Customer review for XIOM Vega Tour - Chinese Penhold

External Review for XIOM Vega Tour on June 8, 2016

I have just purchased a Vega Tour, and although I have not yet played with it, I wanted to weigh in on what I feel are some quality issues. The Vega Tour is my fourth Xiom blade, and I have been extremely pleased with the first three, a V1 Quad, a Zetro Quad, and my favorite, a Hyabusa Zxi. All three of these blades are manufactured in China, and in my opinion, excelled in quality and workmanship. When I read the specs on the Vega Tour, and saw the playing specs were superior to my Zxi, I decided to get one. The Tour is made in Korea, Xiom's native country, so I expected enhanced quality. Boy, was I disappointed! The packaging was impressive, but in my opinion, Xiom miscued on a few things. The outer layers of this blade are Hinoki, and it is a delicate wood. Xiom packages the blade with protective foils on both sides of the blade with the idea that you could reuse them once rubber was applied. They use four adhesive dots on each foil to adhere them to the blade. When I removed a foil on one face, it took several splinters of wood with it, not a great way to start. After some rather delicate gluing, I cleaned up the issue satisfactorily, but not flawlessly. I examined both faces and found one more peeling sliver just sitting up slightly, and repaired it. I have never had any issues with the handles on my Chinese Xiom blades. On the Vega Tour, Xiom used some crappy sheet aluminum handle inserts that were not even flush with the handle surfaces, and I thought to myself that I had just spent close to $200 on a pro quality blade, and this kind of stuff shouldn't happen! By the way, I emailed my issues along with photos to Xiom in Korea, and a couple days passed with no response. I'll be happy to report about playing characteristics once I've used the Tour, but wanted to warn anyone that purchases one of things you might expect. By all means, SEAL THIS BLADE before gluing up any rubbers.

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