tabletennisJunkie.com - table tennis and ping pong forum for equipment junkies!

[acer800]

BTW- Does anyone know how to fix my pictures? There sort of like cut off. (at the bottom)

From my past experience with Table Tennis Balls, I've came up with two favorite brands to buy TT balls from for training purposes. The first brand is butterfly although I've only had 2 batches of balls from them, IMO I think there training ball suits my needs the bests. There's many different aspects that can nominate this being a better ball than other balls.

The first aspect is the pricing of the balls, surprisingly these balls are relatively cheap compared to other Butterfly branded TT balls. The last time I ordered was from Sports Authority, it only cost me 34.99 including shipping (There was a promotion at that time)! This is a good deal since it divides down to about .50$ per ball.

The second reason is the quality of the balls. Although I have to admit these balls come no where near tournament quality balls, but they exceed the requirements to become a usable training ball. There's no "ball seam" that runs in the middle, although if you look VERY VERY close you can seen the "seam". You barely feel it though, so that isn't much of a problem. The bounce is good and very consistent compared to other cheap training balls. There was not a single ball that was misshaped in both my orders, this shows how excellent QC is.

The final reason I would like to share is the packaging. The balls come with a Medium Duty quality clear plastic carrying case. For this low of a price, I think that it's amazing that Butterfly can some how manage to include a carrying case and still make some profit. Here are some pictures I took.

Picture of the Logo


A bunch of Them


The Carrying Case



Sincerely,
-Acer800 (John)

[729 fx]

A good review, John.

At least the balls are USATTF approved, even though nothing about ITTF approval on them. Good to be used as training ball with such quality and a free bag to hold all the balls too.

[acer800]

Thanks! Do you have any suggestions for future reviews? Honestly these are some of my first reviews, on my past forum stays I just contributed but chatting and stuff not posting reviews like this.

A good review, John.

At least the balls are USATTF approved, even though nothing about ITTF approval on them. Good to be used as training ball with such quality and a free bag to hold all the balls too.

[729 fx]

Thanks! Do you have any suggestions for future reviews? Honestly these are some of my first reviews, on my past forum stays I just contributed but chatting and stuff not posting reviews like this.

Yes, maybe a review on testing the balls, like how they spin - whether the logo remains or move to the side, feel of the balls, bounciness and others that you can think of.

Anyway, it is a good review, John, as a start.

[varghese]

I have tried to find out how USATT approves a table tennis ball. I could not find any. The other day I was at Sears, and happened to see a brand called ping-pong. It is a brand from escalade sports. They are in the recreational range. They also had the USATT approval signature. These brands may be simply using the USATT logo, and may not meet any standard because they are not supposed to use it for tournaments.

In my understanding, the ITTF approves balls which can be used in ITTF approved tournaments. That may be reason they dont give the approval to training balls.

Last week I played such a training ball at the club. I have felt it is slower than the *** balls, and more wobbling. Am I right?

[729 fx]

Yes, most training balls or balls rated ** and below may not be up to tournament standard. I remember the first time playing with a single * ball, the wobbliness really makes me stared at the ball for a couple of seconds as I do not know what to make of it or how to hit it. Later I realize that I should just whacked it back and it would wobbly itself back to my partner opposite of the table.

For training purposes, you can just used normal or training balls (** or below) as it is more economy. But for tournament play, use a better ball, ie ITTF approved *** balls.

[729 fx]

I have tried to find out how USATT approves a table tennis ball. I could not find any. The other day I was at Sears, and happened to see a brand called ping-pong. It is a brand from escalade sports. They are in the recreational range. They also had the USATT approval signature. These brands may be simply using the USATT logo, and may not meet any standard because they are not supposed to use it for tournaments.

Well, some "backyard manufacturers", especially from China may do that. Just used the ruling body logo on their products and the public will think that the products were sanctioned by them.