DHS W968 National vs W968 Gold / W968S / Q968 for intermediate player — no booster

[struke]

Hi everyone,


I would like to get honest advice before buying a premium DHS blade.


I am considering these 4 DHS blades:

1. DHS W968 Hurricane Long 5 National
2. DHS W968 Gold Grand Slam
3. DHS Golden 6 W968 / W968S Ma Long
4. DHS Q968 Hurricane King National

My planned setup is:


FH: DHS Hurricane 3 Neo National 40 Blue Sponge 2.1
BH: Butterfly Dignics 05 2.1


Important note: I do not want to use booster at all, now or in the future. I want to use the Hurricane 3 Neo National 40 Blue Sponge exactly as it comes from the factory, without boosting or re-boosting. Please take this into account when recommending the best blade for me.


About me:
I am a 32-year-old intermediate-level player. I train 4 hours per week in group sessions, plus one private 1-hour coaching session every week. My FH, BH, topspin, push and chop are quite stable for my level.


My current setup is Butterfly Harimoto Innerforce ALC with Dignics 05 2.1 on both sides. I really like Dignics 05 on backhand, especially on inner carbon blades. I tried it on Viscaria before and it felt too fast/hard for me.


I also tried a DHS Hurricane Long 5 commercial with H3 Neo National Blue Sponge on forehand for one training session. The FH topspin felt much more real, heavy and dangerous compared to Dignics 05 on FH, and I really enjoyed it. However, I struggled more in the short game.


My goal is to move to a high-quality DHS blade for long-term use. I am not looking only for prestige or speed. I want the most suitable and forgiving option for my level with this setup, while still giving me high performance and long-term development potential.


Which of these 4 DHS blades would you recommend for me?


Main questions:

• Is W968 National the safest and best choice for my level and setup?
• Is W968S / Golden 6 more or less forgiving than W968 National?
• Is W968 Gold Grand Slam mainly a collector blade, or also a better playing blade?
• Is Q968 too fast/direct for my level?
• Which one would be closest in feeling to Harimoto Innerforce ALC, but with a premium DHS feeling?
• Which blade would be best for FH topspin with unboosted H3 National and still reliable on BH with Dignics 05?
• Which one is better for short game, pushes and serve receive?
• What blade weight would you recommend with this setup? I was thinking around 88–90g.

I would really appreciate opinions from players who have tried these blades, especially W968 National, W968S, Q968, or H3 National without booster.


Thank you.

 

[Tyce]

If you aren't going to use booster at all, I think you're wasting your money on any combination of H3 + premium DHS blade. H3 is meant to be boosted. You're basically buying a deflated tire - it needs pumping up to usable pressure.

Alternatively, you could go for 729/Friendship Battle 2 (or 3) which is quite usable out of the package without additional boosting. Hurricane 8 *might* also work because it has a little more catapult than H3.
Or, if you don't mind heavy gear, Nittaku's Hurricane 3 Turbo which has a "Japanese sponge".

If you insist on your selection of FH + premium DHS blade, and you're afraid D05 would be too fast, you could use Glayzer on your BH instead.

Third alternative, try using D09c on your current setup's FH. Especially if you are happy with the rest of it - blade and BH combo - this might be gold (and cheaper, easier to adjust to).


With the alternatives served, I would not recommend putting H3N on Harimoto ALC. The power curve of Butterfly's Innerforce ALC blade is a mismatch to H3's activation curves IMO. What I'm trying to say is, you don't want a blade that's closest to Harimoto ALC if your goal is to put H3 on it.
Forget about the special editions blades, pocket the hundreds of dollars that you don't have to spend on those. Get whichever you like most between W968 and Q968 (I would personally pick the black one even if I don't like WCQ all that much - it just looks better to me).

 

[struke]

If you aren't going to use booster at all, I think you're wasting your money on any combination of H3 + premium DHS blade. H3 is meant to be boosted. You're basically buying a deflated tire - it needs pumping up to usable pressure.

Alternatively, you could go for 729/Friendship Battle 2 (or 3) which is quite usable out of the package without additional boosting. Hurricane 8 *might* also work because it has a little more catapult than H3.
Or, if you don't mind heavy gear, Nittaku's Hurricane 3 Turbo which has a "Japanese sponge".

If you insist on your selection of FH + premium DHS blade, and you're afraid D05 would be too fast, you could use Glayzer on your BH instead.

Third alternative, try using D09c on your current setup's FH. Especially if you are happy with the rest of it - blade and BH combo - this might be gold (and cheaper, easier to adjust to).


With the alternatives served, I would not recommend putting H3N on Harimoto ALC. The power curve of Butterfly's Innerforce ALC blade is a mismatch to H3's activation curves IMO. What I'm trying to say is, you don't want a blade that's closest to Harimoto ALC if your goal is to put H3 on it.
Forget about the special editions blades, pocket the hundreds of dollars that you don't have to spend on those. Get whichever you like most between W968 and Q968 (I would personally pick the black one even if I don't like WCQ all that much - it just looks better to me).

Thanks for the detailed reply, I appreciate it.


I understand your point that H3 is commonly boosted and that many players feel it performs best that way. However, I already bought the DHS Hurricane 3 Neo National 40 Blue Sponge 2.1, and I really do not want to use booster or deal with re-boosting/maintenance. I prefer to use it as it comes from the factory, even if that means less speed or catapult.


The reason I still want to use this rubber is that I already tried H3 Neo National Blue Sponge unboosted on a DHS Hurricane Long 5 commercial blade, and I really enjoyed the FH topspin. It felt more real, heavy and dangerous than Dignics 05 on FH. The main difficulty for me was the short game, not the topspin.


About the blade feeling: I prefer something closer to my Butterfly Harimoto Innerforce ALC feeling, and less similar to Viscaria. I tried Dignics 05 on Viscaria before and it felt too fast/hard/direct for me. On my Harimoto Innerforce ALC, Dignics 05 feels perfect, especially on BH, so I want to keep Dignics 05 on backhand.


I also tried Dignics 09C before and did not like it as much as Dignics 05, so I do not really want to go in that direction.


If we narrow it down to W968 National vs Q968, considering that I will use unboosted H3 Neo National on FH and Dignics 05 on BH, and that I prefer an inner-carbon feeling closer to Harimoto rather than Viscaria, which one do you think would be more forgiving and suitable for an intermediate player?


My main priorities are:

• easier adaptation from Harimoto Innerforce ALC
• strong FH topspin with unboosted H3 Neo National
• reliable BH with Dignics 05
• better short game, pushes and serve receive
• not too direct, hard or demanding

Would you still pick Q968 over W968 National for my case, or would W968 National be the safer choice?

 

[golden_son]

They all have more or less the same composition, but Q968 is going to be closer to your HALC in terms of head size and responsiveness, if you're looking for a "smoother" transition. Though honestly without trying someone else's first I don't know why you would switch since on paper they are essentially the same and the DHS blades are ridiculously expensive. You might like it better, but it might end up a detriment.

You're also planning to switch both blade and FH rubber at the same time, which is a big change. Be prepared to love it for an hour or two in practice and then hate it as soon as you play your first match, and continue to hate it for a while after that until you A) switch back to your old setup or B) eventually get used to it. That much change takes a while to feel comfortable. I'd start with the blade first (if you must "upgrade") so you have a direct comparison with your current blade.

I'm with Tyce and definitely don't recommend playing H3 National BS unboosted (great tire analogy btw). It may make those great, "deadly" topspins in practice when you're in position and fully committed to your FH stroke, but the second you're out of position or give it less effort that ball loses any quality. Even boosted you still need to be on your game, but at least it's more forgiving on imperfect hits and touch shots. Unboosted you're paying $100 for a somewhat tacky brick. If boosting is too much trouble, sell that H3 and get one of the livelier alternatives mentioned (Battle III, Rxton 7/9, Sanwei Target National). They're all considerably cheaper, too, so you could probably get a sheet of each one for the price of that H3 National BS...