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 blades (ARX and ZLX) and three ‘Pro’ models (ZL Pro, HX Pro and OFF Pro). Although two outer 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 ZLX’ is an outer blade whose artificial material is Zephylium Carbon. It is equivalent for outer ZLC blades of other manufacturers, and therefore it can be compared with Butterfly ‘Timo Boll ZLC’ or ‘Fan Zhendong ZLC’. It is a fast blade, and its response to the variation of impact force is close to linear. It doesn’t especially hug the ball deeply when the player hits the ball very strongly. The feeling transmitted to index finger is relatively softer than the primary feeling. Therefore, ‘Hayabusa ZLX’ can be recommended for modern all-round players who play with various technics. It can also be the replacement of classic thick 7-ply wood blades.

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 ZLX’ is red & burgundy on black background.

The kind of artificial fiber is indicated at top of the backside of head. The artificial material of ‘Hayabusa ZLX’ is Zephylium Carbon which is woven from Zephylium fiber (= Zylon fiber) and carbon fiber. ZLX is the term of Xiom that expresses Zephylium Carbon (= Zylon Carbon).

‘Hayabusa ZLX’ is a blade of outer construction. Zephylium Carbon (= ZLX = ZLC) is placed directly under the top layer. The top layer is Koto. The middle layer is Ayous, and the center layer is Kiri. Overall thickness is around 5.7mm.

The head size on the catalog is 158mm x 150mm which is a bit longer than regular size (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.

‘Hayabusa ZLX’ (left) and ‘Hayabusa ARX’ (right) are outer-construction models. New ‘Hayabusa’ series consists of five models. Among those five, three models have ‘Pro’ in their names. But, two outer fiber models whose positions are highest in the series doesn’t have ‘Pro’ in their names. That is because the two outer models – ‘Hayabusa ARX’ and ‘Hayabusa ZLX’ – are already the blades with professional specification, and therefore it isn’t needed to distinguish from the blades with similar specifications by adding ‘Pro’.

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 also common for all five models, and each model is distinguished by the color combination. White & burgundy on black background is for ‘ZLX’, and white & red on dark blue background is for ‘ARX’.

‘Hayabusa ZLX’ (left) and ‘Hayabusa ARX’ (right) share the basic construction. But, those two are distinguished by the kind of artificial material – Zephylium Carbon (Zylon Carbon) and Aramid Carbon.

The name of artificial material is written at many points of backside of blade – top of head and the aluminum plate at handle. It is also written at right wing.

‘Hayabusa ZLX’ (left) and ‘Hayabusa ARX’ (right) provide high performance at reasonable price range. It is expected that those two will be the most important outer construction models in Xiom’s blade range in the future.

‘Hayabusa ZLX’ is the solution of Xiom for the players who want the outer ZLC blade with Koto top layer.

‘Hayabusa ZLX’ is an outer-construction blade, and its advantage when compared with existing top models of Xiom outer-fiber blades is its reasonable price. In near future TTGearLab will analyze and compare some outer blades those are reasonably priced.

Following are the performance indices of Xiom Hayabusa ZLX (avg.weight = 84.5g) :

– Ep = 1.95

– Ec = 1.99 (Ec/Ep = 1.03)

– Vp = 1.37

– Vl = 1.23 (Vl/Vp = 0.90)

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

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