Gewo Hype KR Pro 47.5 Review

Rocket Table Tennis Review For Gewo Hype KR 47.5
Reviewed Exclusively For: Rocket Table Tennis @ rocket-tt.com

Date: 3/8/2017

Reviewer: AndySmith
Reviewer Style Of Play: Shakehand Allround Offensive

In This Review
- Attached using VOC-free water-based glue - Revolution No 3
- Tested with 40+mm Plastic Balls - Xiom 3* Seamless
- Rubbers are stock with no boosting
- Blade used - ITC Premier XF

Product Specifications
Product Name: Gewo Hype Pro KR
Colour: Black
Thickness: 2.1mm 
Country Of Origin: Germany
Product Made In Year: 2017
Advertised Hardness: 47.5 degrees
Weight (g) (Uncut): 69.61 grams
Weight (g) (Cut to blade): 49.38 grams
Feel Of Topsheet Hardness During Play (Soft, Medium, Hard): Medium-Soft
Feel Of Sponge Hardness During Play (Soft, Medium, Hard): Medium-Had
Throw Angle Of Rubber (Low, Medium, High): Medium-Low
Ball Grip Strength Of Rubber ( Low, Normal, High ) : Normal
Ball Slippage During Play (Sometimes/None) : None

Speed & Power Ratings
Catapult Power (Low, Normal, High) : Normal
Power From Far-Table Play (Low, Normal, High) : Normal
Speed On Flat Hitting (1-5) : 4
Looping (1-5) : 3
Overall Speed Rating During Play (1-5) : 4

Spin Ratings
Spin Sensitivity (Low, Normal, High) : Low
Spin Generation On Serves (Low, Normal, High) : Normal
Overall Spin Rating During Play (1-5) : 3

Control Ratings
Blocking (1-5): 5
Chopping(1-5) : 3
Serve Returns (1-5) : 5
Consistency (1-5) : 5
Overall Control Rating During Play (1-5) : 5

Reviewer Comments: (your thoughts and comments) 

Intro

So this is Gewo's entry into this year's new ESN production run, and they've obviously taken the same approach as many other suppliers with a very loud sponge colour selection.  The sponge is a true 47.5 hardness with medium sized pores, the topsheet is on the soft side.  No obvious booster smell - smells like any other ESN rubber you've sniffed this year and there are obvious visual similarities with Aurus Prime and Rasanter 47.  The topsheet feels slightly "grainy" (can't think of a better word), which is something I noticed with Prime as well,

Speed / Catapult

This is a fast rubber on the overall scale of things, but feels one notch slower than peers like R47 or Prime.  This probably comes from the linear power delivery more than any true sense of it being slow.  It's around the speed of something like Acuda P1 Turbo, or perhaps MX-S.

Spin

I find KR to have a useful level of spin.  Not class-leading (R47 has more), and not below-average (Mantra).  It has a wonderful intuitive nature how the spin comes out - quite insensitive at low speeds, then good spin through the middle gears, and then it drops off on big strokes.  The topsheet, although soft, looks to have shorter pips than some of the other soft topsheets I've seen recently (I'm thinking mostly of V47 here).

Short Game

KR is hugely strong in the short game.  The linear response, combined with low spin sensitivity at passive game speeds, gives it a big advantage in service return, pushing, and flips.

Conversely, it does need a bit more effort than some rubbers to generate a lot of spin when serving.  I found it very easy to adjust to this - it actually felt to me that it needed an approach similar to hard, tacky rubbers when serving - it allows for a more violent wrist snap because the linear catapult doesn't take the control away from placement or table depth.  So this suits me very well, but YMMV of course.

Direct Game (Blocks, Hits, Drives)

Very. very good.  You can tell that this rubber has a focus on stability and usability just in the warm-up.  I felt that I could counter-topspin all day with it.  Incredibly easy to keep the ball on the table in most situations.

Active blocks are impressive.   The hard-ish sponge gives it enough power to ensure that you can put the ball away (without the sponge washing out and dropping the ball low).

Passive blocks are OK (low spin sensitivity again) but the lack of catapult makes them safe but a bit weak.

Quick counters when close-in are very high percentage, and with this rubber the mindset needs to be to convert passive blocks into punches or counters.

Looping

If there is a weak aspect of KR, it's looping.  Here I'm talking more about the medium-low arc, lack of catapult, and average spin on harder strokes.  Countering fast, spinny balls is mindblowingly easy, but dealing with balls that have dropped below table height or don't carry through to you can be tricky.  Players who drift away from the table might find they run out of power.

That said, the more bread and butter topspin performance is good.  Very easy to lift backspin, for example, and loop exchanges from relatively close-in are solid.  I found it very important to keep a low stance when using KR - no lazy standing up during rallies.

Comparisons with other rubbers

The easiest and most obvious thing to say about KR is the comparison with R47 and AP.  We are in the same kind of ballpark of these two rubbers but there are obvious differences to mention.  KR's topsheet is softer than either R47 or AP and the overall feel of KR in use is more like 44-45.  In comparison with R47, the spin is lower on big shots but isn't bad, the short game is far easier (lower bounce and spin sensitivity), and the throw is lower.  KR is closer overall to AP, but KR lacks the fierce top-end catapult of AP, feels a bit slower, and is far more linear.  The headline might be "lower-tuned Aurus Prime", but I prefer "carefully-tuned Aurus Prime".

With the overall hardness of KR feeling lower than the 47.5 sponge might suggest, comparing to Aurus Select might be worthwhile.  Again, the linearity of KR is the main difference, with Select feeling like a catapult-crazy nutter in comparison (and with Select's throw being higher as a consequence).  Spin generation is good with both but KR's stability through the gears is rock-solid in comparison with Select.  It's easier to get the ball moving from a slow speed with Select though, and the higher arc can be useful when keeping the ball safely on the table when it drops low.

Wrap Up

I remember making reference to Tenzone Ultra in my review of R47, saying that R47 was like a pumped-up version of it.  Well, KR almost feels like a 40+ version of TZU.  It sacrifices some performance in comparison with its peers for real-world solidity and balance.  I was very impressed in my training sessions with it and I've taken the unusual (for me) step of switching my primary setup to using it on both sides.  It's been many years since I've found a rubber that fits my needs on both wings (although I still might miss R47's better top-end performance on FH to be fair).  This rubber's weakness is only that it lacks big performance in any one category, but as an general-purpose medium-hard offensive rubber with dependable and predictable behaviour then I can't think of anything better at the moment.