Butterfly’s ‘OuterForce’ series, released in March 2025, is the blade family for intermediate level players which is recommended as the next step of entry-level blades. Therefore, ‘OuterForce’ series is easier to handle and lower in elasticity when compared to existing outer-type blades in Butterfly range. Of course, ‘OuterForce’ series is faster than that of Butterfly inner-type blades represented by ‘InnerForce Layer’ series, because artificial fiber is located directly under its top layer. ‘OuterForce’ series consists of three models – ‘OuterForce ZLC’, ‘OuterForce ALC’ and ‘OuterForce CAF’. Three models share a basic construction, differeing only in thickness and artificial materials.

‘OuterForce ZLC’ is the most powerful blade among three models in ‘OuterForce’ series. Its artificial material is ZL Carbon (= Zylon Carbon), abbreviated as ZLC. ZLC is a material which has been used for Butterfly blades those require higher power than ALC blades in the same series. As always, Butterfly is recommending ‘OuterForce ZLC’ to players who require higher power than ‘OuterForce ALC’. Butterfly is explaining that ‘OuterForce ZLC’ fits for the players who want to make powerful shot not only from close-to-table area but also from mid-distance area.

‘아우터포스 ZLC’는 그 이름 그대로 ZLC를 특수소재로 사용하는 아우터 구성의 블레이드입니다. 버터플라이는 ‘아우터포스 ZLC’를 시리즈 3종 중 가장 반발력이 높으며 더 넓은 영역에서 플레이하기에 적합한 제품으로 소개하고 있습니다.

The construction of ‘OuterForce ZLC’ is 5+2 ply outer-type construction. But it is different from ordinary outer-type construction that can be seen from most of existing outer-type blades. The top layer is Ayous, and ZLC is placed directly under the top layer. The middle layer is Ayous, and the center layer is Kiri. Overall thickness is around 5.9mm. It is very unusual that the top layer isn’t Koto or Limba but Ayous. Its purpose seems to provide a soft hitting feeling and high controllability.

The size of head is around 157mm x 150mm. Not different from the head size of ‘Timo Boll’ series or ‘InnerForce Layer’ series

The FL (flared) handle is the standard FL handle of Butterfly, and basically identical to those of the other models in ‘Timo Boll’ series or ‘InnerForce Layer’ series. The width of FL (flared) handle is around 26.5mm (at head side) ~ 27.5mm (at bulge) ~ 26mm (at narrowest point) ~ 34mm (at the end). And, the thickness of FL handle is around 23mm (at thumb) ~ 24mm (at the end).

The size of ST (straight) handle (not shown in pictures) is also the standard ST handle of Butterfly, and basically identical to those of the other models in ‘InnerForce Layer’ series. Its size is around 28mm (width) x 23mm (thickness).

At lower area of the foreside of head, ‘OuterForce series’ which isn’t the name of each model but the name of family is printed. This printing is common to all three models of course, with only different colors. For that reason, we can’t find the name or the information of artificial material from this printing.

Butterfly logo is printed at the top of the foreside of head.

Shield-shaped Aluminum plate at the foreside of handle includes the name of blade and the logo of Butterfly. Small, rounded plastic lens is applied at the backside of handle.

Squared aluminum plate with Butterfly logo is applied at the end of handle.

Nothing is printed on the backside of head.

‘OuterForce’ series consists of three models – ‘OuterForce ZLC’ (left), ‘OuterForce ALC’ (middle) and ‘OuterForce CAF’ (right). Three models share a basic construction – 5+2 ply outer-type construction with Ayous top layer. It is very unusual that the name of each model isn’t printed on the head. Instead, only the series name is shown in the printing on the head.

Differently from head printing, we can find the name of each model from the shield-shaped Aluminum panel at the foreside of handle.

All three models share the basic construction – 5+2 ply outer-type with Ayous top layer. However, the differences are in the kind of artificial fiber and the thickness. ‘OuterForce ZLC’ (left) is an outer ZLC blade of 5.8mm thickness (= around 5.9mm in actual measurement), ‘OuterForce ALC’ (middle) is an outer ALC blade of 6.2mm thickness (= around 6.1mm in actual measurement), and ‘OuterForce CAF’ (right) is an outer CAF blade of 6.3mm thickness.

‘OuterForce ZLC’ is a blade with 5+2 ply outer-ZLC construction. It is thicker than conventional outer-ZLC blades, but it prevents excessively high elasticity ensures controllability by selecting soft Ayous wood as the material for its top layer. Thanks to highly elastic artificial material, ‘OuterForce ZLC’ is the fastest in the series, and fits for power-oriented player who want to play at entire area of court. The problem of conventional outer-ZLC blades is that the hitting feeling becomes dramatically stiff when the player hits the ball very strongly. (That is different issue from Performance Indices. Without concerning its actual elasticity, the feeling at the center of the blade becomes much stiffer than expected.) That can make player embarrassed and make the control more difficult. Super ZLC of Butterfly is on idea for solving that problem, and as the result Super ZLC shows similar characteristics as ALC. However, thanks the softer top layer, ‘OuterForce ZLC’ lets the player control the ball without trouble. So, player can easily select ‘OuterForce ZLC’ is the elasticity of ‘OuterForce ALC’ is not sufficient. And, like ‘OuterForce CAF’ and ‘OuterForce ALC’, ‘OuterForce ZLC’ can also be recommended for players who like the feeling that the ball sticks to Ayous top layer during performing topspin. But, because this blade is noticeably different from convention outer-ZLC or inner-ZLC blades, ‘OuterForce ZLC’ is not recommended for players who have used other outer-ZLC or inner-ZLC blades and are searching for a replacement blade.

Following are the performance indices of Butterfly OuterForce ZLC (avg.weight = 86.4) :

– Ep = 2.12

– Ec = 1.94 (Ec/Ep = 0.91)

– Vp = 1.33

– Vl = 1.45 (Vl/Vp = 1.09)

Please note that above are average values and can be updated by further measurement.

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