Butterfly Innerforce ZLF
Blade description
The Butterfly Innerforce ZLF is a composite blade featuring a 3+2 construction. It is widely characterized by a distinct “wood-like” feel that deviates from the traditional, rigid response of classic carbon blades, offering high levels of vibration feedback and ball sensitivity. While it provides sufficient stiffness for consistent play, its flexible nature allows for a significant amount of dwell time, which facilitates high-spin production and the generation of pronounced ball arcs during looping.
Playing Characteristics
- Feel and Dwell: The blade is noted for a medium to soft feel, providing excellent touch. The extended dwell time makes it highly effective for controlled, spin-oriented loops.
- Flexibility: The blade exhibits noticeable flex during powerful strokes, which contributes to its unique, spin-heavy performance profile.
- Balance and Handling: It is generally perceived as a light, evenly balanced blade. Users report that the center of gravity can feel concentrated toward the handle depending on the weight of the rubbers used.
- Performance Range: While it offers substantial reserves of power for mid-distance play, it is optimized for spin-based attacking. Players seeking extreme, high-velocity power smashes may find the blade’s arc and dwell time challenging for flat finishing shots compared to stiffer composite alternatives.
Suitability
The Innerforce ZLF serves as a bridge for players transitioning from all-wood setups to composite blades, as it retains a natural tactile quality while providing the added stability and sweet spot size of Zylon fibers. It is particularly well-regarded by mid-to-high-level players who prioritize tactical spin placement and consistent, accurate looping over raw, linear speed.
Also Known As
- Chinese: (slang: 内力ZLF, 内能ZLF)
- Japanese: インナーフォース レイヤー ZLF (slang: インナーZLF)
- German: Innerforce Layer ZLF (slang: ZLF)
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Recent Reviews
#1 — August 2024
I used this blade for about a year. It is one of the best and kind of an underrated gem. Not too fast, offers great control and great feeling. It is amazing for looping. I tried many different rubbers on this blade. Tenergy 05 works like magic on this blade, great control and speed. With Donic Acuda S3 the spin and control were great, but the speed was lacking sometimes. With Gewo Nexxus 48 the spin was good, but the speed was sometimes too much. Hurricane 3 NEO works nicely on this blade (if you like Chinese sticky rubbers). I switched to Butterfly Impartial XS (short pips) on forehand, and it worked great as well. On backhand, I tried multiple short pips. DMS Spinfire was exceptional; it had great control and speed. Recently I switched to Donic Piranja (1.2mm, long pips) on backhand, and it was too fast. I switched blades because it didn’t suit my style anymore. Overall, however, an amazing blade for loopers, sadly hard to get nowadays.
#2 — November 2022
I really liked the Innerforce ZLF. In summary:
1- It does not have a classic carbon feel, but rather more of a wood feel. However, there is enough stiffness for consistency. 2- It is not as fast as it is written here. It is definitely a bit slower than Viscaria, and also less hard. 3- It has a nice and comfortable vibration, and the ball feeling is at the highest level. 4- Since it is a flexible blade, it is very easy to produce spins. 5- I use a straight handle. If you have medium-sized hands, the thickness of the handle would be sufficient.
In conclusion, if you are a mid-to-high level player, you will love this blade.
#3 — February 2017
Summary: Very Nice Features with a Big Problem
What is written about this blade’s flexibility, spin, and control in other reviews is mostly true. This blade makes a very nice impression the first time you use it. It allows for good short play, nice smashing, extra spinny serving, good speed, and precise feeling.
The big problem is noticeable only after a certain amount of time: After a strong spin, the ball “gets stuck” in the blade and travels at a very slow speed on an extraordinarily high arc to the opponent’s side. When you increase the power, the result is always slower and less accurate.
Therefore, it is almost impossible to hit a powerful finishing spin. This is the result of a combination of the blade’s extremely high dwell time and its extremely high throw. As a result, this blade is unsuitable for a spin player. This is, unfortunately, a very interesting and paradoxical situation: the blade that is one of the spinniest and most controlled is not suitable for fast attacking and spinning. Its very good and unique features result in a bad combination and mixed effects.
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