Butterfly Timo Boll ZLF

Good blade. Update 03.09.2014: It's a very good blade after all. Works perfect for close to table style of play, with very good control at high speed. Good for BH pimples offensive play. Update 13.11.2014: I bought another TB ZLF quite old and used but it has 87g. Hard to find this weight today. But, you know, it's an absolute dream: fast (comparable to Viscaria), feeling and control are huge, very easy to play close to table blocks and topspin. At this weight, 87g, I tend to believe TB ZLF is a better blade than a 84-85g Viscaria. Old Timo Boll ZLF over 85g is the perfect blade: very forgivable, easy to play with, huge control, top spin machine, sharp placement for every block close to table. I love it!

Mine was 82g. Amazing blade for looping (dwell time), however I found the feeling quite muted compared to all wood blades I've used. Even some thin carbon/thin hinoki blades (like Joola Rossi Emotion) I found were less muted. I agree with Mindtrip about it potentially being non-linear with drives or close to table shots. It has stacks of dwell time, and I'd say too much with some some rubbers. Would be interested in trying the LS ZLF to compare, that looks like a better option if I was buying another 'ZLF' composite blade. As usual with BTY, it's overpriced, as one expects. I paid $100 off RRP and still felt it was moderately overpriced. Good blade if you're focusing purely on looping and happy to overlook it's querks. I sold mine not long after trying it - wasn't for me.

I'd recommend this blade for a loop oriented player coming from an all wood blade who is looking for a larger sweet spot, but doesn't want a stiff carbon blade. This TB ZLF is great for at the net touch shots and close to mid distance controlled placement looping. It even counter hits pretty well. As with most blades, matching it to different rubber results in widely different experiences. This blade, maybe more so. I really struggled with softer rubbers glued to this blade. Tenergy 05fx and 64fx, Acuda S3 for example are nearly unplayable if you want to loop or loop drive. The flexibility of the ZLF blade and the softness of these rubbers made the ball dive into the net when looped. If I maintained more of a forward stroke when looping, I could loop with success, but the rubber was very very low throw. I have found Tenergy 05 or 80, Rakza 7, Rasant and Adidas P7 to compliment this blade well. Basically anything with a medium overall hardness. I rated this blade at 8.5 speed because it is slower than Viscaria, 9 control because it plays better at the net than Viscaria (Viscaria having more ratings as a base and I am very familiar with) and an overall rating of 8, because there are better playing blades available for much less cost.

i have two of them .... one recent serial 2022 with 81 grams and one serial N no dot no bty logo 82 grams sound like an old wood very pleasant ...... i must say it have so much dwell time like no other ..........made for technical players for topspin not for hiters because is not so fast ====== viscaria > long 5 > TB zlf ..... amazing pleasure to play tennis table best setup with tgy 05 hard . ( with this setup you can attack often the first ball of oponent ) . for pleasure nr 1 TB zlf nr 2 Dhs Long 5 nr 3 Viscaria and you have all .... zylon ... innerforce alc ...... alc

My level is around 1500 TTR (around 1800 USATT). I can compare this blade with a standard 5 ply wood and Timo Boll ALC. My TB ZLF is 86 gramm, 1400 hz. I am playing with 2x Vega Pro (2.0mm). It is not head heavy at all, and well balanced. Comparing the TB ZLF to TB ALC, the ZLF is much for forgiving. Biggest difference you can feel is that there is alot more dwell time on the ZLF, and more vibrations. You can feel the ball more, and even if you are not perfectly in position and your stroke wasn’t clean, the ball still has a high chance to go on the table. At the same time, short game and loops with the ZLF are easy to do and confidence inducing. Comparing the ZLF to a 5ply wood: With 5 ply, loops are automatic, and it works well if you dig into the ball or go for thin brush contacts. For me, on the ZLF, it took some time to adjust with loops because digging into the ball gave me a lot more quality on spin and speed. With thin contact, opening up on backspin was difficult and the quality was lower. Adjusting to this was no problem though, took 2 training sessions. Away from the table, the ZLF felt alot better than 5ply wood. Just more power but same full confidence. Short game was easy with both, smashing was better with the ZLF for me. Flicking was way easier with 5 ply than with the ZLF at first . Once I opened my racket angle more, I was able to produce nice trajectories on the ZLF also. On blocking, it felt a little bit like the ZLF had some extra catapult, so at first everything went out. After some adjustment however, blocking is super easy and comfortable, passive and active blocks that is. To summarize, if you are currently using a 5ply wood, sticking to it is just fine. TB ZLF however can be an upgrade if you want to try something new. For me, the ZLF is my new blade. It offers me the same safety a 5ply wood has, but the shoot feeling is much more crisp. This crispness that is offered makes table tennis more fun than with a 5ply for me personally.