Have you switched to ABS ball ?

Going back to the beginning of this era, I have found the plastic ball implementation interesting in the USA.  Clearly is recalled what occurred in what I term "the first year of the plastic ball," the ITTF commitment to the new ball in their competitions, the terrible quality in bounce, roundness, and overall consistency.

I said at that time that it will be interesting to see how the equipment ruling class approaches this new era, as the celluloid ball is still legal and approved for competitions everywhere except with the ITTF events.  My incorrect speculation was that, in the USA, the equipment dealers, via their sponsorships of USATT tournaments, would logically and prudently burn through their stock of very high quality 3-star celluloids until these balls were close to extinction, then switch to the new, awful plastics.  I couldn't have been more incorrect, as the USATT tournaments immediately embraced the new plastics, promoting both these awful balls and dust on the plastic ball boxes in their warehouses.  I was more than a little disappointed in this nonsense, considering that the quality status of these new balls was terrible when juxtaposed to the great celluloid balls.

Through the years I've accumulated anecdotal information from a number of non-asian countries on the approach to this situation, finding that, essentially, my prediction of the burn-through-the-celluloids strategy was embraced as described above.  It seems that many countries are just now transitioning to the plastic balls.  

Again, it seems, the USA stood out just when it shouldn't.  This is reminiscent of the USTTA banning of sponge rackets when they were introduced, immediately putting America way behind in table tennis development.  

The USA has consistently demonstrated confidence.

Thanks.   

I've also tried some other ABS plastic balls since they've come out such as DHS's D40+ ball and Butterfly's A40+ ball and found them both to be acceptable alternatives to Nittaku, though I still feel the Nittakku is the best overall 40+ Ball on the market.

DHS D40+

TSP CP40+

Donic P40+

San Wei ABS Pro
Joola Prime ABS
Butterfly A40+

and many others..

Does this ball (Gewo Select Pro 40+) play like D40+ and other similar ABS balls?

vvk1 wrote: Same here in UK. Tournaments are sponsored by local TT vendors so, alas, until such vendors sell out their non-ABS ball inventory, we're stuck.

Not for all UK tournaments. For English tournaments, this was announced by TTE on 15 Aug 18:

The London-based company were chosen following a tender process and will supply Sanwei ABS Pro 40+ 3*** balls for the following competitions:

• PG Mutual National Championships
• PG Mutual Cadet & Junior National Championships
• PG Mutual U10-U13 National Championships
• Senior British League
• County Championships
• National Junior League and National Cadet League
• National Cups (U12, Cadet and Junior)

Being said, my preference goes to DHS D40+. Pretty good for the price, heavier than A40, just a tad little lighter than nittaku, durable with thicker seam and spinwise, as good as nittaku. Probably, you might find one/two eggs in a pack of 10 balls, but $7 for pack of 10 balls is worth it.