Friendship 802-40 Soft

Friendship 802-40 Soft - The successor model of the 802

The company Friendship is, among other products, well-known for their rubbers with pimples out. Particularly short-pimpled rubbers, like the Friendship 802, are a firmly established and popular product. Finally, also its successor model was developed and is now ready for the table tennis market: the Friendship 802-40 Soft. Here we would like present this interesting rubber in more detail. TT-Shop wishes a lot of fun reading through!

Friendship 802-40 Soft - Pimples and Sponge

Let us start from the outside to the inside. The pimples (directed outward) of the 802-40 Soft are very short and wide. In contrast to the predecessor model, they are also conical. These features further increase the spin potential of this rubber, and the same is true for the speed development.

Although the sponge of the Friendship 802-40 Soft is indeed relatively soft, there is no slow behavior. Quite the opposite is the case: the ball can penetrate quite deep (hence also for a relatively long time) into the sponge material at ball contact. As a consequence, there is a longer ball-contact-time optimizing feedback and control. This is why the 802-40 Soft is easy to handle.

Another consequence of the soft rubber material is that once the ball has penetrated the rubber to its maximum position, the ball is literally pushed out again, similar to a catapult. We can see that this rubber has a clear catapult effect, supporting its offensive character.

In addition to the above-mentioned, the sponge is also quite elastic (which is of course transferred toward the pimples), making the 802-40 Soft capable of generating fast, spinny, and offensive moves. However, one should keep in mind that the softness of the sponge requires a bit of getting used to it. This is also true when doing blocks.

Friendship 802-40 Soft - General gaming properties

Based on the above-mentioned properties we can of course derive concrete gaming properties and recommendations. After all, this is important in order to make the purchase decision easier for you: is this rubber something for me, or maybe not?!

The general suitability of the Friendship 802-40 Soft can be described in a few words: the offensive and aggressive game close to the table for short-pimple fanatics. To surprise your opponent by means of unpleasant trajectories and a hard to predict spin, the forehand is particularly suitable. Also, there is a high overall speed which often leads to mistakes by your opponent.

Serves are another strength of this rubber. In terms of spin, you can serve these in a highly variable and hard to assess manner. Unfortunately, the disruptive effect of the 802-40 Soft is not present in an outstanding way. However, it is interesting to note that this rubber is also suitable for the mid distance, although this is of course not its favorite discipline (but: compared to other short-pimpled rubbers, it is really ok!)

Brief summary on the Friendship 802-40 Soft

The Friendship 802-40 Soft is an appealing rubber for attackers preferring the game close to the table and short-pimpled rubbers. You can use the 802-40 Soft in a highly variable manner without sacrificing too much of control.