Longest playability 17g poly

[ballistic]

As the title suggests, what 17g poly have you found to maintain playability for the longest time? Loving the feel of 17g tour bite but just 3-4 hours in and it’s noticeably not feeling as good compared to fresh. Anything on the market solving this issue with 17g strings without moving to thicker strings? The issue I’m trying to solve is I play with 21 Vcore 95. Need a little more pop but also need a string under 200 stiffness for elbow comfort. Cyclone tour 16 loses tension too fast. Hg soft 16l feels great but lacks pop imo. Tour bite 17g feels exactly what I want but that feel goes away too quickly. I’m stringing these in low 40s btw.

 

[Tronco20]

Confidential 1.20
Awesome!
I had the best feeling playing experience with this string at 23.5/23kg for 6 hours (which is a lot for me)

 

[veelium]

Get tour bite in a thicker gauge and string it lower. Thin strings just don't last too long.

Alternatively, try Isospeed Black Fire S, won't feel like tour bite but generally stays playable very long.
Or just go for a hybrid, multis or gut hold tension better.

 

[Power Player]

Tier One Durafluxx 1.23 lasts a good amount longer than TB and works great at low tensions.

 

[ballistic]

Confidential 1.20
Awesome!
I had the best feeling playing experience with this string at 23.5/23kg for 6 hours (which is a lot for me)

Do you feel any harshness with that gauge? The 16 made my elbow a little sore a few years back. Tension maintenance was amazing though from what I remember.

 

[ballistic]

Get tour bite in a thicker gauge and string it lower. Thin strings just don't last too long.

Alternatively, try Isospeed Black Fire S, won't feel like tour bite but generally stays playable very long.
Or just go for a hybrid, multis or gut hold tension better.

I may have to try that with the 16 or 16L and just hope the low tension is enough to keep the string comfortable for the arm. I try not to push my luck having gone through a year and a half tennis elbow recovery not long ago.

 

[Chairman3]

Razor Soft
also Poly Tour Strike (I used 1.20 so I'm sure 1.25 would last even longer)

 

[travlerajm]

prestretch poly thoroughly, string it a lot lower, and keeps on giving without dying, especially if one that wears without crosses notching.

 

[WYK]

Confidential
Tourna Silver 7 Tour(though many will argue it is dead from the start).
MSV Focus Hex 123
Max Power

 

[J D]

Tour Bite notches pretty quickly. You can “un-notch” it by pulling each main and cross sideways out of place, popping each string out of its notch and then moving it back. It will play almost like new, only slightly looser, for a few hours. You can repeat it a couple more times before the strings go dead.

Every poly player I know that I have shown this to does it now.

 

[veelium]

I may have to try that with the 16 or 16L and just hope the low tension is enough to keep the string comfortable for the arm. I try not to push my luck having gone through a year and a half tennis elbow recovery not long ago.

Searching for a long-lasting poly is not gonna do your elbow any good imo. The longer lasting ones are generally stiffer.

 

[ballistic]

Razor Soft
also Poly Tour Strike (I used 1.20 so I'm sure 1.25 would last even longer)

Thanks. I’ll look into those. I have wanted to try the razor soft.

 

[ballistic]

Searching for a long-lasting poly is not gonna do your elbow any good imo. The longer lasting ones are generally stiffer.

True. I’m not looking for something outrageous like 12-15 hours. If I could have a string last like 8-10 without losing tension or playability I’d be content with that. I’ll try a few more 17s but may have to go back to 16s to get that longevity. 17 just feels a little better in this particular racket.

 

[AndrewUtz]

not 17 but I switched to 4g soft recently and I’m loving it.

 

[PurcellPower]

Max Power Rough 17

 

[Trip]

A big caveat here is the '21 VCore 95 -- all '21 VCores are extremely muted, so you really want as crisp a string bed as possible in order to get any feel whatsoever.

As such, your inclination to try TB was a good one. I'd stick with similarly-crisp setups, and leave the likes of Cyclone Tour and Confidential for other frames.

Here's what I'd look at:

Shaped:
Gamma AMP Ocho Silver 1.25
Grapplesnake Tour Sniper 1.25
Head Lynx Tour 1.20 or 1.25
Tru Pro DuraFluxx 1.18 or 1.23

Round:
Head Hawk Silver 1.20 or 1.25
IsoSpeed Grey Fire 1.25
Kirschbaum Max Power 1.20 or 1.25
MSV Bussard 1.20 or 1.25

 

[ballistic]

A big caveat here is the '21 VCore 95 -- all '21 VCores are extremely muted, so you really want as crisp a string bed as possible in order to get any feel whatsoever.

As such, your inclination to try TB was a good one. I'd stick with similarly-crisp setups, and leave the likes of Cyclone Tour and Confidential for other frames.

Here's what I'd look at:

Shaped:
Gamma AMP Ocho Silver 1.25
Grapplesnake Tour Sniper 1.25
Head Lynx Tour 1.20 or 1.25
Tru Pro DuraFluxx 1.18 or 1.23

Round:
Head Hawk Silver 1.20 or 1.25
IsoSpeed Grey Fire 1.25
Kirschbaum Max Power 1.20 or 1.25
MSV Bussard 1.20 or 1.25

Thanks Trip. I’ll look into these and some others mentioned. I haven’t kept up with strings brands or tested much in a long time. What are your thoughts on a low tension like 40lbs for a stiff 16g string around 220 stiffness. Do you think that low of a tension makes much of a difference in comfort with a stiff poly?

 

[Trip]

Very welcome, and yes, I'm usually always more inclined to play a more firm, crisp poly at lower tension than I am a softer poly at higher tension, primarily because the more firm/crisp polys tend to have better tension maintenance on its own, and then you add on that starting off at lower reference tension means you inherently have less available to lose, it's somewhat of a double win.

In the VC95 specifically, I think playing the lowest tension you can still control is absolutely the best approach, for the sake of opening up the sweetspot and increasing forgiveness, if nothing else. I would not be surprised if even dipping into the 30's (lbs that is) felt playable with a firm/crisp enough string (I say that with a pretty good amount of confidence, having spent a lot of time with the '15 SV, '18 all-red and '21 blue stripe).

 

[ballistic]

Awesome. Looks like I have some more testing to do. Appreciate the suggestions and assistance.

 

[ClownCar96]

Tour Bite notches pretty quickly. You can “un-notch” it by pulling each main and cross sideways out of place, popping each string out of its notch and then moving it back. It will play almost like new, only slightly looser, for a few hours. You can repeat it a couple more times before the strings go dead.

Every poly player I know that I have shown this to does it now.

So you move the string out of the notch and then move it back into the notch? that doesn't make sense. Do you you mean you just spread the strings apart out of the notch so they are in contact with fresh, non-notched areas? aren't the strings crooked? Sorry I'm a little slow...

 

[ClownCar96]

A big caveat here is the '21 VCore 95 -- all '21 VCores are extremely muted, so you really want as crisp a string bed as possible in order to get any feel whatsoever.

As such, your inclination to try TB was a good one. I'd stick with similarly-crisp setups, and leave the likes of Cyclone Tour and Confidential for other frames.

Here's what I'd look at:

Shaped:
Gamma AMP Ocho Silver 1.25
Grapplesnake Tour Sniper 1.25
Head Lynx Tour 1.20 or 1.25
Tru Pro DuraFluxx 1.18 or 1.23

Round:
Head Hawk Silver 1.20 or 1.25
IsoSpeed Grey Fire 1.25
Kirschbaum Max Power 1.20 or 1.25
MSV Bussard 1.20 or 1.25

@Trip how would you compare the power level of tour bite with DuraFluxx? DF significantly lower power at the same gauge/tension or just a bit? Trying to decide on my next poly hybrid

 

[J D]

Once you try it, you’ll see. You can feel and hear each string pop out of place when you move the string the first time. If you do it again right away, it doesn’t pop again. I’m not sure exactly how it works, but I do know it frees up the string bed again.

 

[tlm]

4G lasts the longest.