Help on choosing new equipment

Im relatively new to TT but I have been playing casually for some time. Recently joined a club along with my sister (gosh you guys got no idea how hard it is to find those in Montreal) and I just wanted to hear some advices on the equipment to get for myself and my sister.

Currently I have been playing with an Andro Kinetic CF Titanium ALL+ w/ dual carbo sound 2.0 and the rubber combination proved to be way too fast for my skills hindering my consistency during practices and matches. Im expecting to change them soon enough and I was thinking of having Hurricane 2 fh and Plasma 380 bh both 2.0. I need slightly more control on my bh as I have switched from penhold to shakehand and still did not caught up on skills and this will allow me to practice chopping as well.

As for my sister she was only using those pre-made bats to develop her technique, and she has improved enough to want to produce spin. After watching her play, she is not a very agressive type of player and doesnt like to take risks. She would like to develop her game into a modern defender I thought of getting her the proper equipment for it but Im not sure if it's too early. I thought of getting her a STIGA Tube Def as her blade using control rubber sheets. I dont know if she should get straight or flared handle, there is too many different answers on this matter and I would like to get your opinion. Does straight handle give defensive players any advantage?

As for rubber, I dont want to go for things like Tack C or anything expensive as she is still developing her game so ALL rubbers should do the job. I was looking for Chinese rubber as the blade is quite light and I dont want her to get too used to it. Any suggestions on this matter?

Getting equipment is hard in Montreal so outside TTP I dont see where else I could get my equipment w/o being charged ridiculous customs charges and even then, we pay full taxes in Quebec as TTP is located here -_-

I know thats a lot of questions and thanks in advance for everyone thats helping out =)

Thanks for the suggestion, the pricing is not such an big issue for the blade for my sister and her lvl is not high enough to play with pips yet. Any suggestion for her bh? would another 999 do the job?

Reading the reviews about Globe 999 National version Im really interested into trying this rubber on a STIGA Tube Def as fh. Anyone has any idea on its performance w/o speed glue nor rubber cement? Also what would be a good bh combination for chopping? As my level is not high enough, my opponents dont use enough spin for me to require pips. Im looking for something thats good for off the table chopping with tremendous control or is 999 too slow requiring me to put that on bh and have a faster rubber as fh?

I thought of maybe Plasma 380 2.0 as fh and 999 as bh?

TT_Freak wrote: For her: Some DHS 7-ply with 999 on the forehand and Double Fish pips on the backhand.

For sure don't get pips for her, let her develop her game properly with inverted, or else she'll become a junk pips player (this is not a knock on all pips players, just junk players).

Don't get her a defensive blade, she's probably not aggressive because she's not confident in her skills yet. But as she gets better, she'll probably attack more, so just get her something ALL or ALL+. You might want to consider the LKT LoopSonic premade. Its rubbers actually have decent power and spin; probably 20% less than average rubbers. For under $20, it's definitely worth the value. It also has the adjustable weight in the handle to adjust control/power.

For you, you may find Inspirit/Saviga too fast for you. And the W6 blade is no slouch either, so that's a fast combination.

Maybe try one Chinese rubber (like Cream MRS) and one euro-style rubber (like Inspirit) to see which type you like better. And try an ALL/ALL+ blade like LKT Instinct. I don't think you'll stick to ALL/ALL+ forever, so consider this a transition racket since you're still relatively new to TT as you said. When you get better and are ready to upgrade, then spend some money on a better, more aggressive blade.

Try any of the following: zeropong.com, speedpong.net, colestt.com. If you wanna go for fancy stuff try paddlepalace.com

wow this thread turned super active all of a sudden ^^

thanks for the recommendations and I definitively wont give my sister pips at her level

I already knew we should both get soft inverted but which models was what i was reflecting on

i personaly decided to give Dawei 388A with custom sponge a try but still not sure with my sister...

she insisted on starting with STUGA TUBE Def so I got her that but I feel like giving her all+ rubbers to start off with as I dont want her to develop such a slow game, at her level I doubt the DEF or ALL will make that much of a difference

maybe after i try scott's custom 388A i might let her use it if it aint too fast combined with STIGA Tube def which would slow it down a bit

Waldner dicon + samba Ntec 1.5mm

I don't think its a big deal anyway, as long as she learns with a spinny short pip and reasonably thick sponge.  Heck, 802-40 on 1.8 soft sponge plays a lot like an inverted anyway.

Now, long pips or something...that's a different story.