New ‘Hayabusa’ series released in April 2024 is the strategic blade family of Xiom mainly targeted for Asian market including Japan. This series is inheriting the blade family of the same name that released more than 10 years ago. In the past, original ‘Hayabusa’ series was a top product line consisting of relatively expensive blades manufactured in Korea. However, new ‘Hayabusa’ series consists of reasonably prices blades made in China. Five models are available in new ‘Hayabusa’ series – two outer fiber blades (ARX and ZLX) and three ‘Pro’ models (ZL Pro, HX Pro and OFF Pro). Although two outer fiber models don’t have the word ‘Pro’ in their names, those two are also professional class blades. ‘Pro’ is added for the other three models for emphasizing those three aims at more skilled players when compared with the blades of similar constructions.

‘Hayabusa ZL Pro’ is an inner fiber blade whose artificial material is pure Zephylium fiber that doesn’t include carbon fiber. It focuses on the ability of grabbing the ball and creating strong rotation of ball, at the same time with high level of control. ‘Hayabusa ZL Pro’ is recommended for the players who want to play with continuous topspin with strong rotation and high stability. Further, because it tends to hugs the ball deeply, ‘Hayabusa ZL Pro’ is suitable also for very aggressive topspin at extremely close-to-table area.

The graphic design of new ‘Hayabusa’ series is inheriting the design concept of original ‘Hayabusa’ series which symbolizes a falcon flying fast with its wings spread, but is much simplified from the original design. The five models in the series have a common design, and differ only in the color combination of the handle wood blocks. The color combination of ‘Hayabusa ZL Pro’ is black & white on burgundy background.

The kind of artificial fiber is indicated at top of the backside of head. The artificial material of ‘Hayabusa ZL Pro’ is Zephylium fiber. Zephylium fiber is Xiom’s own name for PBO fiber (= Zylon fiber).

‘Hayabusa ZL Pro’ is an inner fiber blade. Woven Zephylium fiber (= PBO fiber) is placed between the middle layer and the center layer. The top layer is Koto. The middle layer is Ayous, and the center layer is Kiri. Overall thickness is around 5.7mm.

The official head size on the catalog is 157mm x 150mm. Measured size is around 157mm x 152mm.

The width of FL (flared) handle is around 26mm (at head side) ~ 27mm (at bulge) ~ 26mm (at narrowest point) ~ 33mm (at the end). And, the thickness of FL handle is around 23.5mm (at thumb) ~ 25.5mm (at the end). This FL handle is a narrow/tall handle that is preferred in Japan and China. Although it isn’t wide, the circumference of handle isn’t small because it is quite thick.

The size of ST (straight) handle which isn’t shown in picture is around 29mm (width) x 23mm (thickness).

‘Hayabusa’ series is categorized as ‘Omni’ line in the blade range of Xiom. ‘Omni’ is one of the subsidiary brands of Xiom blades, and introduced in 2011 with the release of original ‘Hayabusa’ series for distinguishing new blades family from existing blades of ‘Novus’ line. New ‘Hayabusa’ series released in 2024 is inheriting ‘Omni’ brand.

The chart that indicates the characteristics of this blade is printed at right side of the foreside of blade head. What this chart shows is based on different idea from the concept of Performance Indices of TTGearLab, and only two parameters among six are able to be quantified. So probably that is the result of the subjective field testing by test players. Especially, it is strange that SPIN is included in the six parameters of ‘blade’. It will be good for us that we accept its meaning as ‘how easy this blade is for producing rotation’ or ‘how suitable this blade is for the technics related with rotation’. Although those parameters are not the result of objective measurement, it seems that those are quite reliable. And the parameters almost coincide with the opinion of TTGearLab.

There is a picture of falcon on the right wing of foreside. Unfortunately, part of the falcon’s wing is covered by the rubber when the rubber is attached.

At foreside of handle, an aluminum panel that indicates the logo of ‘Omni’ is applied. This aluminum panel doesn’t disturb player’s finger because it is small.

At backside of handle, another aluminum panel that includes the 2nd name of the model in ‘Hayabusa’ series is applied.

At the end of handle, a hexagonal aluminum panel that includes Xiom logo and the names of blade family (= Hayabusa) and sub-brand (= Omni).

Various information including the kind of material, the description on blade, the name of sub-brand (= Omni) and the name of blade is printed.

New ‘Hayabusa’ series consists of five models. Among those five, three models have ‘Pro’ in their names. That doesn’t mean that the other two models are lower-class blades than those three, but that those three are close to professional spec. when compared with the blades with similar constructions.

Same graphic design concept is applied for all models in ‘Hayabusa’ series. And, ‘Omni’ logo and the picture of a falcon are printed respectively at top and at right wing of foreside head.

The graphic design of handle is common for all five models, and each model is distinguished by the color combination. Above pictures show three models including ‘Pro’ in their names. White & blade on burgundy background is for ‘ZL Pro’ (left), teal & orange on dark blue background is for ‘OFF Pro’ (center), and white and dark blue on dark brown background is for ‘HX Pro’ (right).

‘Hayabusa ZL Pro’ is a very important model that can be recommend for the players who play with both-hand topspin and want to use fiber blades but don’t like the feeling of carbon fiber.

‘Hayabusa ZL Pro’ is a unique blade which is an inner Zylon (= Zephylium) blade with Koto top layer. Its construction is very similar to that of Butterfly ‘Timo Boll ZLF’ except for the placement of ZL fiber. If the ZL fiber in the construction of ‘Timo Boll ZLF’ is moved one step inward, it becomes the construction of ‘Hayabusa ZL Pro’. So, we will be able to deal with ‘Hayabusa ZL Pro’ as the inner fiber version of ‘Timo Boll ZLF’. Like ‘Timo Boll ZLF’, ‘Hayabusa ZL Pro’ is also the blade with intermediate characteristics between pure wood blades and the blades containing carbon fiber. And, because of its moderate elasticity and reasonable price, ‘Hayabusa ZL Pro’ is expected to be a blade that can be recommended for various players.

TTGearLab will analyze and compare some inner fiber blades whose artificial fibers don’t contain carbon fiber in near future.

Following are the performance indices of Xiom Hayabusa ZL Pro (avg.weight = 86.2g) :

– Ep = 1.67

– Ec = 1.46 (Ec/Ep = 0.88)

– Vp = 1.16

– Vl = 1.16 (Vl/Vp = 1.00)

Please note that above are average values and can be updated by further measurement.

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