After I liked the regular andro Hexer Powergrip well, I had to catch up with the review of the soft version, the Hexer Powergrip SFX. And while I’ m already with andro, I just reviewed the Rasanter R48 and currently I still have the R53 in the review cycle, then this rubber perfectly makes sense.
I will soon complete the andro-reviews with Rasanter R45 and Hexer Grip SFX. In the meantime, I have some other things in the pipeline.
What is missing to me lately within the rubber market is the development of independent soft rubbers. There are some new releases, but always connected with the fact that there is a complete series with harder rubbers.
I see some understanding for this approach in the fact that the market around soft rubbers works somewhat differently than it does with the absolute TOP rubbers. Those who choose a softer rubber usually don’t need the best playing characteristics, but are actually looking for a moderate rubber in combination with a lot of control. Or a nice sound feeling. In addition, thinner sponge thicknesses are more likely.
If I stay just with andro, there are already good solutions in this field. The “All-Rounder” and popular andro Hexer Duro offers just that. A nice feeling, moderate speed and still enough potential for all topspins and attacking strokes.
Even softer and more controlled is an andro Hexer Powersponge. Even this rubber already offers the necessary characteristics that define a soft rubber.
Especially players who are just about to make progress then choose the more spinny and somewhat dangerous TOP softies around Tibhar Evolution FX-S, Donic Bluefire M3 or Butterfly Tenergy 05 FX. The only thing is that such rubbers often serve as a intermediate step to choose even harder, faster rubbers with more performance capacity.
Where I see potential, and the issue is the same with all modern speed-glue-effect, ESN or Spring Sponge rubbers so far, is this: While a soft, speed-glued rubber could also have a lot of power and speed, from my point of view this is no longer the case with the modern soft rubbers.
The only rubber I ever had such a feeling with was a Donic Baracuda Big Slam, freshly glued (without VOC) straight out of the package. After 2-3 weeks, however, this became much softer and also slower again.
This “problem” cannot be solved if, as with the andro Hexer Powergrip SFX, it is primarily a matter of developing the harder version and then later a soft sponge is put under the same or a similar topsheet. You would have to come up with a completely separate approach.
Even though this was a bit off-topic, questions like this concern me while I’m evaluating a rubber like the Powergrip SFX. It’s no secret that soft rubbers can never achieve the same rating from me than harder rubbers do. And this is one of those reasons.
Turning to the andro Hexer Powergrip SFX, I examine what characteristics the rubber has compared to its predecessors. Which types of players should switch to the SFX? Which rubbers can be compared with it and where does the rubber rank?