Xiom Hayabusa ZL Pro

84gms flared, Big Dipper 38*, Rakza 7

I really wanted to like this blade. Saw the initial reviews, and thought it would be eminently suitable for my game.

Unfortunately, it did not meet my expectations. I imagined soft, flexible, supple, but with some power from the composite, and the stats and 1st reviews seemed to indicate these features. Spin was my priority followed by control then speed. I started using the bat and for some reason came away dissatisfied, and this feeling persisted through all my subsequent sessions (8). It was not anything drastic, but I didn’t enjoy the blade, it never felt entirely comfortable, and my results were mixed. Why was I having a poor relationship with this blade? Firstly, I don’t think the rubbers are an issue as I am quite familiar with both of them, and have them on a few blades. I think my problem lies with the blade’s feeling, vibrations, and sweet spot. Although it’s supposed to be soft and flexible, I found this blade much harder and with not much flex, almost glassy/sharp feeling. Bouncing the ball on the blade showed that the sweet spot was only average and that contact outside the sweet spot resulted in a dull, low-frequency, slightly juddering vibration, which when playing translated to a loss of power and an unpleasant sensation. Although I know all blades are prone to this instability outside the sweet spot, the zl pro seemed particularly poor. If you did hit the sweet spot the speed was impressive! On a more subjective level, I felt the zylon koto combination did not support much dwell time and subsequently spin generation was not as good as I expected. To me the blade wood (s) and composite felt mismatched and just didn’t work well together. Please bear in mind that my blade was a light example, and heavier versions may alleviate or reduce these shortcomings.

This blade contains pure zephylium (PBO, or zylon), without carbon. It is placed directly on the middle kiri veneer. On top of the zephylium is a layer of ayous; hard koto is on the surface. It is an offensive blade, but not extremely fast. It excels in feel, a large sweet spot, and a long dwell time, allowing for easy generation of huge spin (similar to Tibhar Stratus Powerwood). During play, it feels very soft, like a classical 5-ply all-wood blade. Only with a hard hit, zephylium kicks in, the blade clicks loudly, and delivers a powerful shot.

It is, therefore, a blade with an emphasis on control and spin. The ball feels perfect on the bat, which is also appreciated when blocking, where a long dwell time opens up the possibility to vary the nature of the block. The push needs an active play, but it allows for good variation while maintaining the perfect feel of the ball. It pairs well with hard rubbers. I have Jekyll & Hyde V52.5 and C55 on it.

For me, it’s the ideal blade: pleasantly soft with a well-readable feedback to the palm, well weight-balanced so it doesn’t feel heavy and head-heavy (like my previous Stratus Samsonov Carbon, which is so head-heavy that after two years I started to feel discomfort in the wrist while playing), yet topspin and countertopspin and the drive and counterdrive can easily be deadly with it. It is power-efficient both close to the table and in mid distance too. From mid distance or far from the table, there is still also a great feeling for creative defensive shots.

I’ve used this blade 10+ hours a week for over 6 months now.

Physical specs: Mine is an 87 gram ST handle. The balance point is about 2.3 cm from the handle, so it feels extremely light even with 50 gram rubbers on each side. The blade face is about 150×158 like the catalogue says, but some are a little wider. The handle is 29×23mm and extremely comfortable. TTGearlab has more info on the specs. I got mine lacquered from TT11 and it’s so smooth! No splintering or glue residue even though I’ve changed rubber multiple times.

Playing characteristics: I’ve used 42.5, 45, and 47.5 degree rubbers on this blade and everything works well. The control is INSANE and it’s a huge confidence booster. It’s not bouncy in the short game with any rubber, so playing it over the table is ideal. The Zephylium kicks in on harder shots in a linear fashion, so when close to the table you get great power, but when I back away from it the energy is conserved and I can still hit quality shots without insane amounts of effort. The spin generation is higher than any blade I’ve tried before (MK Carbon, Vis, Virtuoso Off-) while the speed feels moderate. Light hits still land on the table easily, but when you hit hard it gives you a decent amount of power. I’d say it has all the low gears, but caps out of power unless you’re using really fast rubbers.

I’m currently using Xiom Vega X 2.0 both sides and think it’s perfect for me. The rubbers complement that blade very well with it having excellent control and spin, with the sponge giving me the speed the blade lacks. It really is a do-it-all blade with looping being a strong point, blocking feeling safe, chops steady, and flat hits feeling above average.

LOVE IT!