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I have always been confused by the stats system that is used to rate table tennis rackets. Some companies use a three dimensional scale as: "speed", "control", "spin"; while other companies use other stats as well such as "stiffness", "hardness" and "consistency".

What's more confusing is that while the higher number is usually "better" cheaper rackets could be pretty much in the same range as the extremely expensive rackets. Is it so that the rackets are rated in price categories or how does the rating system work really?

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    Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a official "standard" for such ratings. A company's rating of their racquet is their opinion and not based on a standard. This source alludes to such.
    – user527
    Commented Aug 2, 2012 at 13:48

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I have played table tennis professionally at college level and I never bothered about these stats.

These stats do not follow a common standard. I assume that they are put up by the manufacturer as a simple indication of whether the rubber/blade is more suited for the players style of play (offensive/defensive).

Professionally, players do not a buy a single racket and use it like they do in tennis. they buy the blade and rubbers separately and match them to suit their style.

Fully assembled rackets are usually used by amateurs and semi-professional players. So, to clear your confusion over the price and performance of a racket, it really doesn't matter. If you are going to buy a racket, I would suggest you to try it before you buy it.

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This numbers are usually depending on manufacture, but there are some sites which are good, and we can partially trust them. Best one in my opinion is http://www.tabletennisdb.com/, In this site nearly all blades and robbers are available, and they also have a community rating. So if you cannot compare a butterfly rating with a Donic one, you can compare them by communities suggestion. Also take note that to be careful about "consistency", this is the part that is high in expensive blades and is low in cheap blades. That means you cannot trust speed of x for cheap blade.

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I play table tennis for years now and here in our place and during our training and tournament plays, we always customize our rackets. What brand is forehand, backhand and the handle. Depends on your forehand and backhand capabilities. It is also important to locate the "ITTF" (International Table Tennis Federation) symbol in the racket especially in the rubbers of your forehand and backhand. Means it is ITTF approved.

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