Number 25: The Tenergy Stepchild.

There's so much chatter about T05 and T64. Love 'em or hate 'em, everyone seems to have an opinion.

However, little is said about T25. A few people I know of don't care for it. Boz says it's one of Butterfly's biggest mistakes. But I was playing with it last night and I love it. Basically, it has all the attributes I like in XIOM Vega Pro but to a much larger degree. 

Low throw, fast, spinny, hard feel.

I'm curious: Why is it so seemingly overlooked? For those who have tried it, why don't you like it?

Granted, I play somewhat close to the table--very rarely am I more than two meters away; in fact, I'm usually within one meter. So for those who play mid to long distance, I understand why the higher throw of T05 and T64 are better suited to you. But not everyone plays at that distance.

Are there any "closet" T25 users out there? What do you enjoy about it?

I keep switching T05 and T25 last couple months. For me, if you like better control and play close to the table, then T25 would be better fit. T25 plays more like chinese rubber (in term of hard medium sponge), so if you play chinese style, it would be good fit.

Skyline wrote: ... What I didn't like about it was sensitivy to spin on passive shots.

  Yes... I had that exact same problem with T05. Since, to me, T25 seems to be XIOM Vega Pro on steroids, I'll stick with the more forgiving Vega Pro for the next few months. This summer I plan on practicing non-stop so I'm sure I'll blow through my two sheets of Pro after a few months, at which point I'll re-evaluate my progress and perhaps give the greater demands of T25 a try. 

The reason you don't hear about it on this forum is because its content is overwhelmed by the disproportionate posts of the usual suspects/active circle/frequent users or whatever you want to call the people who are most vocal here.

Because the pips in are so much more apart from each other it makes the hitting more reliable even if loop capabilities are tuned down a bit.
For (relatively) slow movers who have a hard time positioning for a fh loop (especially after the first loop coming back), quick hitting is a solution and T25 is the key: looping is still OK while hitting is vastly improved.
For example I can see a 7ply blade with 1.9mm T25 be a great FH weapon for a player between 1700 and 2000  who does not move super fast.

MildSeven = the unsung hero of Tenergy 25. :o)

Anyone else want to come out of the closet and sing the praises of T25? Or secure your seat on the bandwagon by expounding upon its deficits?

I wrote a lengthy review of this rubber right after our state championships about a year and a half ago, that's what actually got me asked to be a moderator. From my personal experience with the three Tenergy rubbers this one is the strangest. When brand new this rubber is a beast. A very loud crack, very spinny loops, by far the lowest throw angle. The large pip structure I believe plays into all of these characteristics of the rubber. There is very little dwell time with this rubber compared to T05 & T64. For close to the table play, off the bounce looping this is a great rubber. Also good for punching and smashing. One thing that irked me about this rubber though is it's life. T05 & T64 break in well after about a month of use and really come alive once the topsheet and sponge soften up. I found T25 to be the opposite, as it aged it got much worse fast. The first month is really great but then after that it really starts to die and become progressively more difficult to use. You have to really put more into your strokes and really lift the ball because of the low throw angle. In the short game and serving this rubber is pretty good throughout its life, but the looping aspect of the game goes down the tubes. That's my two cents

Pace talks about T25:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89wBt30Xnts

A few good players at the Greenville, SC league play it... they all play close to the table style.

Hi Anton,

smackman wrote: Bull_harrier says in his opinion it has a short life. What do the other users think?

What do you think?

bull_harrier wrote: smackman wrote: Bull_harrier says in his opinion it has a short life. What do the other users think? What do you think?

I think I have never tried it before, and its good to listen to players that have used this rubber. ie some say T05 is good for 50 days and others thinks its perfectly great for a year. It sounds like my type of rubber but I don't want it be fade in 30 days (Im too stingy lol)

smackman wrote: bull_harrier wrote: smackman wrote: Bull_harrier says in his opinion it has a short life. What do the other users think? What do you think? I think I have never tried it before, and its good to listen to players that have used this rubber. ie some say T05 is good for 50 days and others thinks its perfectly great for a year. It sounds like my type of rubber but I don't want it be fade in 30 days (Im too stingy lol)

Haha understandable, when you're paying 50 bucks for a sheet of rubber I think stingy is acceptable. Like any other rubber it does change with age but from my experience (remember this is subjective) T25 suffers the worse with again. I made two sheets of T64 & T05 last for over a year and they still played pretty well, but it was time for change. T25 for me lost it's goods a little too much too quick. But I am also not a close to the table player, I'm a mid distance guy who likes to loop the crap out of the ball.

Judging by the descriptions of Tenergy 25 about being harder, good for close to the table play, more smashing and looping equally... I'd be very curious to see a side by side comparison review of Tenergy 25 vs. Spin Art.

Your loops look much better with Spin Art. Though you seemed to have improved your technique too so maybe the Spin Art is better and so are you  

Anton man, apart from Bull Harrier, why don't you guys do a search on this forum for the exact same topic?

Tenergy 25 the forgotten one has been and been and been.
I am a believer on building on what has been said instead of constantly repeating the same.

Unless you really believe those old threads about tenergy 25 have nothing to do with how people play with tenergy 25 than why don't you create a hyper thread where you do a big super hyper linked thread to all the tenergy 25 topics?

It would be great to see something new emerge.

I have suggested this about 6 months ago and got no response and well.... signature.