Chen is a forum member or DHS seller/distributor?
Did you get a Provincial or National?
He’s a forum member and seller - mines a 2019 provincial
Do you have a link to which prott has the 2022 version? I only see 2019?
Hi, he hasn't updated his photos but it's this: https://prott.vip/Product-Details.aspx?productcode=OFFICIALW968
I would talk to him first though and see was he has in stock.
# likely in the 20's or 30's.
I'm sure he has 2022 Provincial ones has well but again, I would ask first: https://prott.vip/Product-Details.aspx?productcode=2020W968L
Best,
Well, I gave in to temptation and ordered one. He showed me a picture of 3 of them, I requested the 90.5gm one which he said he had in stock. The other two were like 87 and 88 grams. I'm playing with a 94 gram one (was 96, but I shaved it down 2mm to 158mm so it's 94 now) with fairly thick grip tape, so I wanted one most similar to that weight. It looks like most of the W968s nation or provincial are right around 90 grams and 6mm so this one is also the closest to that, so I was hopeful that this would be most similar to what most reviewers are playing with.
After I ordered it now says it's out of stock, which I think makes sense. You probably picked up one of the 3 shown, someone else ordered another one, so when I ordered it said only 1 is in stock.
I chose the national as opposed to the provincial mainly for 2 reasons. One, like you I just wanted the "W968" engraved on it 😄 Two, if the W968 is anything like the commercial one, it's really not suitable for most players. I rarely see players at the club loop hard enough to actually access any of its power, so I think eventually most people who buy a provincial one will sell it because eventually they'll pick up a Viscaria or something and go "wow, I play so much better with this". People who shell out the money for the national one though, may be more like you and keep it as a collector's item even if they don't use it.
I don't think I'll actually play any better with the national version, maybe even worse than with the commercial one, but Ma Long is my boy and I'm getting his blade! 😁 I've been playing with the HL5 the past 3 weeks. Last week I won the 3rd group in my local league (I was a bit underrated due to coming back from TT after a long break) and moved into the 2nd group. This week I won the 2nd group and I'm gonna move up to the top group next week! I beat a guy 3-0 whom I lost to 0-3 just a couple months ago. This blade suits my game extremely well. I use the service and receive game to get a long return and then I use my quick feet to get into position and FH loop drive with full power. The soft touch, power, and dwell work really well for that type of game.
On the BH side I can't generate my own power nearly as much and need to borrow an opponent's power. I'm hoping that with more practice and the W968 that can be improved as well! The only issue is that my D09C is pretty worn out, it's got 100+ hours on it and on more brushing shots it's starting to slip a bit. Luckily my game is more with drives and it does fine when engaging the sponge, but still, it's really reaching the end of its life. I want to change it but I don't want to cut a new sheet to an old blade, so I guess I'll just have to play with the old sheet for a while longer.
Look forward to hearing your findings. I'm curious if you find that the new 968 is actually faster than the HL5.
I'm pretty curious as well. I think I'll be a better judge than most, since I'll have used the HL5 as my primary blade for 2-3 months (shipping is estimated to be 40-60 days 😑 and there's the lunar new year coming up) and I'll be using the same exact rubbers as I have brand new sheets of D09C and D05 waiting for the new blade.
Actually not many CNT members use blades with ZLC. I can only name one, Chen Xingtong uses a LGY ZLC blade.
And I have to think really hard to name another one, maybe in the past the GOAT Zhang Yining used an innerforce ZLC.I would even go as far as to say they have a similar playstyle.
Having said all that I think Mizutani ZLC blades are quite popular in China.
Wasn't there a period a few years ago when all players had to use Chinese equipment? There was some paranoia that CNT is being s@botaged or what. While this is hilarious, I don't know how easy it is for non sponsored players to get top grade BTY or other branded blades. DHS is not that hard.
Ps: I can't believe the word s@botaged is not permitted on this forum.
How about a 968 structure blade with super alc?
This is just guessing, Super ALC with thinner blade might work better in some cases and might be worse in others. SALC is harder than ALC.
We can guess if CNF would be better or the carbon - acryl - zylon triple weave that now DHS is also experimenting with.
The W968 is definitely faster than the HL5, the 2 are very different in this aspect as well as the HL5 feeling somewhat hollow and a bit dead even more so than an IF ALC, while the W968's feel crisp with an excellent touch. I haven't received mine yet but having tried several W968 Prov and Nat, the difference is very obvious right away like other W968 users have pointed out on this thread. The Nat and Prov are not that different from one another on the other end.
An Inner ZLC doesn't have as much touch and feels more dead and mechanic, while the W968 feels more organic and offers more touch, gears and options.
They don't need more speed! They've got all the speed they need in their core, legs and technique. They want stability, feel and flexibility.
If they wanted more speed, they would use faster rubbers.
I don't know that the 2nd gen is necessarily faster, just a smaller head-size which makes it less still and more flexible, and allows for more racket speed. The core of W968 is thicker already, did they make it even thicker on the 2nd gen, I don't know, probably not.
Yes, the feel of SALC is not as nice as that of ALC. I haven't seen too many pros adopting SALC, including Japanese players.
I think it's important to take into account and not dismiss that most pros use blades that are thin and not that fast (for them) if you compare their blades to what else is being sold (ZLC, SZLC, Tamca outer).
