TT ball quality

Does any one out there know how to evaluate TT Balls?

Every so often someone comes to the club with a name brand, only to find it seems some how different. Bouncing or spinning is no different but when playing it seems to do wierd things like different sounds (cracked), wierd spins from loops and underspin, rolling instead of bouncing??   

Are there any way to tell quality, differences, wannabe's, copies etc?

How about the logo, colouring...

ie DHS copies are darker (or is it lighter)?

When you say seam - do you mean it should not be visible?

The first thing you want to do is check for roundness.  Take the ball and spin fast on the axis of the seam.   If it wobbles....its not round and will have odd effects.  Then go from checking how hard or stiff it feels when flat hitting for a few.  Some like harder balls....some like medium stiff.  Im not sure how quality may be proven if a ball is harder or stiffer as they make break easier pending on this fact.  

With that said, I like 3 Star Double Fish balls to play, and DHS 3 star balls in my robot because they feel a bit softer or lighter.  Sometimes white balls feel stiffer or heavier than the same type in orange color. 

good job stan1551,  I forgot about that one.

I really like the pingskills vids.  Those helped me so much in developing my game so far.  I highly recommend viewing all their vids!   I much appreciate the work and time they put into all their vids on youtube. 

1. Three Star ball

LOL Yea, the Stiga balls are bad... You can see through them at times.

There isn't a market for fake training balls, just to add.

Totoro wrote: LOL Yea, the Stiga balls are bad... You can see through them at times. There isn't a market for fake training balls, just to add.

This is a market for fake training balls. Just go here and see it for yourself. USA 4 Star Premium Training Balls. Made in Taiwan.

Also I have some STIGA balls and I have to say that STIGA's 2 Star and Trainer balls sucks. Dosen't bounce evenly and cracks easily. Optimum balls are the best. In my opinion, I think Nittaku Premium is the best ball specially the white one. DHS balls are good also for the price and they bounce like Nittaku. I haven't tried Double Fish but will get one later.

Yes, it is called Ebay....
No, I am kidding...I am sure where are some decent sellers on Ebay as well...... but for sure, there is a greater chance to get fake things on Ebay as opposed to a reputable shop(s)...

butterfly ones hav the most durability

nittaku 3 star is probably my fav
or the dhs 3 star from the 04 olympics (white ball with red and black wording)
i also like the doublefish 3 stars a lot too

id play with any of these but i mainly play with orange dhs 3 stars though.

nittaku 3 star is the most durable i have used,the stiga  3 star optimum balls seem lighter and play a little differently

The Gambler Bullet Platinum are pretty good. They use em at my local club frequently :)

Interestingly, when I talked to Giant Dragon they told me their balls were used by Joola and Stiga. Those are like the two WORST balls sold by major brands.

The stiga optimum, though, are hardball formula made by dhs. Fragile, but play very well while they last.

You can buy Yasaka balls in Europe... haven't seen them in the US. I would rate them as high as Butterfly but they are as expensive (at least)

Ditto on the Gambler *** Platinums.  That's all I buy these days.  I'm done with coughing up $2 for a table tennis ball.

I do think that they are marginally less durable than the Nittaku *** Premiums I used to play with.  And I suppose that they may play slightly differently.  But these differences are very subtle and hard to quantify.

For instance with breakage, I've had nearly brand new Nittakus split on the seam while playing.  That has never happened with a Gambler.  However, the Gamblers seem more likely to split perpendicular to the seem more frequently when play includes heavy smashes.

In the end, I lose more balls due to someone walking off with them than I do from breakage.  I used to put my initials on my Nittakus to try to help combat that.  With the Gamblers, I just don't really care.  One less thing to pay attentions to.

As for play, I've only run across two players who seem to seriously dislike the way they play.  Both are defensive players, so perhaps they are picking up on something subtle I don't notice.  But with the exception of those two players, nobody else seems to care much.  I've found going back and forth between Gambler, Nittaku, Butterfy and DHS balls presents me with no difficulties.  I'm now on my second bag of 36 and am still quite happy.