Best table tennis nets for clubs, school and home

A poor quality net can ruin a game of table tennis. I have played with some shocking table tennis nets over the years. The sort of net where your opponent’s attack hits the middle of the net, but the net is so loose, the balls manages to dribble over for an unreturnable winner.

AARRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

So it’s definitely worth investing in some decent table tennis nets. In this article I give advice on the best table tennis nets to buy for club use, school use and home use.

Table tennis nets for club use

For your table tennis club, you should ideally invest in good quality net and post sets. This creates a better playing and training environment. Players will be put off attending your club if the tables and nets are poor.

You will also need good quality nets if you club participates in league matches or organises tournaments.

It really is worth buying the best quality nets your club can afford. You should be looking at sturdy posts with a strong clamp and secure net tightening and height adjustment mechanisms. These nets are very stable and will withstand lots of fierce competitive play and high level training.

If looked after, a good quality net and post set can last for many years. My experience though, is that you will still get wear and tear, mainly from other players at the club not giving the nets the tender, loving care they need.

So be prepared to get replacement parts each year, hopefully just nets rather than complete replacements of the net and post set.

Recommendations

Table tennis nets for school use

For schools, it’s a different story. It doesn’t matter if you get cheap nets or top of range nets, they always seem to get wrecked.

Kids in school rarely have respect for any table tennis equipment, especially the humble table tennis net. In the process of putting up and taking down nets, they get stretched, squashed, twisted, tangled and bashed. Every session seems to bring some sort of new damage!

So if the table tennis nets in school are going to get wrecked, it’s probably not worth spending lots of money on high quality nets.

I recommend buying simple clip on post and net sets. These aren’t as stable as the clamp post and net sets, but for kids who are beginner and intermediate standard, they will be absolutely fine.

There’s also less to go wrong with clip on nets. There’s less parts to get broken. The posts are fairly durable and should last 2-5 years. The nets will get trashed, so each year you will probably need to buy replacement nets. But this is cheaper than buying completely new post and net sets each year.

Recommendation

Table tennis nets for home use

If you have a table tennis table at home, you have a bit more choice. In theory, only you (or your family) will be putting the net up and down, so you should be able to take good care of it. If you look after your net, it should last a long time.

So then it really comes down to how much you want to spend. You could get a cheaper clip on net. I have one of these at home and it’s still all in one piece after 5 years of play.

Or you could spend more and get a top of the range net. There really won’t be much difference between a cheaper net and more expensive in terms of net tension. The main differences is that the expensive nets will be more stable and more durable.

Recommendations

Basic option

Higher quality option

Where can you buy table tennis nets?

I have provided links above to table tennis nets you can buy (mainly from Amazon). But you should do your own research too. Almost all table tennis shops will sell net and post sets. Take a look at my list of table tennis shops in UK, Europe, USA, Asia and Australia.

Author: Tom Lodziak | Article updated: 19 April 2018