Timo Boll series - What are the differences?

[PhilipRJ]

I have the Timo Boll ALC blade, and could not be any more satisfied with it. I was lucky to get the right one in the first try.
There are so many, and I do not know the difference between all of them.

http://www.butterfly.tt/info/products/technology/blades/timo-boll-series

Look at all those awesome blades, I just wonder. What is special with the red one, or the green one, no wait what about the yellow one???
Maybe you could help me by sharing your experience to put my mind at ease?

 

[Der_Echte]

Except for the wooden W7, the rest are simply different and way too expensive.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Oh, they play different. From left to right:

1) The one that has grey in the handle is the TB ZLC. That one, the carbon gives it a lot of speed and it feels hard under the Zylon but the Zylon also makes it feel soft, so, for a Carbon blade it has a lot of dwell time and a lot of spin. But it is really fast. Noticeably faster than the TB ALC.

2) The one that has yellow in the handle is the TB ZLF. The Zylon makes it feel soft and since there is no carbon, it has a lot of ball feel, dwell time, touch and control. It is about the same speed as the TB ALC, maybe a touch slower, because the Zylon is pretty fast. But for my money, it is the best of the TB series blades, because you can really feel the ball and you get a lot more dwell time and more spin.

3) The one with the green in the handle is the TB T5000 Tamca. That one is super fast and super hard. It is the fastest of the bunch but the hardest to control, to spin, to loop. It is good for smacking the ball.

4) The one with the light blue in the handle is the TB ALC. The Carbon gives speed, the Arylate gives softness, dwell time and control. Arylate is not quite as soft or as fast as Zylon and I have never seen or felt a blade with just Arylate and no Carbon the way they make blades with Zylon and no Carbon. But The Arylate/Carbon combination is pretty good. You have a lot of control and a lot of spin with this racket. The reason I like the ZLF a little better than this one is, with the ZLF you have more ball feel. This blade has a ton of control and great spin, but a little less ball feel because of the hardness of the Carbon. But this is a great racket and a lot of people don't seem to mind since this is one of the most popular blades on the market right now.

5) The one with the red in the handle all the way to the right side of the photo is the TB W7, that means, all wood, 7 plies. This is a stiff, hard 7 ply wood blade. It might be a great wood blade, but, in my opinion, it is a little bit over priced for an all wood blade of its caliber. Also, it is 7mm thick which is fairly thick. And it is a little bit heavy at 94 grams +/- 5. In other words you could end up with a blade that is 100 grams. The on line reviews of this blade seem to indicate that it is fast, hard, and stiff and that it is good for smacking the ball but not as good for touch or looping.

So, that is the simple version of the deal with the differences between those 5 blades.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Except for the wooden W7, the rest are simply different and way too expensive.

And by the way, the TB ALC is so similar to that TB Spirit that, when it first came out, Butterfly representatives did not have any answers for how they are different if they are the same materials, the same plies and the same construction.

A blade that Butterfly used to make that was really nice which they no longer make was the Timo Boll Spark. That was actually about as good as any of the newer blades. They have just marketed the newer blades better.

 

[Alborz]

Oh, they play different. From left to right:

1) The one that has grey in the handle is the TB ZLC. That one, the carbon gives it a lot of speed and it feels hard under the Zylon but the Zylon also makes it feel soft, so, for a Carbon blade it has a lot of dwell time and a lot of spin. But it is really fast. Noticeably faster than the TB ALC.

2) The one that has yellow in the handle is the TB ZLF. The Zylon makes it feel soft and since there is no carbon, it has a lot of ball feel, dwell time, touch and control. It is about the same speed as the TB ALC, maybe a touch slower, because the Zylon is pretty fast. But for my money, it is the best of the TB series blades, because you can really feel the ball and you get a lot more dwell time and more spin.

3) The one with the green in the handle is the TB T5000 Tamca. That one is super fast and super hard. It is the fastest of the bunch but the hardest to control, to spin, to loop. It is good for smacking the ball.

4) The one with the light blue in the handle is the TB ALC. The Carbon gives speed, the Arylate gives softness, dwell time and control. Arylate is not quite as soft or as fast as Zylon and I have never seen or felt a blade with just Arylate and no Carbon the way they make blades with Zylon and no Carbon. But The Arylate/Carbon combination is pretty good. You have a lot of control and a lot of spin with this racket. The reason I like the ZLF a little better than this one is, with the ZLF you have more ball feel. This blade has a ton of control and great spin, but a little less ball feel because of the hardness of the Carbon. But this is a great racket and a lot of people don't seem to mind since this is one of the most popular blades on the market right now.

5) The one with the red in the handle all the way to the right side of the photo is the TB W7, that means, all wood, 7 plies. This is a stiff, hard 7 ply wood blade. It might be a great wood blade, but, in my opinion, it is a little bit over priced for an all wood blade of its caliber. Also, it is 7mm thick which is fairly thick. And it is a little bit heavy at 94 grams +/- 5. In other words you could end up with a blade that is 100 grams. The on line reviews of this blade seem to indicate that it is fast, hard, and stiff and that it is good for smacking the ball but not as good for touch or looping.

So, that is the simple version of the deal with the differences between those 5 blades.

i saw one , Innerforce AL :

 

[craniumburn]

how about the boll forte? they say its good, I've played with zlc, tbs, alc, sparks, w7 and t5000 and carl is right on with his description and feel of those blades. IMO the alc and tbs are the ones I liked because of their feel and just the right speed(with alc just a bit faster). sparks is the slowest of those I've tried but it has the best control and too soft for me.

 

[MDanielCRO]

i saw one , Innerforce AL :

Arylate without carbon ;-)

 

[craniumburn]

timo boll sparks is also arylate, no carbon

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

timo boll sparks is also arylate, no carbon

Oh, all that might be why I liked it so much: soft and a lot of control with good feeling. I like that. So, I guess the ZLF which I also like because it is soft and has good feeling, was to replace the Spark.

I never felt the Boll Forte though. What is that like?

 

[Scorpnox]

There is also another one, the W5. (an orange one)

Is that a 5 ply all wood blade?

 

[craniumburn]

yes w5 is 5ply and w7 is 7 ply

 

[Der_Echte]

I was being sarcastic, but really the blades not called ALC or W5/W7 cost way too much.

I know about ALC being like TBS as I used TBS for some years and an ALC until I had to play taps for it...

 

[PhilipRJ]

Oh, they play different. From left to right:

1) The one that has grey in the handle is the TB ZLC. That one, the carbon gives it a lot of speed and it feels hard under the Zylon but the Zylon also makes it feel soft, so, for a Carbon blade it has a lot of dwell time and a lot of spin. But it is really fast. Noticeably faster than the TB ALC.

2) The one that has yellow in the handle is the TB ZLF. The Zylon makes it feel soft and since there is no carbon, it has a lot of ball feel, dwell time, touch and control. It is about the same speed as the TB ALC, maybe a touch slower, because the Zylon is pretty fast. But for my money, it is the best of the TB series blades, because you can really feel the ball and you get a lot more dwell time and more spin.

3) The one with the green in the handle is the TB T5000 Tamca. That one is super fast and super hard. It is the fastest of the bunch but the hardest to control, to spin, to loop. It is good for smacking the ball.

4) The one with the light blue in the handle is the TB ALC. The Carbon gives speed, the Arylate gives softness, dwell time and control. Arylate is not quite as soft or as fast as Zylon and I have never seen or felt a blade with just Arylate and no Carbon the way they make blades with Zylon and no Carbon. But The Arylate/Carbon combination is pretty good. You have a lot of control and a lot of spin with this racket. The reason I like the ZLF a little better than this one is, with the ZLF you have more ball feel. This blade has a ton of control and great spin, but a little less ball feel because of the hardness of the Carbon. But this is a great racket and a lot of people don't seem to mind since this is one of the most popular blades on the market right now.

5) The one with the red in the handle all the way to the right side of the photo is the TB W7, that means, all wood, 7 plies. This is a stiff, hard 7 ply wood blade. It might be a great wood blade, but, in my opinion, it is a little bit over priced for an all wood blade of its caliber. Also, it is 7mm thick which is fairly thick. And it is a little bit heavy at 94 grams +/- 5. In other words you could end up with a blade that is 100 grams. The on line reviews of this blade seem to indicate that it is fast, hard, and stiff and that it is good for smacking the ball but not as good for touch or looping.

So, that is the simple version of the deal with the differences between those 5 blades.

Thanks Carl.
Very helpful I must say. I'm amazed by your knowledge about rackets.

 

[PhilipRJ]

What is the deal with the innerforce versions?

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I was being sarcastic, but really the blades not called ALC or W5/W7 cost way too much.

I know about ALC being like TBS as I used TBS for some years and an ALC until I had to play taps for it...

I thought your comment was pretty valid. There is not that much to cause them to be sooooooooooooo expensive. I think they are all over priced. I think most of Butterfly's blades are overpriced. They are okay, they are well made, they are solid, some of them play well, but there is no real reason to pay over $100.00 for a blade when you can get something as good as a Clipper for $50.00 (USD). The blade I use costs $37.00. The Primorac Off-, which is just wood and about the same speed as mine, is $63.00 and before all of Butterfly's prices went down a month or so ago, they were trying to charge $77.00 for it. I like my blade's feel better than the Primorac but they are really comparable blades and it has been almost 2x the price of mine.

I think saying they are too expensive is a very valid comment. I just like the details.

In my opinion the blades called W5/W7 and ALC are also overpriced. $85.00 is too much for an all wood blade. $135.00 is too much for a Carbon blade.

I think $37.00 was just the right price for my blade. I can play hard and not worry if I bang it up a bit.

There are some blades that are $10.00 that are pretty good.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

What is the deal with the innerforce versions?

I believe that the Innerforce blades have two plies of wood before the Technology ply. Also the top ply on the Innerforce blades is Limba instead of Koto.

Here are the plies for TB ALC:

Koto-ALC-Liimba-Kiri-Limba-ALC-Koto

Here are the plies for the Innerforce ZLC:

Limba-Limba-ZLC-Ayous-ZLC-Limba-Limba

So the ZLC being one ply deeper in the blade gives you more wood feel and Limba as a top ply feels very different from Koto. Koto is harder. Limba is softer.

I believe that, with the TB blades, if you replace what ALC with the other ply being added would be, you would have the plies for the blade.

So TB ZLF would be:

Koto-Zylon-Liimba-Kiri-Limba-Zylon-Koto

TB ZLC would be:

Koto-ZLC-Liimba-Kiri-Limba-ZLC-Koto

And Innerforce the same so Innerforce ZLF would be:

Limba-Limba-Zylon-Ayous-Zylon-Limba-Limba

Etc.

 

[Sali]

Which one from this is the slowest? And how would you describe it in scale, I mean is there any OFF- blade, or all of them are rather oFF and OFF+

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Which one from this is the slowest? And how would you describe it in scale, I mean is there any OFF- blade, or all of them are rather oFF and OFF+

TB T5000 Tamka = Off+

TB ZLC = Off+

Innerforce ZLC = Off+

The rest are Off.

The slowest, and they still are not that slow are:

TB ZLF, TB W7, TB W5, Innerforce ZLF.

 

[Sali]

Can you compare somehow ZLF to your Stiga? I know it is all but I am thinking if there is a really big difference in speed. I read somewhere that zylon or carbon blades are more consistent. Sometimes I am thinking to try different blade from my 20year old quite stiff wood blade, but I do not want something really fast.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

My Stiga blade = Allround Evolution. It is actually an Off- blade rather than All or All+. They rate it at All+ but it is not really. TB ZLF and Innerforce ZLF are considerably faster than mine is. They are great though. They are not rockets. They are manageable.

All wood blades are great. There is no need for fancy materials. But those Zylon blades are really great too. So, even though you don't need fancy materials, if you like them, there is nothing wrong with them.

I love how the Innerforce ZLF feels. To me, that is the best blade I have felt.