It’s practically happened already in Seattle. Many locations are now switching to SuperBands and it’s a god damn shame.
Real rubber or go home! End of story. If you really have trouble replacing rubbers on location, then you either have too many games to keep playing well or not enough techs.
Cannot stand SuperBands and really agree with Cayle on this one.
They dramatically change the feel of the any game, and I would argue this is noticeable to anyone who has played on both.
Find it odd that people think one would have to be a semi-hardcore pinhead to notice the difference, though. Obviously I can’t comment on that perspective given I’m not a casual player, but to me the difference is so significant that I find it hard to believe normal people couldn’t pick them. Absolutely not a fan of them at all, though. When I first put them on my HS they seemed to suck all the life out of the ball, if that makes sense. I think they lasted maybe three or four games before I took them off.
Having said that, wanting a little more juice for the upper flipper, I left a Superband there and haven’t looked back.
Are there any Saturn Rings that feel close to red? Not that it matters, because they’re a pain to try and get to Australia anyway 
I’ve had a few Titan rubbers across my RBION (not just flippers, posts as well) and apart from the yellow slings I had breaking within 10-15 games on each side (the purple ones on there now are far better for some reason) I love them. The flipper rubbers feel a lot closer to red than black, I’d even go as far as saying they’re identical. Certainly aren’t as uncontrollable as “traditional” purple rubbers (though maybe I should go back to them for practice/training) and of course look the part.
There’s maybe been 200-250 games on them now (I’m horrible at guessing) and they’re still solid across all three flippers. They don’t seem to attract the black grime either, which is weird.
Based on what I read on places like Pinside where you would basically be considered hardcore if you even thought about trapping the ball, then yeah, I’d believe it.
In all seriousness though, in all the hobbies I have been a part of, I have found that so much subtlety is lost on more casual and/or “normal” folks. I think it takes a lot of play, practice, and real familiarity with whatever you are working at (be it pinball, music, sports, whatever) to notice the nuances (in the case of pinball, a lighter bounce, more spin, more grip, etc).
Interesting. Mine feel to me like they are closer to black. I’ll have to put a red rubber on one of the flippers and play 50/50 for a while, one red rubber and one Titan ring, to see if I notice a difference.
So, I’ve had the Titan rubbers on my game for a week now, and strangely the game feels like it’s playing a little slow. My shots don’t feel as snappy, which is weird because I cleaned it slightly after putting the rubber on. It feels like these rubbers are a little… spongy? Like they are softer than standard rubber, I don’t know if that’s what I’m noticing. I may have to put standard blacks back on and see how it plays.
I did put Titan slings on the game and haven’t had them snap yet after a fair amount of plays. Crossing my fingers that remains the case.
Hm. It has been a while since I’ve used reds, I think I have a pair kicking around I can throw on (or just pull one from HS) and see if I can see the difference. Perhaps there is, but I’m pretty sure I’ve found them closer to the reds than the blacks. But then, I’ve never known there was more than one “original” flipper rubber manufacturer.
I don’t think I’ve tried any other type than Super Bands. I kind of like them, but there’s no doubt they play differently to normal rubber and can be inconsistent from game to game. Some are fine with dead bounces, others you wouldn’t even dare try.
They look fantastic though, no doubt about that. I bought a pair for my BoP about a year ago and was going to put them on when the standard rubbers wore out. The rubbers kept going though (with a few turns here and there), and I finally just caved in and put on the Super Bands. I couldn’t get over how dramatically it improved the look of the game, and it’s just rubbers on the flippers! Beautiful bright red that really accentuates the look of the game. I guess it does play a little easier? Catches are catchier…
I’ve had them on my Tron since I bought it and so have never played that game with normal rubbers. It plays consistent and predictable.
So yeah, I think Super Bands have some niggling issues or probably a better way to put it would be ‘things to be aware of’. But I don’t have anything against them.
One thing - I don’t think superbands work well on lightning flippers. Tried a set on Dr Who and they seemed pretty dead. It doesn’t appear the lightning flippers stretch them out enough for them to be snappy. My Metallica came with a pair of white SBs and it seems to play fine, although definitely grabbier.
In my limited play time on the new types of rubbers at MGC and Expo I found that I don’t like them compared to good old regular rubber. Maybe I’m too much of a purist though as I hate LEDs in games that didn’t originally come with them.
Had a competition over last weekend where everything used Super Bands. Is it just me or are the yellow ones really unpredictable? It almost changed my thinking on Super Bands because I really didn’t like how they played. Wildly inconsistent from bounce to bounce on the very same flipper.
That’s so weird, I thought they were all identical. At least in my experience, but I’ve only (knowingly) played with purple, red and black SBs.
I’ve been playing with the Titan Pinball rubbers (flippers and slings) for the past few weeks on two of my machines. I think I’d be very hard pressed to tell the difference between them and traditional rubber. Not superband-ish at all. Worth a try if you’re looking for something different.
Titan competition rings for our pingolf league that just wrapped up.
Looking forward to setting up complete games with them.
The Titan competition ones look to be different (at least, from their shopfront) than the regular ones. But they’re advertised as having the same feel as the old?
Maybe that’s where akm’s post starts to make sense to me… Titan’s “rubber” flipper rubbers are closer (closest?) to original reds whereas their newer silicone flipper rubbers have a different feel to them.
I’d be tempted to try them out, but the tyranny of shipping distance to Australia prevents me from testing without significant cost/time handicaps.
For reference, the old/original “rubber” ones:
https://www.titanpinball.com/products_detail.php?ProductID=414
And the newer competition/silicone ones:
https://www.titanpinball.com/products_detail.php?ProductID=768
Just got this game running I picked up last week. Stripped the playfield and installed Titan competition rings after a thorough cleaning. The play terrific even on an EM from '66. Congo is being done tonight and will be in the Allentown tournament bank Friday and Saturday.
Balls 1/2 were horrible. Ball 3 you can see some good action.
Let us know how you go with the competition rings on Congo with dead flipper passes. I suspect that’s the easiest/quickest way to determine rubber differences.
I took the Titan rings off the flippers and slingshots on my game and put normal black rubber back on. Things feel snappier now. They feel more like traditional rubber than Super Bands do, but they still have a spongy/soft feeling to them.
Are yours the competition ones or regular/original Titans?
I’m going to go out on a limb and assume they are the regular ones (they were included with this machine I got a few weeks back and the guy didn’t specify). Does anyone know if the competition rings have any different markings on them as opposed to the regular ones? (Mine simply say “Titan” on them).
Ive noticed in some areas I went down a size from origianal they stretch easier I feel so they need a bit more stretch to give the propper snappiness you are referring too. They are very snappy on that bazaar I posted.
From what I can tell on the website, the silicone ones are quite glossy but the ones I have (I only have the purple ones) are a matte, like regular purple or red rubbers.
Silicone:
“Regular”:
