Butterfly Tenergy 05 review of a review from SpinMantra.com

Please realise all the text in italics is a summary of his review in my own words.

Here we go again, another misleading review ranking high on google.   First of all - why do people keep doing reviews using 1.9? Why not go the full potential of a rubber to see what it was designed for? If you are looking for more control use something like Zeta which has much less spin or dwell time. Next, I would like to say in a nutshell that Varghese has totally missed the point here or let's say altered the truth for marketing purposes. It seems any highly ranked information on google is there because of money.  

Lets see the so called "content" now.

by varghese on October 10, 2008

Tenergy 05 has a hard sponge.

• It is a medium hard sponge - When we use the word hard it is hard like some of the hard chinese sponges where the ball will almost never dig into touch the blade.   But if you like soft sponges with gutless topsheets try some tensors.  Butterfly's density rating is 36 degrees.  A hard spring sponge is "Spin Art" at 10 degrees harder.

Players who like Butterfly products and are changing over from rubbers similar to Bryce or Shriver “speed glued” are going to think this new rubber does not live up to their expectations in regards to the speed and spin.

• Has Varg ever been a Bryce speed gluer to confirm the spin levels of bryce and tenergy 05?  Forget the speed because speed requires more spin, tenergy 05 spins the ball more than bryce or Sriver. If you want to glue tenergy then you will find a more than fair comparison. Most V's readers don't care about glue anymore anyway so lets stop talking about speed glue this and speed glue that. It is illegal.  Tenergy 05 is the spinniest fast rubber available today.

Tenergy doesn't have enough spin

• Just totally ridiculous comment, there is almost no point in looking for support to a statement as baseless as that, oh sorry there is a base, a graveyard of paddles.  I do feel sorry he bought so many and now has to make up lies to try to sell off his undesired stock.

and speed when you do comparisons to the last age of table tennis rubber.

• I hope the following list of rubbers isn't suppose to support Vargese's claim, because he has "used" the following rubbers he is selling.

He then Lists rubbers in his catalog: XIOM Omega III, II, ZETA and True Innovation

• true innovation yea right, just another tensor and William Henzell would groan and say.

that people know are the latest group of inverted coverings.

• maybe at the time of writing they were "new" but now they are old unused generation, due to their design inferiority

TSP Real is much better than tenergy 05 for speed and spin.  XIOM Omega I Asian version is almost the same as Tenergy when you look at how it plays.

• The most ridiculous market driven comments I have ever seen in the disguise of a review. I also have used XIOM OMEGA AND ZETA and neither come close to tenergy in terms of spin and only Omega is faster and would suit a more backhand hitting style.  Still bryce speed out performs omega III on the both speed front and getting hours for your $.  Bryce speeds topsheet is more durable.

Why do people talk so much about this rubber?

• I would like to answer that for you Varg, but maybe you should take a look for yourself how many players are using the rubber.  There are "hypes"  where people talk and go out and buy a sheet and say what's the hype?  And then there is hype where people can't stop using the same product because once they have started and know the true genius of the design and longevity it would be insane to go back to an inferior product.

The next thing he says is that we can't make comparisons tenergy to other new generation rubbers because tenergy is like a furniture set which hasn't been put together.  This will take you so much time to bring home and assemble..

• Yea it really isn't like the Xiom products you speak of which remain like furniture, being sat on and or used as a coffee mat.   You don't need to bring xiom new generation products home and put them on your bat, they are better left in the graveyard where they belong.

It is different to buy preassembled tables chairs or cupboards etc because you can bring them home fast.  You don't need as much energy or time. Tenergy is a rubber for serious players who are able to use it strengths with their abilities.  Whereas are xiom listed rubber is for both semi-professionals aswell.

• I thought it would be easier to bring the parts home than 1 big piece in your car, OK, forget my humouring you of the furniture set idea.  Do I really need to think of XIOM or butterfly as IKEA?  First no rubber just plays for you.  Tenergy 05 is a rubber for a higher level of play that's for sure because they know it has more spin at the right speed to win with.  The tensors are to be honest easier to use for lower levels of play because they don't spin the ball and are not reactive to incoming spin.  Because they lack spin they also lack any danger to your opponent compared to tenergy.   Every product is for every level - all you need to do is go down in thickness, you know that V.

he offers more comparison.

• Please! Don't! Ok it's good for a laugh

tenergy is a manual with more power but takes more work while the tensors are auto transmission which take less work. 

• So now you finally are telling the truth in a strange way that the tenergy has more power, so before you said it was spinless and not fast. Actually it's much less work to do almost any shot with tenergy because it gives you energy and doesn't lose energy.  Tensors lose energy and spin and require so much more work to try to stay in a rally.  Of course if the only thing you can do is put your arm out and block then you could use either, but you still can create so much more tricky spinny shots by blocking with tenergy than you can't with other rubbers listed here.

Tenergy throws the ball high compared to ZETA or Omega III, which is good because it is difficult to counter high curving balls.

• I would actually always say that a lower arc is safer but the high throw angle with the highest spin means you can do your shot from more points of the ball's trajectory.  Low throw rubbers require a lot more timing and correct positioning. 

“Power Spin”  is defined by a medium amount of top spin but without any hit/energy.

• wrong, tenergy allows every type of spin you can think of - from slow to fast loops - with the highest amount of spin possible

Tenergy can create OK top spin, although it can't make extreme top spin like tensors do.

•  totally ridiculous, V saying only decent spin comes from a tensor, what the hell is that about V?

You should study Timo Boll's stroke because tenergy suits him.  ........ Tenergy is good for blocking top spin as a result perfect control of positioning the ball where ever you want.  

• Dam right, because it is the spinniest rubber it allows the ability to place the ball anywhere on the table for people who know how to play.  If you want more control use a less spinnier rubber like a tensor.

V had to HIT the ball with tenergy to do back spin with much power because the topsheet isn't tacky and therefore can't generate spin.  Zeta is the best rubber for his service.

• Total rubbish - zeta comes no where near tenergy 05 for spin, not only that after an hour of play where my finger was had totally lost all its sheen.  The tensors are only for professionals that can afford to change them every game because they are mostly artificial composite rubber.  Zeta is also not tacky but more bouncy with less dwell making a good control rubber because it isnt that fast and has less spin.

• He goes onto make some good points tenergy 05 plays the best for a faster player not so much for a defensive style - but having said that you should take a look at a third of the top choppers in the world using tenergy because it has more spin and allows the best counter looping from a distance.  
• contradicts himself halfway through saying that tenergy is the best for counter looping - good point. 

• Continues on with some very strange concepts: crazy stuff about scooping - would like to see you perform a scoop. Does anyone scoop?
• Weird things about more “power” than “speed” although Nah don't agree with this at all, it works excellently on all faster blades powerful or with speed. Concluding correctly that he could notice more  spin and speed on carbon blades (his brands of course).
• He talks about being confused by the  high throw angle when looping near the table.  We all were until we worked out how amazingly different the rubber was.  The amount of spin and perfect throw angle for counter looping is what makes it unique, it requires some getting used to without a doubt.  If you want a control rubber or a fast spinless drive rubber go back to Omega or Zeta.

as a result he adapted by closing the blade down more so it wouldn't go off the table.

• you sure do, it's because it has more spin than you have ever been used to with the xiom products.

He talks about tuning or speed glueing is  being bad for tenergy.

• should not be glued is the general rule but have tried it out many times and the rubber lives through it.  Spin and speed increase but control of that spin and speed goes down like any other rubber.  It's fast and spinny enough anyway for about 6 months and then it gets faster.

The price is said to be $65 US which is expensive.

• The rubber costs about $65 Australia dollars now.  So in the US even cheaper.
• And then there are comments by my "right hand man" = debraj and Jeff who both counter every claim he made as I did about tenergy being less spinny than xiom products of that generation. These are truthfull comments well added guys.

• Bang right on the point there Debraj - a brand new sheet of zeta is has almost no grip worth talking about.  Zeta is just another of the andro donic renamed brands lacking grip and druability.  Why is Varg such a bigger liar?  He knows in his heart he is a big liar on this topic.
• Jeff you got it all right except the part about being spinnier.  Zeta has about 70% of tenergy 05's spin and keep's that spin for only about 10% of its life time.  Tenergy 05 still is spinnier than a brand new sheet of any artificial topsheet that comes out of the esn factory even after months of play.  The sponge creates the major difference and the natural rubber content in the topsheet.

Has anyone else tried both these Xiom products and tenergy 05?  I like honest reviews untained by marketing.  what's that saying?  You can fool most the people most of the time but you can't fool everybody all the time.  something like that right?

 I have a few sheets of Omega and zeta for sale.  I just want to get rid of them.  I buy rubbers to try and if I don't like them I sell them.  Contact Admin.

Note: This is not a review by Varghese, this is a review of his review.  Please realise all the text in italics is a summary of his review in my own words.  These days there are many reviewers trying to spread false information for their own vested interests and it is very hard to bring truth to rubber reviews; if we are not allowed to critique false reviews because of copyright then everyone in the table tennis community will suffer.  I am trying to help the community by exposing lies.