Which training ball to pick

[hclnnkhg]

My experiences with seamed plastic balls so far:

Excellent, official match level

Nittaku Premium 3 star: best ball, hard, durable, spin well, but expensive (>£2 per ball)
Double Fish 3* WTT version: also very good, but the one I had was discontinued (~£1.6 per ball). The new ones I haven't tried, but their price is close to, or even slightly higher than Nittaku Premium, so I'd just get the Nittaku balls.

Good, game level

Palio S40+ 3*: feels hard enough, best value for money on Aliexpress with discount and coupons (~£0.3 per ball! basically the same cost as 1* balls)
Yinhe Y40+ 3*: feels hard enough, slightly less durable than "Excellent" balls (~£0.7 per ball)
Kingnik 40+: this is the old version, discontinued now. Haven't played with the new "premium" version yet. Quality-wise is slightly better than Y40+, but also slightly more expensive (~£1 per ball)
Sanwei pro 40+ 3*: similar quality to Y40+, but I bad batches where the print is blurry, which have no impact on the feel of the ball (~£0.7 per ball)
DHS D40+ 3*: feels softest out of all balls here, feels really elastic (~£0.6 per ball)
Double Fish V40+ 3*: similar to D40+ (~£0.6 per ball)
Joola Prime 40+ 3*: feels soft-ish, slightly pricey (~£1.3 per ball)
Tibhar 40+ Syntt: also feels soft-ish, the paint gets messy very quickly (~£1.3 per ball)

Acceptable for practice only

Double Fish V40+ 3* without box: cheaper than the regular one that comes in boxes, but QC is poor. The shell feels thinner, the seam is very visible. On par with 1* balls (~£0.3 per ball)

 

[JJ Ng]

Ok let me make a few comments:

1) No doubt Nittaku 3-star premium is the gold standard in plastic balls. The feedback is always durable, feels solid, can impart spins and plays "like the celluloid balls" from the previous era. I have no problem playing with that ball. However, my isses are a) if it plays the "most like the celluloid balls" from the previous era, then why did we increase the size and change the material? Isn't the whole point NOT be able to impart as much spin so we can longer rally? b) because the ball is so durable (and expensive), people literally wear the ball down and are still playing with them. When a Nittaku 3-star premium is worn down, the surface is just slippery and the ball feels heavy. At that point, let us not be cheap. Let us just retire the damn ball.

2) DHS D40+ 3*** ITTF 10 Balls (seam). The one that is sold in pack of 10 balls (oddly, not 6 or 12 per pack) at TT11. The ball is pretty decent. The price is just right at $8.99 for a pack of 10. I enjoy playing with that ball. But some club mates are snobby and would not use that ball so.....

3) Andro 3-star. A club mate just came back from Korea and brought a bunch of Andro 3-star balls and say that everyone is using that ball in Korea. He is implying that it is even better in terms of playing characteristic compared to Nittaku 3-star premium. After I play with it, I really do like! the bounce is consistent. It is a bit lighter than Nittaku 3-sta premium (and there is nothing wrong with that). I just need to know which retailer I can get those balls.

4) Neottec Training Balls Neoplast-R 40+ 144pcs for $38.06 at TT11. That's is 26 cents per ball. I am a fan of Neottec products. Rubber, blade and balls. They are all great. I wonder how a Japanese company can keep their prices so far. I might stock up on some of their products before they jack up the prices in the future.

5) Nittaku J-Top Training 40+ 120pcs (seam) for $81.66 which is 68 cents per ball. Good product. But with other choices for practice ball out there, I am passing on any furthe purchase (I have a batch before where I am still using for my robot practice).

6) Butterly premium and practice balls are both really really bad. Do not touch them. When a tournament is "sponsored" by Butterfly and they use their balls (because they are free under such sponsorship), I just roll my eyes.

I have not tried other balls so I shall refrain from giving any other feedback

​

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

DHS balls now is DJ40+
D40+ is terrible,... are you guys using DJ or D?

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Ok let me make a few comments:

1) However, my isses are a) if it plays the "most like the celluloid balls" from the previous era, then why did we increase the size and change the material? Isn't the whole point NOT be able to impart as much spin so we can longer rally? b) because the ball is so durable (and expensive), people literally wear the ball down and are still playing with them. When a Nittaku 3-star premium is worn down, the surface is just slippery and the ball feels heavy. At that point, let us not be cheap. Let us just retire the damn ball.

There is many reasons for the change, and I will try and list my views on my understanding of it.

Since TT is part of the OG, there are a few sustainability goals set for table tennis and ITTF requires to make improvements, or faces OG, or even banning from EU and other "mature" markets.

so Celluloid had to go, there was actually no option there. Just like VOC had to go with speedglue.

Now, some manufactures benefited from this, but the result is not stable ie VOC ban, Butterfly benefit and not a Chinese company, even though there is allegations that ITTF is making few people rich (namely in bed with Chinese companies).
DHS was making balls lots of balls in celluloid era and Butterfly the same with rubbers in speedglue era. So they didn't all of the sudden just dominated with rule change. The strong remain strong and weak remained weak.

However, poly balls material is way inferior over celluloid and it is costly for ball replacement. Even the new generation ABS or Nittaku premium is way better than say 7 years ago, it is still too easy to break.
Is this really a material issue, or business strategy, i'm not 100% certain.

But, back to ball size. The ruling for 40mm balls is actually 40mm +/- 0.5mm.
So the range is 39.50~40.50mm
For 40+, the size is 40.50mm.

So technically speaking (based on the rules/ numbers on paper etc), the ball size is still within the previous range. So one can't say increase in size, but to me, it went from "majority" 39.50 to now majority 40.50. And this has affected on the ball spins and travel. this is 9 years ago (first sample) and we all moved on.

on shinny old balls - high five to that. balls that shin brighter then a toothpaste advert, must be banned.

The story on flammable items is so true nowadays - airfreight is so much stricter.
when sending balls, certain freight companies will demand declaration that the 40+ balls are of non flammable material.
Same with the glue. Some times these "documentation" is a big problem. 10 years ago, it wasn't as strict and I had celluloid on airplanes before.

Back to facts, there is pretty much only 5 companies making balls, and we mostly deal with 3 or 4 of them.
So you can have a long list of balls, odds are, you are comparing siblings to each other.

 

[Kuba Hajto]

If possible I would please keep the discussion on the training ball, i.e. one that you can buy 120pcs for multiball training and not bankrupt. I do not want to put any hard top, but I think up to 60€ for 120pcs I would consider a maximum.

 

[hclnnkhg]

DHS balls now is DJ40+
D40+ is terrible,... are you guys using DJ or D?

I only tried D40+. I expect DJ40+ is good, but it's not that cost-efficient and I am not at the level where I have to play with the best 3* ball.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I only tried D40+. I expect DJ40+ is good, but it's not that cost-efficient and I am not at the level where I have to play with the best 3* ball.

i didn't know you can still buy D40+ balls

What is the date stamp on your balls (check the box), it will be 4 letters, ie XEAI

 

[hclnnkhg]

i didn't know you can still buy D40+ balls

What is the date stamp on your balls (check the box), it will be 4 letters, ie XEAI

I got them from Aliexpress, most likely old stocks. Ding Ning is on the package I will check the date stamp tonight when I'm home.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I got them from Aliexpress, most likely old stocks. Ding Ning is on the package I will check the date stamp tonight when I'm home.

well, the Ding Ning ball is maybe 100 times better than Ma Long balls.
I'm sure Ma Long is not happy about that lol