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I picked up one of these from http://www.ttequipment.co.uk. I've seen these kicking around on some Chinese sites previously and was interested, so having a local supplier seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. It's part of Yinhe's Mars range of blades, and they all look interesting if I'm honest. The key material is PLC, which looks to be a type of polyethylene woven with carbon, producing a cheaper alternative to ZLC. I think we’ll be seeing more of this kind of material from other brands, if we aren't already.

Physicals

My M202 is 5.9mm in total thickness, 86g weight, FL handle. My guess as to the composition would be:

Dyed Limba - Ayous - PLC - Ayous - PLC - Ayous - Dyed Limba

The quality of the construction is very good, although I had to sand the edges of wings down a bit because they were a little sharp. The handle is a bit on the small side - it's wide enough but a bit thin. Not as thin as some Nittaku blades, but thinner than the chunky handles you get with european blades.


In Play

During a basic topspin drive warm-up, the speed felt solidly in the middle of OFF-. It's a tick faster than a Waldner Senso Carbon, slightly slower than a Viscaria/Boll ALC/Vega Pro, similar to an Innerforce ALC or LSW.

When you start to loop and you apply more force, the speed increases quite a lot and there is a fair amount of flex available. In this sense, it reminds me of the non-linear looping experience you get with something like a BTY Mizutani Jun ZLC, but with a lower average speed across the board. A mini-MJ perhaps. Because of this, it allows a great range of variable looping strokes from slightly further away from the table without getting too hot to handle. It's not as deadly as the MJ, and it doesn't have the overall power needed if you attack from absolutely miles away.

Short game is very good. The low-gear speed is useful when considering service and receive.

The feel is pretty typical for limba - certainly not as sharp or direct as a typical Viscaria for example. It didn't feel as solid either (although not horribly hollow at all - just a little distant), and I wasn't as confident with blocking initially. The sweet spot is pretty wide, and although the feedback is somewhat vague there's still enough to let you know what's going on.

Overall

This is a great inner composite looping blade for the money. It's well made (from a sample of one, obviously), has enough speed to get the job done without being overwhelming for an average standard player like myself. It's definitely aimed at players who focus on loop attack though - I tend to play close-in these days so it feels initially a touch too flexy/non-linear for my style. Although I have had some excellent wins with it at the end of my league season, so I'm giving it some serious thought (and I’ve put in a special order with Dean at http://www.ttequipment.co.uk for an M201 – I really like the potential of this range). There's a lot to like about it (especially considering the price) - if you are looking for a cheaper, slightly tamer alternative to a BTY MJ/IF-ZLC then this should be on your list IMO.

Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 05
Weight: 69 grams
Blade used: Timo Boll ALC & Timo Boll Spirit

What’s going on guys its Dan here from TableTennisDaily. Today we are joined by none other than the table tennis legend Michael Maze reviewing one of the most popular rubbers of all time, Tenergy 05 by Butterfly.


Intro

This is by far the most requested rubber review we have ever had, so it is finally time to find out if Tenergy 05 lives up to hype. Used by many of the top players including Timo Boll, Zhang Jike, Michael Maze and of course many many others. Last week I headed to the Denmark National training Centre to pick Michaels brain about this rubber and find out why it has become so popular and what makes it so special.

A quick bit of history on this rubber. It was released in 2008 just after the speed glue ban so it’s been around for 10 years now and features Butterfly’s famous spring sponge technology. The weight of the Butterfly Tenergy 05 when uncut is 69 grams and cut is 49 grams. In the review I used the Timo Boll ALC and Michael used his Timo Boll Spirit blade, lets get into the action.

Topspin Strokes

So first up we started out with topspin strokes as this is what Tenergy 05 is renowned for. The stand out attribute to Tenergy 05 is simply the amount of speed you can produce on the ball whilst at the same time getting tons of spin. The topsheet is very grippy and when combined with the sponge helps create fantastic topspin shots that are both extremely fast and spinny.

Michael Maze explains how he changed from the Bryce speed rubber to Tenergy. He found he could produce more spin with the Tenergy 05 in comparison to Bryce Speed. The advantage with the Butterfly Tenergy 05 is when you are out of position you can still produce a quality ball.

When topspinning with Tenergy 05 I love how I am able to still be very consistent even when playing at high speed. I find that tenergy always gives you a consistent contact that is always reliable. This gives you loads of confidence in your strokes as you never have to worry about how the rubber is going to react.

You can also remain very relaxed as the rubber has a lot of propulsion on its own, without always having to go for full power to create high amounts of speed. When you do go hard at a ball the consistency doesn’t change as much as other rubbers I have reviewed in the past.


Spin

Here we are both playing topspins against backspin and this is an area where the rubber really comes into its own. You can really feel the rubber bite into the ball against backspin producing a lot of spin, making open ups very easy. Tenergy 05’s ability to grip the ball is superb and allows you to produce a tremendous amount of spin.

Maze mentioned how you can get a lot of spin on the first ball, I felt I could follow up very strong with the 5th and 7th ball with Tenergy, it keeps your opponent under pressure throughout. The crisp quality during contact is what gives you the confidence in your strokes.

Michael Maze pulled off crazy chop blocks, which firstly how good his touch is, but secondly how well Tenergy grips the ball producing spin so well.


Downside to Tenergy 05

Okay guys talking of all this goodness such as spin, control and speed, there is a downside to Tenergy 05. That is that it is simply not for everyone, you need to have sufficient technique due how sensitive and responsive the rubber is. This works perfectly for competent players, but will be hard to control for players who don’t have sufficient technique.

This rubber has a medium to hard sponge and also a medium to high throw and due to its intense spin capabilities can tricky to handle for beginners and intermediate players who don’t have the skill yet to handle such a beast.

This is an advanced rubber that is perfect for attacking players with solid technique who can control the ball at high speeds. Here are some examples where I struggle with this rubber on passive shots such as the block.

A slower, softer, less responsive rubber would enable me to do the basic shots slightly easier, but less effectively as the speed and spin would be reduced.

Of course don’t get me wrong, Tenergy 05 is a fantastic rubber for blocking as well if you have experience and ability to handle it. For example Michael has no problems sending me all over the table haha!


Flicks and short game

Michael explains how its great for the short game with serves and flicks, the rubber grips the ball very well in this department. When it comes to serving with Tenergy 05 it’s a very similar story to how the rubber performs in the top spinning department whereby you can produce tons of spin and it is only rivaled by tacky Chinese rubbers like the hurricane 3. However as it is a very fast rubber if you do not have the timing down, then the ball can drift long during attempted short serves.


Counter topspins

The Butterfly Tenergy 05 is superb for counter topspins. When timed well counters with the rubber are usually outright winners. Again it does require sufficient technique to control these counter topspins as the rubber is very sensitive to spin. The fantastic advantage Tenergy 05 gives is even when using little effort, counter topspins are very fast and explosive.


Conclusion:

Thanks to Michael Maze for hanging out with me to review the ever so popular Tenergy 05. It was an incredible experience playing Michael, his play really is extraordinary and everything you would expect and more. Thanks also to Butterfly for providing the equipment so we could test it out

Tenergy 05 is a tried and tested rubber and after 10 years on the market is still one of, if not the most used rubber in the modern game. It is the benchmark for modern era rubbers to which every new rubber created is automatically compared to. After you try Tenergy 05 it is easy to see why. The rubber has an almost perfect balance between spin, speed and control for aggressive attacking players.

Next it’s time to address the main complaint the table tennis community have about this rubber, and that is the price. Tenergy 05 has higher price tag than most rubbers, but even with this price tag people still choose Tenergy 05 because you just don’t get the same combined characteristics with other rubbers. Even with this drawback however like any premium product, you pay for what you get.

Of course as mentioned previously in the review, you have to be at a good level to use Tenergy 05 optimally.

The reason for this is if you use it too early in your development than you may start playing lazy and inefficient shots where you only use your arm because the rubber is so fast and doing a lot of the work for you. This can make developing players forget that using your legs and body too is extremely important during topsin strokes.

Also due to the rubbers high sensitivity to spin you also need to have good ball control to be able to handle this rubber.

Think of it like this, you wouldn’t want to learn how to drive in a Ferrari. If you are in that development stage then a slower less responsive rubber would probably suit you better.

All around guys I absolutely love this rubber it really deserves all of the hype and praise it gets online and in the table tennis community in general.

My friend bought the tenergy 05 hard and brand it into training the other day so I got to try it. My review is not completely valid yet until I try the rubber a bit more. I have used Tenergy 05 many times and this being the harder version is noticeable. It is different to Tenergy 05 in that the feel is more flat yet with a lot of spin.

It felt good with my forehand on playing hard shots. The backhand I thought it was to hard for my topspin on the backhand. This rubber strangely does require a lot of effort even though its fast. I think with Tenergy 05 it felt easier to produce fast, spin shots. It reminds me of the way you have to use more effort with Hurricane, this is how it felt when playing with the hard.

Anyways, I have only used it once, I will edit this review after using it a few more times.

I like the way the perfect ones play. I go through only 10 new DHS D40+ every six months. However, more and more of them have defects from the factory. If you hold the ball up to a bright light, you will see dark spots on the defective balls where part of the the plastic wall is thicker, about 1.5mm in size. If DHS would not sell it's factory seconds, and only sell good 1st quality I would rate these a 5 as the best plastic ball.

read somebody else describe it as a hybrid of a Chinese and a jap/Euro rubber(thats why it is known as alternative for tenergy), and I agree. It's the best really fast rubber I've used for service. It's easy to keep the ball low, short, and spinny. Short game is really good. Once you start picking up the racket speed though, the sponge starts to compress and the speed is explosive. Here, the control isnt as good so you'll need to be really precise with your strokes. Loops are really fast, low and have heavy spin. Even against moderate backspin, I had to close my racket angle almost as if I was looping a dead ball. My 3rd ball attacks were insanely fast, but again, I felt like i needed to be very precise or I'd miss long. Counterlooping was good but little tricky for me in the beginning , unless I backed off from the table considerably. Smashing, hitting and blocking were also quite good. I recommend this to highly skilled and very agressive players, however if you like high, slow opening topspins, i think u wont like the rubber that much

Best 5 plywood have always been with limba-limba-ayou-limba-limba (Waldner senso V1/V2, Joola K5, Bty primorac, Bty Korbel, Stratus power....), but Stiga comes here with an amazing variation : Limba-spruce-ayous-spruce-limba The thickness is around 6mm, like most 5ply allwood blades. The feeling is amazing on this blade, and the blade is so well balanced (mine is 82gr) even with heavy rubbers. The speed is faster than Korbel or Primorac and the sweet spot has been greatly improved compared to those.....the addition of a composite layer is not needed anymore (many primorac/korbel users have moved to Innerforces blades, same composition + composite material). Medium throw, awesome flex and dwell time thanks to allwood composition, amazing touch and balance. Provides far enough power for any kind of attacking playstyle and precise.it has No weakness. Somebody wrote it lacks power mid distance and i had to laugh. With good technique this blade will do what u want. So much power in the fast game and so much control in the short game. And it doesn't lack power mid distance. Choose the right rubber and u will love this blade. Everybody should try it.

I’ve had a 20minute session with the T05 hard. It was mounted on a TBS ALC with T05 hard black (T05H) and T05R (regular?) so provided an easy comparison.
I am not great at explaining the idiosyncrasies so I’ll leave that to the expert reviewers.

Overall T05 hard has a high throw with a similar feel to H8, excellent at blocking and good on serve receive.

Those deep high topspin loops easier to generate with T05H than the more direct loops of the T05R.
When blocking, I didn’t have to be as precise in bat angle to keep ball on the table as with T05. This is great for me as blocking tends be a rush job during matches.
Speed. One point to consider, out of the box it feels slower, however, a big cause is that it has a much higher throw than the regular T05. This means that the ball takes a longer time before it bounces on the other side. Close the bat for a more direct shot and the difference is not that great.
Weight. It is said to be heavier than T05, however the bat I used for testing, TB AL with To5/T05 hard, felt about the same weight as my regular bat which weighs 189g.
One of my big problems in matches is trying to control incoming pendulum back/sidepin serves deep to my bh. I sometimes resort to push or chop the return. With the T05 regular I had much greater difficulty controlling the ball, win for T05H. Controlling short balls Timo-style is much easier than with T05R, due no doubt to the easier control of the rubber’s ‘bounciness’.
Personally, I can see the reasons that some top pros are reluctant to switch to T05H. It does require a slightly different technique to T05R. T05H is slower but gripper with less bounce.

Butterfly is on to a winner here. The playing characteristics are similar other hard sponge rubbers but different enough to be judged as unique.

My order has been placed for T05 hard. I don’t think I’ll be using Hurricane for now………that is…. until.

Review of blades is a subjective matter. I can compare barwell fleet to acoustic, both equipped with tibhar mx-s (backhand) and mx-p (forehand), 2mm. Barwell is noticeabley better in blocking, also better touch at the net - lower gear. Acoustic is too springy with the mx-p. It's harder to keep the ball short at the net with the acoustic and on smashes it's got a lot of catapult. Barwell fleet has a lower gear at the net and less max speed with the mx-p on smashes, but it is easier to generate mid range power. On backhand, mx-s with the acoustic has great spin, but power is very low and on flat hitting it's really dead. With barwell fleet there's less spin, but it's easier to generate power, easier to lift, easier to block. I was probably heading to serious elbow problems with the acoustic, barwell fleet makes the game easier, it's almost criminal how easy and controllable it is. I thought acoustic was great, but barwell fleet gives me a better range of shots, blocking is superb. I hear people complain about blocking with BF - forgive them father for they do not know what they say. My game went up a notch instantaneously after switching from acoustic to BF. Better control, better range of speed, easier to generate power, great stability, blocking. It's a masterpiece.

This is my recession. You can enable subtitles:

This is my review. You can enable subtitles in English:

I have tried this blade (new design 2018: https://www.victas.com/en_gb/products/blade/offensive-shake/fire-fall/fire-fall-vc) with other players using different pimple in rubbers (we tried also the AC version to make a comparision): Joola Rhyzer Pro 50 2.0mm, Donic Z1 Turbo 2.1mm, Xiom Omega 7 Asia 2.0mm and Max, Xiom Omega 7 Tour 2.0mm, Rasanter R50 2.0mm. As pimples out rubbers only Andro Blowfish Plus 1.8mm and Victas VO>103 1.6mm because they are the best rubbers (for me) for both aggressive and allround style of playing. For short pimple players the Firefall VC is the best blade specially with Victas VO>103: it's also suited for strong topspin and countertopspin players at the table. On drives and blocks with the short pimple the ball sink very low on the table and the trajectory is very unpleasant for the opponent. You can do what you want: short blocks, fast blocks, side blocks, passive blocks, soft topspin and you will always have a very good control. With the Blowfish you have a best disturbing effect but lower control.The throw angle of the blade is medium, the power and control are outstanding and also the amount of spin. Also the speed is very good and it’s for that we used specially rubbers with thickness 2.0mm (except one Max), they are fast enough. Each rubbers have different features, but all of them give a big amount of spin. On serves the spin is wonderful, you keep the ball low and with a huge amount of spin. Also in short shots like return of serves or short-short play in backspin the blade is fantastic. Depend on your style you can find the rubber who fits perfectly for you. For smashes and soft opening topspins, for example, the best combination is with Z1 Turbo and R50; for strong forward topspins over the table is with Omega 7 Tour because has the strongest catapult and grip; ecc. for the other rubbers. The blade is stiff but you have evenly a very good touch feeling.

The Firefall AC is better for rallies and spin oriented players. This blade is nearly stiff and has a very good touch feeling (less stiff than VC blade). The speed and power are similar with the VC blade, it has a higher throw angle, so the short pimples have a little higher trajectory than VC but always low. Because its throw, this blade is better for players who like to play continuous topspins and countertopspins. The serves are wonderful too with this blade. One of the best rubber to use with this blade is the Xiom Omega VII Asia, but also the others fit perfectly.

At the end of the tests all the players agreed that the Firefall VC is better for short pimples players: however some spin oriented player liked more the VC than AC, but we know the tastes are subjective. I personally love the VC, but I play very good also with the AC and the same thing is for the other players. I can highly recommend these blades, the workmanship is very good and the features are at the top. They are really a wonderful blades, bye everybody!!

i have used this rubber for three months.i feel what makes this rubber amazing is the amount of control it provides with a good amount of speed and spin.the only disadvantage of this rubber is it is little bit heavy(i dont really have a problem with that).if u feel that the mxp is quite fast and uncontrollable and fxp and fxs quite slow then this rubber will be a great choice for you.EL-P has a great feel when playing. It's not bouncy, it's got great control, and creates tremendous amount of spin. when looping or driving it gives you a distinct "chewy," for lack of a better term, feel. You can really feel the rubber grab the ball and dig into the sponge then catapulting it towards your opponent. Any all round attacker would love this rubber. However if you want more power and speed, I'd go for MX-P as EL-P lacks a little bit in that department. In terms of durability, the top sheet last a long time but the sponge doesn't.

tried a few others aruna off .. gewo force arc and andro treiber q and victas firefall vc [this was a very fast bade ] prob faster the the fight , less control as main blade .... joola TPE fight is my one now ...... all the others were slower and had more control in slow play pushing and spin ups ...but against advanced players l play close to the table short fast swings ,, this blade is surprisingly better when it gets tough ,, its precise in counter hits , not mussy feel one can set the blade angle well , pushing is the the most difficult shot .... fast shots are good ,,,its rated off+ one of the fastest blades you can buy ,,, hope to stay with this one for some time ... ...note its expensive but top materials are used ...

Speed: The rubber is not very fast on its own. If you use it on a fast blade with proper technique or booster then it'll be fast though.

Spin: The rubber produces a good amount of spin.

Service: The tacky topsheet really helps when serving.

Receives: since the rubber is very hard and kind of dead, the short game is easily manageable.

Arc: The arc is extremely low. This makes the rubber good at close to the table play.

Tackiness: The rubber is very tacky. After playing a bit it'll get dirty and lose its tackiness. Just use some water to clean it and it'll make it tacky again.

Durability: This rubber is very durable. The sponge doesn't really get worn out due to its hardness.

Conclusion: The hurricane 2 is a very special rubber. It suits players playing close to the table. Once you step off the table it becomes really hard to play as the trajectory this rubber produces is extremely low. The tacky topsheet really helps in service and receive. A Chinese style looping technique is required.

There's nothing majorly wrong with this ball. The balls sometimes vary in roundness, but there are a lot of round balls. When using a round ball there is nothing wrong with it. Consistent bounce, good spin as well as speed. So the only real flaws are that they can vary in quality quite often and also break easily.

I used this ball at a tournament recently. I was hoping that it wouldn't be a horrible ball and luckily I was positively surprised. The balls were round and didn't break. The felt a little harder, giving them a high quality feel. Overall this is a very good ball without any noticeable flaws

I only used the ball when it came out in 2014 or 2015 so they might have changed it a lot. But at the time the balls easily broke. They also weren't round at all and felt like some cheap pice of plastic. They were also very slow

A lot of plastic balls easily break when hitting the edge. This ball doesn't. It is round and consistent. There is rarely a ball that is wobbly. It might be more expensive that other plastic balls, but the dhs ball lasts longer making it cheaper in the long run. One of the best balls so far

Speed: This is a fast rubber. A little slower than Tenergy 64.

Spin: This is where the rubber really shines. You can produce a lot of spin without any problems

Arc: The arc is noticeably higher that the one of tenergy 64. This makes it easy to open up and play close to the table spin shots.

Control: Just like all the other rubbers of the tenergy series. If you are advanced enough it is no problem.

Durability: The rubber maintains its high playing characteristics over a long period of time. The performance only drops gradually.

Conclusion: This rubber can be used by any attacking player looking for spin and speed. It's high arc really helps when playing spin shots, such as the open up loop.

Speed: The rubber is very fast. if you put it on a carbon blade it's going to be a cannon.

Spin: It still has good spin for its speed. But if you're looking for more spin, then I'd suggest using an allwood blade with it.

Control: it's perfectly fine to control if you're advanced enough.

Serves: Serves can be played with a lot of spin. Serving short is also easy.

Short game: Combined with a carbon blade it can be difficult at times. The combination of the too makes it harder to keep the ball short. If you have problems with the short game then you should probably use an allwood blade to get more control and touch.

Durability:The strength of the tenergy series is not only its playing characteristics. The durability is also very good. The rubber visually looks like it is done after some time, but the playing characteristics are still maintained for a long period. Unlike rubbers where the characteristics completely change after the first few weeks.
Blocking: Blocking,especially with the backhand, is very nice. The ball shoots off the racket more straight making it easy to punch block.

Arc: To arc noticeably lower that the one of tenergy 05 for example.

Conclusion: This rubber is suited for players looking for a fast dynamic rubber. It performs best when playing mid distance, since the trajectory is more streamline. You can really generate a lot of speed whilst still maintaining control. Especially on the backhand this rubber is very good.