2012 Luxilon Playtest

[db10s]

Originally Posted by Unfrozen Caveman

Got mine today too. Looking forward to stinging it up and trying it out. What gauge does it appear to be? Mine looks like it is a 17 gauge.

1.25

10 chars

[db10s]

Got mine today too, sweet t-shirt, I'm going to string it up soon. Thanks guys!

[swfh]

I don't know how I should string it. Full bed? High or low tension? What is the power like?

[Andyroo10567]

Got mine today as well. Probably going to string it up in the following week.

[djNEiGht]

Originally Posted by swfh

I don't know how I should string it. Full bed? High or low tension? What is the power like?

I would string close to what you string your polys are at, if not the same. If you play syn or multi then I would prob go 5-7 lbs less.

Many tend to string poly at the low end of the recommended tension on a racquet.

[djNEiGht]

Swfh

Or string it up just like your signature...replacing the poly for poly.

[swfh]

Originally Posted by djNEiGht

Swfh

Or string it up just like your signature...replacing the poly for poly.

Yeah. I'll probably do that. 52 lbs it is

[CLL]

Package received! I will string it in a day or two.

[Cfidave]

Received the strings and T today, thanks very much. Will review soon.

[aced_Tezuka]

Strings and a t-shirt? That's cool! Quite nice and generous of them. I wish I knew about this.

[m1stajk]

Got my strings in the mail yesterday and immediately strung it up in a hybrid with Gamma synthetic gut with the
4G in the mains at 55 and the synthetic gut at 57 in a prince exo3 rebel 95. The stringing went pretty smoothly as it was an easy string to string with (not too stiff). I normally string Solinco tour bite 16g at 58.

Groundstrokes: I hit groundstrokes for about 45minutes with this string and i felt that this string was pretty low powered and very soft on the arm compared to my normal string (TourBite). Many of my balls were landing pretty short but that gave me more confidence on my strokes to hit harder. I feel that hardhitting baseliners will really enjoy this string. Spinwise this string wasnt very suprising to me. you get what you put into it, if you dont try to hit alot of topspin you dont get very much but on slices i liked how i the ball stayed pretty low. Because this string was pretty low powered i got some pretty good control. the strings feel really soft and in a way dead because of the low powered softness. I felt that the tension i used was pretty good for this string but if i were to string it again i would try to string lower so that i wont have to work so hard.

Volleys: with this string i felt pretty good with volleys as they went right where i wanted it to go. With the softness/deadness of the string i could really punch the ball on my volleys but i got a good response on my slice volleys as well.

Serves: This string wasnt any different from other polys on serve but maybe is more low powered. On flat serves i felt that i could have gotten more power if i had strung lower. The ball did not really kick much on my kick serves but stayed pretty low but on my slice serves i saw i got a pretty good reaction but not as much curve as with tourbite.

Overall this string is pretty average but playable. I feel that people who have armproblems but want to play with a poly should use this string in a hybrid as it would be really comfortable. power-wise i would say that it is for more people who want deader strings so that they can generate thier own pace. I still have to determine the durability and tension maintenece but i really enjoyed the control that this string offers but i could still use some more spin potential.

thanks tennis warehouse for thestring and the shirt

[rader023]

Ditto. Got mine today. Thanks TW for the string and shirt. Can't wait to try!

[CLL]

I opened up the string packet and inside it read

"Play test 4G and post your feedback on Facebook to receive a free Luxilon 4g T-shirt".

Someone over at Luxilon HQ is getting fired

[gtshark1]

Received mine yesterday as well. The added shirt was a nice bonus. I'm looking forward to using the string in a hybrid the next few times on the court.

[TFight320]

Just received mine yesterday. The shirt was unexpected but great. Thanks, TW! Hopefully I'll get it strung tonight and hit the courts tomorrow.

[Brocolt]

I would suggest lower lbs around 50

[mpournaras]

THanks TW! Got mine today and a sweet shirt to boot! Will make post in about 3-7 days

[radigan]

Just a heads up for those of you posting the review on TW. It says you also need to post the review on Facebook.

[Getting_Closer]

I got the string yesterday, very excited about the string as I have read quite a few positive feedbacks.

My usually set up is SPPPP 1.25/Mantis Comfort Synethetic 1.30 at 51/54. The stick I use is Prince Rebel (old)

As I opened the package up, the string looks in a way like a mix of M2 Pro and Iso speed Control. I have this feeling throughout the test. It was not too bad to string, not too stiff but not soft either, just like M2 Pro. I strung it full bed at 52.

Groundstrokes: typical poly, lack of power, you have to swing hard. By saying swing hard, I mean a full swing from back to front and from low to high. The control is there, but if you don't have time to set up and only try to block a shot to keep it in play, you will be in trouble as no free power is from this string. One thing kind of annoyed me was lack of bitting. I hit more shots at the tape than with my usual setup. I can see my shots got some top spin, but nothing like you get from tour bite. It is somewhere between M2 pro and Iso speed control, none of which is known for its spin potential. Overall, I would give 8/10.

Serves: My serve is somewhere between 100 to 110 mi with my usual setup. I would say with this string I was able to hit between 90 to 100 mi. It is average, again no free power here either. You are able to put ball where you want to, so the control is there. The kick serve is average as well, I don't see the jump and my opponent reacted with no noticable expression.
Overall, i would give 7.5/10.

Volleys: Nothing great here either. Among all polys I have tried, the one I like the best in this department is WC Scorpion. This is not Scorpion, not even near it. I do come to net often and volley a lot during play. My favorite shot is to place shots short over the net and force the opponent to come to net in rush. I don't control it well with this string. Overall, I would give 7.5/10

Durability: I just played for 3 hr. I don't notice any dramatic changes, but again here is the thing: If you played Alu rough, or some other poly, the first 2 hr is like the best performance of its entire short life. I don't get that "Wow" factor with this string.

Overall, I would say this string is somewhere between M2 pro and Iso speed control.

One thing I like about this string is you can hit as hard as you like, but you don't feel that your wrist is taking all the impact at all. It is like hitting with Multi but taking out its power.

One thing I dislike the most is its lack of spin, the bitting of balls.

All in all, I would say this is an average string. It could be a great string for hybrid, hybrid with another poly that has great spin potential.

Thank tenniswarehouse, for choosing me for this playtest and that T-shirt.

[Andyroo10567]

Full set or hybrid : Full Set
Tension used for playtest : 60lb
Regular string set up : Tourna Big Hitter Rough Blue 17g 60lb
Racquet brand and model used for test : Prince TT Warrior

Power level of test string : Moderate. Used my normal swings and hits just fine, not much of a difference from what i used, just a little bit less power. This part of testing didn't stuck out to me. I already have a large swing so the power wasnt a problem for me as i saw from other peoples reviews about the lack of power.

Feel : The feel of the string was just like any other poly string you would use. One slight difference i noticed was the soft and crisp feel it had. If the string was more soft and crisp, i would DEFINITELY switch to this.

Tension maintenance : Tension maintenance wasn't the best, but still was fine for the amount of hours i played with it. ( 2 days , 4 hours per hitting session and thats when i started to notice a dead feel, but surprising enough, the dead feel felt pretty nice. A lot different than the live version )

Control : This was my most favorite part of the string. Control was great and i felt like my shots were pinpoint. With the slight lowered power, mixed with the control, this to me felt like my ideal string i would use.

Compare to the string you use most often : My BHBR 17g had nice pop and felt very crisp, as for the Luxilon 4g, this had a soft and crisp which wouldn't be enough for me to switch to this string. as for the power, i didn't even care about that, until it goes on to control. The slight difference of power took big part in the control, as i said, my shots were as if it was pinpoint but my BHBR was just fine. So if the feel was better on the Luxilon 4G, I would definitely switch as soon as it came out but i would probably do a syn.gut/Luxilon 4g hybrid, hopefully both 18g. Overall, this string, if i had to rate 1/10, i would give it a 7.5/10.

Tension recommendations (after hitting it, would you recommend a different tension? Why?) : I would use a higher tension, around 62 maybe? ( IMO ) Because with the really low power mixed with control would be amazing for me. And yes, i know I constantly talk about control! control! lower power! mixed! amazing! pinpoint! blah blah blah, but that's because its the main part that stuck out to me

Summary :
^ Likes : The nice pop it gives off at 60lb felt nice. Even after the string went dead ( 8 hours of play time, heavy hitting, sat in my tennis bag for 40 hours if that matters. ) it still felt moderately good.
^ Likes : Control this string gave was a lot different from BHBR. But that doesn't mean i didn't like the control Serving, Groundstrokes, and my backhands was where i noticed it
^ Dislike : One thing that i noticed while testing the string was that the string didn't give off much spin ( My estimate of my spin and flatness is around 70%~ Flat and 30%~ Spin. ) and with this string i felt like i was getting around 20% or 15% only.