W968 envy forced me to get HL5 clone

[lodro]

Yeah if you saw my post on another thread, I won 3 straight games against a 2050-2100 guy. So I think I'm improving little by little as well.

My personality is not to get the very best or expensive item. I like to find little amazing gems that others have overlooked. That's my approach to both rubbers and blades. That's my approach to smartphones (longtime Xiaomi Redmi user) or anything that I buy.

You sure won with the Xiaomi, mine is a Redmi 3S.
When it comes to the ping pong clones tough, I am not so sure.

 

[TensorBackhand]

It's a pretty sound approach.

You like myself like to try a lot of equipment though, so settling on something good enough for a while or very good period, might benefit you. It's extremely unlikely you will find a cheap W968 clone given the quality and selection that goes into it, unless you spend $150 or more on one made by SDC or another top artisan specialist. On the other end, you can easily find several great cheap clones of a Viscaria or HL5. The Yinhe V-14 Pro or DHS Fang Bo Carbon are such blades, and they're more than good enough.

I've pretty much stuck to the same blade and rubbers (IF ZLC + 2 T05 FX, then HZ2 FH) for the past 3 years, I still tried a whole bunch of blades and rubbers on the side for the fun and knowledge of it, but nothing felt better. I finally found what I was looking for in a blade with the W968, so I won't be buying / testing too many blades from now on, while I'll keep on testing rubbers here and there not intending to find something better, maybe just cheaper (T05 FX is by far the best BH rubber for me, Z2 is my favorite tension rubber for my FH, and H3 is H3). I'll try the Glazers when they come out though I likely won't switch to them, I might try 1 or 2 Mantra Pro when TT11 releases them, that'll be about it this year.

looking forward to hearing your feedback on the Mantra Pro and Glayzer.

I haven't seen a rubber better than Z2 though. It's just so fast and grippy and bouncy and responsive.

 

[TensorBackhand]

You sure won with the Xiaomi, mine is a Redmi 3S.
When it comes to the ping pong clones tough, I am not so sure.

Mine is Redmi 10 Pro that I got for $200. Battery, Camera are amazing.

 

[lodro]

Mine is Redmi 10 Pro that I got for $200. Battery, Camera are amazing.

You win -- yours is bigger than mine 🤣

 

[WingTT]

How was the topend speed of the Stuor?

I did not have any issues with the top end speed with the Stuor, pretty close to the the real HL5 I have. The HL5 has a more forgiving feel though but the Stuor more than decent for a $26 blade. The club mate did complain that the second HL5 he got is slower than the first.

 

[TensorBackhand]

Are there any other inner carbon blades that have good dwell time but also have high top end speed?

 

[thomas.pong]

Are there any other inner carbon blades that have good dwell time but also have high top end speed?

IF ZLC

 

[TensorBackhand]

I tested this more today in some games and practice with jupiter 3 and ak47.

Definitely its quite flexy and has dwell time. But it almost has too much dwell time, i dont get the punching crispness. My 2 other inner fibre blades feel faster.

Its not slow per say, but just a little laggy. It kinda feels like when you play Mario and the guy jumps a fraction later after you push jump.

Im not sure if I will stick with this. It probably works better with tensor rubbers.

 

[Wrighty67]

I tested this more today in some games and practice with jupiter 3 and ak47.

Definitely its quite flexy and has dwell time. But it almost has too much dwell time, i dont get the punching crispness. My 2 other inner fibre blades feel faster.

Its not slow per say, but just a little laggy. It kinda feels like when you play Mario and the guy jumps a fraction later after you push jump.

Im not sure if I will stick with this. It probably works better with tensor rubbers.

That’s what an HL5 feels like to me

 

[TensorBackhand]

That’s what an HL5 feels like to me

Why is HL5 so popular among players if it is laggy?

 

[thomas.pong]

Why is HL5 so popular among players if it is laggy?

Not everyone likes a crisp blade, some prefer more control and less speed and like the feel of a HL5 or BTY IF ALC which is also very popular. Plus it’s Ma Long on the blade so it’s got to be good…

 

[ricospin]

Why is HL5 so popular among players if it is laggy?

The clout of having Ma Long’s name on the blade.

Quite honestly, Viscaria feels more pleasant to use . However I think that to get the most out of W968 you need very good technique to even get a fraction of the power it has. W968/HL5 has more slow gears than Vis. I think maybe USATT 2000-2100~ is a good level to be able to utilize it to its potential.

W968 is not a magic unicorn blade that will make you loop like Ma Long. I had this belief till I tried it myself. It’s just a table tennis blade. It doesn’t feel as crisp as vis. Nor does it give the easy to use feeling that vis has.

The unique thing about the W968
is that the arc is very dangerous. It has an amazing arc on both fh and bh. It is unique to the blade. It has humongous potential power, but only if you can hit that hard. Other than that however, it’s not that easy to use. Certainly not as easy to use as Vis.

Yasaka Athletico Power gets really close to W968. It has the same dangerous arc-y feeling. YAP is a bit faster on low end shots.

H301 is easier to play than HL5/W968 but has the same kind of identity.

I think the DHS X versions of the HL5 and Fang Bo Carbon are bound to feel closest to the 968 but even then...

I’d have to respectfully disagree.

Fang Bo B2X is far from W968. B2X felt almost like outer. It’s a blade that doesn’t have the qualities of inner nor outer. Used for about 6 months, very difficult to use. I suggest the regular version. From my experience W968/HL5 is pretty woody. It’s practically a 5-ply till you get it to flex. It takes great strength to get the blade to flex.

 

[hclnnkhg]

The clout of having Ma Long’s name on the blade.

Quite honestly, Viscaria feels more pleasant to use . However I think that to get the most out of W968 you need very good technique to even get a fraction of the power it has. W968/HL5 has more slow gears than Vis. I think maybe USATT 2000-2100~ is a good level to be able to utilize it to its potential.

W968 is not a magic unicorn blade that will make you loop like Ma Long. I had this belief till I tried it myself. It’s just a table tennis blade. It doesn’t feel as crisp as vis. Nor does it give the easy to use feeling that vis has.

The unique thing about the W968
is that the arc is very dangerous. It has an amazing arc on both fh and bh. It is unique to the blade. It has humongous potential power, but only if you can hit that hard. Other than that however, it’s not that easy to use. Certainly not as easy to use as Vis.

Yasaka Athletico Power gets really close to W968. It has the same dangerous arc-y feeling. YAP is a bit faster on low end shots.

H301 is easier to play than HL5/W968 but has the same kind of identity.

I’d have to respectfully disagree.

Fang Bo B2X is far from W968. B2X felt almost like outer. It’s a blade that doesn’t have the qualities of inner nor outer. Used for about 6 months, very difficult to use. I suggest the regular version. From my experience W968/HL5 is pretty woody. It’s practically a 5-ply till you get it to flex. It takes great strength to get the blade to flex.

Viscaria also has the clout of Zhang Jike, Fan Zhendong and many others
To be fair that's the same for all top-end blades that I can think of, except some super-pricey single ply Hinoki Japanese penhold blades.

 

[TensorBackhand]

Viscaria also has the clout of Zhang Jike, Fan Zhendong and many others
To be fair that's the same for all top-end blades that I can think of, except some super-pricey single ply Hinoki Japanese penhold blades.

My favorite blades don't have any clout.

But I still haven't found something better than Fang Bo Carbon and the Stuor Harimoto ZLC clone. Fang Bo Carbon has some of the dwell time of a inner-carbon blade, but also is stiffer and crisper and punchier than HL5. To me, it has the perfect balance for looping and attacking.

Stuor Harimoto is softer than the Fang Bo, but the ZLC layer provides more catapult. Overall it is a little faster, but still has softness and dwell time.

 

[thomas.pong]

The clout of having Ma Long’s name on the blade.

Quite honestly, Viscaria feels more pleasant to use . However I think that to get the most out of W968 you need very good technique to even get a fraction of the power it has. W968/HL5 has more slow gears than Vis. I think maybe USATT 2000-2100~ is a good level to be able to utilize it to its potential.

W968 is not a magic unicorn blade that will make you loop like Ma Long. I had this belief till I tried it myself. It’s just a table tennis blade. It doesn’t feel as crisp as vis. Nor does it give the easy to use feeling that vis has.

The unique thing about the W968
is that the arc is very dangerous. It has an amazing arc on both fh and bh. It is unique to the blade. It has humongous potential power, but only if you can hit that hard. Other than that however, it’s not that easy to use. Certainly not as easy to use as Vis.

Yasaka Athletico Power gets really close to W968. It has the same dangerous arc-y feeling. YAP is a bit faster on low end shots.

H301 is easier to play than HL5/W968 but has the same kind of identity.

I’d have to respectfully disagree.

Fang Bo B2X is far from W968. B2X felt almost like outer. It’s a blade that doesn’t have the qualities of inner nor outer. Used for about 6 months, very difficult to use. I suggest the regular version. From my experience W968/HL5 is pretty woody. It’s practically a 5-ply till you get it to flex. It takes great strength to get the blade to flex.

Someone else told me the X versions feel very hard, so I'm sure you're right about them feeling nothing like the W968 then. I remember several CNT players were using the Yasaka Atletico Power and Atletico Spin at one point, I was always curious about them.

I think the W968 is a lot easier to use and much more forgiving than the Viscaria. It has so much more feel and control, is not jumpy like the Vis, and has several more gears like you mentioned. The Viscaria is not very pleasant to me, it's too jumpy and fast right out the bat and you don't have to work much for it, but I understand its appeal. I'm not a 2000 player but I get plenty speed and power from the 968, way more consistently than from the Viscaria too. I also don't think the Viscaria is necessarily more crisp, it's just more metallic and carbon feeling, rather than a natural crisp wood feeling with the W968.

 

[dingyibvs]

Why is HL5 so popular among players if it is laggy?

I don't think it's very popular, almost everyone who uses a HL5 variant I've seen uses the 968. The regular HL5's FH is pretty addicting if you like to use a lot of power though. The tremendous dwell, the crackling sound, and the incredible land rate allows even an intermediate level player like me to counter loop with confidence.

The dwell on the BH side is just unacceptable though. You can't generate enough power to make use of it in quick counters, and always playing from mid-far positions is just not great at any level in modern TT.

 

[thomas.pong]

I don't think it's very popular, almost everyone who uses a HL5 variant I've seen uses the 968. The regular HL5's FH is pretty addicting if you like to use a lot of power though. The tremendous dwell, the crackling sound, and the incredible land rate allows even an intermediate level player like me to counter loop with confidence.

The dwell on the BH side is just unacceptable though. You can't generate enough power to make use of it in quick counters, and always playing from mid-far positions is just not great at any level in modern TT.

The HL5 is quite popular in and outside of China, so are similar blades by DHS. Ma Long has that effect.

Also, the similar IF ALC has been the #1 best selling carbon blade in Japan for many years, and top 2-3 best selling blades there as well.

 

[ricospin]

Someone else told me the X versions feel very hard, so I'm sure you're right about them feeling nothing like the W968 then. I remember several CNT players were using the Yasaka Atletico Power and Atletico Spin at one point, I was always curious about them.

I think the W968 is a lot easier to use and much more forgiving than the Viscaria. It has so much more feel and control, is not jumpy like the Vis, and has several more gears like you mentioned. The Viscaria is not very pleasant to me, it's too jumpy and fast right out the bat and you don't have to work much for it, but I understand its appeal. I'm not a 2000 player but I get plenty speed and power from the 968, way more consistently than from the Viscaria too. I also don't think the Viscaria is necessarily more crisp, it's just more metallic and carbon feeling, rather than a natural crisp wood feeling with the W968.

I get what you mean

I think like you said, some people prefer the wood feeling, and some prefer the more carbon feeling like with vis.

Maybe they are both crispy but in different ways haha

 

[ricospin]

Not sure if I’ve said it on this forum, but PG7 is geared similarly to HL5/W968. Same sort of donk-y knocking feeling from it. It shares the same top end kick to it.

It does not have the arc that W968 have.

 

[hclnnkhg]

Not sure if I’ve said it on this forum, but PG7 is geared similarly to HL5/W968. Same sort of donk-y knocking feeling from it. It shares the same top end kick to it.

It does not have the arc that W968 have.

you mean PG5? PG7 is a 7 ply wood