Review: Tuttle 888 rubber

Some standard info about the rubber:

Brand: Tuttle
Name: 888
Thickness: 2.1
Tackiness: some (below medium, I would say)
Hardness: 33/30 - topsheet/sponge (I have Hard version of 888, by the way)
Weight: seems surprisingly heavier than expected. Cut piece is about 48 g.

Sponge has this rather strange sandy feel. It's yellowish, very dry and rather porous. Looks like a thin sheet of pumice!

I have put it on my Galaxy T-4 (together with Tuttle's World No.1). Will try and play this combo soon.

Played much more with the same combo. I liked how W#1 plays on the FH of T-4, but I will talk about that in another review.

As far as 888 is concerned, I think it will better serve someone else. It is a bit too slow for me - and when you recall it is sitting on T-4 you will realize it means something. It plays pretty good with slow, controlled shots close to the table. Also sometimes it dropped the shots even when I was pushing the ball properly but I suspect it might be still the effect of fresh glue, teh rubber is settling down.

On FH I didn't like its behavior at all - not much spin, speed is very ALL+, bad block when away from the table. Not my cup of tea, mates... sorry

So it is probably best when paired up with something like an ALL+ blade with relatively hard outer layers. I suggest Stiga Allround Classic or something similar.

If someone who plays that style (ALL+ at the table) or uses Allround Classic would like to test it - let me know. USA-48 + Canada residents only please.

I took it off and replaced it with LV on BH. Will post my impressions in another review.

It blocks pretty well - as a matter of fact on such a superfast blade as T-4 it is one of the things that 888 is good for. Because it muffles the impact and it's slower than my usual rubbers, I was able to do a short block better. However, not so great for fast power blocks, especially if you are not standing right there at the table.

I have already put LV (also Red) instead of it on BH. Will try and post very soon... I hope.

The 888 has a porous sponge and is 70 grams uncut = same weight than a Genius uncut (heavy rubber expected to be around 50 grams cut --> edit: it is 49 grams cut). I'll use it on the forehand this afternoon (the LV is only 60 grams uncut = light rubber i'll put it on bh --> edit: it is 43 grams cut). I'll slap those 2 sheets on my daughter's ALL round 75 grams Borko blade. I might make it my coaching blade as my blocks will be easier for the "coachees".

icontek wrote: Pardon my ignorance, (and my level) but why would you ever block away from the table? It's my general understanding that the closer the table you are, the smaller the strokes you need (for faster recovery) and the further from the table, the bigger the strokes you can afford (because you have more time to recover, and need to make up for the loss of spin/speed at that distance). Blocking at mid distance or further seems like a bad idea in general.

Thanks for the interesting reviews. I am excited about other tester's reviews as well. No rush.

I took the pictures but they are at home right now. I will bring the SD card with me to the office tomorrow and will start W#1 thread and will post the pictures.

Received rubbers in two days by fastpaddle.com, a big up to their expedite services.  Thanks Razortt...

Packages for all 3 rubbers are rather big compare to the norm.  Both LV & WN1 comes in vacuumed pack.  & All included the tensor protective film sheets.

 

I have been testing these two rubbers(LV & 888) for almost a week on my custom Ian Worz’s Tri-Carbon Cpen.  Will have pics up tonite.

 

First Impressions:  888:  Has Chinese characters of “Luck” and under 888:  “Prosperity”.  Just as accurately described by JimT, the sponge has many small open pores(HoneyComb Structure as indicated in description for this rubber).  slightly tacky, and very grippy.  I opened up the uncut portion, and discovered the pins under the top sheet are small & closely packed.  This is the soft Version in Max.  I also had problems gluing with rubber cement cause the first layer got soaked into the sponge right away.  After a day under some weights, I performing the spin test like RSM before he serves, I can prematurely say that this rubber is not very spinny.  The reverse spin on the second bounce hitting rubber with a closed-angle racket is almost non-existent.    

 

888 in session:

The rubber is also loud, but not quite getting the attention like LV.  I have to work extra hard to get the ball in topspin mode that I want because the speed of the rubber. 

 

Serving:  spin on this rubber is primarily relying on you mechanics.  I really have to dig into the sponge & then some to produce my normal spinny serves, even that, it didn’t come out the way that I wanted.  So it’s harder to perform spinny short serves.  It’s surprising why the spin ratio is so low for a grippy soft sponged rubber.      

 

Looping: All types of looping are easy to do, especially for a beginner; you’ll get a very good feel.  Probably cause of the grippiness & soft sponge.  Don’t expect to blow your opponents away unless you are very close to the table.  I wonder how this would perform after time when grippiness declines…

 

Blocking:  The best part of this rubber is blocking loops & returning it with no-spins.  IMO, this rubber has Short-Pins similarities in this department.  Regular blocking works great if you are training a looper.  Counter Looping might be harder to do, you’ll have to hit extra harder & follow-thru with a full stroke or it’ll end up at the net.

 

Serving:  This rubber is better at receiving serves cause it just flat out kills most of the incoming spins.  For players that like to chop or push everything back from services, this is YOUR rubber!!!

 

In conclusion I will rate TUTTLE 888 (Soft Black) as follows:

Speed: 6 out of 10

Spin: 5 out of 10

Control: 9 out of 10

Sponge hardness: Very Soft

Top Sheet: Slightly Tacky & Very Grippy

Category: ALL

 

 

FYI, quite a handful of my clubmates have inquired about the new TUTTLE rubbers, and I have referred them all to Fastpaddle.com….Hopefully you’ll generate more sales from this…=)

Edited by PingPongHolic10 - 02/10/2011 at 10:50am

Nice review.
Interesting that you got the soft version.

My Tuttle 888 review:
Thanks to razortt and fastpaddle I've received a red, 2.1mm Tuttle 888
hard to test and review. This is a first impression of the rubber.
The rubber came in a very simple packaging. None of the money was
wasted on fancy packaging or graphic design. According to pingpongrob
it's supposed to be tuned because it's a hard version, but mine was
not vacuum sealed (came in a regular plastic bag) and didn't bounced
like a tuned rubber. So I think I am reviewing a 2.1 untuned hard
version. If skippy's LV soft is tuned my 888 hard can be untuned.

As I am using a backup digital camera that doesn't do closeups well I
can only refer to Jim's pics. The rubber, Tuttle 888, is a copy of
Mark V and Sriver, or may be a copy of Inspirit and Blue Whale type
of grippy rubbers. It's not sticky like hurricane, but has more
tack than Japanese rubbers like Mark V. 888 is supposed to be the
slower, more controllable of the three (of LV, 888, WN1). The sponge
is very dry and has little holes, the best for speed gluing if you
still experiment with glue.

I first cut it to a Nittaku Acoustic with the World No 1 2.1 black soft
as the backhand rubber, but after playing for 5 minute I realized the
rubber lack bounce that it's too slow for the blade. It plays slower
than some defensive rubbers because it doesn't have any spring. It may
be just because it was not broken in or that it was not tuned when
it should be. I realized that I can't wait for it to be broken in so
I moved it to the springiest blade I have, the Nexy Oscar. Oscar has a
middle layer that provides more spring to the blade than any other blade
that I have played with. It is that feature that make it the best for hard
sponged rubbers that lack spring. I then put three layers of Elmers'
rubber cement (just my luck my glue is pretty thin when I bought it).
This may change the rubber's property a little but I hope I am OK. I
think that once the rubber is broken in it would be just as soft with the
layers; the glue just save the time. On the backhand I put on a thin
(1.5mm?) regular Mark V for comparison. Mark V has more spring and faster
but 888 is not bad and has a good "hold" of the ball.

Playing with this setup for ten to twenty minutes two time this past week
I found 888 to be very spiny on loops, an ideal rubber for forehand,
but it also blocks well like Mark V because it's not too sticky. 888 don't
have the Mark V spring and I have to work hard to loop even on Oscar, so I
think 888 only plays well on very springy blades. The speed of the
blade itself doesn't matter too much. It's the dead feeling of the
rubber that the blade should help. The short game, blocking, and hitting
are quite good because of the lack of spring though. Since this is meant to
be a allround rubber, for it's price I can't find better. Inspirit don't
have glue feel like 888. It has less dwell time, spin and control.
Hurricane is too offensive and sticky for it to be allround. Hurricane
takes on too much spin and if you are not an expert at return you may
lose the point right away. 888 can help your return but can also generate
85% hurricane spin on serve. That's enough for anybody, any allrounder
anyway. 888 doesn't have the finish power like a Inspirit Quattro; it's
not for the player who wants to has the speed to blast past his opponent.
The power shots are spiny enough to pop the ball up to set up an easy
smash. 888 offers more control, spin and lack of speed! Sometimes it's
good to slow down to get a full swing of all you shots. You may enjoy
doing work(exercise) for a change.


One thing I think I would recommend to the manufacture is that this rubber
must be tuned and heavily tuned for it to be good. The tuning should add
spring to the rubber so that everyone can use it on a normal blade. I
highly recommend this rubber to the player that wants the spin of the
hurricane but not the stickiness of the rubber. 888 plays 50% like a
Mark V, the classic allround rubber, and 50% like Hurricane,
on the Oscar. It plays like a slower and less sticky neo hurricane.
It's only recommend for close-to-the-table play.