Butterfly G40+

I bought these balls at a shop and 2 balls broke after 1 week of training. It might of been a fake ball?????

This ball is fast,round,but not much spin.I would say it is soft if you hit the ball with an edge it does not crack it becomes not round witch some kind of dent

I bought a packet of 3 G40+ balls and I have to say, this is the weirdest ball I have ever tried in my career.

First, the sound of the bounce is extremely high pitched that it almost sounds like a cracked ball and honestly hurts our ears.

Second, the bounce is one of the highest ever. Bounces higher than normal plastic balls and even celluloid balls.

Third, the speed of the ball is extremely fast. Faster than normal 40+ balls. Literally feels like the speed of the 38mm balls but less spin. Definitely not normal.

Fourth, although it's extremely hard, it wears off easily. Your reaction to this might be: 'wha? Table tennis balls can wear off?'. I know, it might sound weird but after a few hours of playing, the ball sort of looses its grip to the ball and tends to skid across the table. Only capable of a few hours and it's done. Again, it doesn't break, it wears off, just like how table tennis rubbers do, but in a much much much faster scale.

Despite all these negative aspects, the only thing the ball shines in is the roundness and hardness. However, although its roundness and hardness is achieved, the basic fundamentals of table tennis balls in definitely not achieved.

I played with these in a tournament. I thought they were good in training until I tried in a tournament where things became humid. The ball did not cope and just slid of my bat.

Well, I've tested quite a few plastic balls but I mainly play with the old Ball since most of the teams in my league still use it.

This particular Ball has to be the worsed i tried since the first test balls from palio came out.
My Partner and I tested 6 balls and only one of them seemed round. This round ball had more or less consistent bounce until it broke after about 10 minutes. The bounce was different to other balls but at least it was consitent. As soon as the round ball broke and we continued trying out the others and it was like playing with easter eggs. The new Balls in general are less spinny and slower compared to the old balls but with this ball it felt even worse compared to other pballs. It Feels heavier and the blade and creates a very broken sound. Just like the old testing balls from Palio.

Overall i really dislike this ball.

Had my first hit with these last night...... Very underwhelmed by the ball.

First Impression:

It has a weird metallic surface to it - It feels quite thick and heavy in the hand (and on the bat!).

Spin generation was very poor!

Reaction shots would typically be hit low/short due to the sheer weight of the ball.


After an hour of solid play, I wouldn't recommend this ball at all.

Durability seemed solid because it was such a solid ball - But it's so heavy, it wasn't an enjoyable experience!

Well, Butterfly's marketing machine is at it again. The days of the celluloid ball are gone and we all need to move on. Butterfly promised us a ball that closely resembles the balls in the good ol days and they failed miserably in my opinion. Yes the ball is more consistently round, but that is about the only improvement I think they achieved. Out of the box, the ball sounds terrible, bounces incredibly high and feels light on your blade. The ball wears out fast and as a result, the high bounces quickly become unpredictable as the ball starts to skid on the table. As the surface of the ball wears, it takes a considerable amount of effort to grab the ball with your rubber. I guess if you are only using a ball for one match in a tournament, you would be fine, but don't expect to get a lot of quality play out of this $2.50+ ball. I'll stick with the Nittaku or the XuShaoFa for now.

I didn't like the ball that much. When it is new it is ok. Good speed and roundness is like nittaku, but when the ball hits a guard surface it gets marks very easy which is very noticeable when playing. It takes some time to get used to the sound of the ball. The cost doesn't reflect the balls durability!

This is an update on my previous review.

I have had about five long sessions with the G40+, and I have had lots of my clubmates try them. I have mainly been using them since mine arrived because I wanted to get as familiar with them as possible. With time now I will revise my order of preference for plastic balls to Nittaku Premium > XSF > G40+ (from best to worst). This is something of a matter of taste, but for me at least, I am sure of it.

The main reason for this is that with a bit of wear the G40+ gets even more smooth and shiny on the surface than they are when new. On my last review, I mentioned that the surface was smoother than other balls when they are new, and this is a unique feature. Once this wear happens to the G40+, with maybe 90-120 minutes of use, the playing properties decline a great deal. You start getting very low sliding bounces, unpredictably, since the normal bounce of this ball is very high. Also the ball becomes harder to control. This does not happen when they are new, at least not as much. But it is in marked distinction to Nittaku Premium and XSF which stay playable for much much longer (and indeed improve a bit after you have hit with them for a half hour or so).

Everybody who has tried the G40+ at my club has said they feel very fast, more so as they get shinier on the outside. With the speed and high bounce, the game becomes distinctly less spin oriented. I haven't managed to break one yet, but it hardly matters if their wear makes them not useful for other reasons.

I am going back to the Nittaku Premiums.

OK, here are my impressions of the G40+, specifically in reference to Nittaku Premium 40+ Japan (NP40+) and also XSF. I played with it for two hours today on Tibhar Smash 28 tables.

G40+ bounces about the same height as an XSF ball, which is a little higher than NP40+ (and a lot higher than Chinese seamed balls). Personally I like this, but if you are used to NP40+, you will need to keep this in mind.

It is hard to see the seam in a G40+ unless you shine light through it, which is also true of NP40+ (and very different from Chinese seamed balls). However, the seam in a G40+ is quite a bit bigger than a NP40+ (the amount the two halves overlap). Butterfly says that even though they have a seam, the inner diameter does not increase where the seam is. Nittaku Premium has a very very small seam.

Another really obvious difference I can see right away with two new unused balls right out of the box is that the surface of the G40+ ball is a lot smoother than either NP40+ or XSF. It is instantly discernible when you take two balls and rub them together. The sound of two NP40+ (or XSF) is greater than G40+ and you can feel more vibration.

As everyone mentions, G40+ has weird sound (like old seamless prototypes or Ipong practice balls), but after about 5 minutes you stop noticing or caring. Once you realize the ball bounces normally and not like a broken ball, the sound stops mattering.

The good news is that this is a perfectly decent ball and my partner and I had fun playing with it today. Also, new balls right out of the box will not put any dust residue on your rubber!! (Very different from NP40+).

Some people may consider the next thing bad news; it does not really play all that much like an NP40+, it is not really like a XSF either, and it is definitely not like a Chinese seamed ball (thank goodness). The G40+ is unique, which means that there is even more variability in the playing properties of plastic balls, and this is really a fourth class of ball. All in all it is closest to XSF (but seems faster on most shots) I think but still has unique properties. That is the bad part. We are living in an era now with a lot more difference in ball properties than we ever had in the celluloid era. (I have seen ITTF officials try to downplay this, but it is obvious).

Dan's review mentioned that the ball flies very straight in the air. I agree, in fact it is one of the things that seems to me to be different from either NP40+ or XSF. Perhaps this has something to do with the unusually smooth surface of the G40+? I also had the impression it flies fast through the air. Is this really the case or an illusion of some type? Hard to say but that's how it seemed. If you are wondering why surface texture affects ball flight, bear in mind that (as with golf balls) a rougher texture could creates a thin turbulent boundary layer of air that clings to the ball's surface. This allows the smoothly flowing air to follow the ball's surface a little farther around the back side of the ball, thereby decreasing the size of the wake. Table tennis balls are a lot lighter, so it may be that smaller changes in surface texture are sufficient to affect blight through the air -- see http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...es-in-golf-ba/).

I felt like the ball had more spin after the bounce on the table, and that it jumped less off the table as a result of spin. This could also be due to smooth surface. My guess is that it is heavier than NP40+ (I will weigh precisely next week) but also a lot harder than a XSF, so it will seem lighter when you play with it. At times it felt somewhat intermediate between XSF and NP40+ but when you flat hit the ball or blocked with authority, the ball seemed to move super fast.

My suspicion is that the very smooth surface of the ball is part of the reason it plays differently. But it is not everything. The G40+ also played a bit differently from a very well worn NP40+.

A couple of really good players on the next table (Jimmy Butler and Niraj Oak) hit with one briefly, the first impression they had was not altogether positive, but they didn't give it more than about 5 minutes. I very much value the opinion of very good players, they just see and feel things more accurately.

I am not sure if people will like G40+ better or worse than NP40+ or XSF. To be honest, I am not entirely sure myself how I feel about it.

The one thing I am sure of is that it is certainly as legitimate an effort to make a decent plastic ball as either XSF or NP40+. There were no grossly bad bounces (I am very accustomed to 40+ balls, have used them exclusively for 18 months). Didn't break one in two hours.

I will write more after I have played with it some more, and also after other people in my club at various levels have had a change to try it out. But if you held a gun to my head and say rank order the balls, I would say NP40+ > XSF = G40+ >>>>>>>> any Chinese seamed ball.


Edit added. Second two hour session this evening, this time on Butterfly tables. Nothing really struck me as different except I think I like the ball better this time. After this second session, from purely playing characteristics, I think I prefer it slightly to XSF. The linear ball flight is still an impression I have.

Anyway, I am perfectly happy with it. I enjoy using it. And my impression is that the ball is pretty durable. Time will tell on that.

Another thing I should mention is that I now have information on weight. A sample of 6 balls had an average of 2.76 grams, which meets 2016 standards. That turns out to be exactly the same as XSF and significantly more than Nittaku Premium. Don't let anyone tell you that the G40+ is a light ball, if it were any heavier it would be illegal after January 1 of this coming year. It also has a bounce height identical to XSF. So that is why those two play somewhat similarly. However, ball flight of the G40+ reminds me more of Nittaku Premium, and I think the G40+ retains more spin after it bounces on the table.