DHS W968 review

[dingyibvs]

About what rating would you be?

1800's. I can take down some 2000 level looper, then fall to 1700-1800 level pips/anti players.

 

[TensorBackhand]

1800's. I can take down some 2000 level looper, then fall to 1700-1800 level pips/anti players.

Ah, if you were in the area we could train together

 

[dingyibvs]

Ah, if you were in the area we could train together

You're in Socal right? I'm in the Bay area, a bit too far unfortunately!

 

[TensorBackhand]

You're in Socal right? I'm in the Bay area, a bit too far unfortunately!

Yeah I used to live in Milpitas. But wasnt playing TT at that time. I did walk into a tt club one time and have a hit.

Didnt know the American hotspot of table tennis was right under my nose.

 

[thomas.pong]

I never understand when people say HL5 is not good for bh. If you loop with bh, you benefit from dwell time as well.

And if you drive with bh, i dont really see where HL5 is worse. I often hit power drives with inner blades.

Yes, this is a misconception based purely on ML vs. FZD, the W968 is amazing on the BH as well!

 

[thomas.pong]

I played possibly my last league day with the old HL5, did fairly well. I did lose to a guy I beat last week, and got 3-0'd by a guy I lost 3-2 against last week, but I made up for it by beating the highest rated regular at the club. Ended up with my first winning record since becoming a regular in the top group.

It's time to move on to the 968. After I got home I had a training session with the 968. None of my opinions have changed about it. Everything felt the same as the first impression, so I got to work on the part I need the most adjustment with, full-powered FH loop vs high topspin.

I found that in order to avoid excessive brushing and thus not accessing the blade and the rubber's full power, I have to flex my elbow more during the swing. I used to maintain a relatively straight (relatively, it's not terribly straight) arm throughout the swing, but now I need to actively flex the elbow more right as I contact the ball. The cracking sound and the flex I feel give affirmation that this is the right thing to do. By the end of the session I could execute a 3-point FH counterloop drill with the same consistency as before. Hopefully in a week or two this new motion will be part of my muscle memory. This is a relatively new skill, one that I haven't been able to employ in matches very often anyway (average like once a match), so I don't think it'll affect my play that much.

I think you're going to feel the most difference in one-on-one training and match play. I personally never got much out of testing equipment with a robot.

 

[TensorBackhand]

Yes, this is a misconception based purely on ML vs. FZD, the W968 is amazing on the BH as well!

I love hitting backhand power drives and smashes with the Fang Bo Carbon. Very crisp with good speed and some dwell too.

 

[dingyibvs]

Yes, this is a misconception based purely on ML vs. FZD, the W968 is amazing on the BH as well!

So I run this FH/BH drill to end my trainings most days. It's set at 19 speed and +4 spin, which approximates quick counters pretty well. I have it set at 90 balls/min, random 4 locations: wide FH/BH and middle FH/BH, in sets of 40. This tires me out pretty quickly.

The instant consistency and power improvement on the BH side was pretty shocking. I mean, this was the first time I did this drill with the 968, and my BH is suddenly as consistent as my FH. FH consistency was initially a bit lower, but by the end it was the same as before and I looped just as hard. Just 2 days prior it was still a bit of a frustrating exercise as I either miss a lot or hit a lot of pretty soft shots on the BH side, but yesterday was so satisfying!

Thr guys I lost to at the club yesterday are an anti BH guy and a LP BH Jpen player. They really mess with my game with their anti/LP returns to my BH side. They place them well enough (wide and either really deep or really short) that if I pivot I usually can't put much power in my FH. I'm gonna start looping/hitting those balls with my BH now. They aren't good enough to make short and low returns so they should all be easily attackable, but being floaty balls without much spin you have to generate your own power which I struggled with with the HL5. I'm hopeful that with some practice (need to mentally activate this attack with my BH mindset) I'll be able to beat them, because they sure as heck can't beat me in a rally.

 

[thomas.pong]

So I run this FH/BH drill to end my trainings most days. It's set at 19 speed and +4 spin, which approximates quick counters pretty well. I have it set at 90 balls/min, random 4 locations: wide FH/BH and middle FH/BH, in sets of 40. This tires me out pretty quickly.

The instant consistency and power improvement on the BH side was pretty shocking. I mean, this was the first time I did this drill with the 968, and my BH is suddenly as consistent as my FH. FH consistency was initially a bit lower, but by the end it was the same as before and I looped just as hard. Just 2 days prior it was still a bit of a frustrating exercise as I either miss a lot or hit a lot of pretty soft shots on the BH side, but yesterday was so satisfying!

Thr guys I lost to at the club yesterday are an anti BH guy and a LP BH Jpen player. They really mess with my game with their anti/LP returns to my BH side. They place them well enough (wide and either really deep or really short) that if I pivot I usually can't put much power in my FH. I'm gonna start looping/hitting those balls with my BH now. They aren't good enough to make short and low returns so they should all be easily attackable, but being floaty balls without much spin you have to generate your own power which I struggled with with the HL5. I'm hopeful that with some practice (need to mentally activate this attack with my BH mindset) I'll be able to beat them, because they sure as heck can't beat me in a rally.

Yeah, my BH consistency with the 968 became very apparent, and one of my higher rated practice partners immediately commented on the added power, spin and bite of my BH's especially when keeping a low trajectory. I think for me it is due to the great balance of feel and crispiness of the blade and the fact that you get the same on both wings, all of it giving extra confidence into the correct strokes. Also the very comfortable handle that makes it easier to keep a loose grip as an extension of the arm and switch more easily between FH and BH while keeping the desired angle.

Antis and LP's who just block, push and dump are always a pain in the ass! Lol.

 

[thomas.pong]

My first real training session with the blade a couple nights ago with my 2000+ level friend was also eye opening in its own way. We're running drills and I was exhausted coming into the session, pretty out of it and fairly tense as a result. This typically means that I hold the blade too tightly, loose my correct grip, switch grips, loose angles, over reach and over shoot too often, feel some frustration... In these situations, my preferred IF ZLC and other blades feel harder than they normally would when I'm more relaxed and hold the blade softly. I didn't feel this nearly as much with the W968, my consistency was still decent, the blade and grip still felt comfortable and I didn't lose confidence, which is great when the going gets tough like say when you're under extra pressure in-game or in a competition.

 

[TensorBackhand]

My first real training session with the blade a couple nights ago with my 2000+ level friend was also eye opening in its own way. We're running drills and I was exhausted coming into the session, pretty out of it and fairly tense as a result. This typically means that I hold the blade too tightly, loose my correct grip, switch grips, loose angles, over reach and over shoot too often, feel some frustration... In these situations, my preferred IF ZLC and other blades feel harder than they normally would when I'm more relaxed and hold the blade softly. I didn't feel this nearly as much with the W968, my consistency was still decent, the blade and grip still felt comfortable and I didn't lose confidence, which is great when the going gets tough like say when you're under extra pressure in-game or in a competition.

I always find that at the beginning of a session I hold the blade too stiff or something and it hurts my hand to grip the blade.

As the session goes on, it become more relaxed and it doesn't hurt as much.

I'm not sure why, but I think partly the blade handle warms up a little bit and becomes stickier.

 

[thomas.pong]

I always find that at the beginning of a session I hold the blade too stiff or something and it hurts my hand to grip the blade.

As the session goes on, it become more relaxed and it doesn't hurt as much.

I'm not sure why, but I think partly the blade handle warms up a little bit and becomes stickier.

For me it depends on the session and how relaxed I am, sometimes I grip loosely the whole session sometimes the opposite, sometimes it happens at the beginning or at the end or in the middle lol. The W968 handle does suit me very well though so I think I will have less difficulty with this and I seem to find my correct grip more easily with it as well. Good size handle with nice curve, higher neck and wings than BTY.

 

[TensorBackhand]

Yeah, my BH consistency with the 968 became very apparent, and one of my higher rated practice partners immediately commented on the added power, spin and bite of my BH's especially when keeping a low trajectory. I think for me it is due to the great balance of feel and crispiness of the blade and the fact that you get the same on both wings, all of it giving extra confidence into the correct strokes. Also the very comfortable handle that makes it easier to keep a loose grip as an extension of the arm and switch more easily between FH and BH while keeping the desired angle.

Antis and LP's who just block, push and dump are always a pain in the ass! Lol.

Another thing is Harimoto is a very BH oriented player. You might expect him to use Viscaria type.

But he uses Inner ALC blade.

 

[thomas.pong]

Another thing is Harimoto is a very BH oriented player. You might expect him to use Viscaria type.

But he uses Inner ALC blade.

So many players do just fine on the BH with inner carbon, WCQ is another exemple.

 

[piligrim]

For me handle on this blade very uncomfortable. FZD handle much better

 

[tlai]

For me handle on this blade very uncomfortable. FZD handle much better

In what way? Too thin?

 

[piligrim]

In what way? Too thin?

Yes

 

[TensorBackhand]

https://pingsunday.com/liang-jingkun-equipment-and-playing-style/

According to Pingsunday, the 2nd Gen w968 is actually the national version of the HL5x. So the reason it is faster is because the core is thicker. Can anybody confirm if this is true?

 

[dingyibvs]

https://pingsunday.com/liang-jingkun-equipment-and-playing-style/

According to Pingsunday, the 2nd Gen w968 is actually the national version of the HL5x. So the reason it is faster is because the core is thicker. Can anybody confirm if this is true?

Definitely not true. Old HL5 on the left, 968 on the right. The core on the 968 is actually slightly thinner.

 

[Zwill]

https://pingsunday.com/liang-jingkun-equipment-and-playing-style/

According to Pingsunday, the 2nd Gen w968 is actually the national version of the HL5x. So the reason it is faster is because the core is thicker. Can anybody confirm if this is true?

That is a hard no. W968 cannot be HL5x, that is a different structure (it would have a different number), also the X version of the DHS blades are for players who lack hitting power. The X versions are not intended for pros. Don't misunderstand they are very good too, but the thicker core is compensation for using lower-quality wood.

I am fully convinced that blades with ayous core have to have very little and few pores to be good quality.
Michael, if you want to get a good cheap blade you can either go to a store which has dozens of blades, and you can inspect them with your own eyes, or ask a blade maker to select you a very dense ayous core. I think with ayous it is fairly easy to select since it's visible. In a store you can select for example a Fang Bo carbon that has very few and little pores and that can be a really good find. You can use this with BTY IF blades, or Stiga blades since they mostly also use ayous core.

I don't know what to look for in kiri core, but what I know from the hundreds (if not thousands) of Golden Viscarias I saw being sold on wechat is that I never ever saw a Golden Viscaria below 90g, and most of them are more around 95g, while standard Viscarias can be had at 85g, and most of them are sub 90g, this is not a coincidence.
Electronics manufacturers also bin their components, and to take a super easy example if you look for a 1kOhm resistor with 1% tolerance you need to buy one with that spec, because you won't find any among the 5% tolerance parts.
With blades there is a bit of more variance, you can look for an ugly ducking top ply with a good core.

That being said DHS and other brands are not idiots, I think my W968 provincial has a not particularly pretty top limba ply, but has a really dense core so it did not become a HL5 or FB2 blade, it is still W968 provincial.

And also Chinese or Japanese or German etc blade makers are not stupid, if they see a good piece of trunk they know what will become of it.