Butterfly Bryce Highspeed

I first had this rubber and I couldn't control it easily and it took some time this rubber is really good as a backhand rubber but aside from that thats the only thing good with it

Butterfly introduced the new Bryce Highspeed (BHS) late last year with their new Micro Layer technology. The new rubber should come up for a test. For testing I used the Butterfly Garaydia ZLC blade and 40+ balls. The BHS is with 2.1mm sponge.


Unpacking
The new packing just looks amazing with the color and design. You are not in doubt when buying a Butterfly product you get an quality item. One could argue if the new logo looks great, but I am beginning to like it more.





Drive
The Bryce HighSpeed has a special feeling compared to the Tenergy series. It feels kind of soft without really being soft and it may be due to the new top sheet. I tried the rubber in FH initially, but I didn't like the soft feel so I quickly switched it to my BH where it felt more comfortable. The BHS and GZLC is a fast setup and which makes driving the ball effortless.


Loop
When looping I could feel the BHS has a good dwell time due to the 35 degrees sponge and the Micro Layer top sheet. Initially I had to adjust my shots because of the medium-low throw angle the rubber had. The control is reasonably good for a fast rubber with Butterfly's High Tension technology.


Block
In the blocking game the BHS really showed its potential. I felt it was very controllable and the stability was very good which made I could direct the shots where I wanted. Also another I noticed was that the BHS was less sensitive for incoming spin compared the Tenergy series.


Flicks/Short play
The BHS is a very good rubber for BH flicks. Here the good dwell came in hand helping to get grip in the ball. Short play was also easy you could keep the ball close to the net. Also spinny serves could be received short because of the rubber was less sensitive to spin.


Conclusion
Butterfly has developed a new rubber with the new Micro Layer combined with their High Tension technology, stating that the rubber has more grip and spin? Compared to the Bryce Speed maybe yes, but not the in comparison to the Tenergy series. The feel is a notch softer and that may be due to the softer 35 degree sponge and Micro Layer top sheet.



I would recommend the rubber to the player who stays close to the table and likes to play the fast driving and block game. Also the player that likes to do BH flicks and has a strong short game.

Trying my friend's rubber and I kinda like it for my BH. But the only thing the spin. Thats all.

What’s going on guys, here’s my review on one of the most anticipated rubbers of 2015, the Butterfly Bryce Highspeed. Bryce Highspeed was released on the 21st December 2015.

Video Review: Bryce Highspeed Rubber


Written Review:

Firstly Bryce Highspeed comes in the all new packaging along with the new Butterfly logo. Butterfly have really transformed their look and feel of their latest products since the release of Tenergy 05 back in 2008.



The Bryce Highspeed rubber comes with a new technology called Micro Layer designed for the new plastic ball. This micro layer technology enables the surface to be very thin, the thinnest so far in any rubber according to Butterfly.

This allows the rubber to have longer pimples underneath for easier compression during impact. This gives a higher tension build up, as a result to give great speed. According to the Butterfly stats Bryce Highspeed is the fastest rubber in their range, faster than the popular Tenergy 05.

When pressing on the rubber, the Bryce Highspeed (bottom rubber seen below) feels slightly softer than Tenergy 05 (top rubber seen below), to be precise Bryce Highspeed is 35 degrees and Tenergy 05 is 36 degrees.



The weight of Bryce Highspeed when uncut is 38 grams. Which is reasonably light in comparison to Tenergy 05 when uncut is 46 grams.



Myself and Tom put the Bryce Highspeed to the test using the Butterfly Garaydia ZLC blade.

Speed

As the name suggests, the new Bryce rubber certainly does pack a lot of speed. The sheer amount of speed this rubber produces means that the ball really catapults of the surface of the rubber. This means that the Bryce highspeed has very little dwell time and the ball shoots off the bat quickly and with a low arc.

I found I sometimes could not generate as much pace as I would have liked as I had to brush the ball a little more to get the high trajectory required to get the ball over the net. This was especially evident on low balls if not met at the top of the bounce.

Suited better for my backhand

The Bryce Highspeed felt more suited to my backhand, and the low trajectory really helped when playing with a closed racquet angle to maintain the speed which in turn gave me lots of spin and control. With my natural technique I use for my backhand drive, when pressing forward, I was able to produce a lot of spin and speed with consistency. I was able to take advantage early on in the point with this aggressive shot.

Spin

Although the Bryce Highspeed is primarily designed, first and foremost, as an extremely fast rubber, I was still able to get a lot of spin on the ball with my backhand flick and backhand topspin. However I was unable to get the same amount of spin on my forehand side as there is less wrist involvement with this stroke. When comparing this rubber to other products in the Butterfly range I felt I had more spin in comparison to a traditional Bryce or a Bryce speed, however you can generate more spin with a Tenergy 05 but when it comes to pure speed this rubber is the fastest Butterfly have produced.

Short Game

During the short game I really struggled to adapt at the beginning due to the rebound effect as it gave little feedback. Again the rubbers high levels of speed made it hard to control until I got more used to it. I really noticed the rubbers pace again during forehand flicks. Once I adjusted I could produce some great results, in shots such as the counter topspin for instance where I found I had superb accuracy.

Away from the table

I needed to have quite an upward motion when playing away from the table, as the low arc would send the ball into the net if I didn't make this adaptation to my stroke. I found top spinning from mid distance and close to the table fantastic.

Conclusion

The new Butterfly Bryce Highspeed has definitely been created to produce vast amounts of speed on the ball. When a precise brush shot is used a decent amount of spin can also be generated. The sponge is medium to hard and springs off the bat faster than Tenergy 05 due to the thin topsheet allowing for a higher pimple placement in the sponge. For me this rubber is an excellent choice for the backhand side as I could get a good balance between spin and speed on the finer shots such as the backhand flick and topspin.

You can put your opponent under a lot of pressure with this rubber due to the speed however at times can be a little hard to control. This rubber is suited for intermediate to advanced players who like to generate a lot of speed on the ball and would be good for players who like to punch and play fast shots from close to the table. We feel that this rubber would also be well suited for a passive blocking game due to the amount of pace you can generate with little effort.

I just got the chance to try out Butterflys new Bryce Highspeed 2.1mm. I still remember the old Bryce from the speed glue days and I was very eager to try out these rubbers. Here is a short review from my first practice with these rubbers.

I used them together with STIGAs Infinity VPS and I only played with the poly ball. First of all I think these rubbers is really fast, even faster than the Tenergy series. I got a really good pressure on my opponent a bit away from the table but since they were so fast they were also a little hard to control. This rubber is developed for the pros and I recommend it for offensive players who prefer great speed over control and spin. The spin in these rubbers were Okay but nothing special, there are other more spinner rubbers out there.

My serve and return went a little high and long in the beginning but after some adjustment I could get a good low serve. I liked them very much in my backhand flick where I could get a good spiny touch.

Overall I think this is a good rubber but nothing special. I had really high expectation but I must say that I still prefer Tenergy and Airoc every day in the week. They felt a little too fast for me but can suit some really offensive players very good I think. Like Marcin5673 wrote I think it’s mostly hype around these rubbers, (just like the new STAR WARS movie) and I think there is many cheaper rubbers out there that plays equally good, or even better. I will try them out some more and make the longer review.

This rubber is mostly all Butterfly Hype. I regret spending 125$ on this sort of useless product for me.
I normally play with Tenergy05 & 64 or Tibhar Evolution rubbers & this Bryce is not even close to the rubbers mentioned earlier.
This rubber looks great visually, and has a good weight. It is very fast but it has a weird feel to every stroke. It has way less spin than Tenergy.
It is hard to open up and it requires perfect stroke on every shot. I am soo disappointed with this rubber.
If you are Tenergy user do not bother spending $ on this, because you will be disappointed!!!

We have had time to test the new Bryce Highspeed this afternoon, a black 2.1 rubber on a Primorac Carbon blade.
The rubber has no obvious weakness and its strength is definetely its directness and speed in the open game, away from the table in spin on spin or close to the table in blocking.
It´s a medium rubber about as hard as tenergy 64 and performs with no noticeable speed glue effect/sound. It´s light, cut to racket size only 42 grams.

I played the rubber on my forehand first and had little trouble opening vs strong underspin from a defense player several levels above mine. In direct comparison I felt my other rubber, in this case a Bluefire M1, produced more spin, but not more speed.
I tried the Bryce on the backhand then and found it easy to control and ultra-precise in blocking the heavy topspin balls from my partner. The blocks are fast and difficult to handle for the attacking player.

Later I tested the rubber in matchplay versus another attacking player (approx my level). On the forehand everything felt easy enough, spinnier balls for opening or fast balls for direct points were no problem. Maybe I´d like a little more contact, but the balls landed where they were intended and control was good.
When I tried the Bryce as backhand rubber I found that I like a lot more contact on that side, or a softer rubber. While blocking was good, the topspin rate was below average.

I played a few more games vs another defense player and came to the same conclusion, on forehand the Bryce Highspeed works ok for me, on backhand it feels difficult except when blocking.

Lastly, a friend tried the rubber and also found the Bluefire considerably more spinny, the Bryce overall good, but nothing we haven´t seen before.

I think players going for the maximum speed will find Bryce Highspeed an attractive rubber. But I think there are direct and fast tensor rubbers already that cost less, and an Acuda turbo might do the same job as efficiently.

If your game is fast and straight, try this rubber. But if you´re happy with the speed and especially the spin of something like a Tibhar Evolution MX-P there is quite probably no reason to be tempted.