Donic Original №1 Senso

Donic Ovtcharov No. 1 Senso with a new name. According to the story, Dima was involved in the design before moving to Butterfly, but I’ve never seen him play with this in tournaments. There is a 15-minute video on YouTube where Ovtcharov practices with this and talks about the blade’s features. Inner carbon (acryl). Weight varies from 82 to 90 grams. I asked for the lightest one available and got 84g. 159.5×150 mm & 5.9 mm. Frequency 1378 Hz, so this is OFF-/OFF. The handle is thinner than usual, so don’t buy this if you have big hands. Never tried DHS Hurricane Long 5, so I can’t tell if this is a clone or if the top ply really is limba instead of ayous. I’m an intermediate player, so I put 47.5 degree Andro Hexer Powergrip 2.1 mm on both sides. The combination feels perfect for my level. The blade is intended for semi-pros/pros, and I believe the flexibility suits them even better with hard rubbers. Donic ranks this as stiff, but it is not. It is more flexible than, for example, Koki Niwa Wood. The control is incredible, and the sweet spot is huge. Not a particularly fast blade, but the spin properties and especially good control compensate for that lack. I can’t imagine a better inner carbon blade for an intermediate player, though Tibhar Shang Kun Hybrid AC is pretty close. This hollow “senso” handle is just so great. It makes the racket light enough to use heavier rubbers, but the best part is that it is so head-heavy that when I switch from backhand to forehand, the racket is always at just the right angle for a counterattack.

This product is amazing.

It is not a fast blade when playing at low speeds. For serve, receive, and touch play it feels identical to any wooden 5-ply racket with the soft feeling that limba gives.

However, when playing at medium to long distance an extra gear kicks in that gives you some support for the speed.

It has a comfortable handle (although I have small to medium hands for a man) and realized that its FH to BH transition is pretty easy to do since it has great balance and a reduced weight with the senso handle. However, if you have bigger hands I would not recommend this handle unless you are used to the thinner handles that come in blades nowadays. As a comparison, I had an EU Primorac before and that feels like a tennis handle to me now (a bit clumsy). Also, the senso handle makes the blade feel more agile and literally feels hollow in your hand, which is a feeling I have liked.

I sincerely think this blade is a HL5 produced by DHS with a different handle design and given to Donic for sale. The handle dimensions, blade size, and blade composition are identical to HL5. Also, the most telling thing is the lens shape. It is the only blade in Donic’s catalog with a shorter, rounder lens like the DHS ones instead of the longer, thinner ones that are normal with Donic. The quality of the blade is quite good, no rough edges, but some sanding of the wings is required since they are quite sharp.

Overall, very pleased with the blade. The flexibility makes it great to combine with Chinese rubbers and makes open-ups very easy. If you like to play a spin and forehand oriented game, you can’t go wrong with this blade. The soft limba and the inner carbon make it great.

Very good touch and feel to this blade. Different kinds of weight distribution due to the hollow handle. Easy to play with and has plenty of speed when required.

This is the second time I bought this blade, and I am very happy with it.

A little bit soft and plenty of feeling in the shot, but still fast enough to finish a point well with long pips.

Excellent blade! Good control, fast, good weight.

Most top-level players are going to the wood-wood-carbon-core-carbon-wood-wood setup right now. That’s what this is (obviously). This is what Dima WAS using until he just recently went fully over to Butterfly. Now he’s using something unavailable to the public, specially made by Butterfly for him. I’m going to guess that it’s the same setup as this is, which is fantastic. This blade is especially lovely due to the senso handle. For me, the senso handle is all about LIGHTNESS. Yes, it does give great feedback, but many other handles do so as well. Also, this blade is great for playing the counter from close and mid-distance on both sides (FH and BH). Basically, this blade is great at playing the same style as Dima plays, which is counter from both sides from close and mid-distance. You feel lots of control with this blade, especially when swinging all-out. But, be prepared to have to swing with all you’ve got on every possible shot. That’s what this was made for. And for that reason, I’d say that this is meant for highly competitive players who are able to swing with 100% power every chance they get. When you’re able to give that effort, you get great dwell and control for an attacking blade. And because of that, you can generate a ton of spin off the ball without losing power. Just like Dima, you can loop/counter-loop with heavy spin from mid-distance on the FH, while still being able to counter-loop or hit pretty flat with power from close to the table on the BH. Serve and receive are as great as YOU are, plus are highly dependent on which rubbers you team with this.

And yes, the handle (FL) is quite thin, which I absolutely LOVE because I do not have huge hands and this allows me to generate extra spin (if you understand the FL handle Chinese technique, you’ll understand what I mean).

Very good blade. Improved game for my son.

Improved my game tremendously.

I think this blade is the version that made the DHS Hurricane Long 5 more natural. The grip is quite thin.

However, the overall performance is still good, and the average weight is not heavy.

Senso technology is applied to the hand, and the sense of delivery is very immediate. It is necessary to pay attention to the durability of the hole at the bottom of the grip.

The handle is too thin.

Very good blade! I think that the grip is fitted for small hands.

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Balance, feeling, weight, all are the best combination.