Best ping pong table cover

When our outdoor table tennis page shipped, it declined to rank covers and told you to buy one sized for your specific table. The thinking was that a cover is cut for a particular model, so recommending one without knowing which table you own would be guesswork.

That is not how this category works, and the reason is the same governing-body figure that page is built on. USA Table Tennis publishes the approved table at 9 feet by 5 feet. A full-size table is a standardized object — that is the entire point of a governed size — and six of the seven covers we resolved publish exactly 9 x 5 ft as their fit. “Universal” is a real claim here rather than a marketing one, because the thing being covered is a standard.

What genuinely varies is something simpler and easier for you to check: which shape your table is in when the cover goes on.

Two different waterproofing stories run through this category and almost nobody gives you both halves. A dash means the seller does not publish it.

Read the fabric and coating columns together, because they never both appear. The denier — 600D Oxford — tells you how heavy the cloth is. The coating — PVC — is the layer that actually stops water. Three covers publish the first, two publish the second, and none publishes both. You are choosing which half of the specification you would rather be able to read, not which cover is better specified overall.

Then read the fit column. Five rows say “9 x 5 ft”, which is a table size, not a cover measurement. Exactly one publishes the cover's own dimensions. That is the only row on this page you can verify with a tape measure before buying.

We have not had these covers through a winter and will not claim to have. The ranking is a ranking of published claims against the two ways a cover actually fails — it does not fit the shape, or it does not keep water out.

1. Does it publish the storage position it fits? This is the entry criterion, because it is the one real variable. One cover publishes both positions, one publishes upright only, and the rest publish a table size and leave position implied.
2. Can you check the fit with a tape measure? A published cover dimension beats a published table size, because the first is a fact about the product and the second is a claim about compatibility.
3. Which half of the waterproofing does it name? A coating or a denier. Either is better than a bare “waterproof”, and nothing here gives both.
4. Does it solve the paddle problem? Minor, but real — a paddle pocket on the cover is the tidiest answer to where bats live, and it costs nothing on the covers that have it.

Nothing is scored on durability from experience. Where a listing makes a construction claim we have recorded it as a claim and named who makes it.

Three things decide whether a cover survives two winters, and not one listing here carries any of them: cover weight, seam construction (taped, welded or merely stitched — stitching is a row of holes), and any kind of UV rating. Sun is what actually kills an outdoor cover; two listings say “sunproof” and none quantifies it.

We are not going to supply those figures from elsewhere. There is also no securing method published on four of the five — only the upright cover states a drawstring — so how any of these behaves in wind is unstated. On a 9 by 5 foot sheet in an exposed garden, that is not a small omission.

• Your table folds and you sometimes leave it flat. The JOOLA. It is the only cover publishing both positions, it names a PVC coating, and it comes from the maker of one of the tables we rank. It is also the most expensive here.
• Your table is stationary, or always stays flat. The 600D Oxford cover. You get a published fabric weight, waterproof and sunproof claims and a paddle bag for less than the JOOLA, and you are not paying for upright fit you will never use. The Hicover is the same specification from a named brand if it is cheaper the day you look.
• Your table folds up and lives against a wall. The upright cover, and measure first. 65 by 28 by 73 inches is the only published cover dimension in this category, so it is the only fit you can confirm rather than trust.
• You want the waterproof layer named rather than the cloth. The BEILLER, which publishes a PVC coating and comes in black — the color that shows sun fading least.

Whichever you choose, the principle is the one our weatherproof yard games guide applies to everything on this site: the claim on the packaging matters less than which component the maker was willing to put a number or a material name against. “All-weather” is marketing. “600D Oxford” and “65 x 28 x 73 in” are commitments.