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Xiom Hugo Calderano HAL
Blade description:
The Xiom Hugo Calderano HAL is a cutting-edge table tennis blade that strikes an impressive balance between speed, control, and flexibility, making it a formidable choice for players looking to elevate their game. Constructed with a unique composition of seven plies, the HAL features a thin layer of red arylate, providing a distinct feeling reminiscent of all-wood blades while benefiting from the advantages of composite materials. This blade’s design caters well to aggressive players who enjoy looping and counter-looping from mid-distance, facilitating swift acceleration of the ball with remarkable ease.
Weighing in at approximately 85 grams, the HAL is categorized as a medium-weight blade, offering a balanced feel that supports both powerful shots and delicate placements during the short game. Its thickness contributes to a high level of dwell time, allowing the player to execute more extensive strokes without compromising control. Rated with a supportive control score of 9.5, it boasts a stiffness of 3 and hardness of 5.3, which together provide an optimal mix of feedback and forgiveness. This results in an expansive sweet spot that welcomes less-than-perfect strikes, making it suitable for players still refining their techniques.
Players seeking alternatives may consider blades like the Butterfly Viscaria or Maze Performance; however, it’s widely regarded that the HAL offers superior control and feedback, particularly with hard rubbers. Overall, the Xiom Hugo Calderano HAL is ideal for players who appreciate the subtleties of spin and touch, providing an invigorating mix of power and precision that is hard to beat.
Recent Reviews
#1 — April 2022
Hal is arguably one of the finest amateur blades available. I’ve owned numerous blades and am familiar with the characteristics of various materials such as vectran, tamca, ulc, alc, zlf, zlc, spzlc, kevlar, and soft carbon. However, Hal offers something truly unique and exceptional.
During my three weeks of playtesting Hugo Calderano’s SAL blade, I found it to be exceptionally soft, fast, and capable of producing long, straight parabolas. It provides a superb feel, akin to vectran, but with potentially insufficient control for my preferences, particularly when paired with harder rubbers. Dignics 05 would likely yield better results with SAL than with Hal.
In contrast, Hal exhibits medium hardness, promotes more curved shots, and offers greater grip. It remarkably combines slow and fast characteristics simultaneously. Its distinctiveness lies in its ability to mimic the playing qualities of wood while simultaneously providing a large sweet spot. It facilitates powerful shots while absorbing the opponent’s energy, enabling both high-powered spins and effective blocking.
While the short game may feel somewhat lacking, Hal excels in looping. Its overall feel is highly satisfying.
Despite not being a Butterfly product, which may impact resale value, Hal is an exceptionally worthwhile purchase. It is an OFF- blade that can produce all+ and even off+ shots when paired with fast rubbers and a powerful swing. It offers an exceptional level of forgiveness, allowing players to comfortably rectify mistakes.
#2 — March 2022
MUY BUENA MADERA. Tuve la oportunidad de probarla porque quería cambiar mi antigua madera Maze Performance por una más rápida para subir de nivel. Debo decir que la primera sensación en la mano al tocar la pelota fue como una Stiga con cápsula de aire de por allá en el 2005. Pero luego de bolear un poco y practicar los tiros, me llevé una gran satisfacción. Encontré una madera rápida con mucho control. Tiene efecto catapulta, por lo que debes entrenar para dominarla ya que la velocidad la decides tú en el juego. Hay golpes que uno da con fallas y pareciera corregirla la pala. Dentro de la mesa el juego lo dominas tú y fuera de la mesa también. Si hay algo negativo que deba decir de la madera es que debes entrenar para adaptarte al golpe de ahí, más nada, pero muy poco tiempo. Me adapté rápido. Me gusta la velocidad que le puedes imprimir y el control es lo máximo. Corrige el ángulo de ataque lo que hace que me haga tener más confianza al atacar tanto de forehand y de back. Al ser una madera suave, el toque al sacar imprime más spin y la velocidad de verdad que estoy muy a gusto. Es una muy buena raqueta y muy buena inversión. Me costó 185 dólares y debo decir que si le suben el precio no me sorprendería.
#3 — February 2022
Been playing it with R53 fh and dignics 80 bh and it was simply awesome. No problems in accelerating the ball and even with a rubber as hard as R53, I’m still feeling loads of dwell time, surely this could only have come from the blade!
As mentioned in the previous reviews, I agree fast and hard rubbers would be sort of tamed to a balanced performance with this controllable blade. Definitely recommend a try if you haven’t yet!