TW Review of new Luxilon 4G string --Good as Gold

[tistrapukcipeht]

Originally Posted by pvaudio

It is their flagship string now, so you had better believe it gets reviewed well.

So, you think TW over scores reviews to mislead customers and help certain companies? I mean, they review it, say it's great and psychologically make everybody think it's great (even if it isn't), so can increase sales?

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/revi...l?from=recruit

Here is the very favorable review from TW playtesters. Most love the feel and control of this string. but when it came to power, it was a bit confusing. Jason felt it had plenty of power and felt it was one of more powerful polys he tested. but others felt, it was a bit under powered.

I liked the feel as well, all Luxilon strings have great feel and top quality, control was only good because of lack of power, so i actually think this would be a great string for a Babolat racquet that is stiff and lack of feel, per se aero pro, pure drive type of racquet.

Originally Posted by pvaudio

Also curious is that in their playtest they praise the tension stability, and yet in our playtest on the forum, that was one of the worst aspects.

Tension stability wasn't good, but wasn't the worse, comparing to the Yonex strings , Tecnifibre Black code it was worse.

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

you saying, you didn't like it either ? look at the video review and amount of topspin Jason is getting on his shots. It looks like Nadal forehand to me.

http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/revi...l?from=recruit

Yeah, I think Power player, torres and some others were right, you are fedace, all his posts were just about fooling around with others.

Originally Posted by drakulie

Lot of pros I strung for at cincy were using it:
Nishikori, dimitrov, etc. Also, both of the Williams sisters are using it.

Both of the aforementioned told me they loved the comfort, spin and control. I was able to get a few sets, so look forward to testing it out.

Yes, they like the spin and control because they used full gut, any poly will be better for spin than gut, the poly/gut is supposed to be very good for spin and control, so looks like 4G and gut would be optimal for it, the comfort of 4G is absolutely there.

[tistrapukcipeht]

BTW, I agree with PV audio and some others, the TW review is overrating this string, not that the string is that bad, but it isn't close to some of the other Lux overall. But again they're just entitled to their opinion as we are.

[drakulie]

Originally Posted by FloridaAG

Didn't know you were there. What's up?

How you been AG? Long time. Hope all is well. We need to meet up soon.

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

I had no idea you were one of the greatest stringers in history of tennis ? strung for all those great pros, you must be one of the top 5 stringers in the world. this forum is privilaged to have you.

LOL. I would hardly put it that way, but thanks!

Originally Posted by tistrapukcipeht

Yes, they like the spin and control because they used full gut, any poly will be better for spin than gut, the poly/gut is supposed to be very good for spin and control, so looks like 4G and gut would be optimal for it, the comfort of 4G is absolutely there.

Hog wash. Sampras was getting over 5000 rpms of spin in an 85 sq inch frame, using a full gut set up strung in the 70's.

Also, dimitrov,nishikori, and the williams all used the gut in the mains and the 4 g in the crosses.

Also, the mains is where one gets the performance from the string, not the crosses.

[duffman]

As a 5.0 recreational player who prefers a gut/poly hybrid, I have to say that while I like the feel and control of the gut/4G hybrid, the tension maintenance is not good enough for me to use in a cross. If I'm going to pay for gut in the mains I surely don't want to waste that playability by using a cross that loses tension as quickly as the 4G.

[Sander001]

Originally Posted by tistrapukcipeht

So, you think TW over scores reviews to mislead customers and help certain companies? I mean, they review it, say it's great and psychologically make everybody think it's great (even if it isn't), so can increase sales?

No, Luxilon would obviously have done their own playtests and if the feedback was poor, they wouldn't have made it their flagship product.

[FloridaAG]

Originally Posted by drakulie

How you been AG? Long time. Hope all is well. We need to meet up soon.

Definitely. All is good, just busy. Very little tennis played outside of Key West these days

[Nostradamus]

Is there any forum playtesters that thought this string actually had very good power as well as spin ?

[asiank90]

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

If you want to talk to roger federer who i think you are referring to, he has a twitter account and facebook. you can contact him there.

Federer doesn't have a twitter account

[db10s]

I checked twitter and he came up as a person I'm following...... It appears to be his official account.

[db10s]

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

If you want to talk to roger federer who i think you are referring to, he has a twitter account and facebook. you can contact him there.

Well, you are thinking wrong.

[Prostaffer]

Serena has been using the string since Charleston where she won.

Drakulie is right, many of the pro's are using this as a cross with gut. My suspicion is that it doesn't wear out the gut as quickly?

I play tested this twice and have it in my Juice Pro now. IMO you need to play this poly lower then the poly you are using now.

Serena and Venus are both 60+ with this string, but they are playing with a 100+ headsize. I played this at 60lbs in a surge and hated it.

I played it at 52 in my Steam and loved it. I have a hybrid in my Juice Pro of NXT control in the mains and 4G in the crosses 60/54. It is ok.

I think for most people the best thing to do will be a hybrid with it in the crosses or as a full bed with a very low tension in smaller headsizes.

The main reason I love the stuff is the comfort. I have been battling a bad elbow for the past few years and this is the first poly I can use in a full bed. I miss my ALU...

[cluckcluck]

I used the 4G in my Donnay 94, I strung it as a full bed @46. I really liked the control and depth I was able to get, though it lacked spin in a major way.
I hit for about 6 hours (spread out over 3 days) and I found that around 5 hours the string got weird. Under powered and started feeling a little tenderness in the elbow.
Honestly, I would probably never use it again.

[courtking]

well.. just found this thread.. I will put it in my KPS88 hybrid with vsgut at low tension to see if it performs better than ALU Power Rough..

[UCSF2012]

I was wrong about the 4G being designed for gut/poly.

I tried it out today using Pacific Gut mains. The 4G absorbs spin! I got less spin from the 4G 16L than I did from Black Magic 17, Hurricane Tour 17, BHBR 16, and ALU Power. The performance didn't drop after 2 hours, though. The problem is that the performance was never high in the first place.

Luxilon 4G will be the new Windows Vista of tennis strings. Overpriced piece of crap!!!

[Nostradamus]

Originally Posted by UCSF2012

I was wrong about the 4G being designed for gut/poly.

I tried it out today using Pacific Gut mains. The 4G absorbs spin! I got less spin from the 4G 16L than I did from Black Magic 17, Hurricane Tour 17, BHBR 16, and ALU Power. The performance didn't drop after 2 hours, though. The problem is that the performance was never high in the first place.

Luxilon 4G will be the new Windows Vista of tennis strings. Overpriced piece of crap!!!

would you be more interested if they droped the price to ~$10 ? and if Luxilon added some material to increase the power and spin, would you buy it at this current price ?

[UCSF2012]

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

would you be more interested if they droped the price to ~$10 ? and if Luxilon added some material to increase the power and spin, would you buy it at this current price ?

In a recreational setting, I want low cost and performance. If the 4G can create more spin, then I'd consider it at $10. The problem, however, is that there are many $8 strings out there that generate massive spin. Right now, the only major benefit of 4G is longer lasting playability.

In a competitive setting, cost matters less. I willingly go to $40 gut and ALU crosses. I would also replace the crosses the night before.

Unfortunately, I think 4G should be priced in teh $6-8 range. It's not a $17 string by far.

[UCSF2012]

I remember seeing a customer feedback on the 4G, and it wasn't too favorable. TW has since erased it. I'm not too crazy about this Yelp-like business plan. Hide the negatives.

[PKfan1]

To be honest I wanted to hate this string when I got it from the playtest, because I knew it would be so expensive, but I have been really surprised.

I strung it @62 in a redondo mid, and it's still in there after 3 weeks. I normally break string or cut it out every week, but it's still playing like it did when I first hit with it. Spin or power was never it's strong suit, but it still gives me excellent control and is still very comfortable.

I really don't understand where all of the hate is coming from, it's certainly not the best string, but it's not as terrible as everyone here is saying. At the same price I would buy this string 10 times out of 10 over RPM.

[pvaudio]

Originally Posted by PKfan1

To be honest I wanted to hate this string when I got it from the playtest, because I knew it would be so expensive, but I have been really surprised.

I strung it @62 in a redondo mid, and it's still in there after 3 weeks. I normally break string or cut it out every week, but it's still playing like it did when I first hit with it. Spin or power was never it's strong suit, but it still gives me excellent control and is still very comfortable.

I really don't understand where all of the hate is coming from, it's certainly not the best string, but it's not as terrible as everyone here is saying. At the same price I would buy this string 10 times out of 10 over RPM.

Not everyone shares the same experience. I have purposely said many times now that the stuff is not awful. That would be a lie because I can think of many (truth be told, that blue Wilson poly was simply sinful in comparison) that are worse. The majority consensus has been below average, however. More interestingly, before they said that this is their new top of the line string and sent it out to playtest, I honestly do not recall a single glowing review. Now that it's being marketed and they want feedback, the positives have come pouring in. Having tested both in the same frame, it's the same string without question. As UCSF said, those original negative reviews no longer exist.

If you are looking for a control string, look at some Weisscannon polys. This isn't my personal bias either. I only have my personal bias because I was told the same thing: http://stringforum.net/top5.php?cat=K . Scorpion has been #1 for at least the past 3 years which is when I started looking. Again, I am not telling you to try the Lux 4G. Use weed-whacker string if you want and I won't even blink. My point is just that when there are so many options and it's at least mildly clear a product is being carried by its name alone, it pays to shop around.

[PKfan1]

I am by no means going to pay $17 dollars for this product, I am just saying with all the widespread use of rpm and other strings priced so ridiculously high I would get the 4g over the rpm. Personally I am still in love with Tourna poly and the price to performance ratio simply blows those highly marketed strings out of the water.

My point is the 4g is not the worst string on the market and is actually quite enjoyable for me when price doesn't play in to the equation.