Butterfly Garaydia ZLC

Butterfly Garaydia ZLC
Composition: Hinoki-ZLC-Balsa-ZLC-Hinoki
Head size: 157x150mm
Thickness: 7.1mm
Handle: Straight
Weight: 83g
Rubber used: STIGA Genesis M and STIGA Mantra M

First of all, I have to say that I really like the look of this blade. The surface is smooth and I think the natural wood in the handle looks great together with the lens.

If you look closely on the handle you can see that it’s build from two pieces but together which gives the handle a line in the middle, except from that the handle is super smooth and feels great in my hand. The other side of the handle got a light green holographic lens that really gives the blade a high-quality look.

Speed/Control: The blade fits in Butterfly’s offensive category and I must agree with that. It’s a fast blade but nothing extreme. It has a good balance between speed and control which makes the blade easy to tame even in the short game. I did not feel any vibrations even in my hard strokes away from the table, and in some strokes, it could be a little hard to feel the touch.

The control in loop against loop away from the table was good even if the blade got a lot of power, I think that must do with the soft Hinoki on the outer ply.
It felt good in the block and I think it would work good for players who prefer to stand close to the table. The blade got a large sweet spot which you really feel in the loop from mid-distance.

I think the blade feels good in the short game due to the soft feel from the Hinoki. I felt a much better contact with the ball in the short game compared to my stroke from mid to long-distance.

My conclusion:

What I like the most of this blade is not how it plays but how it looks and feels in the hand. I really love the look of natural wood and the finish of the blade is super.

I also like how it plays but I’m not as impressed of how it plays as I am about the look. I would recommend the blade for offensive players who can handle offensive blades and for players who prefers the feel of soft wood. I think it suits close to mid-distance players best but of course that is very individual. Over all I’m satisfied and even if it won’t be my first blade it will surely be a nice blade to have in my collection.

Being used to play with blades with Limba as outer I was curious about what i would be like to try a blade with hinoki as outer.


My initial thoughts about the new Garaydia ZLC blade is by looking at the blade you immediately see the natural looks of wood handle and the reddish logo sticker Butterfly have moved towards instead having a plastic lense. On the back side of the handle the green holographic sticker is placed. The quality is spot on as always from Butterfly. Every corner or edge its smooth finish. One thing I noticed was that the handle was made out of two piece of wood which make separation line down the middle. IMO it is on the con side.


Composition: Hinoki-ZLC-Balsa-ZLC-Hinoki
Handle: Flared
Head size: 157x150mm
Thickness: 7.1mm
Weight: 88g


Test setup: Butterfly HighSpeed 2.1mm and Stiga Airoc Astro M 2.1mm















Drive
When driving with the GZLC I could immediately feel that the blade was fast. Also when hitting the ball the sound of the blade gives a high frequency pitch which also indicates a fast blade. The blade has a solid feel but funny enough the blade still feels soft due to Hinoki and Zylon fiber. I quickly found out that the Astro was my preferred option for my FH and the Bryce HighSpeed for my BH.


Loop
Looping with the GZLC was interesting. Due to the blade already is fast I had to focus more on the brushing on the ball. The trajectory was low to medium with the Stiga Astro in FH and must say that in loop to loop situations is where the blade is good. Also flat hitting with this blade was great although I'm not use to doing that. The sweet spot of the blade is large and the stability is really good


Block
In the passive is one of the strong areas for this blade. Due to the large sweet spot and the composition of Hinoki and ZLC the blade has a massive control even though you try to punch ball back on loops or loop drives. This is really impressive for a fast blade.


Flick/short game
Funny enough the GZLC has a soft touch although the blade is fast. This is helped by the Hinoki outer which makes the short one of the forces of the blade. Also banana flicks was really nic to make with the Bryce HighSpeed in BH and the GZLC the ball could really dig in and the spin would come back with interest.


Conclusion
Butterfly has gone back to their Japanese roots to create this beauty of a blade with Japanese Hinoki on outer and their trademark composite material the Zylon-Carbon composition. The price is high at 189.90 Euro or 236.99 USD but this is due to the ZLC and the Butterfly branding. Is it worth it? If you are a huge fan of the Hinoki feel and at the same time need controlled speed then, yes.
I would recommend the blade to players who rely on their passive game and plays close to mid from the table. Also the player that is a hitter more than a looper and/or emphasizes the short game and flicks in their game.

Amazing control and spin, good speed. Maybe it would be better to T05.

Yasaka Rising Dragon Max FH, Xiom Omega V Asia Max BH

Hey guys, this is my first review, so if there is anything I've missed out - Let me know!

Just a note, I play with Tenergy 05 on Forehand and Tenergy 64 on the backhand.

I have played with the Schlager Carbon (SC) for pretty much all my table tennis life (15 years) - So this is what I have as a benchmark.



Speed:

It's fast sure... But it's not THAT fast - It is noticeably slower than the SC. Especially away from the table. That being said, the spin that you can generate with the blade, gives it that extra pop during looping rallies which makes it superior to the SC in this respect.

Control/Feel

This is all subjective of course, but I found it excellent in this area.

The SC has absolutely no "vibration", whereas with the Garaydia, you can instantly feel the ball when hitting simple forehand to forehand rallies. I'd say it was quite a bit harder than the SC. It also has a very "carbon" feel, which I personally like.

Spin

The extra dwell I was able to get on both looping wings was excellent. Typical loops were being blocked long, and the slow loops were very difficult for the opposition to handle.

Blocking

It's not the brick wall that the SC is, but it is still excellent. Drive blocks are easy, and the extra feel I got allowed better placement.


Conclusion:

Overall, my initial impressions with this blade are very good.

The build quality is clear from the off, and it's very nice in the hand.

If you are looking for a blade to give you a bit of extra speed (or a bit less if coming from a SC), then I'd certainly recommend the Garydia ZLC

Hi all, this is my review on the Garaydia ZLC which has been released in 2015 designed for the plastic ball. The ZLC is from the Garaydia series, Butterfly’s latest line of carbon blades.

The blade is of 5 plies and has a excellent finish. On the underside of the blade is a holographic lense to stop counterfeit products. Watch the video review below, the rubbers used on the blade are the Butterfly Tenergy 05.


Overview

The thickness of the ZLC is the first attribute myself and Tom noticed in comparison to other Butterfly blades. Notice how much thicker the core is in the image below. The ZLC has a thickness of 7.1mm, whereas the Jun Mizutani Super ZLC has a thickness of 6mm. The core of the Garaydia is thicker to produce greater speed.



The ZLC blade uses Japanese hinoki wood as the outer layer on the blade which gives the blade a soft feel maintaining the control of the fast blade. Zylon Carbon is the composite used.

The blade weighs 88 grams.



Speed

The Garaydia ZLC, felt fantastic and really worked well for my style of play and had similar dwell to the ALC. This dwell gave me high arc in my strokes, a feature that I really enjoyed with this blade as it allowed me to produce lots of spin and safety with my topspins.

I really noticed this safety also when playing against backspin using my backhand flick and when opening up. The ball soaked into the hinoki/Zylon Carbon and created a lot of rotation on the ball. This blade felt similar to the Butterfly Amultart and the Zhang Jike Super ZLC which we reviewed last year. When going explosive shots the the Garaydia ZLC blade felt very quick, however not as fast as the T5000 which gave me great stability in my play. I would not recommend this blade for people who are early level players/improving players, this is blade for intermediate to advanced level players who have a high level of skill.

Spin and Dwell

Although this blade is fast as it uses ZL Carbon, I found I could produce a lot of spin when playing against backspin. You get a crisp feeling and this blade gives you the ability to produce a quality shot with minimal action.

Conclusion

The soft feeling you get with the ZLC, due to the outer hinoki wood and the Zylon carbon fibres, give great spin and dwell in your shots. The hinoki wood helps absorb incoming spin which particularly helps in the serve and receive area to get good bite and zip on the ball.

The ZLC blade has a very good speed to control ratio and is extremely well balanced. This is definitely my blade of choice within the Garaydia range as it suits my style of play well, playing mid distance to the table generating spin and safety in my shots. I like how I can get a lot of power and speed whilst the control is maintained.