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!

This has nice control, and the inner carbon provides enough power only when required. I never felt it’s a slower blade. Paired it with Dignics 09 °C and HellFire X. Liked the handle design and got this at a discounted price. It’s a steal deal.

First of all, thanks for tabletennis11 team, always up to expectations.

This blade is fantastic, mine is 77 grams (as I asked), great handle for my average-size hands, great finishing. I didn’t seal it and glued several rubbers and removed them (testing) and not a single splinter on the surface!

Playing characteristics are like an all-wood blade, good vibration and feedback with a noticeable feeling of grabbing the ball (catapult effect) which adds more spin, actually tremendous spin, because of the longer dwell time.

As for speed, it is an OFF- blade, not slow by any means.

Control-wise, it is good, I will say 8/10. I have to adjust my touch to the elasticity of the blade, which is not huge.

Power of shots is on the midrange, not as powerful as hard blades, but powerful enough to finish a well-placed ball.

Blocking is great, which is expected with such an inner construction elastic blade.

I am using Hammond Z2 on FH and Hammond Z2 Special Edition on BH, the overall weight is 176 grams, which is optimal for me.

This is a great blade for spin-oriented players, the rotation is superb.

The blade is exactly as the manufacturer describes it. Not very fast, but powerful enough, with a unique rotation on both sides. To be used with harder tires above 47 degrees. The control is killer! It conveys such confidence that you can’t go wrong. The blocks are great and easy. Pushing and chopping are easy and effective. An exceptional finishing blow can be given. It has many more qualities than other top blades for twice the price. Very high quality workmanship and a comfortable handle. Playing with it is a complete pleasure!

Very easy to loop every ball. High quality finish, beautiful handle, easy to transition FH to BH. The blade is quite fast, maybe lower end of OFF, and suits medium to hard rubber. The blade feeling is slightly soft, more towards medium, but one thing which is noticeable is this blade is super flexy and has a whipping effect, so Chinese rubber plays extra good on it, although euro rubbers are very good as well.

I’ve tried a lot of blades, and this is my favorite for my play style. I’m an intermediate player who likes to spin everything and play different paces and placements throughout a rally. This suited my needs perfectly. For an offensive rated blade, the control and gears are excellent because of the inner fiber. It’s not bouncy in the short game, even with offensive max rubbers (Joola Ice/Fire). This makes pushing very direct and intuitive, but it is still very easy to execute forehand/backhand flips on a dime. On soft/hard loops, you can really feel the fiber 'grabbing' the ball and launching it exactly where you want with loads of spin. Blocking, chopping, lobbing, smashing, and everything else is a dream too. Just tons of control and gears everywhere!

For physical specs, I had an 87 gram ST handle. Even at that weight and with max rubbers, it feels very balanced and not head heavy. The handle is very round in the cross section being 23mm x 28mm. Quite comfortable, even though I prefer SQST. Because there is only fiber and no carbon, there is still feedback felt in the hand. It feels sharper than most wood blades, but not nearly as muted as carbon composites.

I’ve had folks of all levels try this and love it, including people who have never played before, or who have played over 50 years! Truly a great blade :)

Specially made for continuous looping from both wings. It is not a slow blade; inner fibre zephelium, Xiom’s special grabbing and holding ball longer material—no carbon is used in this blade. I must say it’s very impressive, does the job better than other top brands. This blade is not recommended for novices, although it might be fun, but to use its full potential, at least an intermediate-level player, I would say, then only you can see what a beast of a spin machine it is. The blade is a little stiff and felt solid on hard shots. Also, it’s got this very elastic whip effect that revs up its speed and spin to another level on high gears. Forgot to mention, any hard rubbers, including Chinese rubbers, play the best; medium is great too. I use H3 FH and MXP BH.

Excellent control with softer rubbers for over-the-table play. Also pairs well with harder rubbers for medium-distance loops.

I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks like a good blade; it has a fine/smooth finish.

This blade is lightweight but feels solid. It is stiff; surprisingly, it does not vibrate like a 5-ply wooden blade, and it has indeed enough power to play far from the table. It pairs well with soft-medium rubbers.

Harder rubbers are also good and feel less hard for some reason on this blade. I played with Bluegrip C2 and Tibhar Evolution MX-P—good, but slightly softer rubbers play better. I have boosted Jupiter 3 H39 (white national Seamoon) and it plays just fantastic, one of the best rubber and blade combinations I have ever tried.

When I go back to a usual wooden blade, there is something missing: either no holding feeling, a lack in power, or some annoying vibrations. Here, everything is just right, and there is a nice metallic click from the ZL material, so I can recommend it over the Peter Korbel. It has a higher arc; it is solid, lightweight, easy to play, and a spin monster. Speed is medium.