Since everyone is so different it is really hard to recommend something for someone else. Different kinds of wood work better for different kinds of playing. So in a way this is a delicate subject. The thing that Butterfly is doing by combining things like Aryalite or Zylon with Carbon is kind of cool. The technology is sort of cutting edge and it does what they say it does. The carbon makes the blade fast and the Zylon or Arylite makes it soft so the ball stays on the surface of the blade for longer and more dwell time means more spin. All of the blades like that I have tried feel kind of cool: they all feel more than fast enough and have a lot of dwell time and a lot of control (speed, spin and control all at the same time). The thing I do not love about them is that, because of the carbon, I feel like you lose some of the feeling. So you cannot always tell what tell what the ball is doing on the racket surface. That being said, it is hard to go wrong with those blades if you can afford the price of admission.
But, being old fashioned, I personally like the feeling of all wood blades. I have come to know that, for my style of play, I like blades that are made with a Limba outer ply and an Ayous core. I also have come to know that I like blades that were made in Sweden better than blades made anywhere else. I am not entirely sure why the Blades made in Sweden always feel so much better to me. It is sort of funny, when you feel them, in a way, they feel almost like disposable blades. Like the wood is porous and sort of cheap. In comparison, Butterfly blades seem solid and feel almost like furniture. But when you play with those blades that feel almost disposable, they give you so much feeling and feedback. You can really tell what the ball is doing, whether it is on the rubber, if it is sinking into the wood, how long it is on for. This makes me feel like I have a lot of touch with these kinds of blades.
Examples of blades that are made with Limba outer plies and Ayous inner plies are: Stiga Clipper (Off, pretty fast), Avalox P-700 (Off, not quite as fast but pretty fast), Stiga Energy Wood (Off-, Slower than Clipper and P-700 but more than fast enough for me), Stiga Allround Oversize (All+/Off-, a little slower than the Energy Wood but still fast enough when you take a big swing), Stiga Allround Evolution (All+, a little slower than the Allround Oversize but, again, when you take a full swing you get the power you want).
What I like about the combination of Limba over Ayous is that, because the top wood ply is soft, the blade is slow and has a lot of control for touch shots and short game. Then when you dig into the ball and swing hard, it is almost like it has another gear that kicks in and all of a sudden the blade is fast. So these blades do what the Butterfly blades do (more dwell time, spin and control with speed), while being made entirely of wood so that you have more feeling. And The price range for them in US $ is: $35.00-$55.00 compared to the Butterfly blades where the price range is: $100.00-$250.00 (yikes).
For me the Energy Wood, Allround Evolution and Allround Oversize are all perfect. The Clipper is a little to fast for my taste. I feel like I have enough power to generate my own speed and the Clipper has so much speed, that I don't feel like I get enough dwell time to really spin the ball.
The Stiga Allround Classic is made with the same wood but I do not really recommend it because it is a little too slow, so that, if you are hitting hard, close to the table it is okay, but if you back up to mid-distance, you loose a lot of power. I can see shots that would be a rocket with the Energy Wood getting to the other side and by the time they are a few feet past the table they look like slowballs that are too easy to attack. So if you are at mid-distance and your opponent has backed up from the table a little, he will have no problem handling your shots.
Hope this info helps.
