butterfly tenergy 05 fx

Nobody cries about the weight of Tenergy any more!

In package 88 grams, out of package full sheet 65 grams, first cut 43 grams.  If you stretch your rubber then I predict 41-2.

My current Timo Boll Spirit blade with two two-year-old tenergy 05 weighs 185 grams.  That is a blade with "shrunken rubbers" as I used to speed glue stretch the hell out of my rubber back then.  So I think it would have been heavier if new.  

So now I have stuck on my two new tenergy 05 fx onto my timo boll spirit.  The weight is 180 grams.  It will be a bit lighter soon as I it has a bit of over hang I left.  

How does it feel?

The overall set up feels bloody amazing!  It is really feeling perfect.  After using 2 tenergy 05 for a long time and always thinking this is too head heavy I finally can now say this feels bloody perfect.  As a result, when the blade feels all balanced my backhand in particular develops finals flick to all shots that is just right, for lack of better words.

I also gave Bruno, The best player at our club from Chile, who you have probably seen in my youtube videos a go of my bat as he had never heard of tenergy 05 fx.  He was I could see totally in love.  He said "I know tenergy 05 is better than tenergy 64, but I just find tenergy 05 too hard for me.  But this tenergy 05 fx is perfect."  He ran into me later and said again "you have the best bat" .  I got use his tenergy 64s on either side of Jun Mizutani, which did feel excellent, but to be honest couldn't wait to use my bat again.

I played a very good player tonight from England.  I played him last week for many hours and was using the original 05 and his thoughts were that it was a bit slower.  He only managed to get one game off me tonight, where as last week I got a few more.  It could be that my backhand was on fire.

I hate to talk about speed glue feeling but...

I have never felt anything come this close to that.

Spin and speed?

To be honest I don't think tenergy 05 fx is any spinnier than the original.  I actually have feeling that it may even be less spinny.  It is just a small impression right now, but I feel the fx version seems to be moving toward the tenergy clones direction and not chartering even more spin direction I kind of hoped might happen.  I am sure without a doubt that tenergy 05 fx is slower overall.  But Tenergy 05 fx feels more dynamic.  It also seems to have more gears, or is that the same thing?  I find can keep the ball slower for example if they move away from the table.

What does it compare to?

Tenergy 05 fx feels like a cross between tenergy 64 and Andro Hexer and Tenergy 05 of course.  I say that because tenergy 64 was the softest of the family and andro hexer felt the softest and had the porous feel.  Tenergy 05 fx feels similar to the speed or dynamic nature of hexer, but of course tenergy 05 fx has the tenergy top sheet which for me is the main reason I don't like the other companies rubber clones.  The other companies made very good sponges similar to tenergy spring sponge but just didn't put that Butterfly grippy top sheet on top.  Anyway...

Who will love tenergy 05 fx?

Players that liked Hexer or Vega but didn't like the top sheet.  Players who love the tenergy 64 on the backhand but wanted just a bit more spin and little lighter.  Ah dam, I think there are too many types of people who will love tenergy 05 fx more than the original.  I think I will become one of them.

What am I not sure about right now?

I am not too sure about how it plays on my forehand. I am sure I love it on backhand, and the overall weight of a lighter forehand rubber also helps with my backhand.  But I am a little unsure about how it feels on my forehand.  It is like I love that speed glue kind hit into the blade, but something about the softness is not quite right.  It kind of feels a bit slow, or the throw angle is not right?  Anyway I will come back to this.

Tenergy 05 FX throw angle!

I am sure it is lower and shorter.  It has less dwell in my mind so comes of the blade quicker but unless I do a more active stroke I can do very very short loops which I think are weird.  It is like those loops that you do and when they bounce they just stay really really low.  The throw angle in my mind makes this not only better for blocking or should I say being more passive, but also the attacks stay much lower.