Butterfly Tenergy 05 1.9 mm Table Tennis Rubber Review

by Varghese on October 10, 2008

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I would like to rate Butterfly Tenery 05 as a top spin drive, counter drive and a looping rubber. It’s top sheet is similar to Butterfly Tackifire Drive – similar also to the top sheet of XIOM Omega I. The sponge is hard and I can’t compare its sponge to anything available in the market. The Butterfly Tenergy is not a tacky rubber, but it is grippy. However, its characteristics seem to be of a tacky rubber.

The Butterfly fans who migrate from rubbers like Bryce or Shriver “speed glued” will be little disappointed with Tenergy’s spin and speed. The Tenergy lacks spin and speed compared to other brands new generation rubbers. I will tell the reason a little later. I have tested XIOM Omega III, XIOM Omega II, XIOM ZETA and XIOM True Innovation which are known to be new generation rubbers. The Tenergy’s speed can be compared to TSP Real – still Real excels in spin and speed. The XIOM Omega I Asian version is very similar to Tenergy in performance.

Why there is so much hype about this rubber? It is probably not right to compare a Butterfly Tenergy to any new generation rubber. The Butterfly Tenergy is like a furniture set you buy from a furniture store which is not assembled yet. You have to bring the furniture home and assemble it - you will spend hours to assemble it. It is not like you go to a store to buy a ready made furniture which you can bring home fast – it saves time and your energy. The Butterfly Tenergy is a rubber for professionals who can utilize it potentials with their skills - the butterfly products are for professionals. The Tensor rubbers target both semi-professionals and professionals. Let me take another comparison. The Butterfly Tenergy is like a car with manual transmission while the new generation tensor rubber is a car with auto-matic transmission. When you comapre the both, the manual transmission give you more power, but it is a lot of hard work than an automatic.

Performance:

The Tenergy has high very throw angle. When I’ve compared this with XIOM ZETA or XIOM Omega III, I think Tenergy’s high throw angle is an advantage because it is hard for such high arc balls to be returned. I have tried top spin loop strokes and have found the Butterfly Tenergy can generate “power spin” strokes. I have not found the same power in other rubbers. I have played against players who can counter top spin very well. I have found the “power spin” was very difficult for them to return - the ball simply flew away more than a spinny ball.

What is “Power Spin” : The ball that flies will have medium top spin but has punch / power.

Top Spin:

The Butterfly Tenergy can generate decent top spin, but not extreme top spin like a tensor rubber can generate. Look at the strokes of Timo Boll. The Butterfly Tenergy is the suitable rubber for him. Timo’s team member Bastian Steger may not like Butterfly Tenergy. Thats where you see the stroke differences of players.

Tenergy also can counter “top spin” from the opponents very well. There is no energy loss while countering top spin - the ball returns with more or the same top spin that has come from the opponent. Tenergy does a good job while blocking the top spin - has excellent control placing the ball anywhere on the table.

Under Spin:

To generate good under spin, I had to hit the ball with heavy force. The top sheet itself can’t generate any spin because it is not tacky. I have felt XIOM ZETA outshine any rubber in that area for my serves.

I have noticed it does not have good gears to return short under spin from the opponents. It may be appropriate to say I had problem with all soft balls - both top and under. It requires skills to return such balls. It is required to return such balls with little more force - at the time the ball rises rather than after it has bounced. Please note that I have used a DEF+ blade, so on a faster blade, this would be little different.

Countering:

The Butterfly Tenergy excels very well in countering top spin. To return the ball, sometimes I had to scoop the ball and close the paddle at the end of the stroke to keep the ball on the table - this is due to the high arc which comes from Tenergy.

I have tested Butterfly on a TSP Yanagi Alpha DEF+ blade. The Butterfly Tenergy may perform well with a blade having more “power” than “speed”. My next test was on a XIOM Absolute Carbon Control ‘08 blade. Comparing to a DEF+ blade, I was able to see more spin and speed from Tenergy. However, I was really perplexed by the high throw angle - looping close to the table very high arcs. I had to adjust the closing of the blade to keep the ball on the table.

The Butterfly Tenergy should not be speed glued. It is also not advisable to use speed optimizer on this sponge. The rubber costs $65 in the US.

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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

debraj October 20, 2008 at 1:41 pm

don’t understand your difference between “topspin” and “powerspin”. and also between rackets with more “power” than “speed”.

plus, i haven’t found othr reviewers claiming xiom zeta as having higher frition than tenergy. rather i hear in spite of their claim to be like chinese rubber, its surface friction in very low like any other tensor from esn factorey.

Jeff March 5, 2009 at 11:03 am

Well, from what I’ve heard, tenergy is spinnier, faster,harder than all other rubbers made in esn, only zeta is near or slightly greater in terms of spin, but it lasts a few weeks, and it’s a lot slower than 05, while tenergy can last months and still provide the same power. Tenergy was 65$ US, but you can now get it for about 44 US, if you search well on the net :P. I think tenergy is the best rubber for modern looper, and for the guy who likes to do spinny serves.

JOE JUNEAU February 27, 2010 at 2:09 pm

how will xiom vega pro compare?

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