flip your racket to see which one you like better. I am planning to use regular Tenergy 05 on FH next time I switch. I also went back to basics. I decided on a blade and went:
Mark V-> Mark V HPS -> Tenergy 05 FX and here I am right now..

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Brokethebox]

Yep, until you know exactly what you like it doesn’t matter much… If you like something a little bit slower you can try Xiom vega Europe or Mark V HPS. Both are faster than regular Mark V. This category of rubbers are plentiful so there are many others. I will only recommend what I have tested.
Next step up from Rakza 7 is Rakza X. Rakza X is harder and a bit faster. I like my rubbers to be a bit on the soft side.

It can be beneficial to have different rubbers on each side then you can flip your racket to see which one you like better. I am planning to use regular Tenergy 05 on FH next time I switch. I also went back to basics. I decided on a blade and went:
Mark V-> Mark V HPS -> Tenergy 05 FX and here I am right now..

Cheers
L-zr

Ok, so if I look on teessport at the rakza 7, and compare with the tenergy 05 FX, they seem to rate similar in speed and spin, but the 05fx is rated at much higher control, without a much higher price point ( although all slightly expensive). Am I missing a key point?

J

 

[Lazer]

I am not recommending Tenergy in any shape size or form and not any FX type rubber either. It’s entirely up to personal preference. Rakza 7 is softer than most rubbers in that class already and Rakza 7 soft is waaay soft. The Tenenergies are more consistent but much more expensive so I recommend to wait until You know what You want.

Cheers
L-zr