Ping pong is one of the most popular games in the world. You can not play table tennis if you do not have a ping pong ball. Sadly, not all balls are tailored equally in terms of size, design, and quality.
That is why you need to read this article as we are going to cover all the information you need before buying ping pong balls. Let’s jump into it.
Table of Contents
Best Ping Pong Balls – What Features Should Matter?
Before diving into the best ping pong balls on the market, let’s take some time to read about a qualified ping pong ball’s properties.
Physical Properties
Diameter
The official ping pong ball’s diameter is 40mm. However, variation can happen during the production process.
In general, the balls need to be in the range of 40mm and 40.5 mm. That is the range you get when you sample the balls at a large quantity.
Weight
Another element that you should notice when it comes to ping pong balls is the weight. People also take a sample of the balls to see the mean weight of them. The result may fall in the range of 2.67 grams and 2,77 grams.
Lighter table tennis balls are slower and more likely to swing while heavier ones are much faster and more consistent in their trajectory.
Roundness
People measure the sphericity of the balls by calculating the difference between their maximum and minimum diameters.
For celluloid balls, the difference should be less than 0.35mm, and for non-celluloid balls, less than 0.25mm is an appropriate figure.
Veering is another factor in gauging roundness but also the difference in thickness. A ball must not veer because it will probably go out of the track, causing the inconvenience and disturbance while playing ping pong.
Rebound
A qualified ball must show a certain degree of bounce by bounce testing.
Specifically, if we drop the ball from a height of 305 millimeters onto a steel block, 240-260 millimeters is the range of height that the ball should rebound.
Hardness
To measure the hardness of a ping pong ball, we use a computerized device to create a force against the ball, and then any hole or mark is measured.
In case you do not have a tool to test for the hardness of the ball, you can play with the ball at a bit heavier force to see if any holes, indentation, and scratches appear on the ball.
Surface Properties
Color
You probably know that ping pong balls can only take one of the two colors: White or orange. It is because these colors have a remarkable contrast with most backgrounds, allowing it more comfortable to watch the ball during play.
We recommend you choose your outfits that have a different color from that of the ball in use. For example, you are wearing a white T-shirt, you better go for an orange ball.
Material
A ping pong ball can be made of plastic or celluloid. Plastic balls are thought to move slower than celluloid ones owing to the size differences. Besides, players also experience less spin when playing plastic balls than that of celluloid balls.
It would be best if you tried both of them to figure out what style you prefer.
Seam vs. Seamless
The ping pong balls can be divided into two types based on how they are created.
The first type is seam balls, which are made by gluing two halves. The seam balls can be cheap, but they are not as durable as seamless balls.
Star-rating
People often print stars on the ping pong balls to indicate the quality of the ball. The maximum star-rating is three, showing the highest quality, durability while no star, 1 or 2 stars would represent for the lower quality.
3-star balls are compatible with tournaments while 1-star and 2-star table tennis balls incline to casual and training games.
Best Ping Pong Balls
The following list will show you the best ping pong balls available on the market. These brands are not only famous for their ping pong games but also other sportswear. Let’s check them out.
- Nittaku Ping Pong Balls
- Butterfly 3 Star Balls
- MAPOL Ping Pong Balls
- JOOLA Ping Pong Balls
- Stiga Ping Pong Balls
The Bottom Line
Hopefully, this article has provided you with useful information on the best ping pong balls. The choice depends on your level and your budget as well.
If you are just a casual player, go for the budget but good enough ones. In case you are prepared for competitions, you should familiarize yourself with the tournament balls.
Thanks for reading.
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