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 OFF Pro’ is a 5-ply wood offensive blade. It focuses on natural feeling as pure wood blade and the excellent balance between offense and defense. ‘Hayabusa OFF Pro’ is harder and faster than most of 5-ply wood blade with similar thicknesses. Its elasticity is close to that of Nittaku ‘Tenor’, and its feeling is a bit harder than that of ‘Tenor’. Although it is a pure wood blade, its high elasticity allows player to perform quite powerful attack by topspin. Also, because it is the least expensive model in ‘Hayabusa’ series, it can be recommended for the players whose budget is limited or the entry players who lay emphasis on high cost-performance.

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 OFF Pro’ is teal & orange on navy background.

The kind of construction of this blade is indicated at top of the backside of head. ‘Hayabusa OFF Pro’ is a 5-ply pure wood blade.

‘Hayabusa OFF Pro’ is a 5-ply wood blade. The top layer and the middle layer are Limba. And, the center layer is Ayous. Overall thickness is around 6.0mm.

The official head size on the catalog is 158mm x 150mm. Measured size is around 157mm x 153mm.

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) ~ 25mm (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 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 OFF Pro’ is a blade for the players who prefer the natural feeling of pure wood.

‘Hayabusa OFF Pro’ is a 5-ply wood blade, but it is relatively faster and harder than ordinary 5-ply wood offensive blades. Because it provides relatively high power at a reasonable price, it can be recommended for the players who want to try ‘Hayabusa’ series but are on a tight budget.

TTGearLab will analyze and compare some new 5-ply wood blades including ‘Hayabusa OFF Pro’ in near future.

Following are the performance indices of Xiom Hayabusa OFF Pro (avg.weight = 88.2g) :

– Ep = 1.92

– Ec = 1.72 (Ec/Ep = 0.90)

– Vp = 1.25

– Vl = 1.29 (Vl/Vp = 1.03)

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

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