DHS H301 Blade, My Review

says I would recommend all wood. Samsonov Alpha sgs is the...
says I would recommend all wood. Samsonov Alpha sgs is the...
Active Member
Nov 2017
876
400
1,399
Read 8 reviews
Wow what a blade. I played with mine for the first time today.

20171206_1115492.jpg
The picture is with the plastic wrap still on. Without the plastic wrap it's a bare grey surface, as the writing and logo are only on the plastic wrap.

Blade itself weighs 84, the assembled racket.. Well, I didn't weigh it.
It is very light with these rubbers, obviously, but the balance of the blade is also excellent, making it very lively in the hand. My Palio King Yue weighs 3 grams less, but feels noticeably less lively beause of weight distribution. Liu Shiwen ZLF weighs 86, but feels livelier because of superior balance. This one is a bit more head heavy but not too much.

First thing I noticed is that my softer shots are going short, and was like "wtf" cuz this blade is rated Off++ while my other blade is All+. Hit with a bit more confidence, fine.
Then I hit a bit faster and the ball goes ZOOOOM. And I'm again "wtf", I never got this kind of speed from such a simple forward drive, and also "wtf" because a second ago this was slower than an ALL+ blade.
GEARS. It has gears far exceeding any of my other blades. And very easy and intuitive to use.

Then I practiced topspin and topspin on backspin. In topspin it was great, but not as good as my LSW which creates much more lethal topspin. But in topspin against backspin it was so nice. The blade is fast enough and solid enough that the ball will consistently shoot fast, full of spin, and shallow over the net. Very hard to return. It is fast, has a long trajectory for the ball. A good compromise between spin and speed. To generate more spin than speed you have to be gentle and precise.

All in all, this blade has the best range of 'gears' of those I've tried, and it's something very noticable. Also very stable and easy to control. Blocking is excellent and it fits my choice of rubbers perfectly. For me it's a 10 out of 10 in every category except for topspin, where it's, I guess, an 8.5 in comparison to the King Yue's 10.

All in all, the best blade I've had the fortune of using. Responsive and accurate. It doesn't "do" anything to the ball. It just makes it go exactly as you want it to. Insane gears, fast, crisp.



Side with rubbers
20171207_092015.jpg

Compared to BTY Liu Shiwen, it is about the same speed when spinning, but much easier to drive and smash. Next to the table, they are comparable for spin, with the LSW having more spin and pace more easily, whereas with the 301 you might be in danger of putting the ball in the net if you don't execute a more complete motion.

Compared to Viscaria, it is a lot more linear. The lower gears are a lot easier to access than with the viscaria, meaning your balls won't pop long as much for slight mistakes and it is more comfortable in much of the game, and high gear full power strokes are nearly the same, with the viscaria being just a bit faster and more consistently fast. Backhand spin and loop is a touch easier with the Viscaria I felt, and I ascribe this to the higher speed on low power shots.

Compared to a frying pan, it is a lot easier to topspin, but less good against backspin balls.

Compared to a cold dead fish, it blocks better and is overall better in every area.
 
Last edited:
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Active Member
Jan 2017
815
645
1,666
Read 2 reviews
That behavior you mentioned comes from the positioning of the Carbon layers. This is an innerforce kind blade. The Carbon only Kicks in on high power Shots.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RidTheKid
says I would recommend all wood. Samsonov Alpha sgs is the...
says I would recommend all wood. Samsonov Alpha sgs is the...
Active Member
Nov 2017
876
400
1,399
Read 8 reviews
That behavior you mentioned comes from the positioning of the Carbon layers. This is an innerforce kind blade. The Carbon only Kicks in on high power Shots.

I didn't think that was it because the Liu Shiwen is much more of an 'innerforce' kind of blade, and I'm very used to the Liu Shiwen (played with it for half a year). The Liu Shiwen doesn't come near to the DHS H301 in either gears or a natural crisp feel.
 
Last edited:
This user has no status.
I didn't think that was it because the Liu Shiwen is much more of an 'innerforce' kind of blade, and I'm very used to the Liu Shiwen (played with it for half a year). The Liu Shiwen doesn't come near to the DHS H301 in either gears or a natural crisp feel.
Excellent blade. Too bad its so underrated

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk
 
says I would recommend all wood. Samsonov Alpha sgs is the...
says I would recommend all wood. Samsonov Alpha sgs is the...
Active Member
Nov 2017
876
400
1,399
Read 8 reviews
Excellent blade. Too bad its so underrated

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

Yup it's an incredible blade, but it's difficult to get a very weak/soft touch with it (easier with 301) and also difficult to get top speed with it. It is better for spin for sure, much easier, but DHS301 is easier in terms of accessing all its gears. Very intuitive somehow. I think I just love koto outer layers.
 
says I would recommend all wood. Samsonov Alpha sgs is the...
says I would recommend all wood. Samsonov Alpha sgs is the...
Active Member
Nov 2017
876
400
1,399
Read 8 reviews
Lots of talk about this blade in the forum so I'm bumping up my review of it :)
Maybe others can add to the review
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Feb 2019
84
25
121
Lightzy,

Based on your great review of this blade I went ahead and made the purchase. It was exactly what I was looking for. I had been using softer blades mostly. For looping my favorite was the Sanwei F3 Pro with the outer layer of Ayous and the ALC. It just had too much bounce, or rebound for me. I got ahold of a few of the Siam Pingpong blades from Thailand. One is a single ply Hinoki (9mm) and the other is one of his "Super Walnut" modules. I really liked the crisp feeling that both of these provide, but they are both a little bit too fast for me. You made the H301 sound like a slower version of my Super Walnut blade, so I took a chance. It turned out just about perfect, was exactly what I was looking for.

I have used Stiga Genesis M, AK47 Yellow, Battle 2 and Palio Hadou 40+ on this blade. So far for the FH my favorites are Battle 2 and then Genesis M. On the BH, it is AK47 Yellow and then Genesis M.
 
says I would recommend all wood. Samsonov Alpha sgs is the...
says I would recommend all wood. Samsonov Alpha sgs is the...
Active Member
Nov 2017
876
400
1,399
Read 8 reviews
Hey man thanks, I can't tell you how happy I am if I was instrumental in making u happy! :)

It's really a great blade.
Not for nothing it keeps very high on revspin even with over 40 reviews, which is a feat
 
Last edited:

Paw

This user has no status.

Paw

This user has no status.
Member
Dec 2016
21
23
46
H301 is very good blade and I am not surprised that get so many good reviews.
I am plying it all this season (from June) and I am very happy.
Previously I used Viscaria first edition and I was looking for something similar. Speed, control the same. H301 is bit softer blade, easier to control serves and short touch.
Overall - for that price £70- I dont think you will found something better :cool:
 
Top