A Good Priced Rubber

Look for "Friendship" rubbers, are grippy and REALLY Cheap, but the reasson i dont use it is because the sponge is really hard

hello selvin,

i just bought an inexpensive pair of sanwei t88-i rubbers, and i couldn't be happier. they are my first chinese rubbers, and they are supposed to be the chinese version of tenergy 05, which i wanted to try but which sell for $90 US/sheet at my club. before these, i was using joola xplode, which were almost $50 US/sheet. the sanwei t88-i is just $12 US/sheet, and i even found that if i buy them on ebay the shipping is free (again, to usa at least). not only is the price great, imo, but the amazing tackiness means you can really grip the ball. i feel these rubbers have taken my game to a new level, because i am finding it increasingly easy to topspin pretty much every ball (a fast and fine brushing motion will just GRAB). i don't mind the hardness of the rubber, because i tend to play a power game and hard rubber means more speed with driving. i have read that some people consider the rubbers heavy, but personally i don't really notice, although my paddle feels more "stable". here is a more-complete review of them (not by me, but i read it before i got them, and totally agree with it now i have played with them about 6 times): http://www.mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=45229

peace,

doug

As Douglas said there are some cheap and good quality rubbers and also people rank them almost as high as the expensive ones. So what is the difference between Sanwei t88-i and tenergy 05 and that kind of rubber. I bought an expensive one boost tp so Did I do wrong.

http://www.tabletennisdb.com/rubber/sanwei-t88-i.html

http://www.tabletennisdb.com/rubber/butterfly-tenergy-05.html

http://www.tabletennisdb.com/rubber/stiga-boost-tp.html

hi musab,

i have a little more experience with both cheaper and more expensive rubbers now, and i prefer the more expensive.  :)

my sanwei t88-i rubbers were always really nice to play with for about 2 weeks (i play about 3 hours a time 3-4 times a week and am a two-winged looper) but then i had to replace them, because they'd be totally dead.  i tried both the target, and non-target sponges.  when the rubbers went dead, my game would immediately fall off significantly, and i would start losing points at my club, bigtime.  also, the sanwei rubbers are quite heavy, but i didn't really notice that at the time, since that's all i was used to, but others have commented that they don't like them for that reason.  all that being said, they are a great intro into chinese rubbers, and are a great deal, especially if you get them on ebay, where you can usually get free shipping.

about 2 months ago though, i got tenergy 05 on both sides, which cost about $65 each at my club, and LOVE them.  i also really love the fact that they show now signs of wear whatsoever and are playing better than ever.  i like how they are significantly softer than the chinese rubbers (also used friendship 729-5 a few times, and dhs hurricane3, which i detested as it was way too hard for me), so i get better dwell time on my loop, allowing me to get more spin and thus consistency on attack.  my serve is spinnier than with the chinese rubbers, and i am able to over-the-table backhand loop receive with much greater consistency and control and spin.  it is also really good rubber on the block, because it has this catapult-type effect from the sponge and its really easy to unspin even the spinniest topspin on the block, with both hands.  it took about 3 sessions to get used to it though, as it is faster than the chinese rubbers, since it isn't tacky at all, and the ball kind of sticks to chinese rubbers before leaving, so i was at first hitting it off the table a lot.  now i feel confident to really dig in, and i can hit it hard, with really heavy spin and good control.  some people say tenergy 05 is a heavy rubber, but it is significantly lighter than sanwei t-88i, so that has kinda messed up my reverse pendulum serve, as i haven't got a chance to put in a couple hours practicing that serve alone (i really rely on touch with that serve), and so i am swinging to fast usually and missing the ball for service fault way too much.   not sure how much you'd care, but it was a little harder to cut then the chinese rubbers, and didn't seem to play as nicely with my joola water-based glue, because i had to reglue them a couple weeks ago, but those are small inconveniences...  overall, definitely worth the money if you are a looping attacker, imo.

also potentially of interest, i use them on a super-cheap, but super-nice chinese carbon fiber and balsa blade called yinhe t-11.  it is really light, and has good control, but is really fast and aggressive.  love it!

peace,

doug