Yonex Poly Tour Strike

XFactorer

Hall of Fame
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PolyTour Drive is new, too. Here's how the Strike and Drive compair to the other existing PolyTour offerings.
 

Federerkblade

Hall of Fame
X fact the weather in uk is cold at moment around 4 Celsius and play8ng indoors it’s still cold.

Seeing you play with the xi98 too I haven’t tried the other Yonex strings and have been playing with poly tour pro 1.25 mains and poly tour pro 1.20 crosses but have been struggling with depth maybe I need to string looser from 56/54.5 . I found alu power soft which is a great string didn’t go well in the xi 98; and poly tour pro just worked and evidently lot of the pros favoured string

I see you use fire but guessing it’s completely different to tour pro.... have you tried the other variations of Yonex strings and how would you compare them to poly tour pro

I am thinking of reversing the set up to 1.20 mains and 1.25 crosses I find the 1.20 has more pop
 

gutfeeling

Hall of Fame
X fact the weather in uk is cold at moment around 4 Celsius and play8ng indoors it’s still cold.

Seeing you play with the xi98 too I haven’t tried the other Yonex strings and have been playing with poly tour pro 1.25 mains and poly tour pro 1.20 crosses but have been struggling with depth maybe I need to string looser from 56/54.5 . I found alu power soft which is a great string didn’t go well in the xi 98; and poly tour pro just worked and evidently lot of the pros favoured string

I see you use fire but guessing it’s completely different to tour pro.... have you tried the other variations of Yonex strings and how would you compare them to poly tour pro

I am thinking of reversing the set up to 1.20 mains and 1.25 crosses I find the 1.20 has more pop

Try lowering PTP to 48-50. You will be pleasantly surprised.
 

XFactorer

Hall of Fame
X fact the weather in uk is cold at moment around 4 Celsius and play8ng indoors it’s still cold.

Seeing you play with the xi98 too I haven’t tried the other Yonex strings and have been playing with poly tour pro 1.25 mains and poly tour pro 1.20 crosses but have been struggling with depth maybe I need to string looser from 56/54.5 . I found alu power soft which is a great string didn’t go well in the xi 98; and poly tour pro just worked and evidently lot of the pros favoured string

I see you use fire but guessing it’s completely different to tour pro.... have you tried the other variations of Yonex strings and how would you compare them to poly tour pro

I am thinking of reversing the set up to 1.20 mains and 1.25 crosses I find the 1.20 has more pop
So, I've used everything on that list except Spin G and Strike and Drive. I've used PolyTour HS (not listed on there, either).

In an EZONE Xi98, my go-to setup is Spin at 45 lb. EZONE Ai/DR98, Pro 120 at 50 lbs (was going down to 45 towards the end of using the DR) and in the new EZONE 98, Fire 120 at 45 lbs. I suggest you try Spin at 45 lbs in your EZONE Xi 98. It's a stiff string, so even strung 10 lbs less than what you have, it could maintain its control. I was surprised how much I liked it even though the string itself is uncomfortably stiff feeling.

Before seeing this matrix, I had a sense of the strings and what they offered. Fire was softer, gave more spin because the strings have less friction against each other. Pro was plasticky (and I say that lovingly, I like it) and the baseline on which I judged the other strings - but it didn't work in all racquets. The Ai/DR line was less string sensitive than the new EZONE. I'm content on settling with Fire in the EZONE 98, but I need to try Air in it, too, to see if that give it a more plush sensation.

My take on Strike is that it's a stiffer string, low powered for those who take big strokes. Also, Yonex states it has superior tension maintenance - so we will have to see. I've not had tension maintenance issues with the other strings except for Air in the DR.

Drive is a "recreational player's string" as Yonex puts it, so I think it's more generic and cheap feeling? Less performance. Not sure.

And I don't know how to interpret the X-axis in Yonex's graph. Do you have a take on it?
 

XFactorer

Hall of Fame
what the **** does light and heavy mean?
Not sure anyone knows. I don't think it's stiffness. I think they Y axis correlates to stiffness. Stiffer string is more durable, soft string provides more ball pocketing sensation. ?! It's anyone's guess.
 

1HBHfanatic

Legend
OP,, Tnx for posting the chart, but I hate it, durability/performance ?!? Wtf.. (so much can be included/misinterpreted with 2 words). If I saw this chart, I would not waste my time trying to understand it, I would take a free pack of the string and find out for myself, if string was not free, I would look elsewhere
Im lazy, I want a chart to be easy and quick to understand,
im having trouble finding the power and spin on that chart..

Heres my experience with yonex poly strings on that list:
Ive tried poly.tour fire and thought it was a slick, power was high, not stiff., I cut it early, lack of spin/excessive power turned me off from it, i played great the first day though.
ive tried poly.tour.pro, not as slick, spin was low, power was LOW, not harsh, cut it out early, hated the low power.. liked the color
 
I remember being told last year that Yonex was making a few new polys to try and mimic Alu Power and RPM Blast. The black string that Shapovalov plays with is the RPM copy and I think this is the Alu copy.
 

Jouke

Professional
Thx! Doesnt sound all that well to me though. Sounds like a pretty powerful string. I will test it as soon as it comes out.
 
i saw the Poly Tour Drive in a retail store this week - looks like an octagon shaped string -dark grey in color. but for the fact the retail prices in this store for strings was easily about 30% more than what i am used to seeing, i would have picked it up to give it a shot, although i am more of a rounded poly player.
 

XFactorer

Hall of Fame
i saw the Poly Tour Drive in a retail store this week - looks like an octagon shaped string -dark grey in color. but for the fact the retail prices in this store for strings was easily about 30% more than what i am used to seeing, i would have picked it up to give it a shot, although i am more of a rounded poly player.
More than $15?
 
More than $15?

I'll just say when i saw the price of the Tour Drive i was like WTF...but then i saw what they charged for Poly Tour Pro, Hyper G and other strings and there was a significant markup relative to prices you would find online. If i reduced the price of all of those strings and then applied the discount to the Tour Drive - it would probably be in the $15-$20 range...
 

XFactorer

Hall of Fame
I'll just say when i saw the price of the Tour Drive i was like WTF...but then i saw what they charged for Poly Tour Pro, Hyper G and other strings and there was a significant markup relative to prices you would find online. If i reduced the price of all of those strings and then applied the discount to the Tour Drive - it would probably be in the $15-$20 range...
Moral of the story - buy from TW (whenever they offer the string).
 

Syfo-Dias

Professional
Looks like TW finally has this string for sale! Looking forward to seeing some reviews soon. Would especially like to know how it compares to YPTP?
 

Syfo-Dias

Professional
Count me out, ain’t shelling near gut level prices for poly

For what it costs in Euros, I don't blame you. In the US $17 is about what most premium polys cost these days. That's why I try to use the ones with the best tension maintenance, which I'm hoping YPTS excels at. I've got 2 packs on the way from TW.
 

GN-001

Semi-Pro
For what it costs in Euros, I don't blame you. In the US $17 is about what most premium polys cost these days. That's why I try to use the ones with the best tension maintenance, which I'm hoping YPTS excels at. I've got 2 packs on the way from TW.

PTS to me will always be the legendary Poly Tour Spin
 

El_Yotamo

Hall of Fame
Not going to buy this string when my reel of Strategem 8 cost me twice as much while having 16+2/3 times more string. I've ordered some strings to test, but this string just wasn't able to be included in the budget I set unfortunately.
 

cluckcluck

Hall of Fame
Anyone try out this string yet?
Hit with it for the first time last night. Pretty good stuff. Medium-stiff, excellent feel, spin was mediocre but was enough to get the job done.
Definitely no arm issues, strung at 46m 48x on a Duel G 97. Mostly interested in the tension stability and durability. Color is not silver...it's like a shiny grey. I like it so far.
 

GN-001

Semi-Pro
I wished Yonex kept up with the amazing bright colours like PTP and PTA. Not really a fan of the grey but nonetheless I'm quite intrigued about this string. Wonder if it will replace my PTP as a cross for gut mains.

Anyways keep the review coming, would love to hear more about this string
 
I've had the opportunity to try both the poly tour strike and drive string from Yonex for a few good hits so I think I can chime in on this action. For background I'm a hard hitting 4.5 player with a 2HBH who puts an emphasis on controlled aggression on my ground-strokes building up to the put-away shot. So the PTD (as far as I've heard) was supposed to be a sort of RPM blast copy from yonex, what with the 8 sides and feel and all.

Sad to say I don't think these two strings (RPM and PTD) are similar at all. Drive feels more like a round string than a shaped string to me, and this is shown in its pretty unremarkable spin potential. I'd say it's maybe slightly above average at spin but good at comfort. Never gave me any really painful vibrations. Something else i noticed is that when i would crank up the racket head speed and really try to whomp the ball in a relatively flat motion, the strings would cup the ball and send it flying long consistently. So i couldn't use it for more than a few hits because simply put i didn't have the control i wanted, and this was strung at 53 pounds in a 2017 pure strike. Serving felt off likely from that strange amount of power and volleys were similar. I most likely will not be using it in the future.

As far as the Strike, this string is actually true to its shape and plays like a well made round poly. The rumors said it was supposed to be like Alu Power and it may get close in my opinion. Good tension maintenance with hard hitting, good soft feel on impact, great spin, only knock i have on it at the moment is that in the 17 gauge size (1.2 mm thickness) it's a little bit too much power for me personally as I'm used to the bite of Hyper G but nothing I or anyone else could get used to. If i can somehow reign in that power with a thicker gauge and maybe a higher tension, it could be a real winner. Shots feel more consistent with the strike and serving as well as volleys feel more controlled overall than with the drive. I could feel comfortable going into a tournament with this.

For someone who like strings such as Kirshbaum pro line 2, any round kirshbaum string actually, head hawk, Yonex PTP, etc. that give you good spin and that reliable response that only a round poly can give, this one is at least worth a try. I know the pricetag will scare off many customers but I thought of it like this: if this string plays similar to alu power yet is slightly cheaper and has better tension maintenance, what's not to like??
 
I've been logging both strings for about 4-6 hours now and although I am quick to dismiss strings I don't gel with immediately, I will be leaving the poly tour strike in until it breaks or becomes too dead. I want to see how the string handles losing tension and how the response is as that tension drops. Will update as the testing goes on.
 

GN-001

Semi-Pro
Looks like Herbert has replaced Poly Tour Fire with Poly Tour Strike as a mains to gut cross. You can see it in the newest TW video
 

GN-001

Semi-Pro
Love to hear more about this string before I try it. It's roughly the same price as other Yonex strings in the US, but not the place I usually get Yonex strings. Where I get it, the new Poly Tour Strike is twice the price of other great Yonex strings (PTP, PTS)! Same for the reel!

Anyways I would love to hear how this string plays with gut mains.
 

West Coast Ace

G.O.A.T.
Hit with it for the first time last night. Pretty good stuff. Medium-stiff, excellent feel, spin was mediocre but was enough to get the job done.
Definitely no arm issues, strung at 46m 48x on a Duel G 97. Mostly interested in the tension stability and durability. Color is not silver...it's like a shiny grey. I like it so far.
Mostly agree. Hit with it in their new VCore Pro 97 (Yonex is apparently ‘encouraging’ shops to put it in their demo sticks). I thought the spin was almost as good as I get in my Duel G with Tour Bite Soft. And yeah, hard to describe the color - it’s ok.
 

Syfo-Dias

Professional
Had a chance to hit with this string in 16g the other day. Strung up a full bed in my old Yonex RDiS 200 at 46/44 lbs. My initial impressions of it were very positive. Found it to have really good ball pocketing, power, and spin potential. Normally I don't use full poly, but this one strung in the mid 40's was actually quite comfortable on my arm. Curious to see how long it holds tension before I can make my final verdict.
 

JeanF

New User
Have tried the Poly Tour Strike (1.25 mm. > grey version) a couple of weeks ago in both my vcore pro (310) and ezone 98, but it was by far not fulfilling the good expectations I had before I played with it.
In comparison to my favorite string (Völkl Cyclone) it was giving me to much power and less control.
My vcore pro transformed completely from a pure control oriented and less powerful racket to a ''powerhouse'' with a certain lack of control and feel.
To my experience this string has an unbelievable direct feel if we're talking about the fast response and energy it gives when the ball hits the stringbed.
To me it felt like the ball was just not getting enough time to sink into the stringbed and jumped away with unpredictable launch angles.
In the ezone it was strung at 24/23 kg and in the vcore pro at 23/22 kg, so tension weight was not the issue in this case.

In my ezone 98 it played somewhat better, but still not comparable to the Cyclone which is to me still one of the best playing strings in Yonex frames.


After two hours of intensive playing with the Strike I still couldn't find my way with it and decided to cut it out of my vcore pro and my ezone.

A lot of people are speculating about the fact that it should be fully comparable to the Luxilon Alu Power, but to me it's not giving the same amount of control and feel.
The level of power it gives is even higher than the Alu Power. The good thing of the Strike is that it has a really good tension maintenance.

My personal opinion is that the Strike is giving (to) less value for the money...
 
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GN-001

Semi-Pro
Have tried the Poly Tour Strike (1.25 mm. > grey version) a couple of weeks ago in both my vcore pro (310) and ezone 98, but it was by far not fulfilling the good expectations I had before I played with it.
In comparison to my favorite string (Völkl Cyclone) it was giving me to much power and less control.
My vcore pro transformed completely from a pure control oriented and less powerful racket to a ''powerhouse'' with a certain lack of control and feel.
To my experience this string has an unbelievable direct feel if we're talking about the fast response and energy it gives when the ball hits the stringbed.
To me it felt like the ball was just not getting enough time to sink into the stringbed and jumped away with unpredictable launch angles.
In the ezone it was strung at 24/23 kg and in the vcore pro at 23/22 kg, so tension weight was not the issue in this case.

In my ezone 98 it played somewhat better, but still not comparable to the Cyclone which is to me still one of the best playing strings in Yonex frames.


After two hours of intensive playing with the Strike I still couldn't find my way with it and decided to cut it out of my vcore pro and my ezone.

A lot of people are speculating about the fact that it should be fully comparable to the Luxilon Alu Power, but to me it's not giving the same amount of control and feel.
The level of power it gives is even higher than the Alu Power. The good thing of the Strike is that it has a really good tension maintenance.

My personal opinion is that the Strike is giving (to) less value for the money...

Damn considering it's caused Strike, I was hoping for a low power string with good tension maintenance so I could pair it up with Gut mains. Plus I usually string at 20kg in my vcore pro (310), so even lower than what you strung it at. Guess I ll be sticking with Poly Tour spin and PTP :'(

I've yet to find a good Yonex string to pair my gut mains. PTP cross with mains feels a little too mushy and muted. Poly tour spin rubs gut too much and Poly Tour Fire sells for a lot higher price than PTP over here.....
 

Syfo-Dias

Professional
Damn considering it's caused Strike, I was hoping for a low power string with good tension maintenance so I could pair it up with Gut mains. Plus I usually string at 20kg in my vcore pro (310), so even lower than what you strung it at. Guess I ll be sticking with Poly Tour spin and PTP :'(

I've yet to find a good Yonex string to pair my gut mains. PTP cross with mains feels a little too mushy and muted. Poly tour spin rubs gut too much and Poly Tour Fire sells for a lot higher price than PTP over here.....

I also found PTP to be a little too mushy in a gut hybrid. In my 97 Pro (330g) I'm currently using Klip mains and Strike crosses and really like it. Feels much more crisp but is still very arm friendly. Strike does seem somewhat powerful for a poly, but you could probably counter that with higher tension and/or thicker gauge.
 

Znak

Hall of Fame
Here's another graph from PolyTour Tough

PTGT125_2.jpg


I'm guessing the graph above Heavy/Light must be stiffness?? I still don't know why Durability and Responsiveness or Ball Pocketing are opposites...

:-( I should do my part as a Yonex fanboy and try out this string... but first, REXIS!

@XFactorer It's all about Rexis man! Really digging it so far
 

XFactorer

Hall of Fame
Here's another graph from PolyTour Tough


@XFactorer It's all about Rexis man! Really digging it so far

Ooooh! I see you're hybriding it. I like Fire in my EZONE 98 at 45. I might try a full bed of REXIS at 50. Then hybrid it at 50 Rexis/45 Fire similar to your setup. :-D What do you like about this combo?
 
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