[Update Notice (11th October 2023)]

The performance indeces of ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’ has been updated by new measurement. Original data was the result of the pcs. of average weight 94g, while the avg. weight on Butterfly home page is just 86g. For that reason the data had once been updated by the measurement of lighter pcs. whose weight is under 90g. However, it is revealed that the pcs. under 90g are too light and therefore can’t represent the right characteristics of ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’. For thar reason the data has been measured once again by some pcs. over 90g, and the Performance Indices has been updated once more on 11th October 2023.)

Because the 2023 version of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is much different from the 2018 version shown in this article, this article should be totally revised. Please note that 2023 version of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is not much different from ‘Harimoto ALC’. We can consider that ‘Harimoto ALC’ is just the ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ with bigger head.

1.  ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’ and ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’

Harimoto 01
Fig.01 Butterfly ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’

Butterfly ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’ is famous as the blade of Harimoto Tomokazu who is the MS winner of 2018 ITTF World Tour Grand Final. (Because its name is too long, it will be called as ‘Harimoto ALC’ in this article.)

Butterfly InnerForce Layer ALC 01
Fig.02 Butterfly ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’

‘Harimoto ALC’ (= ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’) is known as the ‘InnerForce ALC’ with bigger head and special graphic design for Harimoto Tomokazu. Butterfly home page is explaining that there isn’t any difference between ‘Harimoto ALC’ and ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. Equal thickness (6.0mm), equal weight (90g) and equal elasticity (10.7 in Butterfly measure). However, many players who have tried both of those two are saying that ‘Harimoto ALC’ is heavier and faster than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.

Harimoto 03
Fig.03 ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’ (left) and ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ (right)

We can hardly distinguish two blades from above picture because those two look almost identical. However, the measured thicknesses are not identical. The average thickness of ‘Harimoto ALC’ is 5.92mm. But, the average thickness of ‘InnerForce layer ALC’ is 5.80mm. And, the average weight of measured pieces of ‘Harimoto ALC’ is 91.6g (updated on 11th Octobrer 2023).

[Update in 11th October 2023] At the time this article was written, the thickness of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ was measured as 5.7~5.8mm. However, the new thickness of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ measured in 2023 is around 5.9mm which is not much different from the thickness of ‘Harimoto ALC’. Even the apprearance of the blade construction of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ doesn’t look different from that of ‘Harimoto ALC’. For that reason, we will be able to consider ‘Harimoto ALC’ just as the ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ with bigger head.

Harimoto 04
Fig.04 ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ and ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’

Therefore we can easily expect that there will be more than the difference of thickness. In general, if the constructions of two blades are very similar to each other, thicker and heavier one is faster (= more elastic). Because ‘Harimoto ALC’ is thicker and heavier, it will be faster than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. That prediction coincides with the experience of players. And, ‘Performance Indices’ will provide us further backup of that prediction.

As always, let’s examine the characteristics of ‘Harimoto ALC’ by ‘Performance Indices’ and compare it with ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ and some other models.

2. Blades to be compared

Following blades will be compared in this article.

  • Butterfly Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC (Butterfly Harimoto ALC)
  • Butterfly InnerForce Layer ALC (measured in 2018, thinner than 2023 version)
  • Butterfly InnerForce Layer ZLC
  • Butterfly Timo Boll ALC (Outer fiber, ALC)
  • Tibhar Cedric Nuytinck (Outer fiber, ZLC)
  • Butterfly Korbel (5-ply wood)
  • Stiga Allround Classic (Reference)

‘Harimoto ALC’ and ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ are very similar to each other in blade construction. Both of those are inner ALC blades with Limba top layer. The main issue of this article is the comparison between those two blades.

‘InnerForce Layer ZLC’ is an inner ZLC blade with Limba top layer. It is very similar to ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. But, the difference of fiber makes difference characteristics.

‘Timo Boll ALC’ is not an inner fiber blade. It is the representative of the blades with ‘outer fiber’ construction. Its fiber is same as that for ‘Harimoto ALC’ and ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.  However, its fiber is placed directly under top layer. We can call that kind of construction as ‘outer fiber’ construction. In this comparison, ‘Timo Boll ALC’ is the only one blade whose top layer isn’t Limba. The top layer of ‘Timo Boll ALC’ is Koto.

‘Cedric Nuytinck’ is another blade with ‘outer fiber’construction. But, differently from ‘Timo Boll ALC’, its fiber is ZLC.

‘Korbel’ is the representative 5-ply wood offensive blade with Limba top layer. .

Finally, ‘Allround Classic’ is the representative of traditional all-round blades. And, it is the reference blade of Performance Indices in TTGear Lab. All indices for ‘Allround Classic’ is 1.0.

Harimoto 05
Fig.05

Comparison will be done by performance indices. Concerning the detail of four performance indices, please refer to following articles in ‘Background’ section :

3. Comparison by Performance Indices

G01

Fig.06  Comprison of Elasticity Indices

Fig.06 shows the comparison graph of Elasticity Indices

Ep (Primary Elasticity Index) is directly concerned with the rebound speed of blade. Ec (Central Elasticity Index) is concerned with additional ‘kick’ when player hits ball very hard.

From the graph, we can notice that the elasticity of ‘Harimoto ALC’ is apparently higher than that of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ as expected from the difference of thickness. Ep and Ec of ‘Harimoto ALC’ (avg. weight 91.6g) are 1.93 and 1.72 respectively. (Updated on 11th October 2023) On the contrary, Ep and Ec of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC'(measured in 2018) are 1.62 and 1.45 respectively. It means that ‘Harimoto ALC’ is noticeably faster than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.

The overall elasticity level of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is a bit higher than that of ‘Korbel’. And, that of ‘Harimoto ALC’ is a blade is even higher, and is close to that of ‘InnerForce Layer ZLC’. (The elasticity level of  heavier ‘Harimoto ALC’ is higher than that of ‘InnerForce Layer ZLC’.) Two ‘outer fiber’ blades – ‘Timo Boll ALC’ (Ep = 2.14, Ec = 1.77) and ‘Cedric Nuytinck’ (Ep = 2.02, Ec = 1.89) are of course faster than ‘Harimoto ALC’. (However, heavier ‘Harimoto ALC’ of avg. weight 94g is as fast as those two.)

Examining Ec/Ep is an easier way to understand the tendency of elasticity of blades. Fig.07 shows the relationship between Ec/Ep and Ep.

G02

Fig.07 Ec/Ep vs. Ep

Ec/Ep expresses the ‘tendency’ of the elasticity of blade. By examining Ec/Ep and Ep at the same time, we can easily understand the behavior of blades.

On the graph, all the blades in this comparison except for reference blade are in the range of Ec/Ep < 1.0, i.e. ‘Hold’ range. ‘Harimoto ALC’ is in ‘Deep Hold’ range. ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is also in ‘Deep Hold’ range. But, the position of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ can be also be regarded as the the border between ‘Mild Hold’ range and ‘Deep Hold’ range. Anyway, the difference between Ec/Ep of ‘Harimoto ALC’ and that of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is not significant. But, there is noticeable difference between Ep of ‘Harimoto ALC’ and that of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. Therefore we can conclude that ‘Harimoto ALC’ is more elastic variation of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.

Then successively, let’s compare Vibration Indices. Fig. 08 shows the comparison graph of Vibration Indices.

G03

Fig.08 Comparison by Vibration Indices

Vibration Indices are concerned with feeling. Vp indicates primary feeling which is transferred to player’s palm. And, Vl is the feeling at the wing of a blade. It is felt by player’s index finger or middle finger.

The Vp of ‘Harimoto ALC’ is 1.22. It is higher than the Vp of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ (= 1.15). That is what we can expect from thicker construction of ‘Harimoto ALC’. The players who are sensitive to the primary feeling that is transferred through handle will feel that ‘Harimoto ALC’ is harder than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.

On the contrary, the Vl of ‘Harimoto ALC’ (= 1.21) is lower than that of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ (= 1.23) although the difference is not big. (The difference is in the range of deviation by piece.) Because there isn’t much difference between the Lateral Vibration Indices of those two blades, the players who are especially sensitive to the feeling that is transferred through the side edges of blade may feel that ‘Harimoto ALC’ is not much different from ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.

Also, Vibration Indices of ‘Harimoto ALC’ (Vp = 1.22, Vl = 1.21) are close to those of ‘InnerForce Layer ZLC’ (Vp = 1.24, Vl = 1.21). Some players those are not that sensitive may feel that ‘Harimoto ALC’ is not much different from ‘InnerForce Layer ZLC’.

Examining Vl/Vp is an easier way for the comparison of the tendency of feeling.

Fig.09 shows the relationship between Vl/Vp and Vp for easier comparison.

G04

Fig.09 Vl/Vp vs. Vp

On the graph of Vl/Vp vs. Vp, the of ‘Harimoto ALC’ is placed near the line Vl/Vp = 1.0, although it is a bit lower than 1.0. (The data before update is under 1.0. But, it was also close to 1.0.) Therefore we can think that the feeling of ‘Harimoto ALC’ is quite uniform. On the contrary the Vl/Vp of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC'(thin version measured in 2018) is noticealy higher than 1.0, although still it is placed in ‘near uniform’ range (0.9 < Vl/Vp < 1.1). So players will feel that ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is noticeably sharper than ‘Harimoto ALC’, although it is not as sharp as ‘Korbel’ or ‘Timo Boll ALC’.

On the contrary, ‘InnerForce Layer ZLC’ is placed under the line Vl/Vp = 1.0. But, its value is also very close to 1.0. And, ‘Cedric Nuytinck’ is also very close to the uniform line.

‘Korbel’ and ‘Timo Boll ALC’ are placed at ‘Relatively sharper at finger’ range. And, those two can’t be regarded as ‘near uniform’ ones. In case a player wants to replace Korbel with faster one while keeping feeling, ‘Timo Boll ALC’ may be better solution than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.

Harimoto 10
Fig.10

4. Summary

The result of comparison can be summarized as follows :

  • ‘Harimoto ALC’ (= ‘Harimoto Tomokazu InnerForce ALC’) is noticeably faster (= more elastic) than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ (Note : This one is 2018 version. 2023 version is not much different from ‘Harimoto ALC’.). ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is just a bit faster than ‘Korbel’. However, ‘Harimoto ALC’ is as fast as ‘InnerForce Layer ZLC’. Both of those hold ball very well when player hits the ball very strongly.
  • ‘Harimoto ALC’ is harder than ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’.(Note : This one is 2018 version. 2023 version is not much different from ‘Harimoto ALC’.) However, the feeling of ‘Harimoto ALC’ that is felt at the fingertip of index finger is not meaningfully different from that feeling of ‘InnerForce ALC’. Some players will easily distinguish one from the other. However, the other players will feel that those two blades are similar to each other.

‘Harimoto ALC’ is based on ‘InnerForce Layer ALC'(Note : This one is 2018 version. 2023 version is not much different from ‘Harimoto ALC’.). However, as we can expect from thicker construction and heavier weight, ‘Harimoto ALC’ is different from ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. Some aspects (The Vl/Vp which is close to 1.0) of ‘Harimoto ALC’ remind us of some classic 7-ply wood blades such as ‘Clipper’ series, while ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is relatively closer to ‘Korbel’ which is the representative of classic offensive 5-ply wood blade. The difference between ‘Harimoto ALC’ and ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ is similar to the difference between ‘Clipper Wood’ and ‘Korbel’. This result may be good guideline when you choose between ‘Harimoto ALC’ and ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’. If you want to select a blade which isn’t too much slower than ‘Timo Boll ALC’ but whose feeling is much more natural than ‘Timo Boll ALC’, ‘Harimoto ALC’ will be a good solution. But, if you like the overall characteristics of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ including moderate elasticity, please don’t select ‘Harimoto ALC’ just because of its special design. ‘Harimoto ALC’ can be  the replacement of ‘InnerForce Layer ALC’ only when the player needs higher speed.

Harimoto 11

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to TTGear Lab with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
The dates on TTGearLab follow the time in London, United Kingdom.