OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Exterior properties of DHS Hurricane 301z blade.
1) The best looking glossy silver tough carton box I have seen. Genuine DHS protection signs on the protective wrapper film.
2) I get used to Stiga's straight handles so DHS FL handle looks thin but my palm grip feels a bit different (more orthodox looking) so it is interesting to try the blade without external grip tape I usually use.
3) The finishing of the blade edge is raw and sharp but the blade's neck does not harm my palm fold. Very unexpected as I have to sand wings and top end of the handle of most blades I tried before. Handle bottom profile is not ideally symmetrical.
4) Wood quality is better then average. Symmetrical top wood ply grains, single piece core, even thickness of external plies. Composite fiber is thick, not ideally even but I have no other samples to compare.
5) Blade surface and edge finishing is among the worst I have ever seen. Even cheaper brands with bad design and wood quality polish edges and top ply better. Finishing should not affect playing properties but I decided to varnish my blade with hair fixer as I strongly suspect that top ply would splinter otherwise.

I did not ask specific weight and have got 91g blade (with wrapping film). 181g assembled with thick edge tape, Yinhe Jupiter 3 Asia 39 and Palio AK47 Red. Head heavy.
I cannot compare my 301z with any modern composite blade. I have not ever touched an original DHS 301 blade so cannot comment how much DHS Z-fiber differs from A-fiber.

I will share my feelings and experience after a few years with Stiga Clipper Wood with ST handle.

1) I have heard that Straight handle is better for BH, flared for FH dominated players. I disagree.
Straight handle is better for short game and defense as racket angles feel clearer. I have no problem with FH power with ST handle. But when I switched from pips-out to inverted BH and begin to release more BH power, ST feels cramped as racket risks to fly out of hand.
Thin Chinese FL handle is less comfortable for last 3 fingers, short game is less consistent but more flexible in wrist movement. Thin FL forces so called compact palm grip, that IMO makes powerful BH more stable and consistent. FL is not bad for FH, but I personally do not feel any advantages or disadvantages in FH quality comparing to ST.
2) 301z is definitely spinier for all strokes. 301z wants more active stroke with better sponge penetration for better service receive. Clipper is more permissible in passive mode because it is more linear. Clipper is not very spiny blade per se, so this comparison is not very meaningful.
3) 301z is faster then Clipper in general. But speed difference is small. I personally differentiate 5-ply and 7-ply Clipper like blades very well. 301z feels like fast 5-ply blade and 301z luck solid linear consistent mid-distance feel that Clipper-like blades have. Clipper feels more solid because it is thicker and more stiff. 301z has extra kick at strong shot but it feels like speed glue effect catapult. My current Clipper is 85g, heavier exemplar may compete in speed with 301z of the similar weight.
4) 301z does not have early composite ping as some other blades have. I can hear infamous composite fiber ding only on my BH smash (under AK47 Red). I do not feel that 39 degrees Jupiter III Asia is harder but Jupiter does not ding on my FH. Jupiter 3 is much spinier but a bit slower then AK47 Red. Jupiter 3 has sticky long dwell feeling that I personally do not like.

ADDON:
5) 301z is noticebly flexible. I forgot about this feel but after second training I am sure.

I have seen reviews that tell 301 blade has particular crisp feeling. I do not feel anything special. Just one of a kind modern blade that has some advantages over all wood blades and little disadvantages. It does not feel special like Viscaria feels.

I agree. I have tried the h301 now for a few weeks and am going back to hurricane Hao ii (all wood) or eventually trying viscaria. Nothing special really- pretty slow and lots of control.

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I know that removing old glue is more dangerous for blades and rubbers. Nevertheless I reglued another rubber on my 301z (treated with simple hair spray) and I see no any wood splinters at all. I had other blades that did not have reputation of fragile but still drop some small splinters.

I also had no issues reglueing. I did TT11 lacquer option.

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The reasons why I retired my 301z blade.
1. I did not get used to its thin flared handle even with overgrip tape. The symptoms: a) I felt BH to FH stroke transition lucks correct angle in neutral position so I have to bent my wrist in uncommon way to fix it. b) The racket handle slips out in FH strokes that creates uncertainty at the last moment when the ball finally left the blade.
2. It seems to need better FH technique. Pure blade speed, dwell time seems to be fine. But it seems good stroke needs wrist micro-adjustments that are not intuitively clear for me.
3. BH is comfortable in fast counter and power play. But short game needs much more accuracy then similarly fast but more "plain" and simple blades.
4. Emergency blocks without enough time and out position succeed much less as it seems tiny bits of seconds wasted because of head heavy bulkiness or uncomfortable handle. Something counter-intuitive in fast passive play felt with this blade. Or blade catapult is too strong to control subtle ball differences.
5. Top ply is very fragile and chipping in large pieces after table hit. So it seems to be costly to maintain fresh blades substitutes during years.

What is remarkably good with 301z is its nice ball feel. Especially during strong shots. It seems the blade requires higher level of a player because it demands clean positive strokes and provide clean feedback for it. But it does not support game in difficult situations. It is clearly an offensive plus style blade not because of pure speed or power but because complex of properties. While it is OFF+ style blade I do not think that 301z is good at mid-distance, it is modern close to the table type of the equipment.