Butterfly Tenergy 05

Too fast but great quality

This rubber is extremely fast and good for counterhits and drives. The only part where it truly struggles in is control, but it's easily overpowered by the amount of speed you can add onto the ball!

This is a really good rubber for forehand and gives a lot of spin and speed at the same time

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.

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.

Hi TTD. I would like to talk about the equipment am using and why I selected them..I am using tenergy 05 rubbers. I selected tenergy 05 because I am a player who likes to loop and block alot, and I discovered that tenergy 05 has high spin on it and is very explosive as long as you angle your blade right..it’s still the best and the fastest rubber in the world. Is it worth for the price? I believe it’s, it will definitely take your game to the highest level if you knows what it takes.

Tenergy 05 is simply the best pure looping rubber in the world even 10 years after its introduction. It's also still the world standard for non-Chinese professionals and aspiring professional players. The first time I looped with T05 it brought a huge smile to my face, it's a special and unique rubbber indeed. It's fast, but not crazy fast, and has an extremely high throw angle which coupled with its bouncy sponge and grippy topsheet create a perfect looping machine. However, the high throw angle and bounciness that make it such a great looping rubber also make it more challenging to use in the short game. Pushes are easier to pop up high or go long and service return can be difficult unless you are experienced in reading spin. That's why this rubber is more recommended for advanced to pro level players as they can easily mitigate this rubbers weaknesses through ability and practice while fully taking advantage of its outrageously spin and loop potential. Highly recommended for advanced looping attackers.

Hi,

Let's start with my playstyle : Modern attacker, forehand oriented, I loop with power and/or spin long balls with my forehand. With the backhand I can loop too but I'm more passive, usually pushing, blocking and waiting for an opportunity to attack with my forehand. Sometimes i also like to let the opponent take the initiative and just block his attacks. Changing the gameplay is something I can easily do with this blade (except maybe Joo-Sae-Hyuk's type of defense but I never tried it and I'm noob with it anyway).

I bought this rubber 6 months ago (previously played with Rhyzm on both sides). 2,1mm on forehand, 1,9mm on backhand, I use it with a Timo Boll Spirit.

My first impression : I can generate lots of spin on loops, services, pushes, and my feeling in the short game really improved. BUT, driving the ball and blocking passively wasn't so easy, especially with the 1,9mm on backhand I felt like I needed to brush the ball (even on topspins) if I wanted it to get past the net. 1 week later I was ok but I can say this is not a rubber for passive blockers. They will prefer T80 or T64.

If you have the speed and power in your topspins, but look for more variety and spin, this rubber is for you. You will be able to attack fast or slow with lots of spin.

For people who are looking to buy Tenergy and wan't to know the differences between the different type of rubbers, search "Tenergy" on YouTube. You will find the official videos which are a great help. Good luck !

It's getting close to 10 years since Tenergy was first available. Does that mean it's outdated? Certainly not!

I had a chance to play with a friend's setup using T05, and I had not touched T05 in years. It was as if those years had never existed! The great thing about classics like Sriver, H3, or T05 is that you can just pick it up, gets out of your way, and just lets you play! It allows you do everything well. I don't really understand what people mean by "beginner rubber" or "advanced rubber". Training grounds like ICC are filled with beginning children using T05. Rubber is either bad, average, or good. T05 is good rubber, and if you can afford to use it, you definitely should!

*update: I had to get my own sheet and play with it longer term. It's interesting that my old perspective of it being a fast rubber is no longer true. Back then it felt much faster when spring sponge was something new in the market, but with the experience of the latest that's out there, T05 is actually more of a control rubber in my mind now. In comparison to MX-P, T05 has more control with the short game. T05 conveys more feel from the blade.

Tenergy 05 is a flagship rubber, and has been leading the market for years now. Tenergy 05 is regarded as the most spinny in the Tenergy line, as well as the most popular.

To start off, I believe it is not as fast as people make it out to be. Sure, it is fast - but there are faster rubbers. The trade-off with a loss in speed means more spin, and this sure does have a lot of it.

This is definitely one of the spinniest rubbers I have played with. Only a few other rubbers have competed or outperformed the rubber in this regard. This also means it is very sensitive to incoming spin, so if you make a mistake reading a serve or do not have the ability to read spin adequately, this rubber will punish you. Coupled with that is a high-throw angle, meaning that misreading a sidespin and/or topspin serve will fly off the end of the table, or a no spin serve will pop up and get killed. With that being said, the high-throw angle are inherently its best and worst features - depending on the user.

If you are an advanced player with very good control, I believe that is when you should use this rubber.

For a beginner or intermediate player, this rubber is not ideal. The hard sponge, high-throw and intense spin capabilities can just make this rubber a nightmare to play with if your skill and ability just is not good enough. It may seem to be inconsistent to these players, or too fast. They may not be able to handle the sensitivity. There are lots of factors about this rubber that make it a make or break rubber. It is different, but it is what a lot of modern players want. You can play slow, fast, spinny, flat etc. and this rubber will just provide.

You will gets tons of spin on your serve, and your fast serves will be very fast due to the hard sponge... if you can control it. Like I said before, if you cannot control it, it will feel like a nightmare to play with.

Pushing is good, flicking is great, looping is out of this world and blocking really couldn't be that hard.

If you know how to play properly, and you have the right abilities, the high-throw angle, hard sponge and high spin capabilities make this rubber your wet dream. If you're not consistent or lack proper technique, do not buy this rubber. It will make your life a living nightmare.

Ultimately a great weapon - but only if you know how to use it. I cannot emphasize it enough!