Butterfly Timo Boll ZLF
Blade description:
The Butterfly Timo Boll ZLF is an exceptional table tennis blade, designed to enhance the performance of both offensive and all-around players. Crafted with a unique composition featuring ZL fiber, the ZLF offers a remarkable blend of speed and control, making it a go-to choice for those who prioritize precise ball placement. With five plies and a thickness of 5.4 mm, this blade strikes a perfect balance between power and finesse, facilitating explosive topspins and controlled touch shots alike.
Weighing approximately 86 grams, the Timo Boll ZLF falls within the medium weight category, allowing for both swift movements and stability during play. This blade is moderately flexible, enabling players to generate significant spin while still maintaining the control necessary for delicate shots close to the table. The overall characteristics of the ZLF—speed rated at 9, control at 8, and a stiffness of 5.1—make it an incredibly forgiving option for varied playing styles, particularly suited for loopers and aggressive players who value precision.
For those considering alternatives, the Timo Boll ZLF serves as an effective stepping stone between traditional wooden blades and stiffer carbon models like the Viscaria or the Timo Boll ALC. While it possesses notable speed, the ZLF is often perceived as slower than some of its counterparts, providing increased dwell time that can enhance spin capabilities—ideal for looping close to the table. Players transitioning from all-wood blades may find the Timo Boll ZLF an excellent fit, as it offers a larger sweet spot without sacrificing the tactile feedback intrinsic to wood.
Recent Reviews
#1 — March 2024
I love this blade. Control, speed, and rotation are excellent. We can play all the strokes of table tennis with a huge feeling of control. All with good feedback and very good speed when we play hard on the ball. Mine is 84 grams. This wood is light and is often between 80 and 85 grams.
In terms of speed, it is faster than the Primorac or the Korbel but has better control of Timo Boll ALC or Viscaria. This wood can be used as a stepping stone between a 7 ply wood and a carbon wood.
#2 — March 2024
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 grams, 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 more forgiving. The biggest difference you can feel is that there is a lot 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 5-ply 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 a lot better than a 5-ply 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 5-ply 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 5-ply wood has, but the shoot feeling is much more crisp. This crispness that is offered makes table tennis more fun than with a 5-ply for me personally.
#3 — March 2024
I have two of them… one recent serial 2022 with 81 grams and one serial N no dot no bty logo 82 grams sounding like an old wood, very pleasant. I must say it has so much dwell time like no other, made for technical players for topspin, not for hitters because it is not so fast ====== Viscaria > Long 5 > TB zlf. It is an amazing pleasure to play table tennis, best setup with tgy 05 hard. (With this setup, you can attack often the first ball of the opponent). For pleasure nr 1 TB zlf nr 2 Dhs Long 5 nr 3 Viscaria and you have all… zylon… innerforce alc… alc.
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