I bought the defenders paddle
I posted a thread about buying the most obnoxious defenders paddle. Olivier Mader ( Pushblocker ) said he uses Air UpUpUpUp. It cost $20. I don't know why it cost so much. I am cheap but not that cheap. The FH has 2mm Reflectoid which has been described as a Chinese version of Tackiness Chop. These rubbers will be on an on a LKT Instinct blade ( ALL+ ). Hopefully this paddle be obnoxious enough.
I bought it from colestt.com this Sunday morning and it has already shipped Sunday evening. Amazing. Here in the US both colestt.com zeropong.com offer very good value for the dollar and fast shipping. The paddle cost less than one sheet of T05.
[rambling on]
business things got in the way of playing a lot of TT the last two weeks. The weather did too. We had a very wet and cold summer this year and only recently have we be able to string together a few good days. I went walking outside rather than play TT but the foul cloudy, cold and wet weather will soon be upon us here and it will be time for TT. I actually took a day off to walk around in 25 degree C weather.
One thing I have noticed about Boz's videos is that the Brisbane TT Club is very nice. It is much nicer than what we have here at the Portland TT club, at least where I play. Now that school is in again we don't have access to the high school in Portland that is relatively nice. Now I must go to the Harold street center which is really a pit. A cinder block room with poor acoustics and only four tables that echo like crazy and no water. It cost me $20 a year and $5 a session to play. I would pay more to have play in a nicer place. I like playing in my office MUCH better but I don't have access to the better players. I bet space where we play TT cost about $1000/month if I figure out how many square feet we use and multiply that by the rate for office space per square foot.
I think you guys in AU take TT more seriously than we do. What does it cost to play at the Brisbane TT club?
I think I have caught the EJ disease. The difference between me an Boz is that I simply buy a whole new paddle. The good thing is that they are the less expensive Chinese ones. I have 5 paddles now. I have 2 T05 and 4 Chinese rubbers waiting to be used and I only play about 8 hours a week max so it will take a while to wear some rubbers out. I do have a two rubbers that should be replaced. I keep catching them on the table corner while looping but the tears are close to the edge.
I hate this red and black rubber rules crap. It is another plot by the TT companies to make us buy more. When I had only one paddle with TBS+2xT05 it didn't make much difference. Know I am trying different rubbers for FH and BH and I didn't 'standardize' on black being FH rubbers and red being BH rubbers or anything like that. I can see a need for organizing my rubbers by whether they are for the FH or BH. When I got my Samsonov Alpha paddle my plan was to start conservatively with two 1.5 mm rubbers and then upgrade by buying a new FH rubber and using the old FH rubber as a BH rubber. I don't think my plan is working too well.
Finally, I have lots of video that I need to process. I have a Newgy review and video of my laser alignment system for rubber testing. Hopefully this will become a higher priority when the weather gets bad here.
I should have a place in NZ or AU for the winter time here. I have an VPN and internet phone. I can setup my office anywhere in the world now as long as it has decent internet and be accessible as if I am in Vancouver or Battle Ground WA. I makes no difference where I am now.
[/rambling on]
Comments
Come to Australia
This is an open invitation to come stay at my place till you get your feet on the ground. I can pick you up at the airport.. etc. I suggest you come to Brisbane for atleast one season of fixtures either 5 week or 10 week.
I play about 3 times a week so could give you a hit for a bit each day.
http://tabletennisyoutube.com
What are fixtures? Is it like what we call league play?
In league play we are organized into groups of 4-6 people based on past experience/outcomes. Within that group we play round robins. The winner usually moves up and the loser moves down.
table tennis fixtures
Either teams of 2 or 3. So not round robin. The teams are attempted to be made equal based on past experience and outcomes. So if a player's percentage is in the top 2 at the end of the season they will play off to go up to the next level.
It is a team and prize vouchers are given for the team and also for best personal percentages.
Each season players get reshuffled.
I have been the number 2 player in my team for a while now because I finish at around 50% most times.
http://tabletennisyoutube.com
I played against my defender's paddle
Now I know why Barkj hates LP choppers. I my case my practice partner was just blocking like PushBlocker but it was bad enough. It seems like everything I know about reading spin goes out the window. Balls would float or curve. I would swing and miss. On top of that the balls would simply go into the net. My practice partner thinks the paddle is cool and got plenty of laughs at my expense. So far my practice partner hasn't figured out how to chop with LPs but can with Reflectoid. This will give me something to overcome but I think it will be more difficult that simply learning how to lift chopped balls. I can see why everyone looks 1000 points worse when they play PushBlocker.
On Greg Lett's forum PushBlocker has been helpful in tell me how to play with the LP. I relayed to my practice partner.
Meanwhile I have 5 paddles now include the defender's paddle. Two paddles have tears in the rubber where I managed to hit the corner of the table while trying to do opening loops.
I am looking at getting a slow spinny rubber like Barkj is looking for. I am looking at Relectoid or that Donic Akaddi Taichi. If the Paddle Palace ratings are to be believed the Akaddi Taichi is slower than Mark V but much spinnier. I would prefer to get something cheaper but the Donic Akaddi Taichi is only $32 US.
slow and spinny
I can only say be careful how slow and spinny you go. I have experiemented with the slowest tackiest rubber before - DHS pf4. But really the only advantage was doing super short pushes but then when I would have the advantage I could barely attack a ball.
If anything just go to a much thinner rubber with grip. It will be slow as there is no sponge to kick it forward in loops, but when you need to smash you still can since it isnt tacky.
I'll let you know how I go with those that I have listed on the front page go.
http://tabletennisyoutube.com
I like Reflectoid
I don't think it is the spinniest or or slowest rubber around but it does have a high spin to speed ratio. Both my practice partner and I see to have no problem really whacking the ball but I am almost always with 2 meters of the table. I can see a problem if back 5 meters. However, Barkj doesn't seem to get far from the table either so why does he need a fast rubber? Other than being so slow it seems so 'friendly' and easy to play with not very sensitive to errors.
Donic rubbers are still on sale at the Paddle Palace. I was thinking of getting that Akaddi Taichi for $32 to replace a torn Mark V 1.5mm I have. If not then by a Baracuda or Acuda rubber and replace the Mark V but now use the my current Mark V max as the BH.
I like the firmness of the Mark V. My Chinese rubbers are even firmer but heavy. I am tending to like firmer rubbers.
Yesterday I tried out my LP rubber against the robot to see if I could get any consistency after getting advice from PushBlocker. His advice was very good so it I just want to block and push I am OK. All the balls seem to go back with a fair amount of back spin which is what I found out on Wednesday. Unless one is good at lifting balls and doing opening loops I can see where LP can be a problem. I didn't have too much trouble with the back spin, it was the floating wobbly balls that threw me off.
My practice partner seems to be a little better than me at producing the wobbly balls than I am but perhaps it is hard to produce those ball against the robot.
Neither my practice partner or I have figured out how to chop with it UpUpUpUp LP yet.
All in all I think this cheap defender's paddle is a good combination. I do wish that I had a heavier blade though. You know I don't like heavy but I could easily put the UpUpUpUp and Reflectoid on a 90-100 gm paddle and I think it will feel better when hitting the fast balls. The current setup is 127 gm and the paddle weighs about 75 gm so adding even 25 gm to the paddle would bring it up to a still very light 150 gm or so.