Those Mysterious Table Tennis Equipment Questions (Part 1)
Do these things have any scientific basis, or are they just superstition? Let’s discuss these table tennis equipment questions and weigh in with authoritative opinions from multiple sources.
1. Does a Heavier Racket Produce a Heavier Ball?
Butterfly’s equipment R&D department says that ball weight is a subjective sensation, so it can’t be answered scientifically. However, with the same swing motion, a heavier racket delivers more energy to the ball.
Jota Ito, a columnist for Takkyu Okoku magazine, argues that if we’re talking about a smash (ignoring spin), a faster ball creates a greater impact on the receiver, which feels “heavier.” Generally speaking, a heavier racket tends to produce faster ball speed, so there is a tendency for heavier rackets to produce a “heavier” feel. But some light blades are fast, and some heavy blades are slow, so racket weight doesn’t always correlate positively with a “heavy” ball feel.
My own take: what matters is whether you can actually control the racket. If you can, then yes — for the same blade model, the heavier one is more likely to generate more power, which does affect ball quality. But if you can’t control it, it doesn’t matter. Because here’s the key thing: swing speed. Faster swing speed also affects ball quality. And beyond that, the amount of spin and the ball’s speed both contribute to “heaviness.” Compared to overall racket weight, it’s actually whether the spin is strong and forceful enough that has more of an impact on how heavy the ball feels.
2. Why Do Rubber Prices Keep Rising?
The economics of it aren’t my area, so I won’t get into that. The ZYRE-03 that’s coming to market in the second half of this year will probably break the rubber price record again.
Butterfly introduced Sriver in 1967, and Yasaka introduced Mark V in 1969. By adding synthetic rubber to natural rubber, they created what was called “high-elasticity, high-friction rubber.” Prices stayed below 3,000 yen for decades. In 1997, Butterfly used high-tension technology and launched Bryce, which immediately pushed the price up to 5,000 yen. Retailers were skeptical — this expensive? Even within Butterfly there was internal opposition, but the CEO held firm.
Bryce ended up selling extremely well and was used by many top players. It proved that Butterfly’s rubber had real value — as the top brand at the time, they had nothing to fear.
Later, German rubbers using internal energy tensor technology came onto the scene, and 5,000 yen became the standard price for German sheets.
In 2008, Butterfly launched Tenergy at 6,000 yen — and at a time when speed glue was being banned, the Tenergy series swept the globe. In 2019, Dignics came out at over 9,000 yen. Butterfly has stated that the investment required to develop new rubbers is enormous.
Omega 7 Tour i by Xiom for their contracted players reached 11,600 yen, while DHS’s Blue National Hurricane sold in Japan at 16,500 yen.
It was Butterfly’s Bryce that really pulled the trigger on this price spiral. But honestly, if a rubber came along that genuinely outperformed Tenergy and Dignics in performance, it could still put a check on Butterfly’s pricing power.
3. Are the Shoes Sold in China and Japan Different from Those in European Markets?
The base models are the same, but the colorways differ. Europeans tend to prefer simpler colors, while Asians are more accepting of loud, colorful designs. So a shoe that looks one way in the Asian market might come in a more understated colorway for the European market.
Foot shapes also differ. Mizuno, for example, offers both narrow-last and wide-last options — for those with wider feet, higher arches, or other foot shapes.
Before 2000, many European players preferred thick-soled shoes — some even used thick-soled badminton shoes for table tennis, because many European venues at the time had hard floors. But after 2000, many European players started trying Mizuno shoes, and they gradually caught on.
In the past, the lightness and durability of table tennis shoes were somewhat at odds with each other. But with recent advances in technology and new materials, both Mizuno and ASICS now offer multiple models that manage to be both lightweight and durable. That said, thick-soled shoes still tend to hold up a bit longer overall.