Sorry for the geekiness of this, but I wondered about the weight of the “new” plastic balls. Mainly, are the Nittaku heavier than the Butterfly? So, I grabbed a friend’s calibrated scale and did some comparisons.
First, the ITTF requirements
The official rules state that the ball shall weigh 2.7g, but any weight between 2.67 and 2.77g is acceptable for any one ball. No more than 1 ball out of the 24 sampled may be outside this range. The sample mean must be between 2.69 and 2.76g.
Second, the data
My data is based on weighing 3 balls of each brand, then doing a mean. So, yes, I have a smaller quantity sample (ITTF requirements are based on 24 balls), but I’m guessing that my random three balls measurement is representative. All balls were within the mean, so the weight difference between the balls is pretty damn small. All 40+.
Butterfly: 2.739g
Nittaku: 2.710g
DHS white: 2.755g
Andro: 2.747g
DHS orange: 2.714g
Not only was I wrong, but the Nittaku were the lightest of all.