Most expensive Table Tennis Paddle

Table tennis bats can be expensive. I remember at the start of the Expert in a Year challenge telling Sam that mine cost almost £200, and that you have to replace the rubbers regularly, and I don’t think he could quite believe it. However, by the end of the year I think he understood that it is worth paying for the better rubbers, even if the cheapskate in you would rather not!

In this blog post I’ll be focusing on the upper end of the table tennis equipment market and having a look at just how much you can spend if you fancy owning the most expensive table tennis bat money can buy.

But before I start there are a couple of things I should point out;

1. If you are a beginner you do not need to buy yourself the most expensive bat known to man. Not only will it not help you but it will actually make it more difficult for you to learn how to play and develop your strokes. Instead, go for one of the beginners bats I recommend here.
2. If you are an experienced player but find yourself in a bit of a slump/you feel like you’ve plateaued/you want to move up a level, buying a really expensive bat is unlikely to help. It probably wont hurt, but I doubt it’s going to solve all your problems or make you play any better. Instead, focus on what is holding you back technically, tactically, physically or mentally, and work on that.

Now I’ve got that out of the way, let’s get stuck into the crazy world of ‘super’ expensive table tennis equipment!

The Most Expensive Table Tennis Blade

This is an easy one. The Butterfly Zhang Jike Super ZLC is, I think, the most expensive blade ever to be made and sold by the main brands. I mean, you can probably pay some master craftsman thousands of pounds to make you a custom made blade from some rare tree but when it comes to blades you can buy out of a table tennis catalogue the Zhang Jike Super ZLC takes the crown.

It is sold by Megaspin in the US for $374.99 and by TeesSport in the UK for £314.99. And that’s just for ‘the wooden bit’. You still need to buy rubbers.

The Zhang Jike Super ZLC is the ultimate offensive blade, featuring fibres that 1.8 times more densely woven than other ZL blades. I’m not sure why but apparently that gives you a much larger sweet spot. The sweet spot is the area of the blade that gives you the best performance.

Not convinced yet? Watch this video. The music alone is brilliant!

I have to admit that at first I thought making a blade this expensive was probably just a bit of a gimmick on Butterfly’s part. Something to get people talking (and writing blog posts). You also have the additional benefit of making your other blades look relatively cheap. You could buy three Timo Boll Spirit’s, or Timo Boll ALC’s, for the price of one Zhang Jike Super ZLC! And they aren’t cheap blades either.

However, from the sounds of it the Zhang Jike Super ZLC is actually a really good blade. I doubt it’s three times better than my Timo Boll Spirit but when it comes to our table tennis you can’t really put a price on getting that little edge, and Butterfly know it.

“Would I recommend it given the price? In short — yes. The lower level players (like myself) may benefit more than higher level players from the increased accuracy with the larger sweet-spot. They may buy some time for deficient footwork and ball anticipation errors. The higher level players may be able to place even more devastating FH attacks (some at the club were very surprised by what seemed my very new and aggressive game style with the ZJ SZLC). What are the challenges with this paddle? – Short ball (meaning double bounce serves) and timing loop kills (not for any other reason but the fast speed exaggerates any timing issues).”

I know it’s not a useful review, but honestly, I only played 5 minutes with this monster. Freshly set up with T05s on both size, me, and everyone else who touched this monster were speechless – except words of acknowledgements. Oh, and it wasn’t mine. Too bad. :) But it has an amazing touch, and gives you, after like 2 shots, a feeling of overwhelming confidence. Super beautiful, and perfect workmanship. yeah, probably the priciest out there, but you know what? If your hobby is horseback riding, you spend this amount on a pair of boots, and you do not even have a horse yet to sit on.

I think this is the best blade on the market. I’ve been lucky to own most of the blades out there including all Timo Boll Series and none of the blades can come close to this blade. Supper spiny blade, offensive weapon with unbelievable feel. I tried with T05 max on both sides and its great but i prefer with T05FX to be honest. Serves, loops Blocks Smash you named it had it all.

Simply put, the holy grail of blades (up to 2014 at least) – and this is not due to price. Until recently, you either had to choose from: 1. high at-the-table spin, 2. great in power play away from the table. This is the first blade I’ve seen that combines both of these attributes.

I own both the ZJK SZLC and JM SZLC and I can tell you that they are both exceptional blades. The JM SZLC is a bit slower and has longer dwell time so if you want to get creative I recommend it over the ZJK SZLC. On the other hand ZJK SZLC is less sensitive so you can be faster and still retain the same great control as the JM SZLC .If price is not an issue either one of these can be your best option.