DHS W968 review

[lt kettch]

Don't try not fully boosted H3 on both sides of W968, it is not going to be fun.

"You underestimate my POWER!!!"
-Anakin Skywalker


Seriously though... I haven't really dabbled in boosting but if I do run H3 on the BH, I'll definitely have to...

 

[jk1980]

i'd go with 50-53° on the esn scale. The thing is that you don't need high energy/catapult sponges with a w968.

It is powerful enough, so no need to go for rasanter rubbers who are only giving you power with less control in the short game.

I would go for anything 50° depending on who much control you want to have in the short game, something like Nittaku PK50 Sieger (pretty chinese), Yasaka Rakza Z, dignics 05, Tibhar MX-D, Tibhar K3 and the like for the forehand.

 

[tlai]

Greetings! New guy here.

Finally read through this entire thread and it's been very informative! I can really feel everyone's passion for TT!

Anyhoo, ordered a w968 from prott about 3 weeks ago and it should be arriving soon. Just wondering if R48 would work well on the BH. I have a sheet of H8-80 38h lying around as well. Not sure which is better so I was hoping for some feedback from you guys since you're w968 veterans

Thanks!

Which one did you order? National or Provincal?

 

[lt kettch]

Which one did you order? National or Provincal?

Provincial. I read through some of the forum topics and watched the review from Gan; It seemed like it was close enough 😁

 

[kindof99]

Provincial. I read through some of the forum topics and watched the review from Gan; It seemed like it was close enough 😁

From my experience, national version definitely has more wow factor with huge better support.

 

[sebi]

Hey, your guys reviews really got me thinking about getting a w968, can somebody please explain the versions of it. As far as i know national Player Version is the highest regearding quality and price followed by national, followed by provincial.
I saw at pro tt that they sell an official one, and what does w968 letters mean. Thank you and have fun playing with yours.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

My local vendor told me W968 sold out have to put me in the waiting list if I want.

Instead he offered an alternative Golden W968 whatever that is with a puny 88g weight.

What is Golden w968 anyway?

btw Zwill, what is the heaviest W968 you know? Anything close to 100g? My current Avenger Mark 1 is 106g without rubber.

 

[SleepyMaster]

Does some one have tested Long5 golden? What is the main diff with commercial L5/prov/national?🤔

 

[Leno]

My local vendor told me W968 sold out have to put me in the waiting list if I want.

Instead he offered an alternative Golden W968 whatever that is with a puny 88g weight.

What is Golden w968 anyway?

With the same price? That sounds like a snatch?

The golden 968 has slightly thinner outer and middle layer, but the overall hardness of the wood increased.
It is faster, has a longer and higher bounce than W968. Backhand is easier to use.
These characteristic is mostly due to the increase of hardness imo.

However, the w968 is spinner and easier to control, but requires more power due to longer dwell.
W968 is still better for professional and Golden 968 might be more amateur friendly.

Please check if its Golden Long 5 or really Golden 968, because the price difference of golden to w968 is significant as well.

Does some one have tested Long5 golden? What is the main diff with commercial L5/prov/national?🤔

I don't know why they went with another approach on the golden Long 5. Probably because there is a 5X already with harder and thicker core. Golden Long 5 is softer than the normal Long 5, but apprently thicker? (Not confirmed so don't judge me).

More control and a really good throw and curve protection.

Honestly DHS should really rethink their approach of naming. It feels like every blade is similiar due to the name, but the difference is still there.

 

[lt kettch]

Does some one have tested Long5 golden? What is the main diff with commercial L5/prov/national?🤔

Or did you mean someone in the forum?

 

[SleepyMaster]

Or did you mean someone in the forum?

Thank you for remembering me. I saw this review from Gan like just about year ago and totally forget about it

 

[davidzhang]

Does someone know if the dwell time of a Korbel or Primorac allwood is far superior than W968 ?
I feel like the W968 is not too fast despite the fact many pros use it.

 

[jk1980]

I can only compare w968 provincial with regular 5ply woods like Victas Dyna Five or Stiga Cybershape wood or even xiom ZL Pro (inner fibre) and there was no advantage in any of these in the short game, so they were equal or even worse than the w968. Now if we are talking about active shots and dwell time I can only tell you about the recent comparison of mine with the Nittaku Acoustic and it was worlds apart in active strokes in regards to the feeling and what that feeling made me do/execute due to incredible feedback and hence confidence.

 

[lt kettch]

Does someone know if the dwell time of a Korbel or Primorac allwood is far superior than W968 ?
I feel like the W968 is not too fast despite the fact many pros use it.

The info might be in TT Gear Labs

 

[Silver Server]

Now if we are talking about active shots and dwell time I can only tell you about the recent comparison of mine with the Nittaku Acoustic and it was worlds apart in active strokes in regards to the feeling and what that feeling made me do/execute due to incredible feedback and hence confidence.

Can you explain what you mean here between those 2 blades?

 

[jk1980]

While the W968 is pretty much unique for an innerforce construction in terms of feel and dwell. The Nittaku Acoustic is taking full advantage of really being a "all wood" blade without muting any of the feeling.
Let's be honest, a year ago or two years ago (back when i had an Acoustic for the first time) i did not notice or let's say realize the feeling that i got from it.

For me the feeling and feedback when executing flicks and loops was that great that it encouraged me to try things that i would have deemed "too difficult" with the W968. I had a game where i instinctively did something that would be rather hard for me and it was successful. That lead me to be more confident and try other flicks that i would never have tried with the W968. It just seems like that you have that little bit more time to get the stroke right before the ball leaves the racket with the Acoustic.

That an all wood blade on average will be having a "better" feeling than an innerforce blade (if you like it or not is a different topic) is more or less common sense. So this is not that unexpected. What was unexpected to me is that i did not feel/notice it years ago, but now i suddenly do.

 

[davidzhang]

While the W968 is pretty much unique for an innerforce construction in terms of feel and dwell. The Nittaku Acoustic is taking full advantage of really being a "all wood" blade without muting any of the feeling.
Let's be honest, a year ago or two years ago (back when i had an Acoustic for the first time) i did not notice or let's say realize the feeling that i got from it.

For me the feeling and feedback when executing flicks and loops was that great that it encouraged me to try things that i would have deemed "too difficult" with the W968. I had a game where i instinctively did something that would be rather hard for me and it was successful. That lead me to be more confident and try other flicks that i would never have tried with the W968. It just seems like that you have that little bit more time to get the stroke right before the ball leaves the racket with the Acoustic.

That an all wood blade on average will be having a "better" feeling than an innerforce blade (if you like it or not is a different topic) is more or less common sense. So this is not that unexpected. What was unexpected to me is that i did not feel/notice it years ago, but now i suddenly do.

I'm starting to play better and understand better the feel of catching the ball.
I'm a bit addictive now to the feeling of holding the ball to put more spin in my shots, I was just wondering if an all-wood blade would give me more of this feeling.
Is the Acoustic better in this area than W968 ?
Do you still play with Acoustic ?

 

[jk1980]

I'm starting to play better and understand better the feel of catching the ball.
I'm a bit addictive now to the feeling of holding the ball to put more spin in my shots, I was just wondering if an all-wood blade would give me more of this feeling.
Is the Acoustic better in this area than W968 ?

Don't take my word for it. The feeling of holding the ball a little longer before spitting it out to loop it can be refered to the blades "deep hold" properties, which can be found on ttgearlab's site.
This graph shows 5 ply all wood blades and the ones that are the lowest on the graph are the ones with the deepest hold. You can see that the Acoustic is the "best" here. Even better than the slower Nittaku Violin.

Usually blades with artificial fibre have less of a deep hold, so now lets compare the ec/ep value which represents the deep hold value of the Nittaku Acoustic (with a lower number being a deeper hold).
This is a graph that also shows the DHS Long 5 which is the closest we can estimate in the tests and you see it has less of a deep hold with its value of a little below 0.9:

The newer models of the HL5 are closer to the W968 than the older ones, since they do use a more similar artificial fibre weaving to the w968 than before. The old HL5 has a deeper hold though whith a value of 0.76 which is even better than the Nittaku Acoustic in that regard.

Do you still play with Acoustic ?

Yes. i have to provincial W968 and one (soon 2) G-Revision Acoustics. I have same rubbers on W968 as on the Acoustic, so it is easy to compare.

 

[Conehead]

Maybe let's give credit to the creator of those two graphs above.
TTGEARLAB provides excellent reviews of blades only.

andro Gauzy SL OFF [Full Review]

Table of Contents1. Overview2. Performance Indices3. Comparison by Performance Indices……. 3-1. Elasticity Indices……. 3-2. Vibration Indices4. Field Test5. Summary andro &#82…

ttgearlab.com

 

[jk1980]

Maybe let's give credit to the creator of those two graphs above.

Ttgearlab is literally written as watermark on the graphs