Butterfly Bryce Highspeed

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.

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.