Innerforce Layer ZLC
| Everyone's rating |
[Hardness] Medium hardness [Performance] Spin and Control are excellent. |
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Averages reviews points
- Speed: 8.44
- Spin: 9.08
- Control: 8.85
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The Innerforce Layer ZLC offers a completely new experience by combining ZLC Carbon technology and Innerfiber construction.
Carbon layers are placed closer to the core to provide an overall soft feel without losing the ZL Carbon characteristics such as lightness, flexibility and speed.
- FL
- ST
- AN
Specifications
- Producer
- Butterfly
- Product code
- 36681,36684,36682
- Speed
- 81
- Control
- 86
- Size
- 157 × 150mm
- Weight
- 87g
- Material
- Wood, ZL carbon, 7 ply wood
- Thickness
- 5.7mm
Players use Innerforce Layer ZLC
- Light taps feel wooden, while hard hits showcase carbon's firmness and speed
- Excellent ball retention with high arc trajectory, stable short game techniques
- Wide sweet spot with stable drives and rallies offering high control
- Exceptional compatibility with stiff rubbers like Tenergy
- Requires high technical skill; not recommended for beginners
User reviews
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katsuo000 (Experience: More than ２０ years) ZLC with outstanding control!
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2018/09/16
A friend of mine wasn't using it, so I put my own rubber on it and gave it a test hit.
It was on the heavier side, but with the weight balanced toward the handle, it was quite easy to generate spin.
As advertised, when you make a strong impact, you really feel the ZLC special material come through in the feel of the shot. To really drive through the ball like that, it felt like you need swing speed close to what a full special-material blade requires. My impression is: light-to-medium shots feel like 5-ply wood, and strong shots feel like ZLC.
I don't dislike the ZLC feel, but until you get used to it, I felt like misses would stand out if you hit hard with a light-shot mindset. Personally, I'm not at a level where I can clearly tell the difference in trajectory between ZLC and ALC, so I actually felt like ALC might be better overall.
To win matches, I felt my style would end up being: use the inner blade to reliably generate spin on receives and over-the-table shots, then commit fully to strong shots during rallies. In that sense, I think this ZLC is exceptionally easy to use.
I think it's viable as a main blade for me too.
That said, I'd like to compare it with an inner ALC as well.Overall Speed Spin Control Touch Hardness little hard
Recommended rubber (Forehand) NEO HURRICANE 3
Recommended rubber (Backhand) Spin Art
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Orange ZLF (Experience: ６〜１０ years) No worries moving from wood, a model blade
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2025/11/25
I switched over from the discontinued Innerforce Layer ZLF.
Even on light shots, the carbon's stiffness stands out, and it flies more than the ZLF.
On topspin drives you can really feel the carbon's speed, and the ball leaves the rubber at just the right timing. With the ZLF, the ball-holding was so strong that I often overshot the table, but with the ZLC it lands just right.
I expected blocks to fly off the table, but they actually settle down surprisingly well, and the metallic sound feels really satisfying. That said, there are times the ball flies off on its own, maybe from a slightly off-center hit, so that might partly be on my own technique.
Serving is easy — since I don't normally serve with a lot of pace anyway, I can produce serves that aren't too short, which makes it easier to build a point off the serve.
As for short-game skills, pushes and stops are a bit harder than with the ZLF because the ball leaves the rubber quickly.
I can't really recommend it to beginners, but for players coming from a wood blade who tend to overshoot from holding the ball too much, or players confident in their short game, I think this is a good choice.
It's quite pricey, but I think it's well worth trying.Overall Speed Spin Control Touch Hardness hard
Recommended rubber (Forehand) Dignics 09C
Recommended rubber (Backhand) BLUESTORM BIGSLAM
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Hina (Experience: ４〜５ years) Butterfly + Butterfly is unbeatable
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2025/09/04
A great blade — thin contact gives you a nice arc, and thick contact gives you speed. It's especially great paired with Tenergy-series rubbers. The ZLC is stiff, so I'd recommend it to anyone who wants the blade itself to provide the power behind the ball!
Overall Speed Spin Control Touch Hardness little hard
Recommended rubber (Forehand) TENERGY 05
Recommended rubber (Backhand) Tenergy 64
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child (Experience: ４〜５ years) Good blade
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2025/06/14
Just a genuinely good blade.
It has just the right amount of bounce, is easy to control, and seems to suit pretty much any rubber. I felt like this is a blade that really hits home for people who like this type.Overall Speed Spin Control Touch Hardness little hard
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Table tennis coach Ishitsubute (Experience: １１〜２０ years) A dream blade that suits any brand's rubber
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2024/03/31
This is the blade I'm currently using.
The details of mine: weight 93g, grip FL.
I generally struggle with the feel and ball-holding of special-material blades.
Out of all the blades I've tried, this is the only one I've been able to handle well.
Why I'm using it now:
It bounces quite a lot, but it also holds the ball extremely well, so it's really easy to control.
The ball-holding is so good it almost feels like the ball sticks to the rubber for a moment.
The harder I hit it, the more the ball seems to trace a huge arc into the opponent's court.
Personally, I find loop drives really easy to do with this.
By the way, I'd recommend it for players using inverted rubber on both sides, but I'd especially recommend it for anyone who plays an unusual rubber on one side (short pips, variation pips, long pips, anti, or OX).
The unusual side's characteristics really come through.
This is definitely a blade worth trying at least once.
For now, I can't see myself switching away from this blade.Overall Speed Spin Control Touch Hardness hard
Recommended rubber (Forehand) V＞15 Extra
Recommended rubber (Backhand) VO＞101
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Ryusei (Experience: ６〜１０ years) As expected from Butterfly
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2023/12/29
The feel in your hand,
the speed, the control —
everything about it is top quality.
I never expected the Innerforce series to be this good.
There's no need to agonize over other blades.
If you can try hitting with one from the Innerforce series, that's really all you need.
It works from beginner level
all the way up to national tournament level.
This is about as good as a blade gets.Overall Speed Spin Control Touch Hardness little hard
Recommended rubber (Forehand) TENERGY 80
Recommended rubber (Backhand) TENERGY 80
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don't know (Experience: ２〜３ years) A blade that takes the best of both wood and carbon
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2023/12/24
Just like the title says, this blade really is the best of both worlds between wood and carbon.
The feel is soft and close to a pure wood blade, and you can really put spin on the ball.
But when you hit hard, you get the carbon's characteristic speed along with that metallic sound.
If you're looking for a blade with a wood-like feel that still bounces like carbon, I'd highly recommend this one.Overall Speed Spin Control Touch Hardness Little soft
Recommended rubber (Forehand) Fastarc G-1
Recommended rubber (Backhand) ROZENA
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