How we score
Official factory numbers, a community feel score, and a Combined 0–100 index for rubbers and blades sold in Europe. No in-house lab, no boosted specs dressed up as catalogue facts.
Where the data comes from
Official playing figures come from manufacturer catalogues and European retailer listings — Butterfly, Stiga, Donic, Andro, Tibhar, Xiom, Yasaka, Victas, JOOLA, Gewo, Nittaku, DHS and the pips specialists whose sheets clubs in Europe actually reorder. Factory facts (hardness, weight, thickness, plies, ITTF code) are copied, never blended with another brand’s scale. We do not scrape other review sites, and we do not run a hitting robot.
Official index
Each brand publishes speed, spin and control on its own scale. We map those claims onto one 0–100 index so a Butterfly grade can sit next to a Donic 10+ and a Tibhar figure without pretending they were measured in the same room. It is a translation of the catalogue, not a laboratory result. If a brand does not publish a number, that cell stays empty rather than being invented.
Community specs and score
Every product already carries a 0–10 community score and a review count — that is the 284k figure on the homepage, compiled from public user feedback, not a scrape of one site. Community speed, spin and control place that score on the same 0–100 axes: a well-loved looping sheet is nudged up on spin, a loved defensive wood up on control. With few reviews the nudge stays small, so a brand-new sheet does not outrank a known one on feel alone.
Combined
Filters, rankings, compare and similar products use Combined. When both layers exist, Combined = (1 − w) × Official + w × Community, and w grows with the review count from 20% to 60%. One source only? Combined is that source. Hardness in degrees, grams and ply recipes never enter this blend — they stay factory facts next to the index.
Prices
Street prices are indicative euro amounts from European shops, not a live stock feed. They are there so a budget filter means something in Prague, Berlin or Stockholm. Check-price links go to a retailer search and can become affiliate links later. A price does not change the Combined score.
Want the buying-guide version? How to read the Combined index. The same index drives compare, rankings and the rubber and blade filters.