Explanation
Dignics 05 is a rubber that Butterfly started selling in April 2019. Until now, it was sold as a rubber that surpasses the Butterfly’s world standard rubber, Tenergy. Tenergy is the world standard rubber because Tenergy used by more than half of the top players. Dignics can be said to be the next generation world standard. Its performance is more than Tenergy, and top players who contract with Butterfly use Dignics, and immediately, they obtained successful results. This fact showed a high advertising effect. Dignics showed focus of attention. It’s a top-of-top rubber.
The encounter with this rubber was actually not very good. At that time, I used adhesive rubber for the fore, and at first I bought it because I wanted to use it for the backhand. I actually tried using it in the backhand, but I couldn’t use it continuously due to lack of backhand technology. After that, I had the opportunity to participate in the national tournament of the group, and I saw several butterfly contract players practicing with Dignics 05. I used to use adhesive rubber for the fore, but I remember being surprised at the speed of the ball, which I couldn’t get even with Tenergy 05, let alone the adhesive rubber. I want to fight on the stage of the whole country! I decided to change to Dignics 05 because I wanted to review the equipment.
Published performance value
As you can see from the comparison of tool performance values, Dignics 05 has higher rotational performance and speed performance than Tenergy 05. Tenergy 05 also has high rotation performance, and the quality of the loop drive and the rotation amount of the serve are comparable to the adhesive rubber. Dignics 05 is a rubber that has been announced as a rubber that has rotational performance and speed performance that exceeds that of Tenergy 05. I used to use adhesive rubber, but I am currently using Dignics 05, and I am not dissatisfied with the amount of rotation.
Spring Sponge X and Dignics series seats
I think Spring Sponge X is an evolved version of Spring Sponge used in the Tenergy series. It seems that the spring sponge is a closed cell sponge that cannot be manufactured by other rubber manufacturers. It seems that Spring Sponge X is made by making the closed cells of the spring sponge finer while maintaining independence. As a result, Spring Sponge X is 14% easier to deform than Spring Sponge, and the repulsive force is improved by 3%. Speaking of the Tenergy series spring sponge, the orange sponge is characteristic, but the Dignics series spring sponge X is characterized by the crimson red color, and you can tell at a glance that it is the Dignics series.
It is also introduced that the surface strength and ball holding have been improved. Regarding ball holding, it is introduced that the counter and Chiquita caught on the seat are more stable. In addition, although it is strong, Mizutani Jun also mentioned that it took longer to replace the rubber. Certainly, it takes longer for the sheet to turn white than the Tenergy series, and if the storage conditions are good, the sheet will not deteriorate for nearly a year. Considering the rubber as a whole, the tension of Spring Sponge X seems to loosen, so I feel that the state changes from moment to moment. The Dignics series seats have a stronger transparency, but it seems that they use strong seats that are close to the cloudy seats made in Germany, so I feel that Chiquita and counters are outstandingly easy to do.
Dignics 05 weight and paste
I put it on the main racket Zhang Jike ZLC.
The adhesive used is Free Chack II. I pasted Dignics 05 with Free Chuck 2 many times, but it was about 48 g. Free Chuck 2 tends to be heavy if it is applied too much, so you should be careful. Dignics 05 is a hard rubber, but we do not recommend it because if you apply it too thick, the spin performance will drop.
Dignics 05 High Tension Rubber ・Sponge thickness：thick（1.9 mm）、extra thick（2.1 mm） ・Spin：12.0 ・Speed：13.5 ・Sponge Stiffness：40 ・Open price（9,800 yen + tax） ・70 g (before cut) → 48 g (after cut)
Three features of Dignics 05
Highest performance of both spin and speed
After all, it has extremely high rotational performance. Loop drive is at a level where even all-Japan championship contestants can invite over-misses at first sight. The trajectory is high unlike adhesive rubber, but the amount of rotation clearly demonstrates high performance comparable to adhesive rubber. In addition, the speed of the ball is clearly faster than Tenergy 05. It can be said that it is one of the strongest rubbers that has both rotational performance and speed performance. It is a high-end rubber that can obtain rotation and speed as if using an organic solvent, even though it is not coated with an organic solvent.
Easy to do counter drive!
Furthermore, what is amazing is the ease of counter drive. To be honest, it doesn’t matter what the angle is, and if you hit the speed drive by catching the ball directly above the opponent’s drive as if crushing the ball, it has amazing counter drive performance that you can almost enter. I felt it was no exaggeration to say that it was quite strong against the opponent’s drive. The ease of use of this counter drive is also a reason for using this rubber as a professional rubber. Probably the reason why Dignics 05 has high counter drive performance is because the seat is strong. I think it is stronger against the opponent’s drive because the seat is stronger and harder than Tenergy 05.
Even if you can’t counter drive, I think the delicacy of the block angle has become dull. I think this is also because the seat has become stronger. I feel that rubber with high rotation performance is generally delicate for balls with a large amount of rotation such as the opponent’s drive and serve. Personally, I feel that Tenergy 05 is more difficult to adjust to the opponent’s drive at an angle. On the other hand, Dignics 05 has the impression that it can be inserted even if you do not know the angle if you just insert it against the opponent’s drive. In some games, I actually felt that I was able to win because of this rubber. I think that rubber that can demonstrate its strength against the opponent’s aggressive drive ball is one of the performances required for modern table tennis!
As I mentioned earlier, I think it should be noted that it has the characteristics of being light while having this high spin performance and speed performance. You may be worried that the ball will be lighter because it is lighter, but I think that you can control it with the side balancer, so I think that lightness is a merit. No other rubber weighs less than 50 g with this much rotational and speed performance. I don’t think the Dignics 05 ball is light, as the people I often practice with say that the ball is heavy. There may be occasions when it is better to hit a drive with a low trajectory, as it is the only one that tends to have a high trajectory.
Each technical review
Forehand
Light hit
There is no feeling that it takes a lot of rotation from a light hit. I felt that the grain shape of the sheet was probably similar to or similar to Tenergy 05. There is an image that the speed of Tenergy 05 is considerably slower than that of Tenergy 80, but the seat grips the ball firmly, so it feels like it takes a lot of rotation. In Dignics 05, if you catch it on the seat a little, the ball will stretch to the extent that it will be very difficult for the opponent to pick it up. When you hit it with a slight meat, it feels like the ball is flying in a straight line, but as you use it, you feel that it draws an arc. I felt that it was similar to adhesive rubber in drawing an arc even with meat.
Drive in the rally
It takes a lot of rotation. In particular, when you use the opponent’s ball to bite into the sponge and hit it, it may show an aggressive trajectory that makes it dive to the opponent’s platform. It doesn’t have the quirkyness of sinking like a sticky rubber habit ball, but the trajectory that jumps onto the table with a strong rotation, hops and jumps up is exactly the trajectory peculiar to Dignix 05, which goes over Tenergy 05. This trajectory peculiar to Dignics 05 is a point I like very much. Also, the speed is of course faster than Tenergy 05. I feel that it is equal to or better than Tenergy 80. As an image, it has a mysterious sense of speed that the speed is higher than the Tenergy 80 even though it draws an arch line, and although it is as fast as the Tenergy 80, the ball stands with a mysterious rhythm that has a long anti-aircraft time due to the drawing of the arc line. Sprint.
I felt that the characteristics of this rubber would not be utilized if I just played it like a spin-type tension rubber when hitting it down. When the hitting point drops, you can get a terrible trajectory and rotation amount by firmly biting into the rubber. It is good to be able to drive with emphasis on rotation just like adhesive rubber. I also like the fact that you can hit it even if the speed drive is slower than you can hit with adhesive rubber. I feel that it is very good to be able to aim at one shot even if it goes down with the momentum as if you are applying an organic solvent.
For both curve drive and shoot drive, if you drop the hitting point and apply a firm rotation, you will get a smooth bend. Good! If anything, it is easy to over-miss or slow down the trajectory in a curve drive, so it is easier to hit a wonderful drive if you hit it with a shot drive or open side.
Drive with open face
In order to hit the speed drive with adhesive rubber, there is a way to hit the drive with the surface open. I think that my arm is bad, but some spin tension rubbers are hard to rotate when driving with the surface open. Even if you hit with the side open with Dignics 05, it will rotate firmly, so speed drive is also very easy to hit. However, I felt that it would be difficult to put it on the opponent’s court because it is not an adhesive rubber to the stone if the hitting point is dropped too much. I think that spin type tension rubber has sufficient performance.
Loop (top spin) drive against back spin
I mainly use the loop drive that rotates with the seat, but it is quite good. Since I am still lacking in skill, I will hit a loop drive by raising the arch line a lot to make sure that I can put it on the opponent’s court, but even if it becomes a fairly high ball, it is spinning more than it looks. As a result, it becomes a weapon that can be scored only with this loop drive. Even when you just jump in and let it bite in, it feels like it will rotate more than you imagined, and you can invite mistakes. If you can hit a loop drive with a low arc line, I think that it will be a fairly good quality loop drive.
I’ve written only good things, so I’ll describe the points that I felt needed to get used to. It is a wonderful Dignics 05 against the upper rotation without any enemy, but because of its high rotation performance, it is easily affected by the rotation of the lower rotation system remaining on the ball. Also, the ball is released quite quickly. I imagine that many people find it difficult to handle because of these two points. When driving downwards, including loop drive, I became more stable by hitting the ball not only with my arms but also with my body and hips. I think that the grip is very poor, so I think many people find it difficult around here.
Speed drive against back spin
The speed drive is also pretty good. You can go both a speed drive that emphasizes speed that you bring with impact, which seems to be a spin type tension, and a heavy speed drive that opens the surface and takes a lot of rotation. Since the speed is faster than Tenergy 05, it is good to be able to stabilize with the amount of rotation even though you can aim for no-touch ace. When the ball quality is complete, the counter will be targeted, so I would like to improve my technical capabilities so that I will not focus on speed drive.
Block
Blocks are clearly better than Tenergy 05. Tenergy 05 was easily affected by the rotation of the opponent and was light, so I felt like it was being played. However, the block of Dignics 05 is quite stable, probably because the sponge is hard and the sheet is strong. It’s easy to insert blocks even if you make a rough angle. I felt that it was very easy to guess and put it in. There are even games that I won thanks to this rubber block. I have a pretty strong impression on the ball that spins up!
Counter drive
this! Dignics 05 has a pretty good counter drive. Once you know the course, all you have to do is grab the opponent’s ball and give it rotation and speed, and you can hit a strong counter drive. It was a rubber that was quite easy to counter drive. The ease of hitting this counter drive is also a favorite of Dignics 05.
Stop
At first I played it and it was quite difficult. However, by hooking it with the seat, it became possible to apply considerable rotation even on the table, and it became stable. The sponge is also hard, so it fits nicely. Perhaps Dignics 05 is easier to stop than other Dignics.
Push
It also suffers from a stop, but it is easy to rotate. Compared to Spin Art, it is inferior to Spin Art, but I think that Dignics 05 is also a rubber that can be used as a weapon. Personally, I think it’s easier to use as a weapon than the push of Dignics 09C.
Flick
I felt that the flick to adjust the angle was not very stable. I think it’s better to take the plunge and aim for a bang because it gives you more momentum. I think that it will be stable if the racket hits the ball and then swings further upward so that it will rotate naturally. If you want to swing parallel to the table, I think the knuckle flick type is better.
Serve
Since I changed to Dignics 05, the amount of rotation has increased, of course, but more than that, the Young Generation (YG) serve has come to be cut off. It cuts sharply. It is very useful to be able to put out a downward rotation serve in the reverse horizontal rotation system because it is possible to put out variations in the serve. Also, it is useful because it is easy to cut it with a bumping serve or make it into a knuckle. I feel that it is easy to serve the lower rotation system with a fast ball foot in addition to the forward horizontal lower rotation system serve of the scooping system to secure the amount of rotation. However, it took me a long time to get used to it.
Backhand
Light hit
As I felt in the forehand, I can get a ball that stretches like an active block just by hooking it on the seat a little. It’s good that it’s easy to speed up! Moreover, the ball, which looks like a straight trajectory close to the meat from the opponent’s point of view, is very stable. It was very reliable because the meat type or speed type drive was automatically stabilized.
Drive in the rally
When I used it a year ago, it wasn’t stable at all, but it seems that the impact of the backhand has improved considerably in a year, which is quite good. Also, I prefer to hit the backhand drive after letting it bite into it, but I think that it is Dignics 05 that it can rotate enough and give power even with that way of hitting. As an aside, both Tenergy 05 and Dignics 05 can hit a powerful ball even if they hit the rubber made in Germany. I feel again that it is a high-performance rubber. Personally, it was more stable and comfortable to hit with the rotation priority, such as hitting with only the sheet, because the amount of rotation increased. I felt that the high performance that does not choose such a way of hitting is like a butterfly rubber.
Also, with Tenergy 05 and Tenergy 05 Hard, if the surface is turned down too much, such as when hitting lightly, it may fall off, but with Dignics 05, the seat is caught more strongly, probably because it is stronger. I felt that it was quite stable even when the surface was turned down considerably.
Loop (top spin) drive against back spin
I felt that the amount of rotation was a little inferior when compared to the forehand drive, but I was still able to put it in stably. A year ago, I couldn’t feel the stability because I hit it only by hand. Now that I’m trying to put my waist and body in, I was able to put it in fairly stably. Moreover, it was a good impression that I could hit a fairly aggressive drive.
Speed drive against back spin
This was also pretty good! Personally, I was able to easily hit the speed drive by hitting with the core in mind so as not to lose to the ball. I was able to stably hit a speed drive at a level that could force the opponent to block if used in a match. It was really difficult to pull out the speed drive with one shot, but it felt quite good to hit a stable and powerful drive rather than going around and forehand driving.
Block
I felt it in the foreground, but of course the back is also good. It was possible to block without difficulty even in the loop of Dignics 09C. I think it’s because the seat has become stronger.
Counter drive
As you can imagine, it’s pretty good. If you hit it so that it catches the top of the ball, the counter drive is completed without permission. If you aim for more power and hit hard, you can hit a ball like a rising counter. It’s terrible.
Stop
You can stop it without any problems. It felt good.
Push
I felt it in push practice, but it is easier to cut with push than I imagined. I’m not good at it and I mainly use Zhang Jike ZLC of the outer ZLC, so I felt that it was difficult to get rid of it even with Tenergy 05, but I felt that it was easier to get rid of it with this Dignics 05. It bounces, so I think the trick is to hit it with just the sheet.
Chiquita
Since the rubber is light, it is easy to respond to sudden changes in the ball, and I felt that it was easy to Chiquita. However, I haven’t been able to keep up with my arm yet, and it’s not as stable as a backhand drive. In the future, I would like to practice to stabilize Chiquita as an extension of the backhand drive.
Comparison with other rubbers (individual impressions)
Spin amount
Dignics 09C ≧ Dignics 05 > Diginics 80 ＞ Tenergy 05
Speed
Dignics 80 ≧ Dignics 05 > Dignics 09C
Ease of drawing an arc when biting into it (easiness of sinking the ball)
Dignics 09C > Dignics 05 > Tenergy 05
Life span
Dignics 05 > Tenergy 05