KTS (Kim Taek Soo) is the table tennis brand managed by T-Mount which is a Korean company. ‘Hyve’ and ‘Platz’, released in March 2024, are the Hybrid tension rubbers optimized for the impact strength of ordinary players, differently from top models – ‘Master V47 Pro’ and ‘Master V49 Pro’ – optimized for highly skilled players.

Hybrid rubber (or Hybrid tension rubber) that is based on sticky rubber but provide improved speed and ease of use is expected to be one of mainstream of table tennis in the future. And not only the tension rubbers for top players but also the tension rubbers for ordinary players – for example Butterfly ‘Rozena’ and ‘Glazer’ – are being released. ‘Hyve’ and ‘Platz’ are the products those are keeping pace with both of two trends. But KTS is using the stickiness just for increasing the spin performance and usability, and trying to make its Hybrid rubbers as close to non-sticky tension rubber as possible. So, KTS doesn’t mention the words ‘sticky’ or ‘hybrid’ in the description of ‘Hyve’ and ‘Platz’. And KTS is trying to make ‘Hyve’ and ‘Platz’ the rivals against non-sticky tension rubbers – ‘Rozena’ and ‘Glazer’ respectively.

Between two models, ‘Hyve’ is relatively softer one which lays emphasis on speed and usability, and ‘Platz’ is relatively harder one which focuses on spin performance.

‘Hyve’ and ‘Platz’ are new Hybrid tension rubbers optimized for ordinary players. The relationship between two models is equivalent to the relationship between ‘Rozena’ and ‘Glazer’ of Butterfly. Especially ‘Hyve’ which is softer and focuses on speed is recommended for entry-level players. ‘Platz’ which is harder and focuses on spin is better for a bit more skilled players.

‘ARC Energy’ and ‘HyperFriXion’ are the names of the technologies for recent KTS rubbers. ‘ARC Energy’ means that these rubbers are equipped with new-generation tension sponge. And ‘HyperFriXion’ indicates that these rubbers are based on the technology of sticky rubber.

‘Hyve’ and ‘Platz’ are the first models those are registered with ‘KTS’ brand. Strictly speaking the name of brand on ITTF list is ‘Tmount KTS’ whose registration number is 238. It is expected that the rubbers registered with old ‘Tmount’ brand for example ‘Master V47 Pro’ and ‘Master V49 Pro’ will be registered again with new ‘Tmount KTS’ brand in the future.

The appearance of logo layers of ‘Hyve’ and ‘Platz’ doesn’t remind us of sticky rubbers. The top sheets look normal, and the actual performance of ‘Hyve’ and ‘Platz’ is quite different from that of sticky rubber.

The sponge colors of ‘Hyve’ and ‘Platz’ are not identical to each other. The sponge color of ‘Hyve’ is yellow, while that of ‘Platz’ is red. The sponges of ‘Hyve’ and ‘Platz’ are tension sponges of new generation. We can see that the pores of sponges are quite big.

Between two models, ‘Hyve’ is the Hybrid tension rubber which is focused on speed performance and ease of use. ‘Hyve’ is softer and lighter than ‘Platz’, and is strongly recommend for entry level players.

The top sheet of ‘Hyve’ is covered by transparent plastic cover. The transparent cover which is usually seen in sticky rubbers protects the initial stickiness of top sheet, and is almost the only thing that tells us that ‘Hyve’ is a rubber that is based on sticky rubber technology. The stickiness of ‘Hyve’ is very weak, and the actual characteristics of ‘Hyve’ is somewhat far from those of sticky rubbers.

The surface of the top sheet of ‘Hyve’ doesn’t look like that of sticky rubber. And, KTS isn’t even mentioning the word ‘sticky’ in the description of ‘Hyve’ or ‘Platz’. The target competitors of ‘Hyve’ set by KTS are not the Hybrid rubbers of other companies but non-sticky tension rubbers such as ‘Rozena’ and ‘Vega Asia’.

The sheet base and the densely arranged pimple geometry of ‘Hyve’ look similar to those of new generation tension rubbers focused on spin performance – for example ‘Tenergy 05’ or ‘Vega Pro’. But the actual performance of ‘Hyve’ is closer to that of ‘Tenergy 64’ or ‘Vega Asia’ which is focused more on speed.

The sponge color of ‘Hyve’ is yellow. The visible pores indicate that this is a new generation tension sponge. The sponge density is 47.5°. However, the actual hitting feeling of ‘Hyve’ is softer than expected from the value of sponge density.

Between two models, ‘Platz’ is the Hybrid tension rubber which is focused on spin performance and ease of use. The overall hitting feeling of ‘Platz’ is harder than that of ‘Hyve’. ‘Platz’ is recommended for the players with more skill than entry level players.

The top sheet of ‘Platz’ is also covered by transparent plastic cover. The transparent cover which is usually seen in sticky rubbers protects the initial stickiness of top sheet, and is almost the only thing that tells us that ‘Platz’ is a rubber that is based on sticky rubber technology. The stickiness of ‘Platz’ is very weak, and the actual characteristics of ‘Platz’ is somewhat far from those of sticky rubbers.

The surface of the top sheet of ‘Platz’ doesn’t look like that of sticky rubber. And, KTS isn’t even mentioning the word ‘sticky’ in the description of ‘Platz’ or ‘Hyve’. The target competitors of ‘Hyve’ set by KTS are not the Hybrid rubbers of other companies but non-sticky tension rubbers such as ‘Glazer’ and ‘Vega Pro’.

The sheet base and the densely arranged pimple geometry of ‘Platz’ look similar to those of new generation tension rubbers focused on spin performance – for example ‘Tenergy 05’ or ‘Vega Pro’. And, the actual performance of ‘Platz’ is also focused on spin performance.

The sponge color of ‘Platz’ is red. The visible pores indicate that this is a new generation tension sponge. The sponge density is 50.0°.

Kim Taek Soo, who is the legendary Korean players, is involved in the development of KTS rubbers. Only the rubbers those passed his testing during development can be brought into production.

Both of ‘Hyve’ and ‘Platz’ are the rubbers for ordinary players. ‘Hyve’ is strongly recommend for entry level players who play mostly with hitting and blocking, and ‘Platz’ is recommended for more skilled players who can play with topspin. KTS is strongly recommending ‘Hyve’ as the combination with KTS ‘Ngneered J’, and ‘Platz’ as the combination with KTS ‘Ngneered H’.

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