Closest string to Wilson NXT

[el sergento]

I love Wilson NXT as a cross string. However, the price is way too high. What I like the most about it is the way it frays and becomes thinner with usage and thus gains in feel and power. I also like the "mushy" feeling and the ballpocketing.

Now don't laugh, but I also like that it breaks quite quickly (5-7 hours) so that I have to restring before the poly in the mains dies.

So what comes close to displaying these characteristics?

I regularly use Gosen OG Micro as a cross and have a full real of 16g. Now the Gosen is a solid cross string but it's no NXT. It's much crisper/stiffer and doesn't display the mushy qualities of the Wilson string.

Here's are the strings I've tried and didn't like:

Kgut
Kgut pro
TF NRG 2

I guess what I'm asking is: What's a relatively cheap multifilament string that mimics NXT.

Thanks

 

[Centered]

http://www.racquetsportsindustry.com/articles/2010/01/string_selector_2010.html

NXT 16, Nylon multi, 1.3mm, 198 stiffness, 10.69 tension loss
Babolat Addiction 16, Nylon multi, 1.31mm, 198 stiffness, 11.79 tension loss

 

[el sergento]

http://www.racquetsportsindustry.com/articles/2010/01/string_selector_2010.html

NXT 16, Nylon multi, 1.3mm, 198 stiffness, 10.69 tension loss
Babolat Addiction 16, Nylon multi, 1.31mm, 198 stiffness, 11.79 tension loss

Babolat is probably expensive.

 

[Centered]

All the multis I checked that are near NXT's stiffness are more expensive than the Addiction.

 

[HitItHarder]

If you like a soft (some say mushy) feel and want something really cheap - try a set of Forten Sweet synthetic gut. It has that kind of a feel to it.

It doesn't have quite the same playability of a multi, but it is a very solid synthetic gut. It should last about the same as the NXT as well.

 

[Centered]

If you like a soft (some say mushy) feel and want something really cheap - try a set of Forten Sweet synthetic gut. It has that kind of a feel to it.

It doesn't have quite the same playability of a multi, but it is a very solid synthetic gut. It should last about the same as the NXT as well.

NXT isn't soft. NXT Tour, in fact, is the stiffest multi I found in the 2010 ratings.

 

[GameSetMatch]

http://www.racquetsportsindustry.com/articles/2010/01/string_selector_2010.html

NXT 16, Nylon multi, 1.3mm, 198 stiffness, 10.69 tension loss
Babolat Addiction 16, Nylon multi, 1.31mm, 198 stiffness, 11.79 tension loss

Jesus, not you again. Have you actually played with Addiction? Clearly not, because it plays nothing like NXT, particularly when used as a cross.

 

[GameSetMatch]

I regularly use Gosen OG Micro as a cross and have a full real of 16g. Now the Gosen is a solid cross string but it's no NXT. It's much crisper/stiffer and doesn't display the mushy qualities of the Wilson string.

I guess what I'm asking is: What's a relatively cheap multifilament string that mimics NXT.

Thanks

Try something like Weiscannon Xplosiv! or the original Maxim Touch 1.25. Both play soft and display the cupping sensation that you describe.

 

[TennisNinja]

I found that NRG is a really good one. Soft on the arm, lots of power. But it breaks fast and can get mushy quick.

 

[Centered]

Jesus, not you again. Have you actually played with Addiction? Clearly not, because it plays nothing like NXT, particularly when used as a cross.

I'm not Jesus, but thanks for the compliment, friend.

Do you have any data to back up your claims, or just testimonial?

 

[Centered]

Testimonial is considered soft, not hard, evidence, an important point that is definitely lost in this forum.

 

[Steve Huff]

You could try Pro Supex Maxim Touch. Like the NXT, it is a multifiliment, it's cheap, and it will soften up your stringbed.

 

[Keifers]

Maxim Touch is much softer than NXT and it's lower-powered. TNT Pro Plus 17L would play much closer, but it's not inexpensive.

 

[chaddles]

Give Volkl Power Fiber II a try - I have been giving it a run over the last week in a K90 and it plays very, very well. About $13 US a set so bit cheaper and excellent quality.

 

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

Give Volkl Power Fiber II a try - I have been giving it a run over the last week in a K90 and it plays very, very well. About $13 US a set so bit cheaper and excellent quality.

Isn't Volkl Power Fiber II a rebranded Klips Excellerator?

 

[GameSetMatch]

I'm not Jesus, but thanks for the compliment, friend.

Do you have any data to back up your claims, or just testimonial?

Have you ever played tennis before? It doesn't involve spreadsheets.

Have you ever played with NXT 16 and Addiction 16? Clearly, you haven't because they're nothing alike. NXT at 57lbs starts stiff but loses tension fast, then plays beautifully for about 2 hours or so in terms of pocketing and comfort, before tension falls off a cliff and balls start flying. Addicition plays stiffer, is more 'dead feeling' but dosen't have the same tension maintenance and durability issues of NXT. If you properly playtested the strings in question, rather than looking at train timetables, you would realise that.

So stop blindly regurgitating information about strings which you've read on the internet, and which you clearly have no experience or understanding of. All you do is just misinform and mislead people.

 

[Centered]

It doesn't involve spreadsheets.

Testimonials are not hard evidence.

I provided data that suggests that Babolat Addiction is similar to NXT.

It is. It has similar width, similar stiffness, is a nylon multi, and has similar tension loss. The particularly construction style may be different so people should take a look at the photos of the string cross-sections in addition to looking at the RSI data.

Have you ever played tennis before?

What a desperate ad hominem fallacy.

So stop blindly regurgitating information about strings which you've read on the internet, and which you clearly have no experience or understanding of. All you do is just misinform and mislead people.

If you have a problem with the data, you can contact Racquet Sports Industry Magazine. You're wasting our time with your unnecessary rudeness and groundless complaint.

Either prove that this data is false, or be quiet:

NXT 16, Nylon multi, 1.3mm, 198 stiffness, 10.69 tension loss
Babolat Addiction 16, Nylon multi, 1.31mm, 198 stiffness, 11.79 tension loss

The constructive thing to do is combine this data with testimonial, photos of the string cross-section, and so forth. But, pretending that data like this is irrelevant isn't helpful or accurate.

 

[GameSetMatch]

All you do is blindly regurgitate data in respect of strings that you know nothing about. Waste of time.

 

[Keifers]

All you do is blindly regurgitate data in respect of strings that you know nothing about. Waste of time.

No offense, but your rants against his presentation of measured data have become really tiresome.

State your preference, contribute your actual experiences of the strings, and let people decide what they want to go with. Please.

I, for one, like to look at the data and read about others' experiences.

TNT2 Pro Plus 17L and NRG2 are about as close as I've come to NXT. They're closer than NXT Tour.

 

[GameSetMatch]

But Addiction isn't.

A increasing number of people simply look at the RSI numbers and blindly recommend the string that's closest in numbers when they simply have no experience of the strings.

That's just completely stupid, and instead of these boards being helpful, simply misleads anyone who has the misfortune to believe what that person blindly says, let alone anyone who actually has the misfortune to the buy the strings in question based on the recommedations of someone that has no experience of them. It's that's tiresome to you, then tough - blindly regurgitating unrepresentative data and making flawed recommendations is completely stupid and unhelpful.

 

[Keifers]

No, it's your ranting that is tiresome. You seem to have appointed yourself as defender of the faith -- and the way in which you're expressing yourself actually undermines your effectiveness because it comes across as negative and intolerant.

Look, I agree that basing string purchases strictly on measured data is an unwise thing for anyone to do. Fortunately, people do come to this forum for other input and fortunately, they find it. (The alternative: everyone would just look at the data tables. Which they don't do.)

I'm just suggesting that you express your concerns in a less confrontational, less hostile manner -- it'll do more justice to what you're trying to assert.

 

[GameSetMatch]

What is tiresome is this "Centered" poster repeatedly spamming threads recommending strings from the RSI data without giving any thought or having experience of the strings in question.

Just think about it for a moment. The OP says he likes NXT because of its soft, comfortable, somewhat 'mushy' stringbed, and pocketing feel. Anyone who's played with NXT knows that when its first strung, it initially seems resiliant, but it loses tension fast and quickly produces a soft, comfortable, mushy stringbed. And yet this "Centered" poster blindly recommends Babolat Addiction, purely based on the RSI table even though he knows nothing about the string in question. Addiction plays nothing like that.

There's another poster on here that repeatedly quotes from the RSI data. Only a few weeks ago, he suggested Babolat Addiction for somebody wanting a stiffer, resiliant multi/synthetic that's not far off poly in terms of stiffness.

So you have two posters, both relying purely on the same RSI data to make string recommendations, one who says that Addiction will give you a soft, comfortable, somewhat mushy stringbed, and the other who says says that Addiction will give you stiff playing stringbed not far off poly. One of them is clearly wrong because they're both relying on the same data but coming to completely different conclusions.

There's too much of a flawed, blind, 'parrot like' quoting of this this data with no regard to how the string actually plays in real life. As I've said in previous posts on this subject, the RSI data should be used a general guide only and not as a substitute for how the strings actually play. The data also has anomalies in relation to certain strings in certain gauges. If you could rely on a string spreadsheet to accurately select the playing characteristics of a string, you might as well do the same for racquets which everyone knows is nonsense and no substitute for 'real world' testing.

It wouldn't so bad if everyone realised this, but fact of the matter is, you're actually going to have some/many of people believing his recommendations and wasting $30 dollars each on a stringjob and not getting the stringbed feel that they want. I honestly make no apologies if you find that tiresome.

 

[kiteboard]

Global gut at $11/set, with better tension loss and similar feel.

 

[Centered]

No, it's your ranting that is tiresome. You seem to have appointed yourself as defender of the faith -- and the way in which you're expressing yourself actually undermines your effectiveness because it comes across as negative and intolerant.

Look, I agree that basing string purchases strictly on measured data is an unwise thing for anyone to do. Fortunately, people do come to this forum for other input and fortunately, they find it. (The alternative: everyone would just look at the data tables. Which they don't do.)

I'm just suggesting that you express your concerns in a less confrontational, less hostile manner -- it'll do more justice to what you're trying to assert.

The only thing I can think of is that certain people are trying to sell certain strings. Otherwise, I fail to see why there is so much hostility toward the RSI data.

 

[fgs]

centered,
i doubt there is any hostility toward the rsi data - the problem is the way you interpret them!
in another thread i pointed out the way those data are obtained - they tension ONE string at 62 lbs, hit a ball 5 times against it at 120 mph and then measure tension loss. while these data surely are correct, i fail to see any 100% correlation to the behaviour of the same string in a STRINGBED - as in a REAL tennisracquet.
some strings which measure "soft" actually play quite stiff in a stringbed and there are situations when a "stiff" string plays much softer than the figure would suggest.
a stiffnes rating similar to nxt does not mean it plays like nxt! it#s as simple as that - it's the way you interpret those data and not the data themselves.

 

[Centered]

Your criticism is of the data, despite your assertion that it's about my "interpretation".

i doubt there is any hostility toward the rsi data - the problem is the way you interpret them!
in another thread i pointed out the way those data are obtained - they tension ONE string at 62 lbs, hit a ball 5 times against it at 120 mph and then measure tension loss. while these data surely are correct, i fail to see any 100% correlation to the behaviour of the same string in a STRINGBED - as in a REAL tennisracquet.

a stiffnes rating similar to nxt does not mean it plays like nxt!

It's not just stiffness. It's also tension loss, diameter, and material/construction. I never claimed stiffness alone is all that matters.

 

[Centered]

The bottom line is that people are trying to put words in my mouth and disregard the data. While it's up to people to decide whether or not they think the data is relevant, it's not necessary or fair to argue that things like testimonial constitute harder evidence than data. It's also not fair to attack me for real or imagined shortcomings in the data.

I posted in good faith to supplement testimonials and other contributions and I don't appreciate being bashed for it.

Not only did I never claim stiffness alone is all that matters, I never claimed the RSI data is all that matters. Those are things people said I claimed in order to have a straw man to attack me with.

 

[fgs]

centered,
i'm not a native speaker, but scientifically not only those data are correct, but the rsi also clearly states how it obtains them.
i don't really think it's difficult to understand that, as even i, with my more limited understanding of english as compared to a native speaker, am able to understand that they put ONE string at 62 lbs tension. under these circumstances, how can i criticize the data?
nowhere in that report did i read that they say that for instance strings with the same stiffness rating would PLAY similar!!! but, maybe i just didn't understand.

 

[Centered]

nowhere in that report did i read that they say that for instance strings with the same stiffness rating would PLAY similar!!!

Strings with the same stiffness will play similarly. Why? Because they have the same stiffness. That doesn't mean they will be exactly the same. There are other factors, like construction — multiple filaments versus a single filament, material, gauge, tension retention, and so forth.

I never claimed stiffness is the only thing that matters. I simply looked at the RSI data and found a string that had almost the same diameter, material, gauge, stiffness, and tension loss. I also eliminated strings with similar numbers that cost $20.00. This was my contribution to this topic and I was attacked for not providing every single bit of information possible. It's unfair to expect me to play God. Other people post one-line suggestions of strings with absolutely nothing to back them up and they're not attacked for that. It's absurd, frankly.

If people don't think the RSI data is relevant, that's up to them. They should contribute what they think is relevant instead of attacking me, especially with false claims about what I actually said.

 

[fgs]

centered,
i appreciate the effort and time you put into finding a string with similar characteristics as the nxt. now please take a deep breath and calmly read the following:
the rsi is making these measurements on ONE string tensioned at 62 lbs, left to rest for about 200 seconds (3 minutes) and then hit 5 times by a ball at 120 mph.
so, they are not measuring a stringbed, the measured tension loss is induced by 5 strokes and less than 5 minutes. in most cases, a freshly strung racquet won't make it in 5 minutes to the court!!!
the way the rsi is making these measurements gives you some indication on the physical properties of the strings. this, in my opinion is beyond any doubt.
on the other hand, since in real life tension loss for instance is a rather "long term" effect (i usually have about 8 hitting hours with a set of strings which are consumed in about 10-14 days!), the measurement taken by the rsi can be completely misleading. i had strings with a considerable tension loss after stringing (no ball impact!) and then staying at that tension until they broke. other kept the initial tension pretty well for 3-4 hitting hours and 5 days, and then took a steep plunge and became unplayable.
this sort of "hard facts" as you call them are not at all reflected in the rsi data. their measurements end at the latest 5 minutes after tensioning the string. while i do find these data quite informative i do not necessarily find them representative for the dynamic behaviour of those strings IN A STRIGBED in REAL LIFE USE.

 

[NewGuy]

We used NXT 16. Went to volkl catapult with no ill effects. The 4.95 price tag didn't hurt. . .. Maxim Touch original was good, too. So was Prince Premier LT, but zero savings on price. . ..

 

[Centered]

centered,
i appreciate the effort and time you put into finding a string with similar characteristics as the nxt. now please take a deep breath and calmly read the following:
the rsi is making these measurements on ONE string tensioned at 62 lbs, left to rest for about 200 seconds (3 minutes) and then hit 5 times by a ball at 120 mph.

You're asking me to read the text I've already quoted? lol

so, they are not measuring a stringbed, the measured tension loss is induced by 5 strokes and less than 5 minutes. in most cases, a freshly strung racquet won't make it in 5 minutes to the court!!!
the way the rsi is making these measurements gives you some indication on the physical properties of the strings. this, in my opinion is beyond any doubt.
on the other hand, since in real life tension loss for instance is a rather "long term" effect (i usually have about 8 hitting hours with a set of strings which are consumed in about 10-14 days!), the measurement taken by the rsi can be completely misleading. i had strings with a considerable tension loss after stringing (no ball impact!) and then staying at that tension until they broke. other kept the initial tension pretty well for 3-4 hitting hours and 5 days, and then took a steep plunge and became unplayable.
this sort of "hard facts" as you call them are not at all reflected in the rsi data. their measurements end at the latest 5 minutes after tensioning the string. while i do find these data quite informative i do not necessarily find them representative for the dynamic behaviour of those strings IN A STRIGBED in REAL LIFE USE.

Refer to my topic about tension loss.

 

[fgs]

centered,
i really mean no offense, but there is a difference between reading and understanding what you have read. simply quoting something does not mean that you also understood what you have quoted. i could quote some text in russian from lenin's works but i'd still have no clue about what i've quoted.
you seem not to understand that the behaviour of one string does not necessarily resemble the behaviour of a stringbed. take just a physical approach - when will a single string of a stringbed be stressed with the aequivalent of a 120 mph impact? i can assure you that never - since the ball has a diameter that will contact at least some 3 mains upon impact, which are IN A STRINGBED. the conditions of the test set-up and real life play are very, very different. the impact in the stringbed will be much attenuated and dispersed, the elongattion of the stringbed will be much much less than the elongation of a single suspended string at a 120mph impact - the data measure a heavily overstressed string. in steel they apply force to see when a certain diameter of a certain quality will break, so that when they make structural calculation they'd know how far they could go.

 

[Centered]

If you or anyone else has a problem with the RSI data, I'm not particularly interested—unless you or anyone else chooses to contact RSI and post their response to the complaints.

 

[fgs]

my dear "centered",
may i make the following analogy hoping that you start to understand what i am talking about:
a ferrari might have some 400hp. a good truck also may have 400hp. they sure drive different. you assume that if a string has the same diameter, and a similarr stiffness rating according to rsi, than they play similar. well, the ferrari is a road vehicle, the truck too, the way they measure hp is basically the same, so they should also drive similar.
there is absolutely no problem with the rsi - the only problem is the way you interpret their data. they never ever stated in those surveys what you imply!
"on a deaf man's door you can knock forever."
i wish you all the best, but i can tell you that in spite of similar data on the rsi, the nxt and the addiction play very different. this is were the problem started - you suggested a string as comparable based solely on data you do not understand, in spite of the fact that the rsi clearly states how they collected the data. you are mistaking a truck for a ferrari.

 

[chaddles]

Isn't Volkl Power Fiber II a rebranded Klips Excellerator?

Wouldn't surprise me, I might have to try the Excellerator to compare. Still a pretty decent string whomever makes it IMO.

As for people going just off RSI data, it isn't meant to be followed blindly - there are so many strings that are a lot stiffer & a lot softer than what there reasings say. Check out the position of Alu Power for a perfect example.

 

[GameSetMatch]

Strings with the same stiffness will play similarly.

Well, Pro Hurricane 1.21 has a stiffness rating of 187, and Maxim Touch 1.29 has a stiffness rating of 190. I can assure you that the they do not play similarly.

 

[GameSetMatch]

"On a deaf man's door you can knock forever."

Amen to that!

You make a very good point. In fact, looking through past threads, it seems that this isn't the first time that people drawing incorrect conclusions from the RSI data has been raised:-

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=290428

 

[mikeler]

RSI is a great guide that I use quite often but there are so many variables with how a string feels in various rackets with various people who hit the ball in a variety of ways.

 

[el sergento]

Great suggestions so far, thanks to everybody, keep it up. FWIW, I'm looking more for first hand experience with a string than simple numbers. But all input is welcome.

 

[Centered]

Well, Pro Hurricane 1.21 has a stiffness rating of 187, and Maxim Touch 1.29 has a stiffness rating of 190. I can assure you that the they do not play similarly.

You're comparing two different materials, poly and nylon.

My comparison was between nylon multis.

lol

 

[DrpShot!]

Tourna Quasi Gut. Check out the following posts:
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=332897&page=2

Toward the bottom of the first page of this thread Verbouge has some interesting numbers on Quasi Gut:
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=335316

 

[el sergento]

Great suggestions everyone.

I'm sorta stuck with Gosen for a while though because I bought a reel.

I got the 16g OG Micro in white. Does anybody know how this string performs if prestreched before stringing??

Does it make any difference, will they play softer?