The best W968 Clones without the W968 price

Originally Posted by Gozo

I wish to share my personal experience here:

In my case I will talk about Darker Speed 90, arguably the best One Ply Hinoki Blade out there. I own one. I have played with it and I know with direct knowledge its characteristics and not based on hear say or reading about it from internet forum.

I also have owned its Taiwan Cloned version which to my surprise plays and feel better ( I ordered the custom premium version and not stock version ).

Now if I have not own and play with the original DS90 and straight away use the clone I will never know and compare it to the original.

So, my point is, if money is not an issue, just buy the original and then decide later if you want the clone or not. I mean you will never satisfy your inner demon if you have never play with original.

How it connect to W968?

Originally Posted by Colin Ksh

You should wait and see for yourself on the new Xiom TMXi blade. It doesn’t have the same composition as w968 with its structure being inner (alc and zlc woven) unlike w968 being pure inner alc. Most of the Korean players who previously use w968 are switching to this blade (an jaehyun, Cho daeseong and so on)so more or less to an extent it could possibly be similar to w968 in terms of feeling, playing characteristics etc.
Interestingly, is it’s available in two versions the normal tmxi and tmxi pro. pro with red lens, non-pro with gold lens. Pro : bigger head size, heavier and stated to have used pro grade hardware as xiom said. Moreover, some specs such as vibration, speed etc are unknown for pro. I’ve watched a review on youtube(I’ll add links below in case you wanna check. two separate videos for both tmxi and tmxi pro. Reviews are in korean but subtitle is availabe) and out of my curiosity I asked and it is said that tmxi is similar to HL5 and tmxi pro is similar to w968. But the pro model won’t be easy to get outside of Korea I guess. 247tabletennis is also curious about this blade, one of the reasons is that whether it could be a replacement to w968 also some dhs blades tend to suffer blade splinters but how about this blade. According to xiom, it'll be widely available sometime in may ie this month. In terms of price they are still unknown but I guarantee even the tmxi pro won't be as expensive as w968 not even close 😂. I'll add some photos if you'd like to see. Hope this help

tmxi pro : https://youtu.be/aM6e6jmEcFw

tmxi : https://youtu.be/s2bSpuEXd1w

Actually the Xiom 36.5 Alxi is closer to W968.

Didn't you say that you tried the W968 and felt it was underwhelming and felt just like any other blade?

Originally Posted by ricospin

Any PG5 users want to chime in?

I've tried PG5 and honestly my sample had little control comparing to my DHS Bo2.
The latter is just so much more controllable, I currently play with it with H8-80 37 on the BH and H3 boosted on the FH. Great blade with this rubber combination.
I can also compare bo2 with HL5.
control: bo2 >> HL5
speed: HL5 > bo2
flexibility: HL5 > bo2

With HL5 you have to be very precise with blocking and IMHO bouncy rubber doesn't suit it at all, neither on forehand nor on backhand. Somehting like H3 or H8-80 for BH and H3 for forehand is amazing, but requires a lot of skill and Chinese technique.

Bo2 is honestly much better choice for advanced, but not pro player like me. If you're curious here's my level of play:

Originally Posted by Kuba Hajto

Which player you are.

whoops sorry for not mentioning that. At the beginning of the video I'm on the farther side of the table in blue Yasaka t-shirt

Originally Posted by ricospin

What would you say the differences are between pg5 and bo2? I am very curious about pg5 due to it's price...

Bo2 is a little bit more expensive. I have b2x version and it's too fast and stiff for me. I don't know whether to go to PG.5 or Bo2. I like blades that aren't super stiff.

Since I am not super advanced, slower is better for me.

I think with PG-5 you're buying a pig in a poke, but with Bo2 the QC should be much better and predictable.
Also, that's true that with Bo2 and HL5 one has to train often to not lose the feeling, same as with Viscaria type blades. If you want better control, then PG7 or other 7 ply structured blade like Sanwei Fextra is an awesome choice, never had any problems with those.

Originally Posted by Kolev

@mihalichtheone Nice game. What are you using in the video? Is it the same as your signature?

In the video I play with Yinhe Pro 01 (Viscaria clone, ALC outer), Hurricane 3 boosted on the FH and H8-80 37 degrees on the BH.
Currently, I play with DHS Bo2 and same rubbers. I like Limba + inner ALC blades more than Koto + outer ALC...it just feels safer to do the fullswing FH loop kill, which I enjoy doing a lot

Originally Posted by mihalichtheone

In the video I play with Yinhe Pro 01 (Viscaria clone, ALC outer), Hurricane 3 boosted on the FH and H8-80 37 degrees on the BH.
Currently, I play with DHS Bo2 and same rubbers. I like Limba + inner ALC blades more than Koto + outer ALC...it just feels safer to do the fullswing FH loop kill, which I enjoy doing a lot

Yeah, my first real blade was Yinhe V14 Pro (alc outer). I got it because I thought this construction was the most popular construction for top pros.

But after getting the DHS Bo2, and the other inner blades, I find that the inner blade is much better suited for my game. I feel more control, power, and confidence to do a full FH loop kill. I also feel like the BH stroke has extra kick and higher arc.

I am currently using w968-6 national (number) and previously used w968-5(number) and w968(official) before . Honestly, there is no other blade can replace it.