Poly Ball - Pros and Cons

I bring this up because most discussions about the Poly ball just regress to moaning about Sharara's behaviour right back at the initial announcement stage. People are angry about Sharara's slipshod approach with explaining the reasoning, so they won't accept a positive evaluation of any single aspect of the poly ball. It's a touchy subject, but it shouldn't be. We should be able to have an objective discussion about the pros and cons of a poly ball.

Pros:

Plastic ball will no longer be treated as hazardous for shipping/storage purposes.
Plastic production is worldwide, celluloid production is niche and is only undertaken in a few remaining factories. Eggs shouldn't be in few baskets.
Lower spin/speed. Shallower learning curve for beginners. Longer rallies - better for casual spectators (and people who like longer rallies in general I suppose).

Cons:

Lower spin/speed. Dumbing down the game.
Will differences in playing behaviour between brands be wider for poly than it is for celluloid currently? (Especially considering seamed/seamless)
Ball costs.
Durability concerns - breaking and wearing down to a smooth texture.
Nasty sound.

Note that I don't consider Sharara's comments about an impeding celluloid ban as a Con of the ball. It's not the ball's fault that he's a dodgy sleezeball.

Edited by AndySmith - 04/09/2014 at 4:53pm

Yeah. As I wrote the list, I knew that many of the points about playing properties are just speculation. I've used the first Palio seamless balls, but things have moved on since then. I don't like the idea of a mix of seamed and seamless - with any team you visit able to pick and choose a different one. I hope that the local committees will enforce one type or the other eventually, even if the ITTF don't.

One thing I'm sure about though - the change in material from celluloid to conventional plastic is a good thing. If the playing properties remain similar.

If the new balls always sound cracked, I wonder how we'll determine if a ball becomes cracked mid game..hopefully there would be a difference


Edited by davidwhang - 04/09/2014 at 4:46pm

davidwhang wrote: If the new balls always sound cracked, I wonder how we'll determine if a ball becomes cracked mid game..hopefully there would be a difference

I forgot about the nasty sound. It is particularly awful, but you'd get used to it. Maybe they sound like celluloid balls when they're broken? :-)

The ball list looks good - all the main companies have gone with a seam. I wouldn't put it past some clubs to use the seamless ball tactically. Or just for a laugh. I'd prefer a consistent approach, but it remains to be seen how different seamed and seamless are.

AndySmith wrote: One thing I'm sure about though - the change in material from celluloid to conventional plastic is a good thing. If the playing properties remain similar.

Before we debate the pros and cons of the new plastic ball any further, I have a nagging suspicion that the new 2-pc. balls still use very similar materials to the old one, just that they are bigger now.

Someone needs to buy 100 of the new 2-pc. balls and burn them side-by-side of 100 current balls with the exact same methods.  I am willing to bet they burn at exactly the same rate of combustion!!!    






Edited by roundrobin - 04/09/2014 at 7:50pm

The higher bounce is pretty noticeable and it works in my favor too :P
we started playing with these balls ages ago. Just play a few months and you'll get accustomed

The best explicit PROS, you can now see on taobao market righ now.

Celluloid price is now dropping dramatically, 30 -50% discount for DHS brand.

Cons - I brought a stack of quality celluloid balls that I thought would last me ages...

I think I'll be changing my balls more frequently to use them up...

roundrobin wrote: AndySmith wrote: One thing I'm sure about though - the change in material from celluloid to conventional plastic is a good thing. If the playing properties remain similar. Before we debate the pros and cons of the new plastic ball any further, I have a nagging suspicion that the new 2-pc. balls still use very similar materials to the old one, just that they are bigger now. Someone needs to buy 100 of the new 2-pc. balls and burn them side-by-side of 100 current balls with the exact same methods.  I am willing to bet they burn at exactly the same rate of combustion!!!

All you need to do is break one open and smell.  If you don't smell the camphor, then there is almost surely very little celluloid in it.







Edited by wturber - 04/10/2014 at 9:19pm

wturber wrote: haggisv wrote: The only offset will be that they're cheaper to ship since they're no longer regarded as flammable... it might take the shipping countries around the world a while to catch up to this though. Training balls are inexpensive and shipping must be a small fraction of their cost. Any reduction in shipping costs should be invisible to the end user.  In fact. if air shipping is more easily obtained, then shipping costs may go up as buyers and sellers choose air delivery for its speed and convenience.

not really true for bulk, for example I could get an order for 40 table tennis tables and ask for a few boxs of balls to go on top, at the moment this is a hugh problem as that simple act will make the contaner hazardous and costing much more, So as long as shipping / freight and the like know about any new regulations (in theory these companies should already have some information going to them) but who knows

just saying i could save $80.00NZ per box , so thats not too much trivia, edit after working it out around 50cents nz a pack lol    or $400Nz for 5 boxs, so lots of pennys to be shared if considered non hazardous

ball is fine. I just hope its affordable and durable. 

smackman wrote: just saying i could save $80.00NZ per box , so thats not too much trivia, edit after working it out around 50cents nz a pack lol    or $400Nz for 5 boxs, so lots of pennys to be shared if considered non hazardous

I can buy bulk 2* training balls from ZeroPong for 29 cents NZ.  That works out to 87 cents for three balls.  I'd be surprised to find that 57% of the cost of training balls is the shipping.  But lets assume that the real cost is 50 cents NZ per pack (I'm assuming a 3 pack).  That works out to 17 cents NZ  for a ball that typically costs a around $1.17 NZ (converting from typical $1 US per ball cost).  That's still a relatively small proportion. And the reality is that most suppliers probably don't get to essentially save all of their shipping costs by including balls with shipments of 40 tables.  So this is a best case scenario, not a typical one.

I wager than any benefit from (occasional) reduced shipping costs will be essentially invisible to the end user.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=601717429907079&id=100131830065644&refid=17

http://tabletennista.com/2014/4/ovtcharov-i-think-table-tennis-will-change/

DIMA utterly enthusiastic of the plastic.