Butterfly Zyre 03

Zyre 03 — First Impressions​

Just wanted to share my first impressions of the Zyre 03. This was my first time testing it, and I’ve only had about two hours of training with it so far, so obviously this isn’t a long-term review yet.


I’m using a YASAKA ATLETICO SPIN PRO, with the Zyre 03 in 2.7 mm on FH and 2.5 mm on BH. Before this, I was using XUPERMAN POWERPLAY-X.

Service​

I couldn’t really notice a big difference compared to the POWERPLAY-X here. I was able to serve short or long and get plenty of spin without having to make any major adjustment.


Nothing particularly surprising for me in this area, but it definitely feels very good for serving.

Service Receive​

The Zyre 03 is a little more bouncy than the POWERPLAY-X, but I actually found it quite comfortable to use on receive.


You have to pay a bit more attention to your racket angle and keep your grip relaxed. If you do that, I didn’t find it difficult to control at all.


The main thing I noticed is that on really short balls, you need to be a bit more conscious of what you’re doing. If you get lazy with the touch, the ball can come off the racket quite fast and you can easily end up with a bad return.

Forehand — probably my favorite part​

This was easily the best part of the test for me.


The Zyre 03 has a very accessible speed. I could get a good amount of pace without feeling like the ball was constantly going long, and I was able to generate a lot of spin.


Compared to the POWERPLAY-X, I felt more confident attacking and taking the initiative. Blocking was also very good for me. I felt quite secure against incoming spin, and I didn’t have issues with the ball randomly flying long.


From mid-distance, I really liked it. It feels very comfortable and has plenty of power when you actually put something into the stroke.


I don’t normally chop, but I tried a few chops from mid-distance just for fun, and, surprisingly, they came out pretty well. Definitely not something I expected from my first session.


One thing I want to make clear, though: the rubber doesn’t do the work for you.


When you execute the right technique and give the ball the right amount of power, the Zyre 03 gives you a very good quality shot. But if your technique or power is poor, the quality of the shot is still going to be poor. It’s not some kind of magic rubber that turns a weak stroke into a great one.


For me, what it does really well is give me a very good response when I actually execute the stroke properly.

Backhand​

This side needs a little more adjustment from me.


I have a tendency to lift the ball a bit with my backhand stroke, and that worked pretty naturally with the POWERPLAY-X. With the Zyre 03, if I used exactly the same stroke, the ball would go way too high. It was actually kind of funny.


Once I started hitting more forward and closing the racket angle a bit more, the ball started going exactly where I wanted.


So after making that adjustment, the overall feeling became very similar to the forehand: good speed, lots of spin and a lot of confidence when attacking.


Again, though, I think the same thing applies here. You still have to execute the stroke properly. The Zyre 03 gives you a very good result when you give it the right technique and power, but it won’t compensate for a bad or weak stroke.

2.7 mm vs 2.5 mm​

I’m currently using 2.7 mm on FH and 2.5 mm on BH, but I haven’t swapped them around yet, so I can’t really say much about the difference between the two thicknesses.


That’s something I definitely want to try later.

Overall feeling​

One of the things that surprised me the most is how natural and surprisingly soft the Zyre 03 feels despite having a hard sponge.


I was expecting it to feel harder and possibly more demanding, but it actually felt very comfortable from the first session.


I also didn’t have any problems with the rubber slipping or moving on the blade.

Price​

In my case, I can import it without paying import taxes for around $67–77 USD, plus shipping.


At that price, I think it’s a pretty interesting option, especially considering how good my first session felt.

Durability​

Nothing to report yet. Two hours is obviously nowhere near enough to say anything about durability, so I’ll have to update this part after using it for a while.

First verdict​

For a first test, I’m honestly very impressed with the Zyre 03.


The FH was the biggest surprise for me. It gives me easy access to speed and spin while still feeling controlled, and I felt more confident taking the initiative compared to the POWERPLAY-X.


The BH needs a bit of adjustment to my technique, mainly because of how much the rubber lifts the ball if I use my old stroke. But once I started hitting more forward and closing the racket angle, it felt really good.


So far, I’d describe it as spinny, powerful when you need it, controlled, and surprisingly natural for a hard sponge.


But I think it’s important to say that it still rewards proper technique. Give it a good stroke and it gives you a good ball. Give it a weak or poorly executed stroke and you’ll still get a weak ball.


This is only my first two hours with it, so I’m definitely going to keep testing it and see how it feels once I’ve had more time to adapt to it.

2.5mm review

The good;

The best thing about this rubber is the confidence it gives me to win with outright speed drives or powerloops from mid distance or further. Even at the short game, if the ball is returned to me just a little high, it's the end for the opponent. This rubber wants to kill with speed, and that fits my game style.

Next best thing, the feeling. The standard 'spring sponge X', with it's satisfying clicky feel, is further enhanced by making the sponge thick and giving the rubber a very thin topsheet. This allows players to engage and feel the sponge even more. When mid distance powerlooping, the feeling is one of its kind and out of this world. If you like the non tacky catapult feel, then this is the best you can get.

Thirdly, it's hyper grippy topsheet. Try rubbing your fingers without much force on it's new topsheet and your fingers ain't going anywhere. For a non tacky rubber, the grip levels are very impressive. This allows me to focus a lot on brushing with great confidence. Given, this rubber requires advanced thin brushing techniques, but it's high topsheet grip makes me just go for it without any hesitation. Of course D09C wins in this regard, but the Zyre-03 is not far off. If the weather isn't humid, ball slippage is virtually zero.

All this and you probably think, okay the control's gotta be bad. But it's not. Except for the short game (which I'll get to that later) this rubber with it's great feel and not very strong catapult, allows for good control. Granted, beginners shouldn't go anywhere near this thing, but in the hands of an intermediate with decent footwork and good strokes, this rubber can be used quite well.

Durability; 3 months in, 5-6 sessions per week, each 2 hours high intensity, topsheet looks a little roughed but plays like 95% new. At my intense use, I probably play about 40 hours monthly minimum, and it'll probably last me 4-6 months. It's quite sensitive to humidity though, ball slippage is there in humid weather, but nothing a wipe can't fix.

Cons

Price. Enough said. Absurd to pay so much for a rubber. If you want premium but don't wanna take a bank loan for a rubber, consider Dignics 05.

It has low dwell. If you want to spin the ball through sponge engagement, you must loop real hard to get that hard sponge to deform and meld into the shape of the ball. If you can get there, the ball will spin like a neutron star. But if you can't get there, then your only hope is thin brushing.

Short game control. It's mainly to do with spin anticipation. This rubber is quite sensitive to spin (but not as bad as T05). So when opponents serve short backspin sidespin, you really need to get your racket angles right to avoid springing the ball up. In this regard, D09C far outweighs it in short game control.

Overall

Good rubber, but get it 2nd hand from a player who bought it new and used it for a few weeks, then felt it is too demanding for them. I prefer the 2.5mm.

After a 3 month battery of tests, I definitively replaced the rubber that i used on my forehand side. Now, my is Zyre03. The reasons were: type of action sponge, high quality of flat hits, hight quality active blocks and very furious counter drives from medium distance.

I waited to write a review until playing with it for a few months (around 3 times a week 6h total).
The first weeks/month it felt horrible, hard but not in a good way hard, just hard with the unpredictable extreme speed when you least expected it. In the beginning I also felt that it if I was just slightly off with my footwork I would get heavily punished by the rubber and not getting any engagement from it at all and a lot of ball slippage.
But as time passes the rubber softens up a little and am pleased to say that in my opinion this rubber plays very nice after having been broken in.
It has a much softer feeling while still being hard (I am a long time D09c player so used to the hardness) and I kind of like that, don’t know if that is the topsheet playing its part here and the pimples getting broken in as well?
It is now much more predictable and open ups against heavy backspin feels like a breeze to perform with power. There is the occasional ball slippage still but I guess that has to to with not engaging the top sheet as much as needed. Since coming from D09c and H3 before that I am a heavy brusher and I feel Zyre 03 requires a lot of brushing but a bit more direct engaging in the same time so a combination. Weirdly I find it not particularly spin sensitive but in the same time able to generate tons of spin, but it is hard to generate lots of spin without engaging sponge so passive shots don’t carry much spin and for serving you need to have good technique if you wanna serve short with lots of spin so it doesn’t travel long. I tested it on my stiga pure blade and the hardness of the rubber together with the characteristics of that 7-ply blade I think was a great combo.
Also after using it for a couple of months it really looks brand new still, durability seems to be top notch (if I remember I will get back and update here after a while more).

Usually I play with hard tacky Chinese rubbers like Hurricane 3 and Skyline 2, on a wood or woody-feeling blade.

My impression of Zyre 03 is that it's made for an all-out attacking game with little flexibility for anything else. This seems to be in line with how other amateur players feel.

I tried Zyre 03 2.7mm for a playing session on both sides my clubmate's Hadraw 5 FL (5 ply all wood blade). My first impression was that it completely lacks feeling -- to the point where the setup felt like 60 degree rubber on a carbon blade. The contact time is extremely little and there doesn't seem to be much vibrational feedback.

I was amazed at how well my attacking shots went in. Power loops went fast, with a big jump and safe arc. Looping from behind the table was especially nice -- I can't think of any other rubber that made such consistently powerful spinny shots from behind the table. Somehow power-looping is the only shot where you have any feeling -- everything else feels like nothing.

There are some shots I like to play away from the table which I found hard to play with Z03: strawberry slices, hooking forehand sidespins, and snakes. Playing with Z03 very much forced me to play a standard aggressive topspin game, whereas much of my usual style involves trying to confuse my opponents with strange spins.

My short game was terrible and I could not figure out how to push with heavy backspin. I'm sure there's a way to push, but I'd need to spend more time learning it. Any time I tried to push, my opponent would just flick or loop it with no issue at all. Even my long pushes were not so spinny. My best strategy was to serve fast and long every time, to get to open rally as quickly as possible.

I could not get any sort of feeling of gripping the ball. You have to be confident in your strokes without receiving feedback. Pushing underspin somehow feels like pushing underspin with pips -- the ball kinda rolls on it. It's very different from Tenergy 05, where you get a sharp crisp feeling of biting against the incoming spin.

Lifting backspin was pretty easy, but you have to add power. Slow looping is not an option.

Interesting experience overall, but I probably won't be using it again. Useful for a player who plays extreme unrelenting offense, but wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.

I bought a new Zyre 03 recently and I find it fast and spinny, with enough control, but it does require experience as it isn't a rubber aimed for beginners, it does require a good understanding. The spin is rather impressive (imo not as good as Hurricane and other Chinese rubbers but for what it is, it's very impressive.) You also need a confident shot, you can't just do a "nothing" shot and expect it to be decent like Tenergy. For this rubber you need to hit it confidently to get the best out of the rubber. For me, the rubber suits my backhand very well, I might switch to it fully. Compared to D09C I would say it's a little less forgiving and faster. The spin is pretty similar though. The thickness I haven't gotten used to yet and I find the thickness really weird but I like that feeling. I would recommend this rubber to those who want good enough control without it being crazy fast and bouncy like the Dignics 80 or Tenergy series, while having an impressive amount of spin and have good power.

I am writing this review based on using Zyre 03 on the FH wing using an ALL WOOD blade.
I am a level 1 TTE approved coach, the lowest level of coach. I play local league table tennis, depending on the league in question either Prem or Div 1. This gives you and idea of my standard of play. I have also posted footage in the past on the TTD forum.

Now on to Zyre 03 !!

Out of all the Butterfly rubbers -Glazer, Tenergy 05/19 and Dignics 09C that I have played with / tested Zyre 03 is my favourite by far!!

General speed - fast.
General feel - medium hard - to me it felt softer than T05/19 Glazer and D09C

short game - Good touch capability, not too bouncy. Pushes feel secure and with better technique than mine, can be spin loaded.

Serves - again not too bouncy, high spin with well brushed serve technique. Serves can be kept short easily with an all wood set up. I found it easier to serve short with Z03 compared to T05/19 and D09C.
Long serves are fast.

FH top spin - great arc, great spin, controllable especially mid / far distance. Good speed/fast
FH open up v back spin - good, slow spinny open ups achievable. Faster lower open ups need a little more care. Arc is good, heavy spin drags the ball onto the table. Good kick.

Drive - pretty stable great speed. Good kick.
Counter top spin v spinny open ups ( not my strong point !!) if you step back and then counter topspin brushing over the top of the ball it’s easier. Closer to the table a low energy drive is much safer, due to the speed of the rubber the balls returns with good pace. If you try and put too much into the stroke the result can be on the wild side!!

Blocking - stable, controllable, active blocking is better than passive blocking. The pace of the returning ball can be controlled with grip pressure. General speed is quick.

Flat hits - fast!! User need good control.

Chopping - tried a few chops!! Good spin and trajectory.

Where this rubber really excels is when looping mid distance and away from table. It felt really nice on the all wood set up, doesn’t feel like it explodes of the bat with short dwell, but it’s still quick.
Overall it’s a pretty stable rubber with great spin, speed etc.

On blades with carbon / composite layers this rubber may be a beast. There have been some mixed reviews by better players than me!! It doesn’t feel like T05/19/D09C does to me, which I like, but other players who love D09C/T05/19 may not like how this rubber plays and feels.

Can this rubber be used by intermediate level players With good basic technique? For sure on an all wood set up, maybe not on carbon set ups. This rubber is unlikely to be unsuitable for beginners, lower level players.

I played Zyre for the first time yesterday.
2.7 red on Viscaria Light.
Tremendous kick feeling on small effort.
Hard to control in the beginning definitely.
Push and receive is little bit tricky, ball goes upward and long.
No way to passive block, but aggressive and active block is really good. Counter is easy, just go forward.
If you play active the pressure is really big for opponent.
I' didn't play faster rubber before. Feeling is different.
It's not similar to eu hybrids in my way (metal feeling).
It's more like really heavy boosted Hurricane but sometimes like really hard Tenergy. Kick is special.
I think players like Gerassimenko, Alexis Lebrun, and Hugo would make great use of this rubber in the 2nd and 3rd zones. It's very easy to transition from defense to attack, and high lobs are really powerful. It's a bit ridiculous.
I think 2.5 will be more familiar for us amateurs.

I have played about 4 hours with this rubber on my FH - coming from using Bluestar A1 and more recently Bluegrip J1. I appreciate the softer and more compliant feel of this rubber, it requires less commitment and physical effort than the harder sponge rubbers I have been playing with. I love the spin and ball quality I have been getting, along with a slightly lower throw. The grip means that the top of the ball is the place to be contacting and this is good news for me, it encourages a strong commitment to forward motion. It may be a little harder to control in the short game, but not as much as a rubber like T05. Service game and block is good. Early days but for me, a decent FH rubber in 2.7mm.

First impressions with the Zyre 03 2.7mm.
If Forehand: Replacement for T05hard
If Backhand: Upgrade to Dignics 05.

The greatest quality of zyre 03 is how its an automatic rubber. Kinda like how tenergy is but in dignics' body. The hardness isn't asymmetrical.
The topsheet and sponge have almost the same give, so the amount of pace and spin you can send is insane.

It also feels softer than 09c, and similar hardness to dignics 05 just due to the soft topsheet.

Open-ups are very spinny and lands very deep.

Will continue trying as backhand rubber,
As forehand it does not fit my contact.