Should I buy DHS Long 5

[JJ Ng]

i agree, buying from tabletennis11.com will give you a very good price and they deliver very fast. On top of that you can shoot them an email and request a specific blade weight (which i did many times with them already). I would also strongly recommend to have them assemble the blade for you. They do a great job at it. Check the "free racket assembly" check box when choosing the blade. Unfortunately they don't have that specific GEWO rubber for your backhand so you either choose something different or just have them assemble that one forehand rubber for you and glue the backhand by yourself.

That would cost you €213.92

Agree TT11 is great. I still don't know if the OP wants DHS Hurricane Long 5 $159.69 and DHS W968 (Hurricane Long 5 National) $817.50. that is a huge price difference! $159.69, I can swallow. I don't think I will be able to swallow $817.50 for a blade.

 

[Der_Echte]

My blade doesnt really force me to do active shots. Because I can put the balls passively back on to the table. So to make the next big step in my development I kind of enjoyed playing with this blade which forces me to build that habit.
This was my 2nd Session with this new Setup cant tell if my success rate went up or not. But definitely see some progress in my shots. Its just very heavy so I don´t know if I will wear out during games and start making half assed shots which go instantly into the net...

And no I dont have a coach that can help me out. I might go for a 3-4days trainingscamp in germany or somewhere once I get my new setup.

Drop down in speed to a slower all wood blade that still has some top end and play that for 3-9 months...

WHY?

The same/similar reasons you said. You will start focusing on spin production and placement... then on how to better construct the point and win the point.

You play such a blade for 3-9 months then go back to your former blade, you will find yourself playing significantly better with your old blade.

Every time I do that I become a better player.

I recently switched down to Donic Persson Power Play and soft sponged modern dynamic rubbers. I am now beginning to do the things I discussed - first shot spin/placement, point construction... better and increased CONSISTENCY with high spin.

 

[Zezima]

I am referring to the cheapest version. Ye I can get that one with a FL handle. I can also get it in my shop for 160€, but it has a ST handle and I can also choose the weight. This test long 5 Blade had a weight of 94g and is 8y old. What kind of weight should I decide for my newer one? What characteristics would change?

I have been playing with my blade for 6 years now (Donic waldner diablo senso). And it's hard to tell my mind to attack each ball when it knows I can bring the ball back without attacking it. That's why I want to do this change. So my mind has no excuse because it automatically will know it's not going to be enough.

Just compare the old training videos with the one from 2 days ago that I linked here.

 

[Zezima]

Also please help me decide if I should get one with a flared or straight handle just in case It doesn´t have the same feeling and I have to sell which one is easier to do so? since I am a big dude 196cm I have big hands but so far I had no problems with the donic waldner diablo senso handles and other blades. My current setup has a straight handle I didn´t mind which handle. Is it different with Long 5 anyone knows?

 

[Zezima]

And which Backhand rubber would fit the best for this blade and for my technique shown in the video? I had a Gewo Hype KR 1.9mm in this video, but played the entire season with a 2.1mm one on the diablo senso blade.

 

[Zezima]

The Tabletennis shop recommended Rakza 7 2.0mm for my backhand

 

[jk1980]

if i understood him correctly, he tested the HL-5 commercial with new/different rubbers and it felt slower and more controllable for him (compared to his old setup). Given he tested the commercial HL-5 and him being worried that he would get a different feeling blade if he bought an commercial HL-5 now, we can surely agree that the W968 would not be the best for him. If he likes the HL-5, he should stick with.

Towards der_echte's remarks:
The HL-5 with G-1 and Hype KR rubbers is already a good step into the (slow down) direction that you describe. It is more controllable than his prior setup (which had MX-D on the forehand which is a totally different beast to handle). Of course one can always go many steps slower, but it also has to be competitive. He is playing in the league and in the future he will play against way better players. I dont think it is wise to use a too slow setup like you recommended der_echte. Not only will he take more time to adjust, but he will also be much more harmless against the better players and that not due to him not being able to play his shots, but his shots having way less power.

If you play against better players it is often not possible to outplay them by being more consistent and bringing back more balls, since they are better players because they have greater consistency. The only way to get a point here and there is not the secure balls that the opponent will punish or attack, but rather have a weapon by yourself and while spin is always nice, that can always be accounted for by the strong opponent. A very fast ball placed well will trouble better players even more, because there is a limit to how fast you can react physically.

i am not proposing an even faster setup. i am just arguing that the HL-5 G1 setup will be slower than his past setup, so the benefits of learning a more active game will be present, while still having enough power to trouble opponents.

 

[JJ Ng]

The Tabletennis shop recommended Rakza 7 2.0mm for my backhand

Rakza 7 2.0mm is a good all around rubber. You cannot go wrong with that.

 

[Zezima]

jk1980​

That´s exactly how I see it aswell. I have beaten 2 players around 1550 Points 9 Months ago in a tournament. Went from 1200 to 1400 in a single day. But that was it. I had a good serve where they couldnt attack. Was a bit lucky that they did some unforced errors. Also I automatically attacked more and with that setup I had enough spin and power to overwhelm them. You also play with a you have nothing to lose mindset which is easier to play.

I am not so sure if the HL-5 G1 Setup will be slower though. Because my balls are definetly harder to bring back compared to my older setup.

Basically what it feels like for me is: I sacrifice the passive "somehow reach to the ball by reflex and bring it back to the table) to a better short short game and also better TS(consistency is about same but now more dangerous) and CounterTS(from 1/10 to 7/10) game

But thats only if I get the same feeling with the racket I am buying now...
Should I stick to the ST Handle if I played with one all this time? I am not sure if its gonna feel way different with a head heavy blade that I have tested with a FL Handle...

Backhand thoughts?
Rakza 7 2.0mm
or Gewo Hype KR 47.5 1.9mm
or something else even?

 

[jk1980]

I am not so sure if the HL-5 G1 Setup will be slower though. Because my balls are definetly harder to bring back compared to my older setup.​

The HL-5 G1 Setup will be slower if you dont put your force into it for sure. MX-D does not need much power to be fast, but it needs a fast arm to get good spin out of it. I would attribute you having more spin with the G-1 (because it is easier to generate spin with it) to the balls not returning that easily from the opponent. It is definitely harder to adjust to different amounts of spin by angleing the blade properly when blocking. If the ball just comes fast with a bit of topspin many can routinely block it back.

But thats only if I get the same feeling with the racket I am buying now...
Should I stick to the ST Handle if I played with one all this time? I am not sure if its gonna feel way different with a head heavy blade that I have tested with a FL Handle...

I dont think you need to worry too much about the weight. Just pick a 88g-91g HL-5 and you will be fine. No need to shoot for the exact weight, since the blade face will probably be of a slightly different size anyways.
The fact that your vendor says that nothing changed for the HL-5 from that 2015 version really just shows that he has no clue about these blades and probably only sold them once or twice in the last decade.

Backhand thoughts?
Rakza 7 2.0mm
or Gewo Hype KR 47.5 1.9mm
or something else even?

Rakza 7 is an easy to play alround rubber. You can not go very wrong with it, but iirc it was a little on the bounce side, so if you have trouble controlling the length and power on the backhand, perhaps take something less responsive like MX-S or if you dare to go "harder" my go to BH rubbers would be Joola GT PS, Rakza Z, PK Sieger 50. I ordered them from european feeling to chinese feeling, which is to day. Joola GTPS probably has the highest catapult in passive play (while still being even lower than G-1) and PK Sieger 50 which is really controlled in the short game. You can basically drop the ball 2 cm behind the net with it. All of them are sticky and around 50° hardness. This does not make looping easier, but if you can loop with these rubbers, you can easily loop with softer rubbers as well and you will be forced to be active with the backhand as well.

 

[Zezima]

I don't know how to answer this for myself. I also never played with Rakza 7 so I am unsure if it's gonna be too bouncy for me. I can try with it if it doesn't work out. I can still go back to the gewo 1.9mm.

I also read good stuff about C1 and rakza soft. Kinda confused now.

 

[Lazer]

Generally a softer rubber tends to be more bouncy. Rakza 7 soft certainly is more bouncy than Rakza 7 (normal) but it is also a little slower.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Zezima]

So I assume its more bouncy than MX-D. That also means the ball has more dwelltime in the rubber before it gets out with more spin?

Trying to figure out if its a bad thing for me to have such a rubber or not. My backhand rubber is a 47.5 hardness. Not sure how bouncy it is compared to those rubbers

 

[Lazer]

MXD for sure requires more force before the bounce kicks in. This is good. If the bounce kick in at a low force then the slow (push game) becomes difficult. This happens with Rakza 7 soft, but it is generally pretty slow so it doesn’t matter too much, but still. Tenergy05 FX is terrible in this aspect. The softer the rubber is the earlier the bounce kicks in…
This is good to avoid.

A hard rubber that is bouncy can still provide a decent short game.

I used to play with Tenergy05 FX on my BH, it was great to topspin and attack with but pushing was like walking on a razors edge so I have switched to accuda blue P2. This is still a bouncy rubber but nothing like Tenergy FX.

Going from MXD to Rakza 7 soft is a huge change.

But Rakza 7 soft is a really light rubber so if You are using this You can afford a heavy rubber on the other side…

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

So I assume its more bouncy than MX-D. That also means the ball has more dwelltime in the rubber before it gets out with more spin?

Trying to figure out if its a bad thing for me to have such a rubber or not. My backhand rubber is a 47.5 hardness. Not sure how bouncy it is compared to those rubbers

I didn't find Hype KR very bouncy per se, rather similar to R7 overall IMO

 

[jk1980]

MXD for sure requires more force before the bounce kicks in. This is good. If the bounce kick in at a low force then the slow (push game) becomes difficult. This happens with Rakza 7 soft, but it is generally pretty slow so it doesn’t matter too much, but still. Tenergy05 FX is terrible in this aspect. The softer the rubber is the earlier the bounce kicks in…
This is good to avoid.

In this case i can attest that i was very dissappointed by MX-D's short game capabilities, because it is more bouncy than a G-1. This means that even if you just hold the racket still and let the ball bounce of it, it will fly relatively far away. You either need very fine hands to compensate for that. Usually it is like that and it is true for Rakza Z or PK 50 Sieger that the short game is awesome, because the harder sponge does not catapult the ball early, but it is not true for MX-D nor is it true for Digincs 05 which both are 50 degress or harder on the ESN scale but still have the ball fly off pretty far without you giving any energy.

This makes it unfortunately not that easy to pick a rubber that is also easy to control in the short game.

 

[Lazer]

MXD is one of the evolutions I never played, but both Glaysers are OK in the short game so is G1 I think. Hammond Z2 is awesome, but with some sacrificed power…

And I’m not really talking about blocking here, I’m talking about pushing. Maybe slow game is a better word.

I just guessed that MXD was better due to its hardness.

The worst short game combination is, Fast, soft and bouncy.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[JJ Ng]

Drop down in speed to a slower all wood blade that still has some top end and play that for 3-9 months...

WHY?

The same/similar reasons you said. You will start focusing on spin production and placement... then on how to better construct the point and win the point.

You play such a blade for 3-9 months then go back to your former blade, you will find yourself playing significantly better with your old blade.

Every time I do that I become a better player.

I recently switched down to Donic Persson Power Play and soft sponged modern dynamic rubbers. I am now beginning to do the things I discussed - first shot spin/placement, point construction... better and increased CONSISTENCY with high spin.

I like that idea. I have been experimenting with carbons lately. I have two Donic Persson Power Play and I like it very much. It is fast enough but has that wonderful wood feeling. Both blades however are stripped of rubber due to me having to transfer them to carbon blades. I need to "restock" those two 7-ply wood blades and maybe play those two blades for a little while....forehand still gotta be hurricane but backhand I can put on say either C-1 or Rakza 7 soft to practice backhand looping, etc. Great idea!!!!

 

[JJ Ng]

MXD is one of the evolutions I never played, but both Glaysers are OK in the short game so is G1 I think. Hammond Z2 is awesome, but with some sacrificed power…

And I’m not really talking about blocking here, I’m talking about pushing. Maybe slow game is a better word.

I just guessed that MXD was better due to its hardness.

The worst short game combination is, Fast, soft and bouncy.

Cheers
L-zr

Like I said before, my ranking of catapult effect is Tenergy > Revolution > Rasanter and Rakza series > Fastarc series.

I used G-1 on my backhand for 4 years. Short game is very good. Push is easy. I can feel the catapult (it is an ESN tensor rubber after all), but very easy to control. The best way to describe is, with G-1, where you want to the ball to go, it will go there!

Now I am using the carbon blades, I don't like G-1 anymore. too hard. I like the soft Rakza 7. And I agree. it is bouncey but not too bouncey so the short game is still fairly good with Rakza 7 soft. However, MX-S, T05 fx, T64 fx, etc. short game does suffer.

As for the original poster, I like both C-1 and Rakza 7 soft. I don't think you can go wrong with either.

 

[Lazer]

Like I said before, my ranking of catapult effect is Tenergy > Revolution > Rasanter and Rakza series > Fastarc series.

I used G-1 on my backhand for 4 years. Short game is very good. Push is easy. I can feel the catapult (it is an ESN tensor rubber after all), but very easy to control. The best way to describe is, with G-1, where you want to the ball to go, it will go there!

Now I am using the carbon blades, I don't like G-1 anymore. too hard. I like the soft Rakza 7. And I agree. it is bouncey but not too bouncey so the short game is still fairly good with Rakza 7 soft. However, MX-S, T05 fx, T64 fx, etc. short game does suffer.

As for the original poster, I like both C-1 and Rakza 7 soft. I don't think you can go wrong with either.

With Rakza Z soft You will loose power compared to MXD, it’s one of the slower Tensors. C1 I never tried.

Cheers
L-zr