IMO I don’t see the point of any of these specialty rings…
Regular rubber is still readily available, plays better and most importantly is CHEAPER. So why pay more for something when the original is still available and priced better?
The only time anything like this ends up on my machines is when I’m given it, I’ll never pay more for something like this when regular old rubber is available and cheaper.
Perhaps from an OP perspective the longevity of the rubbers makes the price worth it, but from the home market perspective I don’t see the value.
It’s mostly made for people that want to trick out their games I think—seems to be no shortage of folks willing to spend just about anything doing that. Of course I still prefer plain old white traditional rubber to any of the colors/types I’ve seen but really, who am I to judge what kind of rubber rings someone else likes on their game. That is until I have to play said game in a league/tournament situation, then it’s whinge city, especially if I lose.
For me, it’s colour matching. I use Titans given they’re the only ones that feel like regular rubber across the board, but have different colours. I tried “regular” purple but it played really strangely. So if I can make my machine look nice for only a few cents more (it only costs $1 more in total across the three flippers on my RBION) I might as well.
Not a fan of any of the others that drastically change how a game feels, though. No matter how pretty it might make my game look, if it changes the game beyond it’s looks then it’s just not worth it.
The bling factor is definitely an appealing factor to the collector community. Another idea that lands more in logical territory is these will theoretically keep your games cleaner for longer periods of time (if you do a 100% conversion, flipper, post rubbers and all other rubber rings).
I don’t equate dirt on the rubber to a dirty game and I don’t feel like having cleaner rubber on a game means the game is actually cleaner. The ball will still pick up whatever crud it picks up from ball guides, ball trough etc. and that dirt will have to go somewhere. If it’s not on the rubber parts and they look clean longer that’s a big positive. If it’s instead building up more on the playfield or especially plastic ramps, that’s a big negative. At this point, I’m not sure anyone really knows for sure.
I was at a friend’s place last weekend and he had a the competition rubbers on a few of his games. They definitely feel more like traditional red rubber from what I can tell. They look a lot like standard rubber as well, versus the normal Titan bands I had which were obviously glossy. I might try to acquire a set or two of these competition rubbers myself to be able to test them for more than just a few games.
I have a variety of different flipper rubbers on my games so I can be a little familiar with anything I come across. The only one I don’t have on any games yet are the Titan competition bands, and some of those just arrived in the mail so they’ll be on something shortly. I would have to say I prefer standard red rubber (or other colors like blue and purple) the most still though.
Superbands - They don’t have great bounce consistency, they often feel dead to bounces as mentioned above. They are definitely a little more grippy than normal rubber and put more spin on the ball, but shots feel a little more accurate. Catches are definitely easier in most situations.
Saturn #1 Soft - These feel pretty grippy like Superbands but they are crazy bouncy. They feel like they’re made out of the stuff those old superballs we had as kids were. On a fast game (like JM) they make it very challenging to get the ball under control. Its kind of fun in some ways but also frustrating at the same time.
Saturn IFPA Maroon - These feel comparable to colored rubber in terms of bounce but they are super grippy. Running my finger over them they feel like they’re nearly twice as grippy as SBs, which is saying something. I hope its because they’re still somewhat new (~150 games) but I’m concerned that they’re always going to be too grippy. The spin on the ball on Star Trek is just absurd at times. Sometimes the ball checks up on the flipper and rolls backwards like a golf ball landing on the green…
Titan Competion - Just feeling them in my hands they seem like they have potential to be a good combination of softness and grippyness. I look forward to trying them out.
