New Donnay X-Series - My Thoughts

[Mig1NC]

Eh, well I tested with whatever string and tension came in the demo from TW.

TW usually strings around mid-range of manufacturer reccomended.

In both demos they had some sythetic gut in the crosses. But I don't know what they had in the mains as there was no lettering on it.

I'll check later to try and figure out more about the strings.

[pjonesy]

Originally Posted by TonyB

Anyone using the Dark Red these days? What string setup are you using? Which ones have you tried and been dissatisfied with?

While I love the frame's swingweight, static weight, its "solidness", large sweetspot, and power level, I just can't seem to find a good string combination that brings out its FEEL. When I hit a ball, I don't feel like I'm 100% connected with it. I need to find a string that allows me to recognize where my shot is headed.

So far, I've tried:

NXT 16g at 52 lb. -- decent, but nothing special

Big Hitter Blue 17g at 34 lb. -- started out very stiff, but softened up after a while, it was good, but lacking feedback and feel

Big Hitter Blue 17g mains/Hollow Core 16g crosses at 46/48 lb. -- stiff, powerless, lacking spin



Help!

I have tried the Blue 99, Gold 94, Red 94 and Dark Red 94. When the chips are down and there are no more options, I keep going back to the Dark Red 94. For serves and shotmaking, i believe the DR is clearly the best(IMO). I've posted this info before, but I want to stress the fact that the Dark Red seems to be much more sensitive to string selection and tension. From my experience, the DR had feel but lacked stability on returns and when hitting heavy, deep, consistent topspin.

I have tried a few string combinations. I'm currently using Volkl Cyclone 18 in the mains(strung at 52lbs) and Mantis Power Synthetic in the crosses(strung at 54lbs). This hybrid gives me excellent spin and controllable power. Feel is also excellent with this combination. I've also used Solinco Tour Bite 16 in the mains and Isospeed Control + Arm Protection 1.30 in the crosses. The Isospeed is a soft multifilament that absorbs vibration and allows me to hold the ball a little longer. However, I felt it muted my feel for the ball.

I also tried a full bed of Prince Premiere LT 17. It had excellent feel that allowed me to hit some nice touch shots. However, it lost tension rather quickly.

[TonyB]

Thanks for that info. I haven't tried the X-Blue 94/99 yet, but I may give them a demo to see how they compare to the X-Dark Red.

I completely agree on the serves with the DR. A very solid and predictable frame for serving. I've also found volleys to be very reliable with it.

But I need a stringbed that lets me judge the ball coming off the racquet a little better. I hit the ball, and it sort of goes where I want it to, and it's sort of got good pace and spin, but at the instant I hit the ball, I really have absolutely no clue what's going to happen. It's almost like hitting the ball with a blindfold on -- you just have to swing and hope, then take off the blindfold and watch the ball to see what happened. That's not really the way I want to play tennis.

The X-Black 99 seemed to have almost TOO much feel -- a bit "twangy" and raw for my tastes, although it hit a nice ball. But no power whatsoever. I like a better balance between the frame and strings to provide power, not just rely on the strings to do the job and compensate for a powerless frame.

I haven't noticed any "lack of stability" with the Dark Red. Fact is, it seems to be the MOST stable Donnay frame I've ever played with. It is SOLID.

[Mig1NC]

Originally Posted by Mig1NC

Eh, well I tested with whatever string and tension came in the demo from TW.

TW usually strings around mid-range of manufacturer reccomended.

In both demos they had some sythetic gut in the crosses. But I don't know what they had in the mains as there was no lettering on it.

I'll check later to try and figure out more about the strings.

The gold demo had TF Synthetic gut crosses, the silver demo had Prince sythetic gut with duraflex crosses.

Both had a silver string as the main.

[gd!]

Originally Posted by Mig1NC

The gold demo had TF Synthetic gut crosses, the silver demo had Prince sythetic gut with duraflex crosses.

Both had a silver string as the main.

Thanks, silver string might be that Donnay one or something like Topspin Cyber Flash stuff, but surely nothing more expensive than this.
However, there are many hybrid options out there which enhance both control and power level compared to what the warehouse is sending out to its customers.
As nice the demo option is, the more different your usual string setup is, the less you will know.
One should store a few sets of such kind of cheaper strings to restring test racquets after demoing with one strings....self stringing helps, though

[Mig1NC]

Originally Posted by gd!

Thanks, silver string might be that Donnay one or something like Topspin Cyber Flash stuff, but surely nothing more expensive than this.
However, there are many hybrid options out there which enhance both control and power level compared to what the warehouse is sending out to its customers.
As nice the demo option is, the more different your usual string setup is, the less you will know.
One should store a few sets of such kind of cheaper strings to restring test racquets after demoing with one strings....self stringing helps, though

Yeah. I agree. I don't want to give up some of my natural gut for a demo though

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by pjonesy

I have tried a few string combinations. I'm currently using Volkl Cyclone 18 in the mains(strung at 52lbs) and Mantis Power Synthetic in the crosses(strung at 54lbs). This hybrid gives me excellent spin and controllable power. Feel is also excellent with this combination. I've also used Solinco Tour Bite 16 in the mains and Isospeed Control + Arm Protection 1.30 in the crosses. The Isospeed is a soft multifilament that absorbs vibration and allows me to hold the ball a little longer. However, I felt it muted my feel for the ball.

Just to follow up on this, I strung my Dark Red with Tour Bite 17g at 30 lb. (yes, 30 lb.) and it is INCREDIBLE. The spin is outrageous, the feel is well above average, the power level is medium and controllable. Power level feels around the level of a good syn gut strung at 52 lb. But the spin is awesome. Serves took some getting used to (most of my initial serves went into the middle of the net), but once I started to hit more "up" on the ball, they were landing in the middle of the service box and hitting the fence about waist high. Tremendous kick (for me). All-out flat serves were a bit tough to generate... I just couldn't get the spin off of the ball!

What I was really impressed with was the feel. Not the "touch", really, but the raw feel. When I hit the ball, I could feel where it was going, unlike almost every other string combination that I've tried so far. I didn't get a "thwack" sound like I expected from a poly, but rather more of a "swish" sound. I love the "thwack", but I'll take the "swish" since it gives me the best feel I've had from this frame so far.

So in my opinion, the hype and raving about Tour Bite on this forum is legitimate. I was extremely impressed with this string. Tension loss after 1 hour of hard hitting was only about 1-2 lb. on the stringmeter, which is negligible. Control was great, spin was amazing, power level was good at 30 lb. I'll have to buy a few more sets of this stuff to try out different tensions.

[suppawat]

Originally Posted by TonyB

Just to follow up on this, I strung my Dark Red with Tour Bite 17g at 30 lb. (yes, 30 lb.) and it is INCREDIBLE...

Having heard a lot of good result from extremely low tension, I will try it. Thanks for sharing. Do you find the Tour Bite hold tension very well at 30 lbs?

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by suppawat

Having heard a lot of good result from extremely low tension, I will try it. Thanks for sharing. Do you find the Tour Bite hold tension very well at 30 lbs?

Well, poly at low tensions definitely doesn't have that "multifilament" feel (as you suggested using for this frame), but it's good. I have some natural gut that I want to try as well, but because the Tour Bite is working so well, I might not get around to that for a while.

Anyway, I haven't used it long enough to judge the tension loss, but I've had it strung for about 3-4 days and have played over an hour of hard hitting and it hasn't dropped more than 2-3 lb. so far. I've read good things from other reviews about Tour Bite holding tension well.

I'll find out later this week when I get the chance to play more with it.

As a side note, I tried stringing Tourna Big Hitter Blue in this frame at 35 lb. and I hated it. Very muted, felt stiff and plasticky. It did loosen up a bit, and I played great with it, but I never liked the feel. Tour Bite is a different animal altogether. It felt great right away and had more power and softness than the Big Hitter Blue. Much more spin, too.

[suppawat]

Originally Posted by TonyB

Well, poly at low tensions definitely doesn't have that "multifilament" feel (as you suggested using for this frame), but it's good. I have some natural gut that I want to try as well, but because the Tour Bite is working so well, I might not get around to that for a while.

Anyway, I haven't used it long enough to judge the tension loss, but I've had it strung for about 3-4 days and have played over an hour of hard hitting and it hasn't dropped more than 2-3 lb. so far. I've read good things from other reviews about Tour Bite holding tension well.

I'll find out later this week when I get the chance to play more with it.

As a side note, I tried stringing Tourna Big Hitter Blue in this frame at 35 lb. and I hated it. Very muted, felt stiff and plasticky. It did loosen up a bit, and I played great with it, but I never liked the feel. Tour Bite is a different animal altogether. It felt great right away and had more power and softness than the Big Hitter Blue. Much more spin, too.

I wish the 30 lbs set up with hold tension very well. Based on my own experiment (strung racquets at different tensions, play for 2 weeks, cut the main string, and observe shrinkage), Solinco Tour Bite and Barb Wire hold tension well if strung below 55 lbs. 52 lbs seems perfect to me in most cases. 58 lbs loose tension a bit quicker.

[pjonesy]

Originally Posted by TonyB

Just to follow up on this, I strung my Dark Red with Tour Bite 17g at 30 lb. (yes, 30 lb.) and it is INCREDIBLE. The spin is outrageous, the feel is well above average, the power level is medium and controllable. Power level feels around the level of a good syn gut strung at 52 lb. But the spin is awesome. Serves took some getting used to (most of my initial serves went into the middle of the net), but once I started to hit more "up" on the ball, they were landing in the middle of the service box and hitting the fence about waist high. Tremendous kick (for me). All-out flat serves were a bit tough to generate... I just couldn't get the spin off of the ball!

What I was really impressed with was the feel. Not the "touch", really, but the raw feel. When I hit the ball, I could feel where it was going, unlike almost every other string combination that I've tried so far. I didn't get a "thwack" sound like I expected from a poly, but rather more of a "swish" sound. I love the "thwack", but I'll take the "swish" since it gives me the best feel I've had from this frame so far.

So in my opinion, the hype and raving about Tour Bite on this forum is legitimate. I was extremely impressed with this string. Tension loss after 1 hour of hard hitting was only about 1-2 lb. on the stringmeter, which is negligible. Control was great, spin was amazing, power level was good at 30 lb. I'll have to buy a few more sets of this stuff to try out different tensions.

That is thinking outside the box. Now that is what i call experimentation. I don't see how I could possibly avoid trying your 30 lbs tension with the tour bite! Spin is the foundation of my game and I would love to see what tour bite at that tension does to the ball.

So, this was a full bed of Tour Bite 17 strung at 30 lbs?

[JGads]

Originally Posted by suppawat

I wish the 30 lbs set up with hold tension very well. Based on my own experiment (strung racquets at different tensions, play for 2 weeks, cut the main string, and observe shrinkage), Solinco Tour Bite and Barb Wire hold tension well if strung below 55 lbs. 52 lbs seems perfect to me in most cases. 58 lbs loose tension a bit quicker.

How come a section of one of the mains appears to be missing in each photo? That's funky.

[10ACE]

Originally Posted by JGads

How come a section of one of the mains appears to be missing in each photo? That's funky.

Read his post son- it was an experiment to show tension maintenance

[JGads]

Riiiight. Sorry about that.

[cayzi]

just a question regarding SILVER and GOLD racket and their SW.

How much will Gold felt "lighter" in swing because of head light compare to Silver racket.

Right now I am testing XP Dual and Silver and I must say that I love Silver and control + power. It is not so low powered as I expected to be but it is true that XP Dual is more powered and easy to swing around.

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by pjonesy

That is thinking outside the box. Now that is what i call experimentation. I don't see how I could possibly avoid trying your 30 lbs tension with the tour bite! Spin is the foundation of my game and I would love to see what tour bite at that tension does to the ball.

So, this was a full bed of Tour Bite 17 strung at 30 lbs?

Yes it was a full bed.

And it certainly is thinking out of the box. But honestly, it wasn't my idea. While I have to say that I've ALWAYS preferred low tensions (stringing with 42-48 lb. syn gut is not unusual for me in a 90 sq. in. frame), the idea of using poly at extremely low tensions was pioneered in this thread:

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=319527


I just ran with the idea, as I've always liked low tensions and I wanted to see how much spin and control I could gain with poly as opposed to syn gut. In my brief experience with low tensions in the 30 lb. range, I've noticed that not all polys are created equal. Soft polys seem to work better, but not always. I really enjoyed playing with Polystar Energy in my 90 sq. in. frame at 30 lb. It was awesome. But Tourna Big Hitter Blue at 34 lb. just STUNK! Tour Bite at 30 lb. is awesome. I hope it holds tension better than the Polystar Energy, which lost tension pretty quickly (within 2 hours) and was quite literally unplayable (uncontrollable, unpredictable) after about 6-8 hours of play. And the only reason I was able to stretch it out that long was that I'm already accustomed to playing with low tensions. I'm hoping to get more out of the Tour Bite.

At this point, I may try some of the cheaper Solinco strings to see if they are similar in performance. I'm not overly interested in getting 110% spin production out of the strings, as I'm more of an all-court player rather than a baseline basher, so I would probably be happy with one of the non-textured polys if I could save some money and get 80% of the performance of the Tour Bite.

[pjonesy]

Originally Posted by TonyB

Yes it was a full bed.

And it certainly is thinking out of the box. But honestly, it wasn't my idea. While I have to say that I've ALWAYS preferred low tensions (stringing with 42-48 lb. syn gut is not unusual for me in a 90 sq. in. frame), the idea of using poly at extremely low tensions was pioneered in this thread:

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=319527


I just ran with the idea, as I've always liked low tensions and I wanted to see how much spin and control I could gain with poly as opposed to syn gut. In my brief experience with low tensions in the 30 lb. range, I've noticed that not all polys are created equal. Soft polys seem to work better, but not always. I really enjoyed playing with Polystar Energy in my 90 sq. in. frame at 30 lb. It was awesome. But Tourna Big Hitter Blue at 34 lb. just STUNK! Tour Bite at 30 lb. is awesome. I hope it holds tension better than the Polystar Energy, which lost tension pretty quickly (within 2 hours) and was quite literally unplayable (uncontrollable, unpredictable) after about 6-8 hours of play. And the only reason I was able to stretch it out that long was that I'm already accustomed to playing with low tensions. I'm hoping to get more out of the Tour Bite.

At this point, I may try some of the cheaper Solinco strings to see if they are similar in performance. I'm not overly interested in getting 110% spin production out of the strings, as I'm more of an all-court player rather than a baseline basher, so I would probably be happy with one of the non-textured polys if I could save some money and get 80% of the performance of the Tour Bite.

So, if I were to string hybrid with tour bite and a syn gut, would I string it tour bite-30lbs and syn gut 45? I've been stringing for a few years, but I have never considered stringing with extreme low tension. A full bed of co-poly would not work for me(shoulder).

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by pjonesy

So, if I were to string hybrid with tour bite and a syn gut, would I string it tour bite-30lbs and syn gut 45? I've been stringing for a few years, but I have never considered stringing with extreme low tension. A full bed of co-poly would not work for me(shoulder).

First thing I would try is a full bed. The comfort level is extremely high with the Tour Bite at low tension. But if I were to suggest a hybrid, I would only go maybe 4 lb. higher with the syn gut (30M/34C).

I did try a hybrid of Polystar Energy mains at 37 lb. and Prince Syn Gut Duraflex at 40 lb. and I actually thought it was okay. But not nearly the same as a full bed of Tour Bite. Fact is, I can't even say that the comfort was any better. Honestly, the full bed of Tour Bite at 30 lb. was substantially better overall than the hybrid.

I would not go 15 lb. higher with the crosses, however. My feeling is that it would place excessive stress on the frame. And I can't really see any benefit to it. As I said, my suggestion is that you try a full bed and if you start to have any twinges of pain, cut it out and restring a hybrid with the crosses 4 lb. higher than the mains. Worst case is that you end up wasting $12. That's not much to pay for a potential game-changing stringbed.

As I said, I absolutely loved Polystar Energy at 30 lb. It was ridiculously soft, yet with controllable power and feel (I hit some amazing drop shots with that setup), but unfortunately lost tension a bit too quickly for my tastes. So I went with the Big Hitter Blue, but that just sucked bigtime. Finally I tried Tour Bite at 30 lb. and was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. There's no guarantee that I won't find some fault with it down the road, but for now I'm very excited to get back out on the court and see what else I can do with this setup.

Give it a try and see for yourself.


EDIT: I also want to clarify that I'm talking specifically about the X-Dark Red. I have been having some difficulty finding just the right string for it and the Tour Bite really brought that frame to life, which I haven't been able to find in any other string combination so far. I'm really excited about playing with this setup. But if you're talking about a different frame, then you might have a different experience than mine. There hasn't been much love around here for the Dark Red, but I absolutely love the frame. I'm switching to the Dark Red from the K90 and the Dark Red has an easier swing (although I've added a leather grip and some lead tape so that the static weight and swingweight is virtually identical to the K90), it has a larger sweetspot, gives more spin, and feels almost as solid. It's a really nice frame once you find the right strings.

[Shangri La]

All X racquets are $25 off on TW!

[BodegaBay]

Thanks for the heads up Shangri-La! TW graciously refunded me the difference for the X-Blue I ordered last week.