Which poly ball should you choose?

[AndySmith]

Ball update.

Two new balls have appeared on the list:

Andro 3S - Seamed - Made in China - White
Yinhe S40+ - Seamless - Made in China - White

Quite what the difference is to their older plastic balls is a mystery to me.

Also, the T3 document has been updated. The temporary allowances for non-conformity were removed a while back, but there is a semi-interesting update to how suppliers use date coding on the boxes (not allowed to use their own coding systems - the ITTF methodology is now mandatory), and more importantly there is a new section B.14 which states:

Tests for the durability of the ball and its friction against table surfaces and/or a standardized surface are currently being developed. Manufacturers shall be prepared that these tests will be included in the approval process in the future, after being described in detail in this Technical Leaflet.

 

[Gene Tuttle]

I have read the various posts on the types of balls but I am still confused. I have a Butterfly Amicus robot and I fed my various balls into it so I would have enough so that even with me hitting many out of the collection area I would still be able to play for a while without having to stop and pick them up. My question is about the two types of Nittaku 3 star balls I have. The Nittaku labeled Premium 40+ will jam the machine most of the time while the one labeled premium 40 feed just fine. The 40+ balls have a noticeably rougher coating than the 40 balls and seem harder. When the 40+ balls do manage to feed ,they spin more out of the machine both before and after striking the table surface.The 40 + balls have no visible seam even when held up to a light source while the other ones have a visible interior seam but which you cannot feel on the outside. The 40 balls are celluloid and the 40+ are poly.Are the poly balls the ones I am likely to face in a tournament? Are there any poly balls out there that will feed through the Butterfly machine?

 

[NextLevel]

Contact the manufacturer/distributor of your robot - you may need to either clean the balls or tweak something to get the robot to work with the 40+ balls as it was clearly designed for the 40 balls.

 

[Gene Tuttle]

Contact the manufacturer/distributor of your robot - you may need to either clean the balls or tweak something to get the robot to work with the 40+ balls as it was clearly designed for the 40 balls.

Thanks for your reply. I will get in touch with Butterfly USA. I have been reading the forums so I know you play in Tournaments a lot. Which balls do you usually face? I want to try and practice as much as possible with balls which will bounce and perform like the ones I would probably face in a Tournament.

 

[AndySmith]

Which Amicus do you have? The new one, or the older Amicus 3000?

 

[NextLevel]

Thanks for your reply. I will get in touch with Butterfly USA. I have been reading the forums so I know you play in Tournaments a lot. Which balls do you usually face? I want to try and practice as much as possible with balls which will bounce and perform like the ones I would probably face in a Tournament.

It really depends on the organizers. One Butterfly club uses Butterfly 40+ (not G40+) which is why I pretty much almost never play there though I might play their league the Friday after the coming one. Another Butterfly club uses the Nittaku 40+ at cost to the club. Two other clubs use XSF balls. For ball quality, Nittaku 40+ is the most reliable in terms of how it bounces. If you plan to play in your area, just look at what the nearby clubs use. The National events use the Nittaku ball.

 

[Gene Tuttle]

The newer one, Amicus Advance.

 

[Gene Tuttle]

It really depends on the organizers. One Butterfly club uses Butterfly 40+ (not G40+) which is why I pretty much almost never play there though I might play their league the Friday after the coming one. Another Butterfly club uses the Nittaku 40+ at cost to the club. Two other clubs use XSF balls. For ball quality, Nittaku 40+ is the most reliable in terms of how it bounces. If you plan to play in your area, just look at what the nearby clubs use. The National events use the Nittaku ball.

Thanks.

 

[AndySmith]

The newer one, Amicus Advance.

I've got the older one, the 3000. The wheels are adjustable, and with the 40+ balls being slightly bigger I had to increase the gap between them ever so slightly. Took a bit of trial and error.

Looking at the manual to yours...

https://www.megaspin.net/download/butterfly/amicus-advance-manual-en.pdf

...it seems like you can do the same.

 

[Der_Echte]

Thanks for your reply. I will get in touch with Butterfly USA. I have been reading the forums so I know you play in Tournaments a lot. Which balls do you usually face? I want to try and practice as much as possible with balls which will bounce and perform like the ones I would probably face in a Tournament.

Gene, the tourney directors get to "Select" or "Choose" the ball for the sanctioned tourney and as a matter of protocol, MUST announce in the tourney application which ball they are using, along with the other standard data like which even starts when and has what prizes.OFTEN, a club has a DEAL with a supplier and that ball is pretty much the default ball for that club's tourneys until they strike another deal.

To know which balls are used in tourneys you might go to (Maybe San Antone and Austin) just look at their pdf file online advertizing the tourney.(Austin used Nittaku 40+ Premium 2 weeks ago) (San Antone is a BTY club, so maybe they use BTY 40+ ..)

Either way, I would say get a good balance of quality and quantity plastic balls. AVOID the ONE STAR poly balls, they are garbage, no matter who makes them. XSF would be such a balance of price/qty. if you have money, go for what will last, which is any seamless ball made by XSF, which is EVERYONE's seamless Poly Ball. Some feel harder/more solid at impact (Think Nexy and Xiom) some feel softer (Think base XSF 40+) We at NexyUSA.com sell only a 6 pk of Poly balls, some clubs order 30+ boxes at a time. I think XSF sells 100 or 144 qty. You will get a mixed bag, but it is worth it. If you have money, buy a bunch of 6 or 12 pack poly balls of a company you like. All the seamless balls last WAY longer than celluloid balls, unless you step on them.

I have seen a very wide variety of PLASTIC POLY Balls used in sanctioned tourneys.

Joola used to have a death grip on east coast, but then others have moved in. (I really dislke seamed poly balls like Joola 40+ and Nittaku SHA 40+.

Now, I see all manner of balls used.

- Smash uses the GOOD 40+ XSF
- Half the state of Florida uses the NICE 40+ Nexy
- BTY clubs use crappy 40+ or the "Different" G40+ (At least it bounced true enough in short play, despite the annoying sound it makes at bounce)
- Capitol Area Super League uses the NICE Nittaku 40+ PREMIUM (This ball is actually smaller and will fit your robot for sure, but they are damned hard to come by and cost two arms and 1.5 legs per ball)
- Some have crappy DHS 40+

 

[Der_Echte]

You could also practice using your celluloid balls in your robot. I think that is best. When you do single ball with a live person, try using the ball that will be used in the tourney you are targeting for the month prior. That will ensure you get used to that ball, but there are other factors you cannot prepare for, like the lighting in the venue and how different the bounce of the table will be. OLD tables are smooth and the ball skids more and plays faster, also the flooring surface is a huge factor. A NEW table with a matte paint finish will play slower (more dwell - so more extreme braking of the ball on a slow high push and more Kick on a slow heavy loop)

It is a pain in the azz to buy and use 4-6 different brands of poly balls that feel and play different, but that is the bonanza that is benefiting manufacturers. It is doing that or trying to adapt on matchday, which isn't a bad choice either as it costs no additional money or stress.

 

[Der_Echte]

This would be an extreme MOD for the robot, but if one was deadset to make a robot designed for 40mm celluloid balls work with 40+ Poly Balls, then one could spin up the machine and apply some sandpaper and "Shave Down" the wheels a quarter mm each. That is extreme indeed and perhaps the machine has a "tension" adjustment that could be "Loosened" to accommodate 40+ balls.

 

[Gene Tuttle]

This would be an extreme MOD for the robot, but if one was deadset to make a robot designed for 40mm celluloid balls work with 40+ Poly Balls, then one could spin up the machine and apply some sandpaper and "Shave Down" the wheels a quarter mm each. That is extreme indeed and perhaps the machine has a "tension" adjustment that could be "Loosened" to accommodate 40+ balls.

Thanks for the advice. I am going to use the celluloid balls for now to groove my strokes.As you say the Austin/San Antonio/Dallas tourney state the type of ball to be used on the entry form and I can try to get the guys I practice with to use that type the week before the tournament.

 

[Baal]

In Houston at my club we have been mostly using XSF balls because they are cheaper while still decent. The other Houston club always uses Btfly 40+. (Not G40).

 

[NextLevel]

In Houston at my club we have been mostly using XSF balls because they are cheaper while still decent. The other Houston club always uses Btfly 40+. (Not G40).

Aren't those balls crappy?

 

[Tinykin]

Aren't those balls crappy?

The Bty balls here tend to be slow and difficult to spin (compared to 40mm) but have consistent bounce. The XSF is a piece of crop compared to Bty or Nittaku. The bounce of the XSF is so inconsistent. I sometimes see players push at incoming backspin and the ball bounces over the opponents bat. On inspection, the ball has a piece of plastic sticking off. I assume it's a leftover from the moulding process. I don't know, but maybe as we get used to the plastic balls, the more sensitive we become to quality.
I just bought 8 packs (x3) of the Nittaku for £40.

 

[Suga D]

The newer one, Amicus Advance.

That's interesting.

As i've wrote to you before, our club also owns the Amicus Advance and we had exact the opposite experience.

First tryout we used Cell Balls and many of them got stuck many times, whereas the Easy Ball didn't get stuck ONCE...

 

[ttmonster]

Very very very crappy , spins like a mad hatter and there seems to be no balance , and all funky !

Aren't those balls crappy?

 

[Baal]

Aren't those balls crappy?

I think so.

 

[ttmonster]

Lets say at this point , I always have a Nittaku 3 star 40+ sitting in my bag and whenever somebody wants to play with something else I just switch it to that one.

somehow ITTF has managed to create a completely new skill set requirement for the sport , "adaptability to various crazy balls" !!

I think so.