Tourna Big Hitter Black 7 - Page 5

Lefty5 · 01-13-2012, 06:20 AM

[quote=pvaudio;6226320]more penetrating balls[quote]

...and careful here too

pvaudio · 01-13-2012, 10:58 AM

LOL you guys are too much

Torres · 01-15-2012, 08:34 AM

"Spin, Spin, Spin"

With these modern co-polys, I'm starting to think that you can put them into 2 camps. Those that moderate and take out the extremes eg. Weiscannon Silverstring (dampened, dead feeling, muted, low power, not much spin for a poly), and those that accentuate and enhance particular characteristics eg. Polystar Energy (power), Tourna BHBR (lively, spin, action/movement on the ball, power), Solinco Tour Bite (spin and power) etc. Obviously there are also strings that fall in between these extremes eg. Weiscannon Scorpion.

Big Hitter Black 7 (BHB7) falls into the 'enhance and accentuate' camp of co-polys. It is pure "spin, spin, spin", together with some power thrown in for good measure.

Comparison with BHBR 17

It feels similar to BHBR 17 in that its springy and elastic. Both strings produce a huge amount of spin, but they differ significantly in the type of spin that they produce. With BHBR you get much more side to side action on the ball. The ball moves around alot, particularly laterally, off the bounce. If you play someone strung with a full bed of BHBR, you'll notice that the trajectory of the ball off the bounce varies tremendously. Sometimes the ball shoots forwards and low, other times it bounces and kicks up, or bounces up and to the right, up and to the left but this time at a different angle, and so on and so on. It makes life uncomfortable for opponents because there's so much variation of movement on the ball. And neither do opponents quite have the same confidence to take a big cut at the ball because they're having to laser lock their eyes onto the ball to track where its going to be moving next off the bounce. It's harder for them to get into a rhythm.

I'm guessing that BHBR produces that type of action on the ball because of the amount of elasticity and snap back in both the mains and the crosses which helps to produce that variation in movement and spin on the ball as it leaves the stringbed. There's no other string like it.

The downside of those characteristics and the range of variation off the stringbed is that you don't quite have the same directional accuracy as you do with other stiffer, less springy co-polys. That variation off the stringbed, which does so much to make life uncomfortable for your opponent when the ball reaches their side of the court, can unfortunately, also produce variations in your own directional accuracy when you're trying to hit spots on the court.

"Spin, Spin, Spin"

BHB7 is a different animal to BHBR in terms of the type of spin it produces. There's much, much less side to side spin and unpredictable trajectories off the bounce. Instead, all the spin and action on the ball in channelled in a forward direction. You know those times when you play someone and every time their ball hits the ground in front of you, it explodes off the court and shoots forward? This is the type of ball that BHB7 allows you to hit. Provided you've decent technique and stroke mechanics, BHB7 allows you to hit a heavy, heavy, forward spin orientated ball. I'm normally a pretty flat hitter with a low trajectory over the net, but at times, I felt like Nadal. Even with my type of game, I thought there was an awful lot of 'grab' on the ball. You can really feel the stringbed gripping the ball and putting a ton of rotations on it. I'd even go so far as to say that at times, I thought there was too much spin on the ball - certainly more than what I'm used to - as I like to try and hit through the court. Purely in terms of the amount of 'grab' on the ball it feels a bit like B5E, though apart from that commonality, the strings are quite different - B5E is deader feeling, stiffer and much more lower powered. There's alot of adjustability to the amount of spin as well. Have a more vertical racquet path and you can bounce your opponent back beyond the baseline, flatten out your stroke and you're hitting a heavy ball that shoots forward off the bounce, and there are all sorts of variations in between depending on your swing path.

Power

On the subject of power, this is a pretty powerful string. That elasticity and springiness to the stringbed adds to the power levels. Is it as powerful as BHBR? It's probably comparable, maybe fractionally more lower powered, but there's not much in it. It's a pretty thin for a 17 gauge string. I don't have any calipers, but like BHBR 17 (which tends to run thin), I'd hazard a guess that's closer to 1.20mm than 1.25mm. I strung it at 54lbs CP in a Prestige MP (98/18x20) and it was pretty powerful. Not powerful in an uncontrolled way but certainly more powerful than your BBOs, Silverstrings, Scorpions, and SPPPs of this world.

Feel

When hitting at 10-20%, the string has a slightly brittle feel to it (a bit like Volkl Cyclone). However, when hitting through the ball with more power, that brittleness disappears and it starts feeling much better - you start feeling its elasticity, 'give' and springiness. For touch play, its not the best feeling string out there. It's fine from the baseline but for drop shots and drop volleys there are better co-poly in terms of feel; Weiscannon Scorpion to name just one. Dunlop Black Widow to name another. That said, BHB7 does allows you to 'cut' underneath the ball very well when hitting drop shots, and the amount of backspin you can generate on drop shots is quite impressive. However that lack of feel and the springiness from the stringbed can lead to some inconistency with volleys and touch shots. This is more of a co-poly for players who like camping on the baseline and pounding away, moving their opponents around and then going for the open court.

Control

Playability & Performance Longevity

Comparisons with other co-polys

Initial Conclusion / Further testing

[comments to be completed later - am knackered after 3 hours of tennis]

Murray_fan1 · 01-15-2012, 06:43 PM

^^^^^Great review- Just strung some up in my 400 Tour. Surprisingly easy to string given it sharp edges. First impressions are that this feels quite plastic when compared to the likes of Silverstring, Tour Bite. I suspect this string might be a derivative of Topspin's Max Rotation same feel and sharpness as I recall.

Torres · 01-16-2012, 12:44 AM

Quote:

Silverstring, Tour Bite.

It's definitely a completely different string to Silverstring. In fact I'd say they're polar opposites. More elastic than Tour Bite which feels more solid but much stiffer and less elastic.

SteveI · 01-16-2012, 02:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murray_fan1

^^^^^Great review- Just strung some up in my 400 Tour. Surprisingly easy to string given it sharp edges. First impressions are that this feels quite plastic when compared to the likes of Silverstring, Tour Bite. I suspect this string might be a derivative of Topspin's Max Rotation same feel and sharpness as I recall.

Very interested in the 400 Tour and BHB7 combo as this might be my gear in the spring. I should have my review up in the next day for so. I am also testing the Wilson Blue string. So many strings.. so little time. Excellent review..glad you are enjoying the string Torres.

SteveI · 01-18-2012, 12:05 PM

Tension it is strung: 56 Lbs Mains and 52 Lbs Cross (Gamma Syn Gut 16G)

Your regular string set up: Tourna Big Hitter Silver 17G @ 56 Lbs Mains and Gamma Syn Gut 16G @ 52 Lbs

Racquet brand and model string is installed in: Dunlop 400G (11.6 oz / 8 Points HL)

Stringing: Strung on a Alpha CP Drop Weight (6-Point). Coil memory was not much for an issue since I was working from a reel and only using 20 feet. Knots were a easy to deal with since the string was a 17G and on the softer side. While stringing there was some play in the string but I had to make only a few adjustments on my dropweight to obtain proper tension. The edges of the string were a bit on the sharp side and you could feel the 7 sides. Overall stringing experience was quite easy and unremarkable.

Power: Really enjoyed the power level of this string. While the power was available it did not cause balls to fly like other higher powered polys. I loved the fact that I could really swing out and get a very true power output based on my swing speed. I tested this string for 12 hours and the power level more or less remained the same.

Feel: Feel was not really a strong point of this string for me. I am not much of a feel player in any case as I do not hit many drop shots or drop volleys. Slices and topspin lobs seems to go where I intended them to go but I did not feel overly connected to the stringbed. Feel was average at best, but then again I am not the best judge of this feature. I get a somewhat better sense of feel from BHS 17. The next time I use this string I will drop the tension a few pounds to see I can obtain a little softer feel.

Spin Production: Nice tight spin production with this string. Very much a driving, tight heavy spin with wonderful directional and depth control. Compared with my regular set-up and increase of 20% or so. The spin really made the balls hug the court. On serve, balls seemed to explode off the court and pick up speed on contact. Hard slices were just wicked and well as kick serves.

Control: Very impressed with the control on this string. My unforced errors were reduced and I could swing out with very little concern for overhitting. The firm and crisp stringbed combined with the great spin production enhanced control. While drilling the ball seemed to be on a string and I was going hitting closer and closer to the lines with confidence. Nice ball pocketing in general at the start of the testing cycle but as the stringbed became softer, ball pocketing moved to the excellent level.

Serving: Enjoyed serving with this set-up. As mentioned above, spin based serves were a strong point of this set-up. A bit more effort was involved for me in hitting flat serves. As I worked my way into my hours with this set-up I was getting more out of the flat serves. The string bed did soften and that improved my efforts. Again, I might drop the tension a few pounds to obtain some extra pop on my flat serves.

Tension maintenance: Best tension maintenance from a poly I have ever used. This string is a 3rd generational poly and enhanced tension holding is advertised by Tourna. They delivered on that claim. I am at the 12 hour mark in testing and at this point my regular set-up is overcooked. If I can get 14-16 hours from this set-up, that will be a solid enhancement. The tension maintenance will make this a nice price/performer.

Overall comments and feedback: Very impressed by this new offering from Tourna. This string will be a bit more costly over other "Big Hitter" offerings but well worth it in my case. I loved the tight spin it produced, the consistant power and wonderful control. Comfort was about as expected. I never have had a problem with discomfort so I might not be the best to judge. No arm, wrist or shoulder issues repotred by this tester. I am told a set will be appox $9.50 and $110 per reel and a nice price/point for many.

dacian_irish · 01-18-2012, 01:10 PM

I am really excited about this string and I can't wait to try it. Has anyone tried Kirschbaum Spiky Shark? How does big hitter black 7 compare to spiky shark?

frunk · 01-18-2012, 07:55 PM

Well hot damn. After a number of hours of goating, the BHB7 has broken. Looking forward to restringing with the other half set.

bad_call · 01-19-2012, 06:38 AM

reads like the comfort, control and power level (lack of rather) are worth a demo for this player. not sure about the slightly negative aspects for flat serves tho. doubtful about giving up flat bombs that B5E hybrid consistently delivers. maybe time for this old guy to use more spin serves?...

pvaudio - look forward to your B5E hybrid comparison.

Nojoke · 01-19-2012, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bad_call

reads like the comfort, control and power level (lack of rather) are worth a demo for this player. not sure about the slightly negative aspects for flat serves tho. doubtful about giving up flat bombs that B5E hybrid consistently delivers. maybe time for this old guy to use more spin serves?...

pvaudio - look forward to your B5E hybrid comparison.

I'd also be curious is PV is finding the same extended tension maintenance that has been mentioned. I love BHBR, but find it loses control somewhat quickly due to tension loss and hoped that this string might preserve some of that goodness for a longer time.

pvaudio · 01-19-2012, 11:17 AM

I like this stuff so much, I haven't cut it out yet. I normally playtest something and then cut it out once I realize it's just not my cup of tea. I really want to see how this stuff fares. Unfortunately, I don't have any more BHB7 to make a hybrid,b ut I will have a B5E/Xcel FO hybrid to report tonight

Oh, and I guess the Wilson string too.

SteveI · 01-19-2012, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pvaudio

I like this stuff so much, I haven't cut it out yet. I normally playtest something and then cut it out once I realize it's just not my cup of tea. I really want to see how this stuff fares. Unfortunately, I don't have any more BHB7 to make a hybrid,b ut I will have a B5E/Xcel FO hybrid to report tonight

Oh, and I guess the Wilson string too.

PV... I sent out that 33 feet to you over a week ago. Please keep me informed about its' status. I will feel real bad if USPS lost it..

Drop me e-mail..

Steve

Nojoke · 01-19-2012, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pvaudio

I like this stuff so much, I haven't cut it out yet. I normally playtest something and then cut it out once I realize it's just not my cup of tea. I really want to see how this stuff fares. Unfortunately, I don't have any more BHB7 to make a hybrid,b ut I will have a B5E/Xcel FO hybrid to report tonight

Oh, and I guess the Wilson string too.

How many hours do you have on it? Are you noticing a degradation in the string's performance yet?

SteveI · 01-19-2012, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nojoke

How many hours do you have on it? Are you noticing a degradation in the string's performance yet?

I have 12 Plus hours on mine..and still going strong.. Very impressed.

TenFanLA · 01-19-2012, 02:46 PM

For those who have tried both, can you directly compare BHBR and BHB7 in terms of power, control, spin, feel, tension maintenance, etc? In what area(s) does BHB7 outshine BHBR, and vice versa?

Nojoke · 01-19-2012, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveI

I have 12 Plus hours on mine..and still going strong.. Very impressed.

Sounds good. How many hours would you get with bhbr?

pvaudio · 01-19-2012, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveI

PV... I sent out that 33 feet to you over a week ago. Please keep me informed about its' status. I will feel real bad if USPS lost it..

Drop me e-mail..

Steve

Wait what? You sent more than the original set I reviewed? If that's the case, then no, I didn't get anything

SteveI · 01-19-2012, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nojoke

Sounds good. How many hours would you get with bhbr?

I have not used the rough versions of Big Hitter. I am very experieced with non-rough versions. In those two strings.. 10-12 hours tops.

bad_call · 01-20-2012, 05:03 AM

SteveI - is the BHB7 launchy? also by chance have you tried B5E and if so how does it compare? TIA.

01-15-2012, 08:34 AM	#83
Torres Hall Of Fame Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 3,818	"Spin, Spin, Spin" With these modern co-polys, I'm starting to think that you can put them into 2 camps. Those that moderate and take out the extremes eg. Weiscannon Silverstring (dampened, dead feeling, muted, low power, not much spin for a poly), and those that accentuate and enhance particular characteristics eg. Polystar Energy (power), Tourna BHBR (lively, spin, action/movement on the ball, power), Solinco Tour Bite (spin and power) etc. Obviously there are also strings that fall in between these extremes eg. Weiscannon Scorpion. Big Hitter Black 7 (BHB7) falls into the 'enhance and accentuate' camp of co-polys. It is pure "spin, spin, spin", together with some power thrown in for good measure. Comparison with BHBR 17 It feels similar to BHBR 17 in that its springy and elastic. Both strings produce a huge amount of spin, but they differ significantly in the type of spin that they produce. With BHBR you get much more side to side action on the ball. The ball moves around alot, particularly laterally, off the bounce. If you play someone strung with a full bed of BHBR, you'll notice that the trajectory of the ball off the bounce varies tremendously. Sometimes the ball shoots forwards and low, other times it bounces and kicks up, or bounces up and to the right, up and to the left but this time at a different angle, and so on and so on. It makes life uncomfortable for opponents because there's so much variation of movement on the ball. And neither do opponents quite have the same confidence to take a big cut at the ball because they're having to laser lock their eyes onto the ball to track where its going to be moving next off the bounce. It's harder for them to get into a rhythm. I'm guessing that BHBR produces that type of action on the ball because of the amount of elasticity and snap back in both the mains and the crosses which helps to produce that variation in movement and spin on the ball as it leaves the stringbed. There's no other string like it. The downside of those characteristics and the range of variation off the stringbed is that you don't quite have the same directional accuracy as you do with other stiffer, less springy co-polys. That variation off the stringbed, which does so much to make life uncomfortable for your opponent when the ball reaches their side of the court, can unfortunately, also produce variations in your own directional accuracy when you're trying to hit spots on the court. "Spin, Spin, Spin" BHB7 is a different animal to BHBR in terms of the type of spin it produces. There's much, much less side to side spin and unpredictable trajectories off the bounce. Instead, all the spin and action on the ball in channelled in a forward direction. You know those times when you play someone and every time their ball hits the ground in front of you, it explodes off the court and shoots forward? This is the type of ball that BHB7 allows you to hit. Provided you've decent technique and stroke mechanics, BHB7 allows you to hit a heavy, heavy, forward spin orientated ball. I'm normally a pretty flat hitter with a low trajectory over the net, but at times, I felt like Nadal. Even with my type of game, I thought there was an awful lot of 'grab' on the ball. You can really feel the stringbed gripping the ball and putting a ton of rotations on it. I'd even go so far as to say that at times, I thought there was too much spin on the ball - certainly more than what I'm used to - as I like to try and hit through the court. Purely in terms of the amount of 'grab' on the ball it feels a bit like B5E, though apart from that commonality, the strings are quite different - B5E is deader feeling, stiffer and much more lower powered. There's alot of adjustability to the amount of spin as well. Have a more vertical racquet path and you can bounce your opponent back beyond the baseline, flatten out your stroke and you're hitting a heavy ball that shoots forward off the bounce, and there are all sorts of variations in between depending on your swing path. Power On the subject of power, this is a pretty powerful string. That elasticity and springiness to the stringbed adds to the power levels. Is it as powerful as BHBR? It's probably comparable, maybe fractionally more lower powered, but there's not much in it. It's a pretty thin for a 17 gauge string. I don't have any calipers, but like BHBR 17 (which tends to run thin), I'd hazard a guess that's closer to 1.20mm than 1.25mm. I strung it at 54lbs CP in a Prestige MP (98/18x20) and it was pretty powerful. Not powerful in an uncontrolled way but certainly more powerful than your BBOs, Silverstrings, Scorpions, and SPPPs of this world. Feel When hitting at 10-20%, the string has a slightly brittle feel to it (a bit like Volkl Cyclone). However, when hitting through the ball with more power, that brittleness disappears and it starts feeling much better - you start feeling its elasticity, 'give' and springiness. For touch play, its not the best feeling string out there. It's fine from the baseline but for drop shots and drop volleys there are better co-poly in terms of feel; Weiscannon Scorpion to name just one. Dunlop Black Widow to name another. That said, BHB7 does allows you to 'cut' underneath the ball very well when hitting drop shots, and the amount of backspin you can generate on drop shots is quite impressive. However that lack of feel and the springiness from the stringbed can lead to some inconistency with volleys and touch shots. This is more of a co-poly for players who like camping on the baseline and pounding away, moving their opponents around and then going for the open court. Control Playability & Performance Longevity Comparisons with other co-polys Initial Conclusion / Further testing [comments to be completed later - am knackered after 3 hours of tennis] Last edited by Torres : 02-25-2012 at 08:58 AM.

01-15-2012, 06:43 PM	#84
Murray_fan1 Semi-Pro Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Pacific North West Posts: 771	^^^^^Great review- Just strung some up in my 400 Tour. Surprisingly easy to string given it sharp edges. First impressions are that this feels quite plastic when compared to the likes of Silverstring, Tour Bite. I suspect this string might be a derivative of Topspin's Max Rotation same feel and sharpness as I recall. __________________ Graphene Speed MP Last edited by Murray_fan1 : 01-15-2012 at 06:45 PM. Reason: ....................

01-18-2012, 12:05 PM	#87
SteveI Hall Of Fame Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 4,348	Big Hitter Black 7 17G Review - SteveI Tension it is strung: 56 Lbs Mains and 52 Lbs Cross (Gamma Syn Gut 16G) Your regular string set up: Tourna Big Hitter Silver 17G @ 56 Lbs Mains and Gamma Syn Gut 16G @ 52 Lbs Racquet brand and model string is installed in: Dunlop 400G (11.6 oz / 8 Points HL) Stringing: Strung on a Alpha CP Drop Weight (6-Point). Coil memory was not much for an issue since I was working from a reel and only using 20 feet. Knots were a easy to deal with since the string was a 17G and on the softer side. While stringing there was some play in the string but I had to make only a few adjustments on my dropweight to obtain proper tension. The edges of the string were a bit on the sharp side and you could feel the 7 sides. Overall stringing experience was quite easy and unremarkable. Power: Really enjoyed the power level of this string. While the power was available it did not cause balls to fly like other higher powered polys. I loved the fact that I could really swing out and get a very true power output based on my swing speed. I tested this string for 12 hours and the power level more or less remained the same. Feel: Feel was not really a strong point of this string for me. I am not much of a feel player in any case as I do not hit many drop shots or drop volleys. Slices and topspin lobs seems to go where I intended them to go but I did not feel overly connected to the stringbed. Feel was average at best, but then again I am not the best judge of this feature. I get a somewhat better sense of feel from BHS 17. The next time I use this string I will drop the tension a few pounds to see I can obtain a little softer feel. Spin Production: Nice tight spin production with this string. Very much a driving, tight heavy spin with wonderful directional and depth control. Compared with my regular set-up and increase of 20% or so. The spin really made the balls hug the court. On serve, balls seemed to explode off the court and pick up speed on contact. Hard slices were just wicked and well as kick serves. Control: Very impressed with the control on this string. My unforced errors were reduced and I could swing out with very little concern for overhitting. The firm and crisp stringbed combined with the great spin production enhanced control. While drilling the ball seemed to be on a string and I was going hitting closer and closer to the lines with confidence. Nice ball pocketing in general at the start of the testing cycle but as the stringbed became softer, ball pocketing moved to the excellent level. Serving: Enjoyed serving with this set-up. As mentioned above, spin based serves were a strong point of this set-up. A bit more effort was involved for me in hitting flat serves. As I worked my way into my hours with this set-up I was getting more out of the flat serves. The string bed did soften and that improved my efforts. Again, I might drop the tension a few pounds to obtain some extra pop on my flat serves. Tension maintenance: Best tension maintenance from a poly I have ever used. This string is a 3rd generational poly and enhanced tension holding is advertised by Tourna. They delivered on that claim. I am at the 12 hour mark in testing and at this point my regular set-up is overcooked. If I can get 14-16 hours from this set-up, that will be a solid enhancement. The tension maintenance will make this a nice price/performer. Overall comments and feedback: Very impressed by this new offering from Tourna. This string will be a bit more costly over other "Big Hitter" offerings but well worth it in my case. I loved the tight spin it produced, the consistant power and wonderful control. Comfort was about as expected. I never have had a problem with discomfort so I might not be the best to judge. No arm, wrist or shoulder issues repotred by this tester. I am told a set will be appox $9.50 and $110 per reel and a nice price/point for many. Last edited by SteveI : 01-20-2012 at 09:23 AM.

01-19-2012, 06:38 AM	#90
bad_call Hall Of Fame Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 4,994	reads like the comfort, control and power level (lack of rather) are worth a demo for this player. not sure about the slightly negative aspects for flat serves tho. doubtful about giving up flat bombs that B5E hybrid consistently delivers. maybe time for this old guy to use more spin serves?... pvaudio - look forward to your B5E hybrid comparison. __________________ check the facts before believing what you read and hear...or accept blame for not doing so.

01-20-2012, 05:03 AM	#100
bad_call Hall Of Fame Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 4,994	SteveI - is the BHB7 launchy? also by chance have you tried B5E and if so how does it compare? TIA. __________________ check the facts before believing what you read and hear...or accept blame for not doing so.