NEXY Calix II (Calix 2) and Qabod reviews

Comparative reviews Calix II and Qabod

After 2 weeks of waiting impatiently, I have gotten myself with the these 2 wonderful blades from nexy. I could not believe my eyes seeing very finely crafted blades. For a newcomer of a company, Nexy has shown that it can produce high quality blades. Upon first look of the 2 blades, if they don't have any logos or brand names, you could easily mistake them for a high quality europen blade and maybe even close to a butterfly blade. The craftmanship is superb and handles of the 2 blades are very comfortable and smooth. 

The Calix 2 was at 86 grams and the Qabod was at 89 grams. Both have very thin blade thickness. the Calix 2 was approx. 5.3mm and the Qabod was approx. 5.2mm. Both of the blades are pretty well balanced in terms of weight distribution and even with the Qabod didn't feel heavy. The Mahogany outerply of the Calix 2 as well as the walnut outer ply of the Qabod were both very good to look at aside from the paint job on the blades. With the Qabod, the paint design is radical and its like the path taken by the Hayabusha blades of Xiom.

The Qabod was the one i tested first together with our head coach who is a former national player, champion and national coach, also an Asian Cup top 16 in his prime. The Qabod was joined by an LKT Rapid Speed and a Calibra LT Sound. Although by many standards the LKT Rapid Speed is not really that fast I could feel the speed of the blade. This is the reason why i chose the LKT Rapid speed as one of my test rubbers in order for me to see and feel how fast really is the blade. This is OFF+ for me. In terms of speed I would compare it to a butterfly Jun Mizutani with a more woody feel. Yes, even with the carbon layers, it didn't feel like a carbon blade at all which felt really good. My coach who prefers all wood blades said that he doesn't feel the carbon but the blade seems very fast when I also placed a P7 for additional testing. I thought at first it would be just like a yasaka ma lin carbon and nothing more but it felt different and its significantly faster the yasaka ma lin carbon. The speed and feel of the blade was great in counterhitting and loop driving. its above average on looping but its more of a loop driver or hitters blade. You can spin well with it no problem about that. I would also to emphasize that this blade is good for middle distance and away from the table. Especially with fast euro rubbers like adidas P7, Tenzone or Tibhar 5Q and 1Q, playing far from the table wouldn't be too hard. Near table, players might do some adjusting because of the Qabod's speed.

The Calix 2 surprised me more than the Qabod. Although the Qabod was faster and has more solid shots, the feel, average off speed and control of the Calix 2 made me like the Calix 2 more than the Qabod. My coach liked the Qabod better because he says its as fast as his vintage DHS 08 though he wanted it a bit more heavy like 96 grams. What I like about the Calix 2 is that it has some flex whenever I loop the ball either with slow spinny loops or faster forward closed racket loops. It reminded me of a donic burn wood with carbon. Its the closest i can compare to. Both the Qabod and Calix 2  have less vibration which i like. Definitely a good loping carbon blade like the Tube Carbo of stiga but has more lfex, not head heavy especially if you use a chinese rubber on the forehand and doesn't vibrate much. A medium distance and a close to the table blade, its above average speed and preference for control and placement shots would surely suit players who wouldn't want to compromise speed over control. 

Overall, these 2 blades are both admirable of their playing characteristics and fine craftsmanship. A bit pricey for some people but I would definitely pay that much for both quality and performance which can be found in these 2 blades.

This is a comparative review of the Nexy Calix II (86g, straight) and the Qabod (89g, straight). While I was planning on reviewing in the standard format, I realized that that wouldn’t add that much value as there are already many such reviews in this thread. I’ll also pitch in some comparisons to the Calix as well and add to the review the more I play.

I’ll focus on their characteristics comparative to other popular blades and also their value proposition.

I used the following rubbers for review (each blade had an identical set of FH and BH rubbers, so I could do a A-B comparison easily):

1.      Tenergy 05, 2.1mm

2.      Bluefire M1, 2.0mm

3.      Acuda S1 max

The 1^st two rubbers were chosen especially because I am very familiar with them.

Blades with which A-B comparisons were done:

1.      Xiom Stradivarius (FL, 86g)

2.      Timo Boll ZLF (ST, 82g)

3.      Timo Boll Spirit (ST, 87g)

Note: my main blade is the Timo Boll ZLF which is a tad more expensive than these two.

Initial looks: both blades are beautiful to look at, though I prefer the looks of Calix and Calix 2 more than Qabod.

Anyways, I’m less concerned about looks and more on how they play. I sealed both using 1 layer of Joola varnish and put on T05 and S1 on each, as well as on the Stradivarius.

The outer ply of the Calix 2 seemed softer than that of the Qabod. I have not read the breakdown of the material used by the manufacturer other than the fact that the woods in Calix 2 & Qabod are burnt, but from other posters, I get that the Calix 2 has mahogany outers and the Qabod uses walnut.

Soft / Medium Counters: I started with some soft counters. Here, one gets the first feeling of the difference between the Nexy blades vs the ZLF, TBS or Strad. The Nexy blades seem to hit a bit softer on the soft shots as compared to the Butterfly and Xiom blades (all with Koto outers). Reading a few notes from the manufacturer, it seems that this was intentional: he wanted good absorptive properties on softer strokes along with power in the full-bodied strokes. When I amped the power up a bit, I found that:

Calix 2 < ZLF < Qabod < Strad on medium powered counters

Hard counters &  Loops:                             

In terms of power: ZLF < Calix 2 < Strad < Qabod

Topspin kick on slow loops: Strad = Calix 2 < Qabod < ZLF

Topspin kick on full-blooded loops: Strad = Calix 2 < ZLF < Qabod

Feel:      Now we come to (IMHO) perhaps the most important part. Why Calix 2 or Qabod as opposed to any other popular blades?

Calix 2 feel:         In a nutshell, here’s how I would describe it: the Calix 2 plays a lot like the TBS except that unlike the TBS (which has a comparatively stiffer / dead feel), it has a woody feel. Additionally, you’ll have better slow game control with the Calix 2 as opposed to the TBS (due to it hitting slower on slow strokes) while full-powered strokes are of similar OFF- rating. After playing, I read about the blade a bit and could perhaps attribute this feel to the fact that there seem to be two outer layers in the Calix 2 before the carbon layer (as opposed to one in the TBS or Strad) but I did not know this during my tests. There is a bit of an adjustment period coming from the TBS due to the fact that the carbon layer is further in (the catapault starts only on slightly faster strokes relative to the TBS / Strad) but this can of course be overcome with playing time. Calix 2 plays more like the TBS than the Strad, but only more woody and with better feel. I think this blade is a big improvement from the original Calix – the added thickness gives a better feel and power (Calix, according to me, is mainly for those who want thin, flexy blades for looping. The problem with the 1st Calix that is its non-linearity due to flex was a bit difficult to control for me).

Qabod feel:         I really liked the feel of this blade the most. It is clearly OFF+ but has great touch in slow strokes. However, it exhibits a great dwelly & woody feel in the fast loop-drives with loops really kicking off the table more than the other blades (including the BTY and Xiom ones). BTW: the outer ply of this blade (Walnut?) matches very well with the M1 2.0. Here again, there seem to be two layers prior to the carbon layer.

Bottom Line:

Why Calix 2: I’m not going to shy away from the price question: given that I’ve mentioned that this blade plays more like the TBS. I think this blade is for those who want the properties & power of composite but (unlike TBS) don’t want to give up the woody feel. So, perhaps, it is a bit like Innerforce ALC in that aspect, except with a better balance. Also, this would appeal to those who want to try a blade designed by a smaller niche manufacturer rather than a mass-market one. So, while it is priced higher than the Strad or TBS, it offers a slightly woodier feel and is less head heavy than the Innerforce ALC.

For those who prefer a non-woody stiffer feel, perhaps might lean towards the TBS.

Why Qabod:       Here’s the real value proposition. A lot of OFF+ blades are stiff and too bouncy in the short game. Not Qabod: this blade maintains the woody feel and is very playable in the short game. Full-blooded loops exhibit great dwell on the blade & kick off the table. Perhaps, this is like Mizutani Jun (though it is faster than the MJ on harder strokes) but with a bit better feel for some $40 less. I really liked this blade. The only unfortunate issue for me is that (unlike most on this forum) I prefer lighter blades (86g or less) as I can't play well with setups >185g. But that is just a personal choice that does not reflect on this blade's performance. I am seriously thinking of getting lighter rubbers (like the T05FX or Acuda S2) to try out on the Qabod to see if it can replace my primary setup. I felt the M1 played great on this blade, except that both M1 and Qabod are a wee bit heavy for my liking. However, for a lot of the members here, I think this blade would be ideal.