tabletennisJunkie.com - table tennis and ping pong forum for equipment junkies!

[ejunkie]

Thanks to Varghese I got a used T25 from him at a discount to scratch my EJ itch. The thickness is 1.9mm. I had tried 2.1mm Tenergy 05 before and expected something similar. I put the Tenergy 25 on a special 5-ply that performs very much like Korbel, Acoustic, and P500, but it doesn't have the vibration of the P500, the softness of Korbel, or the speed of Acoustic. I have a well used Bryce on the backhand (and it was tuned).

I play for two nights during club hours and played may be 5 matches besides practice. I think my record was about 4-1, with the one loss to a 2150 rated power players. I really had great control with this rubber.

When I loop I had a great deal of dwell time to place the ball where I wanted it, how fast I wanted it, and how spiny I wanted it. The rubber felt like a Tackifire D glued up with layers of glue. it's not fast but very spiny, and the arc was lower than T05. The quality that I enjoyed the most is the low speed because most low speed rubbers are slow rubbers that I have to put in a lot of energy, but T25 is the exception. It is even slower than Sriver or Mark V, just so you know!

T25 especially worked during counter loops with this setup. I rarely didn't end up winning the long rallies. From mid-distance and further. This rubber produced spiny loops that have a very nice medium arc which force the opponent to back of the table. If I had to chop this rubber is thin enough too.

1.9mm allowed for a very tight short game and control blocks that didn't go too high. It also can be thin enough to smash a few winner with perfect control. It can't be used to play a power game but it help the user to win more points by simply not missing the table. It's a nice rubber to improve techniques.

I've read that Varghese had an issue with Tenergy and glue. I used Elmer's to glue the T25 and it doomed like some reports that said Tenergy would. The first night I played with it it had the loudest sound of some of rubbers. (The T25 was glued about 8hrs before playing too) Two days later the sound was still there albeit a little less loud (and the rubber less soft). I was never a big click sound kinda guy but hitting a winner with a loud click did feel nice!

I like T25 for the kind of game that suits me. Thanks goes to Varghese!

[varghese]

I'm glad you liked it.

The Tenergy 25 is one of my favorites - very good control and good forward rotations. I did not like the Tenergy 05, and I think I will not like the Tenergy 64 also. Among the TSP rubbers, the TSP Real was one of my favorite rubbers. There are some good strokes I did with that are unforgettable. I was in search of a similar rubber in less thickness and have more dynamism. The TSP Real does not come in less than 2.0 mm sponge. That's how I'm ended up in Tenergy 25.

[ejunkie]

Played again on a third day. The sound came back--loud clicks. may be I didn't loop hard enough the second time. I wish the top sheet is just a little more sticky to allow little more spin. As it is now the rubber is very spiny but not Chinese-wise. The speed is slower than a glued up Mark V (2.0mm). The control is still fantastic and a total offensive machine.

[ejunkie]

Want to add that I finally cut it smaller to fit the Dotec (smaller than standard) and will try it tonight. Seem it's too fast for me but we'll see.

[ejunkie]

Tried for just ten minutes and found it way too fast for my liking. Immediately changed the pairing. The problem with a fast blade with a fast rubber is the control and power of the first loop. That loop is hard because it might be against a heavy and fast push, a top spin serve, a no spin serve, a flip, etc., and a fast combo lacks control to just land the ball with a safe, control loop. You pretty much have to go for it and not slow your arm swing. There would be a lot of errors and a lot of winners. A high risk game is not what an experience player like to have.

[varghese]

Have you tried this on the Donic Persson Dotec OFF- blade, and found the combination faster?

I have a sweet story to tell about Donic Persson Dotec OFF- blade. I will do that sometime this week.

[ejunkie]

Like to hear it.
There is a request for a review of T25 on Mytt.net. Please send this link to them.

[varghese]

Like to hear it.
There is a request for a review of T25 on Mytt.net. Please send this link to them.

Here is the review blog I have written on the DONIC Dotec Persson OFF-.

If you have looked at my published video in the long pips section of this site, I have been playing with the DONIC Dotec Persson OFF- blade that you have given me with S. who is the last person in the video.

[ejunkie]

I managed to try someone's T25 2.1mm and I really love it because of the power. Faster and powerful than T05 on loop kills and drives, less control and dwell time on slower loops. Very easy to use because I am use to hard Chinese rubbers on 5-ply and this is almost the same, just faster.

[729 fx]

Firstly I must say Thanks to varghese for the used Tenergy 25(T25) rubber (Black).

From Butterfly, Tenergy 25 (T25) featured pimples no. 25 to use control/spin close to the table. These pimples are 2.65mm in diameter and more than 1.56 times that of no. 5 (Tenergy 05). The large dimension makes it easier to put a high degree of spin when serving or playing a push stroke.

This is an interesting rubber with the fact that the pimples of this rubber are bigger than normal. My guess is a larger pimples means less dwell time but I think the sponge is a tad softer than T05 to help compensate for this. From feedback of T05 & T64 users, I guess that the T25 lies in the middle, that is while some says that T64 is be suited to mid distance players, while the 05 is supposed to play better near the table, so T25 lies in between the two.
I knew from other reviews that T05 has been heavy and that T25 would be similar, but my racket did not feel heavier than before, maybe due to the fact it was a 1.8mm thick. Overall this is a satisfactory rubber but it is a bit heavier than I imagined it would be. The sponge felt harder than I thought it would. It is very hard, but also very dynamic, which means that putting effort into hitting the ball harder pays off.

I became comfortable with T25 quickly. It is obviously slower than my friend’s speed glued Bryce Speed, and the spin was slightly better. It plays differently from anything else I have used before.

I tried this rubber on two different blades, YinHe W-3 and Yashima Training. The thickness of the rubber is 1.8mm. First I tried it on the W-3 and I must say not a good combination. The lack of dwell time on a hard carbon blade, makes the combination difficult to control. Fast, yes, it sure has speed but lack of control means my returns is not going where I wanted the ball to go. This setup made it rather difficult to loop with spin but for hard driving, this combination is alright. For serving, the ball feels to be bouncy, maybe because the blade is a stiff one. Blocking is easy to place and play. In other words, there's no weakness here.

Initial stroking with the T25 – this rubber produces very loud and distinctive crack sound, almost remind me of using some old glued up 729 FX or Sriver L. The sound is also quite unqiue. It almost sounds more like a crack than a click. My initial findings of T25 is that it has a very low throw angle and is very spinny. This is, in my opinion, the best rubber since the end of speed glue. The catapult effect is, in my opinion better than the ESN tensor rubbers. I can't say whether it's faster, but simply more similar to speed glue. Thanks to the grip of the Tenergy topsheet, the rubber stands at the top in terms of spin; and the only rubber that outdoes it is the tacky Chinese rubbers. The longevity of the sheet will prove itself in the future, but I can already see good things in comparison to other rubbers that I have tried, more notable the 729 FX which is currently being used on my backhand.

Looping
The catapult effect is convincing and so is the feeling conveyed while looping. It is, for me, the first rubber that has enough power, even when the ball is contacted poorly. Finally you can employ small adjustments, in contrast to the ESN tensor rubbers, which play so linear. I hope you know what I mean. Loops near the table and away come with super spin and speed, and depending on how I loop, come with a superb arc. Loops were consistent and also had sufficient power. Looping near the table is good. It has great power away from the table as well so it can be used by someone like me who likes to stand 5 feet back and loop but like I said you have to beware the low throw angle.

Serves
Some people have claimed there are problems creating short serves with the T25. This is complete nonsense! After a week of training I can serve just as well if not better. Likewise for serve returns . You can really do everything with this rubber, be it aggressive pushing, dropping it short, or flipping it. It's perfectly good for me. .

Blocking
The rubber is for me simply unparalled. Only thing that I feel is the controllability, as matching it with a stiff(hard) and fast blade, makes this combination difficult in controlled blocking. Another observation is that the rubber has increased the vibration in my racket. This is most noticable during blocking someone else's power loops.

Driving
Excellent in the sense that this rubber is quite fast.

Conclusion : Good for hitters or smashers because of its speed.

My ratings :
Speed - Fast
Spin - fairly spinny
Throw angle - very low

These are just some unorganized thoughts from my first play with T25. My apology if the review seems too long. I hope it gives everyone who is interested a better idea of what its like. Next I will paired this rubber with a pure wooden blade and see how it performs