Consider the BALLS!

Do you think it could be subconscious? Balls are supposed to be standardized as far as weight, material and size goes, so how much difference could there be between brands? Do you notice a real difference between the Nitaku and other brands? I'm not disputing your findings-- just curious because we currently use 4 different brands.

There's quite a difference in terms of weight between good 3 star balls and training balls. But that's not a good reason to many shots into the net. You should be able to adjust.

No matter if its a 3 star ball -check it for roundness, by spinning on its seam. If its egg shaped youll see the wobble. Balls are better than they used to be , but still not perfect. In the seventies I would buy two dozen balls at a time and check them individually on the glass counter in the shop. Would usually have to go through two extra boxes of six untill i'd got 24 perfect balls

standard deviation of roundness and weight are lower for 3 stars

Exactly.  There are subtle differences in hardness, particularly, between brands, but one gets used to it after a few mins of hitting.

Doublefish balls are great!  DHS balls are great!  I have also heard alot of people say that they loved the RITC *** balls.  I do believe that Gambler makes those RITC *** so apparently the Gambler *** balls are pretty good too.  I gotta get a bag of those from Cole soon.  Nittaku balls are great balls as well.  It would be stupid to say they aren't great balls as far as quality goes, but they arent $4 better/3 pk.  I also agree with mdjenders.  I HATE playing with a rock hard Nittaku that's been used for three weeks just to say we were using Nittaku rather than a nice soft, and light brand new DF, or DHS ball.  

Pretty much the same thing. I like double fish's feel the best.

" I think the Nittaku ball are still the best, but they don't last that long anymore, nothing like what they used to be like..."

I agree totally. They used to last forever, making it worth the money. Now, not so much. I use Stiga Optimums, just because that's what NCTTA gives us and what NATT tournaments used to use. However, when playing at NJTTC, people always seem to want to specifically NOT use my balls--like it really ticks them off. I think they're a little softer and heavier than the DF balls everyone uses there. I guess to some people, it's hard to get used to the feel of a new type of ball, making it physically more difficult to play better.

terms of use violation for the nittaku ball factory?  harsh

I still think the nittaku balls are the best, but the margin is much slimmer than it used to be. Not even close to enough difference to justify the cost.

To me the double fish are second best, followed by dhs. Some prefer dhs and I can see why they would. Dhs seem maybe more lively while dfish feel like the hardball formulas. I consider them equal in quality although they do feel different from each other.

The 729 balls were made by dhs and honestly, I never felt like they were very consistent. The gambler balls are made by dfish and I feel that they are much better. I believe those are the only two manufacturers in china.

In japan they also have 2 makers I'm told. One is nittaku and all they make there in japan is the premiums (although the dhs guys claim they're making those too). The other is TSP and I think they make a very good ball from what I've seen. I've played with a couple of bes' and I was impressed.

All the other balls on the market are dhs or dfish. The stiga optimum balls are the dhs hardball formula. They play great but crack quicker.

I am picky about how slick the balls get, so I never play with them until they break. I use them a couple of sessions and then feed them to the robot.

PaperBlade wrote: after a few hits, under microscope, the ball's surface is no longer perfectly round.

hmm the ball is never perfectly round

PaperBlade wrote: That's why you see Ma Lin and those guys always put the ball in their short's pocket and rub it before any serving.

loop+loop wrote: PaperBlade wrote: That's why you see Ma Lin and those guys always put the ball in their short's pocket and rub it before any serving. � � Do you notice that they also warm the ball up by blowing their breath on the ball before they start? � I believe that warming it up is also important. I suppose keeping it in your pocket warms it up�sufficiently.

THE reason is that new balls straight out of the packet have some white dust from the manufacturing process coating it (ever noticed that white patch on yr racket after hitting with new ball?). It made the ball much more spinny for the first few hits, thus giving a huge advantage to the server, or first guy to get in a big spin. So in matches between two players who know what they are doing, before they play with it, they blow on it to make it moist then wipe it to get the coating off. This is standard practice for matches in my league

haggisv wrote: I think the Nittaku ball are still the best, but they don't last that long anymore, nothing like what they used to be like...

Actually, I think Double Fish ball 3 star is really value for money. I like to use DoubleFish and Nittaku ball. But Nittaku 3 star premium is too expensive.