Product information
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.
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.
