On Gear Durability: What Lasts Longer?
1
Different angles give different answers. Take Hurricane 3 — is it durable, how long does it last? Generally, plenty of people use it a year or more; that tacky surface really is durable, which saves us money. But once you oil Hurricane 3, a few coats and the sponge collapses. If you glue-boost it instead, it lasts longer — only each glue-boost’s effect is not lasting, so you must do it often. The upside: the sponge does not collapse easily. But whether oiled or glued, Hurricane 3 may bubble, which tests your luck — sometimes a few plays in, it bubbles and is scrapped. So for ease and durability, an ordinary player can consider the more durable Tibhar K2, Beidou 5 (like a tougher, springier Jupiter 3), or Guobiao 3.
2
I rarely wear Li-Ning shoes. Of the other table-tennis shoes I have worn, Asics and Mizuno soles really are more wear-resistant — especially for someone who moves as much as I do. Besides the city’s rubber-floor halls, a few of us set up a court in the countryside, on concrete. There you can clearly verify whether a shoe sole is wear-resistant enough. With Asics or Mizuno, a year or more is no problem and they do not crack easily, even their budget models. Other brands are harder to say — on concrete, some start slipping or micro-cracking after a dozen wears.
3
When I first promoted the Yinhe Heima refined-craft, some worried Yinhe blades would not be durable enough. But from playing the refined-craft KLC sample since March until now, I have not felt much decay. Sometimes I think the Blue-Gold Workshop’s custom blades are pressed fairly tight, so they are generally a bit heavier — possibly one reason they are more durable than market versions. Generally, whether a blade is durable can be partly judged by feel. A thin blade with large overall deformation, very soft and springy, and very through-driving, is hard to expect to last long — like the W968 or Carbon Dynasty. In the hands of a harder hitter, it is even less durable.
Beyond that, custom Butterfly blades are very likely less durable than market versions, with elasticity decaying faster. This is my feel from playing dozens of custom/limited blades. At least two reasons. One, as I said, the stronger the overall deformation tension of a thin blade, the less durable — and customs and limiteds do have higher deformation tension than market versions. Two, the degree of fiber curing affects how hard or soft a blade feels. Market versions cure the fiber clearly more than customs, feeling harder and more solid. Conversely, the softer, springier customs are less durable. You can keep playing it, of course, but you will feel the elasticity drop clearly — less spring, shorter arc, less effortless. In that case, slightly raise the rubber hardness to compensate.
4
Thin blades are generally less durable than thick blades. Also, a paulownia-core outer carbon blade is more durable than an ayous-big-core inner carbon blade. Because an ayous-big-core carbon blade highlights absolute bottom power — once it goes a bit soft, the elasticity drops sharply, and we clearly feel it plays worse. A paulownia-core one was never about loading feel and bottom power; it plays more on ball-out speed and two-wing balance. Sometimes after a long-played outer paulownia-core Viscaria’s rebound drops, you even feel it holds the ball more, so it does not feel less durable. Plus, a 9-ply (even 12-ply) paulownia-big-core Viscaria really is more durable than an ayous-big-core 968 — the former highlights local deformation, the latter overall deformation. Plus, different brands use different adhesives — some tighter (stressing hard support), some stressing the through-driving of the bond.