Reddit reviews Xushaofa 40+ Seamless Poly Table Tennis Balls - 3 Star

As I understand it, the star ratings on ball are indicative of the QC process that a ball went through in production.

For example (and I'm just making numbers up here), maybe the tolerance for a 1 star 40mm ball is somewhere in the range of 39.5mm to 40.5mm. A 2 star ball might be like 39.8mm to 40.2mm and obviously 3 star should have even tighter tolerances than that.

In reality, I think star rating is one of the least important characteristics when it comes to buying balls, especially when it comes to 3 star balls. The brand (which ultimately affects how the ball plays) is generally most important and, unfortunately, you generally have to see how it plays on the table to really get a good sense of it. Actually, I think it might be cool for companies to sort of sell a sampler pack of different brands that people can buy, but I digress.

Anyways, you have to consider what the balls are being used for. If you're just looking for a simple training ball, then consider quantity over quality and even a 1 or 2 star training ball should be no problem. If you're only really playing matches in the club, then you should prioritize quality over quantity and try to just have a few of the best balls you can afford that you can keep track of.

In my experience, the gold standard for the modern 40+ plastic ball is going to going to be the Nittaku Premium 40+ a.k.a the NP40+. Of course, they usually are pretty expensive, usually ranging from $2.5 to $3+ per ball. However, I have also personally used a few boxes of the later ABS revisions of the D40+(supposedly with Ding Ning on the box as shown here and not Ma Long) and I can say that I am very satisfied with the quality relative to the price. I would say they play at least 80% as good as the NP40+, but they are much more affordable at close to $1/ball.

I have also tried the XSF Seamless 40+ and I found they tended to feel a little heavier on the paddle when I played. I don't like these as much as the D40+ balls, but they're playable. Furthermore, I also tried some of the Butterfly G40+ balls early on and I felt that these were awful. The sound they make on hard contact with the paddle almost makes the ball sound like it's cracked; it bounces funny on the table and, in general, feels thin and unsubstantial for a ball. I would not recommend these.

In terms of training balls, I have had mixed experiences with these Nittaku J-Tops. I first used these at a club in San Francisco and they played really well so I decided to get them for my school club too. The first 2 boxes that we bought were just like the ones that I had used in the club and they played great, although they're not the most durable. However, the last box that we bought through Paddle Palace had the same picture as the ones on TT11 but turned out being these sort of co-branded Paddle Palace balls. These balls played much worse than the first few boxes I had bought so they're probably going to have somewhere else for more training balls later on.

All ping pong balls used to be made out of celluloid which is extremely flammable. Now there are plenty of non-celluloid ones out there.

1 example: https://www.amazon.com/Xushaofa-Seamless-Table-Tennis-Balls/dp/B00ZY8GVGA

Edit: These seem also non-celluloid and are also unbranded so even more perfect as diffusers: http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-150pcs-Wholesale-Budget-Plastic-Table-Tennis-Ping-Pong-Balls-Training-Sports-/182528468998