Released in 2023, Butterflyâ€s Glayzer has become one of the most popular modern table tennis rubbers currently in production. It promised to be a very special rubber and one that piqued my interest the moment it was released.
Butterfly is a brand thatâ€s known for its cutting-edge equipment. They produce the best of the best: Tenergy, Dignics, all of their excellent blades, shoes, robots, you name it.
Their pricing is generally quite high because they produce extremely high-quality products. If you choose Butterfly, you usually have to pay a premium.
However, this Glayzer rubber and the Glayzer 09c are both priced at around USD $45, the price youâ€d pay for a modern offensive offering from any other brand.
To clear all the doubts we had about the Glayzer, we bought a sheet specifically for this review to see exactly how it performs.
BUTTERFLY GLAYZER REVIEW SUMMARY
The Butterfly Glayzer is a superb rubber, as long as you pair it with the right blade for your purposes.
The Glayzer features 2 main technologies, the Spring Sponge X (present in the Dignics series), and the 05 topsheet, present in the Dignics 05. The sponge is medium-hard and it has a very high maximum speed, but it isnâ€t too bouncy. The Glayzer is medium-fast, and it focuses more on control than speed. Its throw is medium-high and it provides plenty of clearance over the net.Â
The strongest attributes of this rubber are its control and its safety in offensive play. In addition, its power reserves are nearly limitless, while being very controllable and not too bouncy. The topsheet provides plenty of grip and its spin levels are quite good.
The Glayzer is a superbly balanced offensive rubber, and it is good for loops, blocks, flicks, serves, and the short game. Itâ€s a very stable and controllable offensive rubber.
Perfect for anyone with ‘The Controller†playstyle.
Perfect for:Attackers of all levels on either side of the racket (depending on the blade used and what they want out of the rubber), and advanced all-rounders on either side of the racket. 1-10+ years of playing.
Benefits
Limitless power reserves while not being too bouncy.
Ball slippage is non-existent.
Great balance of speed, spin, and control.
Very stable.
Easy to use.
Lots of safety over the net.
Good for backhand exchanges.
Good for serving and excellent for receiving.
Good value for money.
High quality and durability.
Drawbacks
Not the best rubber for hitting outright winners.
It wonâ€t provide the highest shot quality in terms of speed and spin.
Needs to be played actively because of its medium-hard sponge.
About the Reviewer
Alvaro brings 7+ years of playing experience. He’s tested 20+ rubbers for Racket Insight and his style is The Controller.
About the Review
Blade Used: Stratus Power Wood
Rubber Thickness: MAX
Hours Tested: 10+
Page Contents (Quick Links)
Recommended Playstyles
We recommend the Glayzer to players who want a solid all-round rubber at a reasonable price. Especially if pairing with an OFF/OFF+ blade.
Design of the Butterfly Glayzer
The Butterfly Glayzer comes in a high-quality sealed package.
Upon opening the package, we find the rubber. The version we ordered is a black 2.1mm sheet of Butterfly Glayzer.
The topsheet of the Glayzer is very grippy and almost non-tacky, and its sponge is dark gray.
The rubber itself is medium-hard, somewhere around 47.5-50 degrees ESN. Butterfly states that its hardness is 38 degrees in their scale, which would also correspond with this estimated ESN value.
The Glayzer promises to be a very special rubber for 3 main reasons:
- It is equipped with Butterflyâ€s Spring Sponge X, used in the Dignics line. However, the sponge in the Glayzer is 2° softer than that of the Dignics 05.
- It is equipped with a top sheet with identical technology to that which is used in the Dignics series, and
- It is much cheaper than any of the Dignics rubbers. In fact, itâ€s almost half the price of a Dignics rubber.
According to Butterfly:
“We have a strong desire to help a broader range of players improve, whilst also responding to the demands of top athletes. Therefore, we developed the Glayzer series which provides ease of use and retains high performance.
We proudly deliver the Glayzer series as a rubber that will help to expand your possibilities.â€
As you can see, the Glayzer was designed to be controllable enough for the average player and offensively capable enough to be used by high-level players.
Taking into account all of the above, my expectations of the Glayzer were sky-high.
In addition to this, we also have to consider the Glayzerâ€s price point and durability. In my opinion, this is what makes the Glayzer stand out even more as a great product.
The Glayzer claims to have an identical topsheet to that found on the Dignics 05, and the Dignics 05 is one of the most durable rubbers ever created.
When we reviewed the Dignics 05, I ended up gluing it to my main racket and I used it as my forehand rubber for that season. The Dignics 05 held up incredibly well, to the point that I can confidently say that itâ€s one of, if not the most durable rubber in the market, together with the Nittaku Fastarc G-1.
I used it for 6 months training anywhere between 10 and 15 hours per week, plus tournaments. That comes out to at least 240 hours if you do the math.
After that, I gifted it to a clubmate whoâ€s a beginner and itâ€s still holding up incredibly well for another few hundreds of playing hours.
Now, we only tried the Glayzer for 10 hours, so we canâ€t say for sure what its durability is like. However, if Butterfly isnâ€t lying and the Glayzer has the same topsheet as the Dignics 05, it should be just as durable.
This would make the Glayzer one of the best value rubbers out there, rated among the most durable rubbers in the market while being priced at just $45 per sheet.
In terms of weight, the Glayzer weighs in at 48 grams when cut to my Stratus Power Wood, a very good weight for a medium-hard rubber.
Playtesting the Butterfly Glayzer
After reading about its characteristics, my expectations for the Glayzer were very, very high.
I glued the Glayzer to my Tibhar Stratus Power Wood and for the first few hours I was quite underwhelmed. Iâ€d use the words ‘dead†and ‘dull†to describe my experience.
I was met with a very non-dynamic rubberthat needed much physical effort to get adequate speed levels out of it.
I didnâ€t want to write this review before trying it on a faster blade, so I glued it onto my other test blade, the OFF+ Donic Original Carbospeed. Suddenly, the rubber came to life and Iâ€m very glad I gave it a second chance.
This experience makes sense when I think about it, as the Dignics 05 is a more powerful and spinny version of this rubber, and even the Dignics 05 isnâ€t too bouncy or explosive. Both the Dignics 05 and Glayzer rubbers need to be played actively to deliver high-quality shots.
On the 5-ply, OFF- Stratus Power Wood, the Glayzer feels very controllable but not offensive at all. I couldnâ€t get any kind of pace or explosiveness on the ball. I just needed more base speed.
After gluing it on the Original Carbospeed, my experience was completely different. The Glayzer suddenly felt alive, explosive, and capable of hitting winners with relative ease.
In fact, the Glayzer has a very grippy topsheet and quite a hard sponge. It has the characteristics to hold up very well on even the fastest blades.
When you stick some rubbers onto a very fast blade they wonâ€t have the touch and control needed in the short game, or they wonâ€t have enough spin and dwell to make the ball dip safely onto the other side when looping. The Glayzer has both.
If I had to say, I would recommend that you try the Glayzer on faster blades. I donâ€t think the Glayzer is a good rubber to use on OFF- blades and below if you want to play an offensive game with it.
The Glayzer feels just perfect on the Original Carbospeed, and I think it would suit a Viscaria or a Timo Boll ALC like a glove.
On these latter blades, typical 5+2 OFF/OFF+ blades, the Glayzer behaves perfectly well in the short game and when blocking, and it has more than enough power when looping.
Driving and Looping
The Butterfly Glayzer is a great rubber for driving, looping, and punching the ball.
It delivers a quite muted and relatively hard feel in the hand. Even though it isnâ€t too bouncy, it has a medium-high throw angle.
The Glayzer works very well for driving the ball. Itâ€s a medium-hard, firm rubber, and it isnâ€t too bouncy, so itâ€s stable and firm when playing drives, flat hits, and smashes.
As for looping, the Glayzer will behave very differently depending on what blade you pair it with.
I found that there are tons of power reserves that you can call upon if you hit harder and harder, though its base speed will depend on what blade you pair it with.
Thatâ€s why I recommend using faster blades with this rubber to neutralize this lack of bounciness when compared to other faster rubbers in this hardness range, such as the Rasanter R47, the Tibhar MX-P, the Tenergy 05, and others.
When paired with a fast blade, the Glayzer is a great rubber for looping.
Loops clear the net wonderfully because of its medium-high throw, and, when you hit harder and harder, the rubber doesnâ€t bottom out and it stays stable and predictable throughout all of its top gears. In other words, it is a very linear rubber.
In this video, especially in the second clip we recorded, you can see that, if you hit hard, the Glayzerâ€s top gears are incredibly fast as the rubber just wonâ€t bottom out.
In addition, due to it not being as bouncy, the Glayzer has great dwell time and it does instill a good feeling of “holding the ball†for a longer time before releasing it.
The ball doesnâ€t go in and out as with a Tenergy, for example. With the Glayzer you get much more time to spin and control the ball, at the expense of some explosiveness.
This is also why the Glayzer is great for counterlooping: you have a nice throw angle paired with good dwell time, a stable, firm sponge, and a very grippy topsheet. Counterlooping with this rubber is very safe for the player using it, and dangerous for the opponent.
As for counterlooping away from the table, your mileage may vary. As we tried it on the Donic Original Carbospeed, the Glayzer feels lively, firm, stable, and powerful.
The Glayzer will feel firm and stable on all blades, but whether it has enough base speed to play an offensive game away from the table, depends on the blade.
Iâ€d say that any blade as fast as a Viscaria or faster will make the Glayzer perform very, very well away from the table.
My experience was great. I was able to generate effortless power, good spin and clear the net easily with the Glayzer away from the table.
As for opening up, the Glayzer is very good as it gives us great grip and very good dwell time with the ball. The arc is also quite good for opening up.
It isnâ€t the spinniest nor the fastest rubber there is, so you wonâ€t get as much quality on your open-ups as you would with top ESN, Butterfly, or Chinese rubbers.
This rubber is more about consistency and stability than everything else.
Serve and Receive
Serving and receiving are very good with the Butterfly Glayzer. I particularly liked receiving with it.
In terms of serving, it produces the amount of spin youâ€d expect from a modern offensive rubber. Itâ€s not on par with higher-end rubbers such as the Tenergies, the Dignics, and other high-end ESN rubbers, but the spin you get is quite good nonetheless.
However, a great attribute of the Glayzer when serving is that it isnâ€t too bouncy, so you can control your serves a lot better than with a Tenergy 05 or an MX-P, for example.
As for serve receives, the Glayzer is excellent. It is a very good rubber for touching short, pushing fast and long with great control, and also, for opening up against long serves.
Starting with passive serve receives, the Glayzer is not as bouncy as top-tier offensive rubbers, so you can push wherever you want, with any speed or depth. Touching short is also comparatively easy.
In terms of active receives, it is a very good rubber for opening up against long serves because of its safe arc and its dwell time. Itâ€s a lot easier to attack long, spinny serves with this rubber compared with a Tenergy 05, for example. You simply get a lot more time with the ball.
As for flicks, I feel like the Glayzer is probably not the best rubber you can find. You can produce high-quality flicks and also you can land them on the table consistently, but it does lack that explosiveness and that ease of spin generation that higher-end rubbers have.
In the end, I believe that itâ€s a lot more sensible to touch short or play high-quality long pushes with this rubber because you wonâ€t get as much power on your flicks, and the Glayzer is extremely good at passive serve receive.
If you want to play backhand flicks often, I think a better offering with the same control as the Glayzer is the Rozena. Its sponge is much softer and bouncier so you get a lot more sink, bounciness, and more spin with short strokes such as flicks.
Blocking and chopping
Blocking with the Glayzer was great.
The Glayzer instills a great sense of confidence when blocking. Itâ€s not too fast and itâ€s medium-hard, so you always feel a sense of control of the ball.
The topsheet is quite grippy though, so blocking spinny loops may prove a bit difficult if you donâ€t angle your racket correctly.
I think the Glayzer is a great blocking rubber, especially on faster blades. On a blade like the Viscaria, the Glayzer will feel very firm, stable, and itâ€ll have just the right amount of speed to be very controllable when blocking passively but also dangerous when blocking actively.
On slower blades, you may find that blocks with the Glayzer will just be too slow to trouble your opponents, as the rubber isnâ€t too bouncy.
Chopping is quite good with the Glayzer. I was able to control the ball pretty well and generate good amounts of spin.
The Glayzer is great in terms of controlling the ball and giving the player more dwell time, so Iâ€m sure itâ€d be great to chop with if you paired it with a slower blade than the OFF+ Original Carbospeed we used for testing it.
Glayzer vs Glayzer 09C
The Butterfly Glayzer differs from the Glayzer 09c in the sponge and the topsheet.
In terms of the sponge, the Glayzerâ€s is 38 degrees, while the Glayzer 09câ€s is 2 degrees harder at 40°.
And, in terms of the topsheet, the Glayzer 09câ€s topsheet is medium tacky like the one present in the Dignics 09c.
Both rubbers are quite control-oriented, but I found the Glayzer to be more powerful and direct, with the Glayzer 09c being the more controllable one of the two. The Glayzer 09c also has a higher throw.
If you want to learn more about the Glayzer 09c, you can check out our full Glayzer 09c review.
Alternatives to The Butterfly Glayzer
Overall Reflections on The Butterfly Glayzer
The Butterfly Glayzer is a great rubber, you just have to pair it with the right blade.
In my opinion, the Glayzer is a very “standard†rubber, in a good way. It has plenty of grip, a medium-hard sponge with great power reserves, and it isnâ€t too bouncy.
It is a very versatile rubber, and it can be virtually anything you want it to be.
- If you pair it with a defensive blade, you can use it to chop with, as it has plenty of grip and control.
- If you pair it with an all-round blade, youâ€ll be able to play virtually any stroke you want to a high standard.
- If you pair it with a fast offensive blade, youâ€ll compensate for its lack of base speed and bounciness with the speed of the blade, and youâ€ll get a fast, spinny, and controllable setup to play a modern offensive game based on loops and counterloops.
In addition, because it has the same topsheet as the Dignics 05, it should last seemingly forever, and, due to its price, the Glayzer is probably one of the best value-for-money rubbers out there.
In my opinion, the Glayzer is a great rubber, and I could see myself using it on the forehand side of my Fan Zhendong ALC.
It is also a good backhand rubber because of its stability when blocking, its strengths in the serve receive and its overall control, but you may find youâ€ll lack some “pop†when playing shorter strokes such as flicks or backhand loops close to the table.
On the backhand side, I personally prefer slightly bouncier rubbers such as the Rozena or the Tenergy 19.
Alvaroâ€s a qualified ITTF Level 1 Coach who’s been playing Table Tennis since he was 15 and is now ranked within the top 50 in his native Argentina. He loves to compete in provincial tournaments and is always looking for ways to improve. Alvaro made his favorite memories with a racket in hand, and he joined the RacketInsight team to share his passion with other players!
Blade: Butterfly Fan Zhendong ALC | Forehand: Butterfly Dignics 09c | Backhand: Butterfly Tenergy 19
Playstyle: The Controller
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