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Butterfly Jun Mizutani Super ZLC vs Zhang Jike Super ZLC Blade Review with England's Darius Knight!

TableTennisDaily had the fantastic opportunity to review Butterfly's latest blades, comparing the Jun Mizuntani Super ZLC with the Zhang Jike Super ZLC, with Butterfly player Darius Knight!

Both @Dan and Darius Knight alternated the blades they were using between the Mizutani and Zhang Jike super ZLC throughout the review to get a good idea of how each perform. Tenergy 05 was used on both the forehand and back hand side.

I must also say I'm a bit disappointed with the quality, like benlarcombe wrote they breaks really easy. Some of them are round but sadly not close to everyone. This is the ball my club trains with, haven't tried that many new balls yet, but will try to make a review of all the balls I try in the future.

The Yinhe T7 js an excellent blade which has very good dwell time and I find it just like the Butterfly Viscaria as it has abut little slower, Yhine T7 is very good blade. Good control, medium speed and lot of dwell time since is very soft blade.

Characteristics:
Weight:59 g
Dimensions:163x162mm(oversize)
Handle:straight
Plies:5
Speed:OFF(according to Dr Neubauer)
Thickness:A whopping 13mm

i used this blade with Dr Neubauer Allround Premium on 1 side and Dr.N Leopard on the other.I first thought that this blade is definitely going to be head heavy,because it only weighed 59g,but i was shocked.it is extremely balanced.

I believe this blade is more ALL than OFF,with a lot of control.The SP paired really well with this blade,and produced a very good disruptive effect.

All in All,this is a good blade for defenders who prefer good control.

Very nice rubbers for every level of playing. I am happy that I purchased these rubbers and I currently use them on my andro Tempertech Off- blade. If find it a great combination and the rubbers are relatively cheap.

I bought this blade after playing table tennis for a year. Probably the best decision I've made so far. It is very comfortable in the hand and is relatively cheap.

Goes great with Donic Bluefire M1 Turbo also, which I really like.

I've tried Hurricane 2 black, max version. It is a beast in Chinese looping game. The arc is low with huge spin that kicks off away at opponent. However, due to brickhard sponge, generating spin is difficult if you are not used to Chinese rubbers. But when mastered, especially when softened due to training, the rubber works wonders. Good short game, massive spin, very good blocking as well as looping. The only thing that this rubber lacks is speed. This rubber, however, is blade to be boosted/speedglued for speed and more spin.

I've tried Baracuda red and black, max versions. They are a bit heavy but can be used to after few training sessions. If you want to have a baby T05, that is having excellent spin abilities and high throw, then Baracuda is for you. This rubber, however, lacks speed compared to Tenergy resulting to a more control version of Tenergy05. The dwell time is excellent in this rubber and services are really spinny. Baracuda is too spin sensitive in my opinion, same as Tenergy 05, but Baracuda wins here because it is less jumpy than Tenergy 05. Durability of the rubber is good even after 3 months of 3hours/6 days/week training regimen.

IN DETAIL: Review based from Setup Review with Timo Boll ALC(you can find the thread here)

Rubber: Donic Baracuda
The Donic Baracuda is well known for its spin-abilities. Donic boasts of its spin abilities and it's really true that the spin is vicious, however, for the speed, I guess it's not that faster compared to Tenergy 25 (in return you have control). It is by far the spinniest rubber that I have used, excluding Haifu Blue Whale 2 National and Hurricane 2. I have tried Tenergy 25 and I felt the spin it produced was lesser in potency than Baracuda.

Holding the rubber gives you this feeling that you're holding a heavy and wobbly jelly in your hand, haha. I guess that's the proof of the tuner in the rubber. The rubber is not really that heavy, at least for me. Sorry I can't give you exact measurements regarding the weight.

Service
For short service, the grippy top sheet of Baracuda helps especially for side-top and underspins. In making the pace faster, long serves can still be done but will be reliant from the ALC's carbon to catapult the ball. You can do surprise service to your opponent, like a long and wide forehand service. But it is not that faster compared to when I used Tenergy 25. If you have strong wrist movements, you can vary your serves like you can do with Chinese rubbers, but watch out for the springiness of the Baracuda, even if it is one of the slowest tensor, it's springier than say Sriver and certainly Chinese rubbers. For the service department, the setup is excellent. The grippy top sheet paired with a dwelly but fast ALC offers variety of options (spinny, no spin, fast, slow, short, long) for service.

If you know the Ma Lin ghost serve, you can do that here.

It is a little tricky but doable, still less potent than Chinese rubbers like Hurricanes.
Looping Underspin
Looping underspin is quite easy with the setup. The slowish speed of the rubber as well as the dwell of the blade help in giving a good amount of contact time (even if we're talking of half seconds here it's very important). It gives you this feeling of bite-the-ball-and-send-it-to-the-opponentstable

Anyway, the high throw of the rubber helps a lot in lifting underspins. But ofc skills will come first. If you are consistent then the setup will reward you with beautiful arching shots. But if you're not, you can still have those occasional wonder shots.

Driving
For driving, the setup is okay. I felt more confident in driving with the Hurricanes though, the harder sponge helps. But in this particular setup, the medium sponge of the rubber will give you a bit more control on where to direct that drive. The carbon of ALC will help compensate for the slowish speed of Baracuda. Generating speed however is more player-dependent than setup.

The added bonus with the setup is the spin generated by Baracuda, combine that with a sufficient speed by the blade and you'll produce excellent shots.

Flicking
Flicking services is quite tricky with the setup. Baracuda is spin-sensitive and if you have slow wrist movements then it will send the ball into the net immediately upon contact against a heavy underspin. The catapult one needs will come from the player but add to that the carbon of ALC. The arylate also helps in making the blade a bit flexible in receiving and flicking serves. This is good for producing varied returns.

Touch Shots
The dwelly rubber helps in keeping the ball low and close to the net. However, the blade and its springiness because of the carbon will make this tricky. But practice will cure this.

The blade is pretty stable in touch shots, apply the needed force and you can keep the ball low and short. For this department, the setup is okay, but using Chinese rubbers like the Hurricanes in this blade will yield better results.

Chopping
I never do chops, unless it's my only option to save the ball

Chopping is fine, controllable with huge spin.

Blocking
Blocking is excellent. The stiffness provided by ALC and the springiness,albeit not that springy compared to other tensors, of Baracuda helps in blocking topspin balls. With the setup, you can use the speed and spin of your opponent to your advantage. Punch blocks are a little harder though. When using the setup, because of the high throw of Baracuda, one should punch the incoming ball towards the net to compensate the arc that will be produced by the rubber. But overall for this department, it's excellent.

Hitting
When compared to using hurricane 2 with the blade, the setup will give you easier play. But I do not like automation, so regardless of whether you use tensor or chinese you need to commit for every shot.

So who will like this setup?
For those who play offensive with emphasis on spin and control. Baracuda will give you huge amounts of spin that will be aided by the dwell of the ALC. The slowish speed of Baracuda and the dwell and flexibility of the ALC will give you the control you'll need. Speed play is not the specialty of this particular setup.
I'll be giving this setup a solid OFF, despite of the bit-lacking speed.

I've tried Gergely Alpha flared with Rakza 7 and Attack 8M. It is a very pacy blade and very consistent. Dwell time is too small, however, for looping. The on thing that bothered me was its too low throw even with the high throw rubber Rakza 7. On the BH, using the Attack 8M (medium pimples used by Ai Fukuhara), is joy because I can land fast, low-arching shots which is very troublesome for opponents. However, the blade is stiff yet soft feeling. I did not like this at all.I still think pimples would require a more harder feeling blade even if not that fast, which Clipper CR is good at. The smaller, compact head can be troublesome at first, but one can adjust after few training sessions.

I've tried the Clipper CR Legend version 88grams. The one thing that stands out in this blade is its ability for excellent attack and defence. I used Tenergy 05 and Boost TX and it was good for consistent looping and blocking. When I changed to SpinArt in FH and Globe 888, which is a medium pimples rubber, I was surprised that I can attack well with the pimples in BH. Truly, Clipper series are good with pimple rubbers especially short and medium pimples which require a more hitting stroke. The direct feel of the Clipper CR, thanks to the hardened outer ply helped in making shots faster and accurate. But the outer ply is not that hard because of the thin limba that served as excellent wood for allowing touch shots and looping. Serves are good, blocks are better, looping is consistent. It is a very complete blade that can compete with even the composite ones.

The Nexy Spear is one of the first attempts at a Dual Impact effect wood blade. It works as you get a lower gear and when you make that "Bang" impact coveted by Koreans, you get rewarded with a fast ball.

This blade is for a player who wants a blade that can feel at home both hitting and topspinning while learning your game. It doesn't do everything outstanding, but does most things very well. That is the attribute you look for when selecting a blade that you will learn the game with.

Spear is typical of most OFF- class blade in the things it does well and the degree it does them too, but with Spear, you get a good low end, a little better top end, and a blade face that has a Spear poking through something and spilling blood.

Isn't that what you want to do to opponents in TT?

The Nexy Petra and Petra plus are excellent shoes for the money. the grip is there, and they last forever. I would wear them for 4-5 of play for 9 months before I would even look at them to see if they were worn.

The Petra plus adds some great looking accents that are super in their own right and match well with their new Contrast uniform.

Who says you can't look good while laying the smack down on an opponent?

The Peter Pan is a 5 Ply wood OFF- class blade with moderate Dual Impact effect that gives you a lower gear and a diffferent high gear. This is in a lot of Nexy blades. Like many blades of this category (Off - class 5 Ply) the strong suits are wood feel, control, spin, and the possibility to hit a little hard when you need to.

This blade has a burned core and different construction to give it a different feel doing those same tasks that you come to expect out of a control looping blade.

If you are a player who likes to spin it up with teh right placement and have the options to blow away the next ball or make another pressure shot before going on the attack like a Viking, then this is your blade.

it is good to have options.

The Oscar is an ALC blade that the NexyUSA.com website bills as an ALC blade with a knockout punch. That is about the best one sentence summary of this blade, but it doesnt say it all. You get nice reduced vibration ALC feel, great spin on power loops, some ability to open with topspin, and that coverted KNOCKOUT of your opponent on power shots.

The drawback for me is I wanted just a little more dwell time. You cannot say dwell time and OFF+ in the same sentence and keep a straight face, but this blade tries. I just wanted a little more.

If you are the 2-Wing looping wannabe like me, you can use this blade is you choose more direct strokes over 30% power graze shots.

If you are a power looper who seeks to finish the point ASAP with a fast loop, this is your blade and a good choice. Your power loops will be packed with spin and pace using your average modern rubber.

If you are a hitter, you'll love the solid and stable base for your hitting game and the top end pace.

If you are a combination player with LP on one side who pick hits, this blade can work too. A Nexy Korea sponsored female LP player won several amature National Open series using this balde with a control rubber and a sponged LP. She would disrupt at the table, drop back to fish, and counter a tospin or blast away a weak safe ball you give her.

If you park at the table and either counter drive, drive or block, this is your weapon as well.

Just dont expect it to fell like an ALL+ looping balde, it isn't. It will offer about as much control for an OFF+ class blade that you can hope for, and you shouldn't be having any expectations of control in the OFF+ generally. (except for fast drives, blocks and powerloops - those shots usually have good control in an OFF+ balde)

Please note that I will review an older version of the Butterfly Timo Boll Forte. Newer versions may differ slightly for the older ones, at least they seem to have better handles.

The Butterfly Timo Boll Forte is my main blade for about a year. I've been using it with Donic Acuda S1/S1 Turbo on FH and Donic Acuda S2 on BH.

Speed

The TBF is not the fastest blade in the world. In my opinion, it is on the slower side of OFF, faster than Donic Waldner Senso Carbon and Butterfly Petr Korbel, staying right between them.

Control

Control is a big plus of this blade. The TBF has very good control on loops and in the short game, but due to its relative softness blocks and flat hits are a little bit harder. It is more controlable than the Korbel, and a tiny bit less controlable than the WSC.

Hardness

Definitely not a hard blade. It has very good dwell time, which helps to apply tons of spin to the ball. A looper's dream.

Handle

Being a man with a pretty large palm, I do pay attention more than many others to the size of the handle. And this is what this blade lacks - a big and comfotable handle. By measuring it at the bottom, you wouldn't say so - it's approx. 34x24mm, so almost identical to the handle of the Galaxy/Yinhe T-2 or Stiga Legend handle. But taking the racket in the hand is a different story. You begin to feel how thin the handle really is.

Durability

The TBF is a durable blade. Mine isn't the last nor the penultimate version of TBF, and it doesn't have any major bumps. Some people were having issues because while taking off the rubbers, there were small chips separating off the blade, but these were blades that were not sealed.

Strategy

This blade is definitely for a looper. It won't work for a blocker/flat hitter as good as for a looper. Some people that lack power may have little problems playing away from the table, because TBF isn't a rocket, but, for me, it works very good.

Conclusion

The Butterfly Timo Boll Forte is an affordable(~40 euros - 45$) blade that is definitely worth more. Its speed is right between the Donic Waldner Senso Carbon and the Butterfly Petr Korbel, and has an impressive amount of control. Its good dwell time makes the blade ideal for a looper, but not so good for a blocker/flat hitter. Sealing is very recommended for preventing future issues. Biggest minus of this blade is the small handle.

Below are some pictures of my blade with Donic Acuda S1 Turbo/S2 rubbers glued on it :

Nexy Kanaph is a Gen 3.5 blade made for both hitters and loopers. The low range of OFF+ is the top end. If that isn't enough power to finish a point... dude you gotta hit the gym !! Although it has Dual Impact effect, you feel it more on the touch shots. The top end is already very high. This blade is a lot more linear and direct than most Nexy blade. Nexy made this blade with Poly ball in mind, but you can smack the heck outta a celluloid ball as well.

Players who have used classic ALC blades like say TBS will REALLY appreciate the unique feel, response, and high end performance of Kanaph. You can play the same style, but just a bit more powerfully and just as safe. You also get a more direct feel for the ball and the blade's properties ENCOURAGE and reward you for FORWARD strokes making SOLID impact.

If you are a player who likes to give opponent a tricky serve, then smash the ball to Smithereens, this is your blade.

If you are a player who likes to serve underspin, loop the 3rd ball, then smash the 5th ball for a winner and cho out loud like you are Howling at the Moon... this is your blade.

If you like to park yourself at the table and drive, counterdrive, or block your opponent silly, this is your blade.

If you like a blade with wood combination and craftsmanship not found often, this is your blade.

If your Mamma told you to not go faster than ALL+, and you get caught using this blade, then you are in for some serious timeout detention.

The Nexy Qabod is the third in the line of Calix Blades. Very thin, burned core, uses combinations no one else tries. Unique feel, moderate dual impact effect. make no mistake, this OFF+ top end will make you buckle Ur seatbelt or pay the price. Opening topspins are of course possible, but Nexy designed this blade for the player who wants to put away the ball at the earliest opportunity and do it with an Exclamation Point !!! (or several !) Powerloops become a weapon of mass destruction, loaded with spin and extreme pace. Lost in the translation is like all OFF+ blades, most of the middle gears. Nexy adjusts for this by designing dual impact effect and making the blade very thin. Still, if you make the top end so brutal fast, you are not gonna have the same control as ALL+ or OFF- blades. So you gotta ask yourself and get real with your expectations. If you can play a short game, and you can play powerloops as the great majority of your game, then you might have your name written on the Qabod.

If you want a blade that can really spin it up, has a couple gears, and has barely enough power to finish points outright, then this is the blade for you. Top end is just short of the mid OFF range, but many nexy blades have more than one gear and it is difficult to assign one speed to them. This blade has moderate "Dual Impact" effect. After I performed my now famous mod (remove handle and add glue/nail) this was by far the best blade I ever operated. Spin is massive, control is better than most OFF- to OFF class blades and the top end is enough, not exciting, but enough. We would REALLY love to have the same properties to the same degree and have a top end a half step faster, but we cant have everything, can we? If Nexy made this faster, it would have to give up something (usually some spin and a little control) so if you want OFF+ speed in a thin carbon blade and want to leave a vapor trail as the ball blasts THROUGH your opponent, go get the Qabod (3rd in Calix Line) don't expect this property out of Calix II. This blade is for a controlled looper who seeks to put away the ball after a spin setup.

The Calix is the original Nexy 2nd Gen blade designed with "Dual Impact" which means it has low and high gears on different impacts. this can help your soft topspin defence and your power attacks, even if the overall speed of the blade isn't in the knockout class. You are not seeking to knockout your opponent on the first ball with this blade. Calix has all the control and flex of an ALL+ blade, but a higher top end, yet it still has that short game touch. Some players (like me !!!) want a blade with better top end. You are not gunna have it with Calix. This blade is all about control and spin with a reasonable fast top end. Go to the Calix II if you want a higher top end and similar feel for the ball while giving up a step of control. This blade doesn't compromise on a lot.

It has very smooth outer ply, so you gotta really make your glue job strong, or it will not adhere. this is common with sealed blades or blades with a really smooth outer ply. It is also very thin, so if you do a John McEnroe and throw your blade all over the place, you just threw away some serious money!

Nexy Lissom is a "Dual Impact" offering from Nexy. We all know how great All+ 5 ply wood blades are for feel and control, but Nexy One-Ups the field by making a blade with "Dual Impact" (basically a SLOW gear and a TOP End Gear on different strength impacts) and a White Ash outer veener (Think of the famous Nittaku Violin). The result is a blade whose top end bottoms out around the ALL+ range, but there is SO MUCH spin and control and feel with this blade it is insane.

Normally, Der_Echte is not an ALL+ blade toting player (Except for when I am in between blades using my famous modified Der_Echte Special) but when I long term tested this blade, it really made me focus on spin and placement connected to a game plan of constructing points more carefully before going for the jugular. Anytime one plays with this more flexible OFF style, then goes back to his previous (faster) blade, the overall playing level is better - there are now more options other than Brute Force and Ignorance (Think Rory Gallagher guitarist in action)

This blade is for the player who will bend like Gumby himself to execute a very flexible all out OFF attacking game predicated on placement, spin, and control of the ball while constructing the point to his advantage. Players who want a hitting blade and want to blast the ball to eternity need to look somewhere else.

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