Tenergy 05 Table Tennis Blogs

I can't do it a detailed analysis. I don't have the equipment to test the sponge in an engineering sort of way. I have a device that can measure the hardness of the rubber somewhere around the office but I think there is a lot more details to learn than just how hard it is.

Personally I don't think most people have the engineer back ground to understand the details and it really would take an engineer with the proper test equipment AND with lots of TT experience so that the details can be explained in terms that a TT player would understand.

Why am I interested?
I am an engineer and I am new to TT, again, after 30+years. I am still learning the new TT language and frankly would have a hard time relating what I measured back to the rest of you. I was, and still am, overwhelmed by the rubber and blade choices available. There are all sorts of ratings but few have the details that meant anything to me. I didn't trust the manufactures ratings on speed, spin, and control. That has got to be the biggest bunch of marketing garbage.

Therefore, it would be nice to have evaluations that aren't subjective. I would be nice to know what the coefficient of friction is between the ball and the rubber. It would be nice to have a standard way of measuring dwell time or how much give a rubber and sponge has. I think the coefficient of friction is obvious as it affects the spin of the ball. Perhaps it affects the "throw" also but it would be nice to have a way of knowing that if I play close to and almost on top of the table I should consider getting this set of equipment and why. It would be nice to know how much energy was returned and does it vary with how hard the ball and paddle hit each other.

Finally it would be nice to know how that will affect the play of different types of players so that we can search of equipment for the intended style of play.

The sad part is that it wouldn't make much difference if there is a detailed evaluation of tenergy rubber unless there were other rubbers evaluated in similar ways so comparisons can be made and some one can evaluate why the differences are important.

There is great confusion in TT land. I think the manufacturers like it that way so that the TT fanatics spend a fortune on rubbers and blades trying to find the perfect combination.