When I noticed that my Gballz started to wear down, I started looking for alternatives, keeping the following lessons learned in mind:

Do not pay a premium price for balls that are supposedly durable. Instead, try and find a more affordable set of balls that you can easily replace should one break down.

and:

Ask yourself, do you really want to have a ball that can only be used indoors, and starts wearing down rapidly when not used under the ideal circumstances?

So, I was looking for a ball that I could simply order locally, without having to pay a huge price, and without having to wait a long time for shipment and delivery. Ordering locally also meant I could test and feel the ball before ordering.

After trying out various balls, I stumbled upon the Juggle Dream Pro Sport Ball, the 110g medium version to be precise. This ball really felt great, the following quote from their website really holds true:

‘Pro Sport’ balls are very slightly under-filled ensuring that they are in the perfect ‘sweet spot’ of softness right from day one.

The only point of criticism I could find was that the fabric is a bit on the smooth side, a bit more grip would have been nice, but it was definitely good enough.

Interestingly, after placing the order at a local webshop something went wrong with it. To fix the order, telephone contact was needed, during which the merchant placed a warning regarding the quality of these balls. He had seen a lot of his customers experiencing extensive wear down with these, and he recommended buying the Mr. Babache Touch Record instead. But, my mind was set: these balls felt great, they were less expensive and easily replaceable should one of them break.

The order went through, and initially things went as planned. I really liked the feel of these balls, but I already knew that. In contrast to the way I handled my Gballz, this time I was not very careful. I really want to be able to use the balls whereever I go, and not have to worry about carrying a protective blanket with me all the time.

After half a year of extensive juggling, this is what they look like now:

At some point, the fabric started crumbling apart. Similarly to the Gballz, these balls have a logo pressed into it, and this area was particularly sensitive. It started out with just a few cracks here and there, but then the deterioration rapidly progressed to the point that after a juggling session I basically had to use the vacuum cleaner to clean the floor from all those red particles that flew off.

Now, my strategy was to replace a ball once broken. But that strategy completely falls flat because it is not just one ball that needs replacement: all the used ones used need to be replaced, as they all show a similar wear down pattern. So, that means buying a whole new set of balls two times a year. So much for my well thought out strategy.

Likely, if you were using these solely indoors under ideal circumstances, as you should with a prop like Gballz, then they would not have looked the way they do now. If you are in the market for an indoor only prop, I would recommend the Juggle Dream Pro Sport over the Gballz, but it is not the market I am in.

So, for me, the search for a good juggling ball continues. I have given up on Ultraleather and PU leather based balls, and recently bought some from Flying Clipper. It is way too early to tell how these will fare given that they had little mileage so far. This comment looks hopeful though…