Mains: Tourna Big Hitter Blue Rough (BHBR) 17 1.25mm
Cross: Gosen OG Micro (natural) 17 1.22
Racquet: Wilson BLX 6.1 95 (18x20)
Tension: 53lbs (mains), 55lbs (crosses), CP machine
Usual strings: PLII 1.20mm full bed, or hybrid with Babolat Xcel 1.25mm
Absolute ton of coil memory on the BHBR. I spent about 5 minutes trying to straighten the string and even then it doesn't want to straighten. Gosen is Gosen so most will know what that's like. Gosen (natural color) is slightly softer than the white color Gosen, IMO.
Playtest: BHBR is absolutely lovely. At this tension, it dominates the feel of the string bed but it just has everything you could possibly want from a poly; spin, bite, springy but not overpowered, a certain degree of crispness, reasonable arm comfort (for a poly) - it doesn't feel harsh at all.
The most noticeable thing is the spin and bite that the string generates and the movement on the ball. The trajectory of the balls that you can hit just seem to deceive everyone - shots might go into the net seem to take on a trajectory that bends the flight of the ball just over the net. Shots that seem to be going long dip way before the baseline. Short cross court shots take on a flight that your opponent doesn't react to because it doesn't seem that the ball will go in...but it does. Kick serves, sliced serves....you can pull your opponent all over the place. Even in his hybrid setup, you hit a ball and notice that your opponent has a split second moment of additional hesitation as they to track the movement of ball. I'd even go so far as say it may even generate too much spin at times particularly when you want to hit flat and through the court.
Is there a better spin orientated poly on the market at the moment that orientates towards spin? I don't think so. You put price into the equation and this string must be unbeatable.
The only qualification I would add is that I would like to see how it holds up in terms of tension maintenance and how long it lasts before it goes dead. After two hours of play, I did notice a slight drop off in bite of the poly mains. If tension maintenance and string life results are positive, I'm probably going to buy a reel of this. The price is unbeatable.
As for the hybrid with Gosen, I think it works pretty well. The characteristics of the BHBR dominate and the feel of the Gosen is very much in the background but it does soften the stringbed and the good thing is that Gosen isn't overpowered. I also suspect - have recently played with the thicker Mantis Comfort Synthetic 1.30mm - that the thinner Gosen cross may help the poly mains slide (less surface contact area between the mains and the crosses). I think I would prefer a slightly more dominant cross though. I'm probaboy going to try BHBR with Tecnifibre Multifeel 17 1.25mm next, given the positive comments on the latter from Mikeler in his thread.
Overall: Very impressed with the results and playability, particularly the spin production and 'bite' of the BHBR. If you're looking for a spin orientated string, BHBR is a great choice. In that back of my mind though, I do wonder whether I would prefer a poly with fractionally less spin, so I'm probably going to experiment with (1) Big Hitter Silver (non-rough) and also (2) a slightly more dominant cross string as well over the next few weeks.
Footnote: The day after this playtest (which also involved BHBR full bed), I did have some soreness in my trapezius muscles on my right side (the muscles around the base of the next and top of shoulder). I can only attribute that to the strings, because that was the only thing that I've changed though I should add that I do already have some tightness in the area already due to a previous injury, though it doesn't normally flare up with softer string combinations.
Update 20.2.11: Played my 6th hour with this combination earlier today in the space of 5 days. You can still feel characteristics and bite of the poly but there's not quite as much crazy spin on the ball as when first strung. The string bed feels more powerful and softer - presumably the characteristics of the Gosen coming to the fore as the poly loses tension. No significant loss of control but do feel that I have to be slightly more careful with my shots, and don't feel I can quite hit out with wild abandon at the ball as when first strung. I think I'm going to experiment with pre-stretching the Gosen by 10-15% the next time I use this combination.
Cross: Gosen OG Micro (natural) 17 1.22
Racquet: Wilson BLX 6.1 95 (18x20)
Tension: 53lbs (mains), 55lbs (crosses), CP machine
Usual strings: PLII 1.20mm full bed, or hybrid with Babolat Xcel 1.25mm
Absolute ton of coil memory on the BHBR. I spent about 5 minutes trying to straighten the string and even then it doesn't want to straighten. Gosen is Gosen so most will know what that's like. Gosen (natural color) is slightly softer than the white color Gosen, IMO.
Playtest: BHBR is absolutely lovely. At this tension, it dominates the feel of the string bed but it just has everything you could possibly want from a poly; spin, bite, springy but not overpowered, a certain degree of crispness, reasonable arm comfort (for a poly) - it doesn't feel harsh at all.
The most noticeable thing is the spin and bite that the string generates and the movement on the ball. The trajectory of the balls that you can hit just seem to deceive everyone - shots might go into the net seem to take on a trajectory that bends the flight of the ball just over the net. Shots that seem to be going long dip way before the baseline. Short cross court shots take on a flight that your opponent doesn't react to because it doesn't seem that the ball will go in...but it does. Kick serves, sliced serves....you can pull your opponent all over the place. Even in his hybrid setup, you hit a ball and notice that your opponent has a split second moment of additional hesitation as they to track the movement of ball. I'd even go so far as say it may even generate too much spin at times particularly when you want to hit flat and through the court.
Is there a better spin orientated poly on the market at the moment that orientates towards spin? I don't think so. You put price into the equation and this string must be unbeatable.
The only qualification I would add is that I would like to see how it holds up in terms of tension maintenance and how long it lasts before it goes dead. After two hours of play, I did notice a slight drop off in bite of the poly mains. If tension maintenance and string life results are positive, I'm probably going to buy a reel of this. The price is unbeatable.
As for the hybrid with Gosen, I think it works pretty well. The characteristics of the BHBR dominate and the feel of the Gosen is very much in the background but it does soften the stringbed and the good thing is that Gosen isn't overpowered. I also suspect - have recently played with the thicker Mantis Comfort Synthetic 1.30mm - that the thinner Gosen cross may help the poly mains slide (less surface contact area between the mains and the crosses). I think I would prefer a slightly more dominant cross though. I'm probaboy going to try BHBR with Tecnifibre Multifeel 17 1.25mm next, given the positive comments on the latter from Mikeler in his thread.
Overall: Very impressed with the results and playability, particularly the spin production and 'bite' of the BHBR. If you're looking for a spin orientated string, BHBR is a great choice. In that back of my mind though, I do wonder whether I would prefer a poly with fractionally less spin, so I'm probably going to experiment with (1) Big Hitter Silver (non-rough) and also (2) a slightly more dominant cross string as well over the next few weeks.
Footnote: The day after this playtest (which also involved BHBR full bed), I did have some soreness in my trapezius muscles on my right side (the muscles around the base of the next and top of shoulder). I can only attribute that to the strings, because that was the only thing that I've changed though I should add that I do already have some tightness in the area already due to a previous injury, though it doesn't normally flare up with softer string combinations.
Update 20.2.11: Played my 6th hour with this combination earlier today in the space of 5 days. You can still feel characteristics and bite of the poly but there's not quite as much crazy spin on the ball as when first strung. The string bed feels more powerful and softer - presumably the characteristics of the Gosen coming to the fore as the poly loses tension. No significant loss of control but do feel that I have to be slightly more careful with my shots, and don't feel I can quite hit out with wild abandon at the ball as when first strung. I think I'm going to experiment with pre-stretching the Gosen by 10-15% the next time I use this combination.
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