Cornilleau 500m review

Outdoor ping pong tables are looked at with more critique than indoor tables, simply because the outdoor environment is more unforgiving than the indoor environment. 

You are faced with dirt, heat, winds, and other weather conditions that will completely warp a table surface.

Many people have been victims of these same issues and are hesitant and confused to buy an outdoor table that is weatherproof and provides a good bounce.

In comes the Cornilleau 500M crossover table that is specifically designed for the outdoor environment.

The table is equipped to open, fold, and store with ease that makes moving the table very easy.

The table surface is made with laminated material to prevent warping or swelling of the tabletop. The laminate also provides a glare-resistant coating that reduces disturbance and enhances your focus on the game.

Verdict

The Cornilleau 500m has super good bounce thanks to the 7mm thick tabletop, which almost near-professional level.

The table is promising that it would take a professional player to distinguish, an amateur won’t be able to tell the difference. 

Having said that, this table is produced for the leisurely use and targets the home demographic of people. We’re going to talk about bounce a lot since it is the primary feature that is looked for in a table tennis table. 

Aside from that, the weather protection layering that makes the top and glare-reducing coating makes this table almost near perfect for home use, you can expect some great competitive matches without having to worry about the bounce quality. 

This table falls as the runner up to the Cornilleau 700m crossover table for the price tag. We played on both the tables and found both extremely pleasing and satisfactory; however, the 700m took the win by just a nudge. The difference is too small for most amateur players to notice.

However, some people have complained that the table is too heavy which in our verdict is somewhat justifiable due to the solid steel body, besides the opening and storing takes little to no time, so weight isn’t that much of an issue here.

Apart from the steel body and the arched legs, the Cornilleau 500M also has ground levelers which help in making the tabletop horizontal since outside terrain can be uneven. 

Some people have also pointed out the long and strenuous assembly time, which is approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.

This is the only actual downside to the Cornilleau 500M that we can observe since the last thing people want to do when they get a table of such a high price tag is to spend more effort in assembling it, people always expect a finished product for a high price value.

Features

The 7mm thick resin laminate surface

The prime feature an outdoor ping pong table must-have is weather resistance to fight off any adverse weather conditions that may harm the table surface. Too many people make the mistake of using an indoor table outside, which results in surface warping and other issues like corrosion of the metal build.

The Cornilleau 500M has a 7mm thick tabletop, which is resin laminated. This level of surface thickening in outdoor tables is only seen in top-end models, so you can already guess this is a prominent piece of table tennis equipment that will cost more than your regular outdoor tables. Because of the thick tabletop, the table gives an excellent bounce to the ball that we’ve rarely seen on an outdoor table.

The best part is that you can keep the table outside all year long in all sorts of weather conditions of summer, winter, and even rain.

The top coating provides a protective shielding against disfiguration. The added melamine coating helps in reducing glare. This glare-resistant feature helps you to focus better on the play and enhance your overall performance.

Although the table can withstand any weather conditions, it is recommended that you keep the table folded when not playing and put a cover over it to keep it in the best condition possible.

Another feature you will appreciate about the Cornilleau 500m if you have children is that the table comes with corner covering to provide protection.

Toddlers and little kids running around the backyard without paying attention to the environment are inevitably going to crash in the table. If the corners are pointy and edgy, serious injuries may ensue.

Frame

The tabletop isn’t the only piece of the ping pong table that needs protection against the cold, rusting, and other weather influenced problems that can affect the undercarriage and legs.

 If this happens, the table’s stability will be affected. To support the tabletop, the undercarriage is made up of a 2.5-inch galvanized steel frame. 

This galvanization not only protects the table from rusting; it also provides stability to withstand any clashes and knocks during the loading and unloading of the table.

Each of its legs has wide feet for extra support, and you can adjust the height of them to ensure that your playing surface is completely flat. It’s also wheelchair friendly due to the design not having any parts of the frame getting in the way.

To enhance the playing experience and make the table more stable, the legs have wide feet for additional assistance with height adjustment capability.

This feature will allow you to set the table height as you see fit to provide you with a completely horizontal tabletop. The Cornilleau 500M is designed in a way to be wheelchair friendly; this means that any of the frame parts will not get in the way of playing.

Storage

Unlike many of its competitors, the Cornilleau 500m does split from the middle into two halves which makes the folding easier. However, this does not mean that opening and storing the Cornilleau 500m is a difficult task.

On average, it takes about 20 to 30 seconds to take it out of the storage position. In its storage position, the table’s dimensions are 62″ in height with a width of 64″ and a depth of 30″.

To ensure that the table doesn’t collapse by accident, it has 16 locking points that hold the table in its place.

This is also a safety feature since little kids are running everywhere, and if proper security mechanisms aren’t in place, kids or anyone for that matter might get injured.

Wheels

Another feature people look for in outdoor tables is the size of the wheels, which is justified.

Since outdoor tables have to be continuously moved from one place to another in different terrains, it more suitable that a table has large wheels for it to move smoothly. Fortunately, the Cornilleau 500M has 8″ wheels that will speed through any hurdle.

If you take an indoor table and try to move it outside on different terrains, you’d find it difficult to move from place to place, especially terrains like grass and mud because the small 3″ to 4″ wheels just aren’t made to travel in outdoor conditions.

Another fantastic feature with the wheels is that they can be locked into place with the flick of a switch, you can imagine how hard it must be if the table is continuously moving during a match or even in the stored position.

Keeping these issues in mind, Cornilleau has added the flicking-switch mechanism that locks the wheels so that the table can remain in a static position. Adding to this, the table has a crossing handle near its base, which provides assistance when moving the table over large obstacles.

An added feature is the provision of a special retractable weatherproof net, which is a top piece of equipment for this range of tables.

The net is built to withstand rain and other adverse weather conditions. Here, the retractable part refers to the net’s ability to retract when the table is closed for storage automatically. You can also adjust the height of the loss and its tension from each side of the table.

Assembly Time

For the Cornilleau 500M’s price range, it would be expected that the table should come partially assembled, but that’s not the case sadly, the table has to be constructed from scratch upon purchase and the total assembly time takes about 90 minutes which is not the worst considering many tables take around 2 to 3 hours for assembly, but it also isn’t the best since some table do come with 90% assemblage already done.

Two people are required to put the table together and get the optimal output with regards to time.

Conclusion

The Cornilleau 500M is a rare outdoor table that not only looks good but also performs well.

It is rare for outdoor tables to give such a good bounce to the ball while also being weatherproof. The features are too much, from the glare-reducing coating to the galvanized steel frame that provides protection against rust and corrosion, the 500M is a top-tier table tennis equipment that is justified in its price.