Do "expensive" rubbers really make a big change?

smackman wrote: ri0t1 wrote: What is the life expectancy of the cheaper rubber to the expensive rubber in your findings? plenty of Chinese will keep a cheap rubber for decades

unopened in the package too 




Edited by Snakefish - 04/06/2016 at 7:40pm

ahsq wrote: YES. A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE.  i dont even take the players in my club seriously when they use a premade/cheap paddle.  but then in my club everyone is old and they have no where else to spend their retirements so I am seeing $300 dollar setups on people who holds the paddle like a karaoke mic.

I recommend that old people, except for me of course, use premade/el cheapo paddles.  Unless they want to be taken seriously, in which case a $300 setup sounds about right.

As one who has played competitive table tennis using the shakehand grip and the penhold grip and sung karaoke, I do not recommend holding your paddle like a karaoke mic.  That doesn't work too well, and no serious table tennis player at a serious table tennis player table tennis club will ever take you seriously, even if you happen to have been the CEO of the Walla Walla, Cut Bank and Yahoo Railroad line.

"As someone who's around 1300-1400, I can say that playing with $10-14 rubbers are horrible experience. Perhaps it'd be true to say that getting something like Vega Japan (fantastic rubber this one, love it) and then comparing it to Tenergy 80 which costs twice as much, the player will most likely play the same."

JimT wrote: obesechopper wrote: I've been doing a good bit of testing here lately, and I've come to the conclusion that there seems to be very little difference between expensive rubbers and the cheaper ones! Welcome to the club! It is true that some expensive rubbers are well-liked by advanced players - however, below..say, 2300 level one can always find rubbers which cost 50% less and play about the same At U-2000 level one can almost always find really cheap (under $20-25) rubbers that will do the same. At U-1400 I would say that the price can be lowered to $10-14 This is all approximate and is not true for everyone - only for 99% of the players, imho

Evaluating rubber by yourself may not be very productive. An experienced person on the other side of the net is a great help.

The last time I was thinking about switching rubber, I had a lesson planned so I hit both rubbers with my coach and she told me to pick a specific one because my shots were more spinny and dangerous with that one. Easy decision when an ex-olympian tells me which one to pick.

btw, if the general observation is that many ESN rubbers play similar, that is expected as they are made by the same factory. I agree that for many people, $30 is just fine. I play about the same with Palio Blitz or T80. I switched to T80 because ordering Blitz from ttnpp can be a poor customer experience.

I could search for another ESN rubber, but I like the T80 so I don't care.

obesechopper wrote: I've been doing a good bit of testing here lately, and I've come to the conclusion that there seems to be very little difference between expensive rubbers and the cheaper ones!

Welcome to the club!

It is true that some expensive rubbers are well-liked by advanced players - however, below..say, 2300 level one can always find rubbers which cost 50% less and play about the same

At U-2000 level one can almost always find really cheap (under $20-25) rubbers that will do the same.

At U-1400 I would say that the price can be lowered to $10-14

This is all approximate and is not true for everyone - only for 99% of the players, imho

zeio wrote: Check out the price of the blade that tops the Japanese chart for years.

That was in a foreign language, and I couldn't find a way to flip it to English. So what is the name and  price of the blade?

jfolsen

Check out the price of the blade that tops the Japanese chart for years.

ri0t1 wrote: What is the life expectancy of the cheaper rubber to the expensive rubber in your findings?

I am surprised no one has mentioned durability so far.

How about a blind test with equally used expensive rubber versus cheap?

I can tell from experience that a 4 month old sheet of T80 still has plenty of life in it. A 4 month old sheet of $14 Gambler Outlaw will have a big loss in performance and need to be replaced.

(btw, if you put a high throw rubber like T80 on one side of a blade and a low throw rubber like Outlaw on the other side and can't tell the difference, then it really doesn't matter what you play with)

I have tried a few other cheap rubbers and I don't care about trying any more. I have found what I like and don't want to waste time testing $10 product.

There is also the issue of quality control.

If you drive a family saloon car and a Porsche around a carpark, it may be hard to determine which had the best "performance"... 😀

cost seems to be a factor in how many players judge a rubber for example a $10 rubber that plays great has appeal and is considered a good deal. Players used to paying significantly less then 05 prices simply refuse to consider playing with Butterfly based on price. 

Edited by lineup32 - 03/28/2016 at 12:04pm

I'm not that good a player but I can tell the difference between T05 and Evolution rubbers immediately (and Evolution series are probably the closest ESN comes to Tenergy in terms of performance). 


Now being able to tell one from the other may not matter as much as whether I can play better with one than the other.  It takes me awhile to stop clipping the top of the net when I switch from Tenergy to, for example, Evolution EL-P.  If I am patient enough to adjust for that I am quite sure my level will be the same.

Somebody posts a thread like this about once a year.  But if you write a thread like that and state that Reflectoid vs. Tenergy, no big deal...........     well...........   ok, then.

Blindtest of the Fastarc G-1 and a certain "big-hit rubber" by Nittaku:

Edited by zeio - 03/27/2016 at 8:31pm