2012 Luxilon Playtest

[db10s]

Originally Posted by swfh

Only compared it with the baseline because that is what I currently have in my frames. Iontec, and any of the tourna offerings are better than 4g

Thing is, Lux can still sell them with BIG profit because of marketing and by lack of consumer knowledge.

[stecken71]

Full set or hybrid: full set.
Tension used for playtest: 56 lbs
Regular string set up: Solinco Tour Bite 17
Racquet brand and model used for test: Tecnifibre TFight 320 VO2 max
Power of test string: Low to low moderate
Feel: Felt like a cross between Lux Ace and Pro Hurricane Tour 18 gauge
Spin: High kick serves, but lower trajectory on my Western groundies
Comfort: Smooth and stiff like Pro Hurricane Tour
Durability: Don't know, seems like the coating would last. Sold the racquet to my friend.
Tension maintenance (how long before it became too loose or unplayable) Not sure, my friend has the racquet now.
Control (predictable trajectory? performance on different strokes and swing speeds?) High amount of control, like the other testers noted. For a hard hitter, not for the pusher.
Compare to the string you use most often: Pro Hurricane Tour
Tension recommendations (after hitting it, would you recommend a different tension? Why?) I might drop it down to 53 or 54.
Summary: I would like this string for tournaments where I would want control on all my shots and if I were to hit flatter drives. But for regular club play, sometimes I would want the spin and trajectory of Solinco Tour Bite or Barb Wire. I wouldn't pay beyond $15 a set. But even then, I think I would rather use Alu Rough, for a touch more spin. I can get Pro Hurricane Tour for 9.99 a set and I don't know if the extra resiliency is worth $5+ more.
I apologize for the late review. I received the string a little later due to my address. Thank you for the chance to try the string, TW/Luxilon.

[blastforehand]

Finally got to hit with the new Luxilon 4G as provided by the Tennis Warehouse playtest. I had a tournament to prepare for and didn't have the court time to fool around with a new string. I compared it directly with a fresh set of my usual string, Tourna Poly Big Hitter Blue Rough 16 gauge.

Full set of each.

52 pounds for the Luxilon 4G, 54 pounds for the Blue Rough. I have used a lot of Luxilon Alu Power smooth 1.25 in the past, mostly stringing at 52. During stringing on my Alpha Revo with Wise tension head I immediately noted the 4G was much stiffer than the Blue Rough, stretching approximately 15mm less than the stretchy Blue Rough on the mains. I also noted on opening the package that the 4G felt slightly sticky to my hands.

Racquets used were Head Extreme Pro IG. This is a fairly stiff players racquet with a very wide 16x19 pattern. String spacing is even wider on the IG than the original Microgel Extreme Pro 16x19. With my swing and spin it eats strings "extremely." Blue Rough hits good enough for about an hour of hard practice (more for most matches) and snaps from saw through in 90 minutes to 2 hours.

Court was red clay. Practice partner was my usual, a 4.5 who is improving rapidly.

My initial impression was that the 4G is a great string. Very satisfying acoustics, great control, plenty of spin, easy on the arm. Loved it. After 15 minutes of hard groundstroking I switched to the fresh set of Blue Rough 16 gauge. It felt pretty good also. I didn't have much trouble adjusting back and forth. Launch angles seemed similar, although I didn't test for low short balls where launch angle really comes into play.

After about 30 to 40 minutes of hitting with the 4G I noted the mains were no longer snapping back into place like I prefer. Still hit okay though.

Power levels between the 4G and Blue Rough seemed roughly similar, with a slight edge to the Blue Rough (note the tension differential.) If I strung up the 4G again I might try 50 pounds.

Feel. I am not a big believer in "feel" as having much to do with shotmaking, since the ball is gone from the stringbed long before any feedback from the hand can reach the brain, much less analysis of such feedback performed by the brain and sent back to the hand or arm. However, I will say both strings felt great, no undue shock or vibration. I would give an edge to the 4G. I might describe it as a solid and strong feel. Loved the "thwack" sound.

Both strings provided plenty of diving spin when properly struck.

Comfort of both strings was excellent. I have been working hard on seeing the ball big and hitting more cleanly, so comfort is not an issue for me currently. If I shanked serves as I have in the past and see all around (Please dear tennis player, keep your head up and, more than that, really "see" the ball so your brain has a chance to figure out where the ball is, and I don't have to feel your service shank pain) my arm would be in danger of falling off with any string.

Durability is a disappointment for me. After about 40 minutes of hard groundstroking (and I am pretty consistent) the 4G is notched through at least 30%. The Blue Rough after hitting and one quick set (6-3 me) totaling about 70 minutes is notched at least 50% through and about to snap.

I am guessing I can get another half hour of good enough hitting from the 4G. The Blue Rough will be cut out, as usual.

My guess is the durability issue is due to the extreme string spacing of the Extreme Pro IG. String life might double with an 18 main string racquet.

Snapback durability. There is some, but not a lot of snapback left in the 4G as determined by my fingers pushing hard against the mains. There is of course none left in the Blue Rough. Newly strung the 4G had much more snapback from finger push than the Blue Rough.

Overall I really like the new Luxilon 4G.

Analysis and conclusion. Fresh poly is much better than any used up poly, which is useless to me. Fresh premium poly like Luxilon 4G ($245/reel) may be some few percent better than fresh Blue Rough 16 gauge ($80/reel.) If I were playing more seriously premium poly like Luxilon 4G or Alu Power could be worthwhile. Premium poly might also be more worthwhile if I were using a more tightly spaced 18 main string racquet.

I wish Blue Rough came in a thicker gauge. The present so-called 16 gauge Blue Rough feels thin to me, like a 1.25mm or less. Although I don't have a lot of time for string testing, I may try a few other polys this fall, perhaps in 1.30mm.

[SOY78]

I really like this 4G. The more I play with it the more I like it

[djNEiGht]

Originally Posted by SOY78

I really like this 4G. The more I play with it the more I like it

I'm happily surprised at how good it's playing still. Granted I'm playing 90% doubles...

[IowaHawksFan]

I haven't had a chance to play with the 4G, as I just switched to the Babolat PDR+ and had TW string. I have since cut out the string and have to say stringing the 4G is a pleasure - very little stretching and of course easy through the grommets. I will report on playing performance in a week.

[Tennisguy3000]

Thanks for you reviews everyone. Looking forward to some updates in regards to how the string performs after some time & arm friendlines (tennis elbow).

Cheers ~ TG

[db10s]

Originally Posted by IowaHawksFan

I haven't had a chance to play with the 4G, as I just switched to the Babolat PDR+ and had TW string. I have since cut out the string and have to say stringing the 4G is a pleasure - very little stretching and of course easy through the grommets. I will report on playing performance in a week.

still a bit late....

[novak.20v]

Damn, I just noticed this thread, wish I could have participated.
Will there be any future play-test soon?

[IowaHawksFan]

Full set or hybrid - Full
Tension used for playtest - 50lb
Regular string set up - Bab Hurricane Tour
Racquet brand and model used for test - Babolat PD Roddick+
Power of test string - average, liked the power after hitting for about a half an hour
Feel - average, but what do you expect for a poly
Spin - very good
Comfort - same as other full set polys
Durability - only used for 2 weeks, not a fair test, only played twice
Tension maintenance (how long before it became too loose or unplayable) -
fine so far, but only used for 2 weeks
Control (predictable trajectory? performance on different strokes and swing speeds?) - above average, for a poly this was my biggest surprise of the playtest
Compare to the string you use most often - similar, but I liked the control over other polys
Tension recommendations (after hitting it, would you recommend a different tension? Why?) - 50lb seems good so far
Summary: List 1 or 2 primary likes and dislikes.
Would seriously consider buying, if the price is right

[db10s]

Originally Posted by IowaHawksFan

Full set or hybrid - Full
Tension used for playtest - 50lb
Regular string set up - Bab Hurricane Tour
Racquet brand and model used for test - Babolat PD Roddick+
Power of test string - average, liked the power after hitting for about a half an hour
Feel - average, but what do you expect for a poly
Spin - very good
Comfort - same as other full set polys
Durability - only used for 2 weeks, not a fair test, only played twice
Tension maintenance (how long before it became too loose or unplayable) -
fine so far, but only used for 2 weeks
Control (predictable trajectory? performance on different strokes and swing speeds?) - above average, for a poly this was my biggest surprise of the playtest
Compare to the string you use most often - similar, but I liked the control over other polys
Tension recommendations (after hitting it, would you recommend a different tension? Why?) - 50lb seems good so far
Summary: List 1 or 2 primary likes and dislikes.
Would seriously consider buying, if the price is right

Ummmm.... You realize your are extremely late, right?

And how is it not a fair test?

[pvaudio]

Originally Posted by blastforehand

I am not a big believer in "feel" as having much to do with shotmaking, since the ball is gone from the stringbed long before any feedback from the hand can reach the brain, much less analysis of such feedback performed by the brain and sent back to the hand or arm.

I find this quite interesting simply because it's 100% true. I think that feel is rather you being able to get the sensation of what JUST happened on the stringbed rather than what is happening at contact. The reason that's very important is because it lets you know exactly how well your input correlates to the output. You put in a dink, you get that same amount of dink out. You put in a flat drive, you get a flat drive out. If all of these yield different tactile sensations, then you have much greater confidence going to hit any given one of them. If you instead get a dull thud on both a serve and a volley, then you really don't know how much to put into a given shot. When the stringbed relays exactly what just happened differently for every type of shot you may want to hit, then that's a great quality to have. This is my definition of feel, and on that note, I'm going to make a thread about it.

[pvaudio]

Originally Posted by db10s

Ummmm.... You realize your are extremely late, right?

And how is it not a fair test?

Probably because he used it twice only...but if I hate a string after an hour and a half then its future redeeming qualities are moot IMO. I don't want to wait an entire set for my strings to start working the way I like them to.

[cluckcluck]

Originally Posted by IowaHawksFan

Full set or hybrid - Full
Tension used for playtest - 50lb
Regular string set up - Bab Hurricane Tour
Racquet brand and model used for test - Babolat PD Roddick+
Power of test string - average, liked the power after hitting for about a half an hour
Feel - average, but what do you expect for a poly
Spin - very good
Comfort - same as other full set polys
Durability - only used for 2 weeks, not a fair test, only played twice
Tension maintenance (how long before it became too loose or unplayable) -
fine so far, but only used for 2 weeks
Control (predictable trajectory? performance on different strokes and swing speeds?) - above average, for a poly this was my biggest surprise of the playtest
Compare to the string you use most often - similar, but I liked the control over other polys
Tension recommendations (after hitting it, would you recommend a different tension? Why?) - 50lb seems good so far
Summary: List 1 or 2 primary likes and dislikes.
Would seriously consider buying, if the price is right

That's a pretty thin review.

[pvaudio]

Originally Posted by cluckcluck

That's a pretty thin review.

The Olsen twins are thin. His review makes them look morbidly obese.

[db10s]

Originally Posted by pvaudio

Probably because he used it twice only...but if I hate a string after an hour and a half then its future redeeming qualities are moot IMO. I don't want to wait an entire set for my strings to start working the way I like them to.

Maybe its just me, but I suck it up and play with it.