Soft poly with good spin?

[Jazo]

I want a soft poly with good spin. I am thinking of trying the Luxilon BB Ace 18 string, since i rarely break strings.

[Jazo]

And with some pop too.

[TonyB]

I've been promoting this a lot lately, but my vote goes to Polystar Energy. It's incredibly soft, with tremendous spin and above-average power for a poly. Some say it has the most power for a poly, but I'm not sure about that. The main drawback is that it loses tension very rapidly (maybe 3-4 matches).

In the first 1-2 hours, I've never, EVER played with a poly that has more spin than PS Energy. You can do absolutely ridiculous things with that string in the first hour or so. It's hilarious to watch a serve kick 6 feet up into the fence. But after a few hours, the spin drops down to "normal" poly levels. PS Energy is one of the few polys I've played with that actually maintains its playability in the long term. The tension loss is the only thing that renders the strings unplayable. But if you can deal with the extra trampoline effect, you can get another week or so out of them.

If you string your own frames, then the per-set cost of PS Energy from the reel is around $5.

[S&V Specialist]

RPM Blast is soft and has good spin as well as pop, but it is also pretty expensive.

[pvaudio]

RPM is about as close to soft as I am to Eva Mendes.

[scotus]

Originally Posted by pvaudio

RPM is about as close to soft as I am to Eva Mendes.

Wow, that soft?

[TonyB]

I think there is a difference in what people consider "soft". There is "soft", as in MSV Hex and RPM Blast, but then there is "SOFT", as in Polyfibre TCS and Polystar Energy. Unfortunately, I don't think "soft" is good enough. "SOFT" is what's needed in many cases. And to add to that, there is "SOFT" with spongyness, and "SOFT" with feel. That's where PS Energy differs. It's very unique. "SOFT" TCS is just spongy, without feel. "SOFT" Energy has tremendous feel, control, and power.

If there is another string that is similar to Energy, I would love to try it. Some have said that Black Magic is similar, but I haven't tried it yet so I cannot say.

[S&V Specialist]

Originally Posted by TonyB

I think there is a difference in what people consider "soft". There is "soft", as in MSV Hex and RPM Blast, but then there is "SOFT", as in Polyfibre TCS and Polystar Energy. Unfortunately, I don't think "soft" is good enough. "SOFT" is what's needed in many cases. And to add to that, there is "SOFT" with spongyness, and "SOFT" with feel. That's where PS Energy differs. It's very unique. "SOFT" TCS is just spongy, without feel. "SOFT" Energy has tremendous feel, control, and power.

If you need "SOFT" then why bother with anything other than natty gut?

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by S&V Specialist

If you need "SOFT" then why bother with anything other than natty gut?

Because nat gut costs around $40 per set and PS Energy costs $5. I can get 8 sets of PS Energy (about 2 months at 1 set per week) for each set of nat gut. Also, nat gut will change properties during the course of 2 months while I can keep playing with fresh sets of PS Energy for the same cost.

Also, nat gut doesn't even come CLOSE to the spin level of PS Energy and the power level isn't as controllable. Nat gut feels "stiff" but generates a ton of power, while PS Energy feels soft while offering similar power, along with more spin. Let's say natty gut is "crisp" and PS Energy is "comfortable".

Nothing wrong with nat gut, but if you string your own frames and can afford to do it every week or so, then PS Energy is a better option.

[tennisjon]

Dunlop Black Widow is very soft and spiny. Its average in the power department. Slightly less soft and spiny, but more powerful is MSV Focus Hex.

[S&V Specialist]

Originally Posted by TonyB

Also, nat gut doesn't even come CLOSE to the spin level of PS Energy and the power level isn't as controllable. Nat gut feels "stiff" but generates a ton of power, while PS Energy feels soft while offering similar power, along with more spin. Let's say natty gut is "crisp" and PS Energy is "comfortable".

Nothing wrong with nat gut, but if you string your own frames and can afford to do it every week or so, then PS Energy is a better option.

Spin has ruined tennis. To me, I find it laughable that one would say there is a better string than natural gut, but hey, to each their own. And for the time it takes to restring several frames, doing it every week is just simply not an option.

[pvaudio]

^^^ I regularly string people's racquets on a "walk-in" basis, as in it takes less than 20mins. To also be fair, poly is far more durable than any other string material aside from Aramid, so if someone kills their poly in 8 hitting hours, they would have popped their gut, syn gut or multi in the same time period. Ergo, you end up re-stringing just as often, but in the case of poly, you get greater all-court playability.

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by S&V Specialist

Spin has ruined tennis. To me, I find it laughable that one would say there is a better string than natural gut, but hey, to each their own. And for the time it takes to restring several frames, doing it every week is just simply not an option.

Spin has not "ruined tennis." That's just absurd. Spin is absolutely necessary on serves, particularly the 2nd serve. I'm not talking Nadal-type spin. I'm talking spin required to keep the ball in play, to generate skidding slices, to create kicking serves and drop-dead dropshots.

Just because natural gut is "the pinnacle of strings" doesn't mean it's the best for everyone in every situation.

I love natural gut. But it's too expensive to play around with in trying to find the right string setup for a particular racquet. Each frame plays differently with different strings. I'm not about to spend $40 just to try a new tension or new frame, only to have to cut it out after 20 minutes of play because it doesn't work for me.

For $5, I can easily try 5 or 6 different tensions for any given frame, and still cost less than 1 single set of natural gut.

I think it's time to get off the soap box and come down to reality. Natural gut is good, but other string materials are often better suited for different playing styles or personal preferences.

[TonyB]

I will also add that if natural gut offered everything under the sun, then there would be no other strings.

Poly isn't the end-all-be-all of strings, but it definitely offers some advantages over other strings that allow it to be a good option for many players.

[Xonemains]

So you are after soft and spin? Well might as well add in power and feel.

Polystar energy is the one buddy.

Doesn't hold tension as long as some other polys do but if you are using it more than 8-10 hours, you are kidding yourself. It needs to be cut out at that point anyways.

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by Xonemains

So you are after soft and spin? Well might as well add in power and feel.

Polystar energy is the one buddy.

It's actually pretty hilarious. PS Energy really DOES have it all.... comfort, spin, power, feel, and control.

The only drawback is longevity. I'd say you can get maybe 4-6 hours out of it before it becomes uncontrollable. But up until then, it's the perfect string.

[BreakPoint]

Originally Posted by TonyB

It's actually pretty hilarious. PS Energy really DOES have it all.... comfort, spin, power, feel, and control.

The only drawback is longevity. I'd say you can get maybe 4-6 hours out of it before it becomes uncontrollable. But up until then, it's the perfect string.

But it's also a poly, right? So it's naturally stiffer than most multis, which means there's a greater risk of eventually injuring your arm.

I've yet to hit with ANY poly string that didn't hurt my arm, even the ones advertised to be "very soft".

[Bowtiesarecool]

Golden Set-Snakebite

[Kenzik]

Genesis Hexonic was pretty good to me. Soft feel with a little above-average spin. I really like the feel of it. It's cheap too!

[CANTGETENOUGHTENNIS!]

babolat hurricane feel is kind of a little bit soft-ish, but it has great spin generation