OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Well a month ago I was in need of new rubbers, and I decided to brake away Butterfly's ridiculous prices and stop using Tenergy05. So then began the quest to find a replacement that suits my game. The first rubber on the list has been Galaxy/Yin-He Moon Pro, I like this rubber a lot for some parts of my game, but in others it seems to be lacking and I'm needing to adjust my technique too much (I don't think this is a good thing). Since using Moon Pro I have found that it has really improved my control game, good for blocking and counter hitting, but when I start looping off back spin and other slow balls, I find it just doesn't feel right. When practising I find that it's not quite getting the same arc as Tenergy did and causing many balls into the net, but then at the same time I adjust my stroke and I end up spinning the ball long and it doesn't feel good. Am I correct in feeling that this rubber is lower throw and flatter then my Tenergy was?

Now, it could just be a matter of adjusting my technique and getting use to it, but I am thinking this might not be such a good idea changing my technique around too much just because I bought some new rubber, maybe it just isn't suited to my game? I really like having the added control for blocking and the short game, this has helped me massively, but I feel my looping is suffering too much. So this leads me to the next step where I am thinking of trying something else as a Tenergy 05 replacement. The next on my list is Xiom Vega Pro, I have been doing a bit of reading about this, and I get the impression it has good control on the slow game, but good gears to get decent spin and speed on looping? Unfortunately I don't know anyone using this rubber, so I don't have a chance to try it out. But does it sound like I'm on the right track? or is there something that might be better suited to my game? I really don't want to spend a lot of time EJing different rubbers, as I would like to settle on a combination I can use for the next few years and just focus on my technique and the rest of my game.

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Main: Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit ST | FH: Andro Hexer HD 2.1mm | BH: Donic Bluefire MAX

Here is a list of Butterfly Equivalent rubbers. Although none are really equivalent, they are viable options.

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There are a lot of "perhaps alternatives" for you Dan. Perhaps this one, or that one. So much comes down to the individual, the blade, even the area of the world you live and what conditions are like there. A couple of people have said Sanwei T-88 I is like Tenergy. I don't know if this is true. It is FOR THEM it seems. It may not be for you. I know Simon Gerada and his HWATT guys have switched over to Hexer (and some are looking to a Hexer HD switch, including Edwin) and are very satisfied with that. It may be where your answer lies. To some degree, you may need to do a little EJing, or at least trying out other people's setups, to find what's right for you. It can simply be unavoidable, but if you are lucky and go on the right advices, and not the wrong ones, you might shortcut the process. Good luck.

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
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Have a look at the Donic Barracuda. I used to have a T05 on my Kris Special. Worked really well. But like you, I am trying to find alternative and refuse to support Butterfly anymore. Anyway, I inherited a piece of the Barracuda which comes with a Joola MC1 blade I bought off my friend. Initially, on that blade, I found the Barracuda quite hard to handle due to its bounciness. But it has really vicious spin which I really like as my game plan depends a lot on spin. So I persevered and tested the Barracuda out on a number of my blades. I found that it works very well with the Kris Special and Kris II. Works so well in smashing, looping, blocking, etc. I don't seem to need to adjust my stroke much, if any. So depending on your blade, who knows, the Barracuda might work. Best if you can find anyone who has the Barracuda and willing for you to peel it off and stick on your own blade to try. We also tried the Barracuda on the Tachi and found it to work very well too. So well that my friend asked me to order a Tachi and the Barracuda for him off the OOAK shop last week.

I have never used Xiom rubbers so can't give you any opinion on that Vega Pro. Good luck with your hunt for the right equipment. Just don't catch the EJ virus

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Main Setup: There is NO such thing
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I've got a sneaking suspicion that the Hexer range, especially the Hexer+ and Hexer HD, are worthy opponents to Tenergys.

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Weapon 1: Andro Kinetic Supreme Hinoki/Zylon OFF-; Andro Hexer HDs (FH 2.1/BH 1.9)
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I think they are more T64 substitutes than T05, although HD would drift slightly in the T05 direction. Original Hexer and to some extent Hexer Powersponge are most likely the closest to T05.

T64 is a nice rubber btw. IMO, its nicer than T05. But some people find it too fast, and the speed outweighs the spin for them. T64 is as spinny as T05, but because it can catapult the ball better, its easy for the speed to overtake the spin.

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Get a softer version of Moon Pro, it should have a higher throw and more spin

Another viable option is Vega Europe or Hexer HD

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SPW/Solo

Vega Pro, Omega IV Pro / Asia / Euro or Hexer (normal Hexer FH, Hexer+ on Backhand) are your common Tensor options used by the top kiddies. Right now most of the better players in Vic that were using Hexer have moved to Hexer HD already, even a few have moved from T05 to HD recently.

I wouldn't bother with trying to find a good Chinese replacement for T05 at your level and after you've adjusted to T05 it's very hard to unadjust from that rubber. It would take ages for you to learn to use a more traditional Chinese rubber like TG3/H2/H3 good enough that you were getting comparable performance to T05 so unless you are willing to commit to that learning curve you better just use a Tensor imho none of them at least up to Hexer HD are as controllable as T05 and of course no where near the control of the DHS rubbers but they are close enough to T05 to make the switch successfully

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Donic defplay senso
Haifu whale soft (grips-euro)
Nittaku pimplemini 1.0mm

Thanks for all the advice, I'm thinking Hexer HD might definitely be worth a look. I think I'll be moving away from finding a Chinese alternative, as I don't want to adjust my game that much to suit that kind of rubber. How does the speed of the Hexer HD compare to T05? I found when moving to the Moon Pro, that one thing I liked better was a slight reduction in speed, which kept a few extra shots on the table rather then going long.0

I will ask around and see if I can find some rubbers to try out at the club, but otherwise I think Hexer HD is next on the list for rubbers to buy and try out

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Main: Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit ST | FH: Andro Hexer HD 2.1mm | BH: Donic Bluefire MAX

It's supposed to be slightly faster but shouldn't be much in it

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Donic defplay senso
Haifu whale soft (grips-euro)
Nittaku pimplemini 1.0mm

Grip-s europe may be worth a look.

Paddle palace has it for 60 bucks, but often does it as the daily special for about 40 dollars.

but of course, hexer hd is an extremely viable option

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Blade: American Hinoki 1-ply NWC 69 grams - Stiga Tube Carbo
FH: Juic 999 Turbo MAX - Andro Hexer HD 1.7
BH: Butterfly Spin Art 2.1 - Donic Acuda S1 Turbo 1.8

what characteristics of Hexer HD is similar to T05?

i think the new DHS rubbers TinArc TinArc 3 feel quite similar. one of the guys from my former club used T05fx and was looking for new rubber so i sold him Tin Arc and Tin Arc 3 and he liked it very much. these rubbers are not as soft as 05fx but not as hard as 05 and are a bit lighter

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Main: / secondary / LP
Blade: DHS Hurricane hao/ Blade- Hurricane Hao 2
FH: Skyline 3(Blue Sponge)/ FH- Nittaku H3 pro
BH: Omega Asia/ BH- Calibra Tour H

I can't say, as I haven't tried tenergy 05.

But I do like HD, very hard sponge, spinny, good at blocking, pretty good at serving.

You may want to ask debraj to make a comparison.

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Blade: American Hinoki 1-ply NWC 69 grams - Stiga Tube Carbo
FH: Juic 999 Turbo MAX - Andro Hexer HD 1.7
BH: Butterfly Spin Art 2.1 - Donic Acuda S1 Turbo 1.8

is it the throw angle high or low?