Low powered, soft poly - does it exist?

what_army

what_army

Professional
Hello! I’m looking for the least powerful / softest poly available. Typically I string at 22 or 23kg and I play with the tc95 16x19. As far as the string I’m looking for is concerned, it should be round and no thinner than 1.25mm. I am not concerned about spin.
At the moment I’m playing with firestorm but on paper (assuming TWU’s stiffness and energy return ratings are accurate) it appears cyber blue and cyber flash would both be softer and less powerful?
Hopefully someone who’s gone down the same route and/or has experience with these strings I’ve mentioned can chime in. Thanks in advance.
 
Solinco confidential 1.20. I know you said 1.25, but I really like the Confidential in smaller gauges, because of the softer feel and lower power. The Confidential at smaller guages is very round.
 
LOBALOT said:
Isn't this also a shaped string and not round?

Torna Big Hitter Silver is the round string they offer and some would call it soft.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Big Hitter Black 7 is shaped. Their Black Zone is round too, among others. Since Kirschbaum Proline II was mentioned, I’d also like to try out Kirschbaum Flash.
 
loosegroove said:
Yeah, Big Hitter Black 7 is shaped. Their Black Zone is round too, among others. Since Kirschbaum Proline II was mentioned, I’d also like to try out Kirschbaum Flash.
Click to expand...

Wow, Black Zone also looks like it holds it's tension better than Silver as well.
 
what_army said:
Hello! I’m looking for the least powerful / softest poly available. Typically I string at 22 or 23kg and I play with the tc95 16x19. As far as the string I’m looking for is concerned, it should be round and no thinner than 1.25mm. I am not concerned about spin.
At the moment I’m playing with firestorm but on paper (assuming TWU’s stiffness and energy return ratings are accurate) it appears cyber blue and cyber flash would both be softer and less powerful?
Hopefully someone who’s gone down the same route and/or has experience with these strings I’ve mentioned can chime in. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
It’s not a poly but RIP Control might be what you’re looking for. It’s a control multifilament with good durability. I going to try the RIP Control 16 Black with ALU Power Rough 125 for the cross. I’ve also ordered some white RIP Control 17 and I’m going to put Tecnifibre Ice Code 17 as a cross. Since RIP Control is a low powered muted multi I’m thinking of using a low tension like 50/47 for starters are adjusting from there.
 
Irvin said:
It’s not a poly but RIP Control might be what you’re looking for. It’s a control multifilament with good durability. I going to try the RIP Control 16 Black with ALU Power Rough 125 for the cross. I’ve also ordered some white RIP Control 17 and I’m going to put Tecnifibre Ice Code 17 as a cross. Since RIP Control is a low powered muted multi I’m thinking of using a low tension like 50/47 for starters are adjusting from there.
Click to expand...
Good suggestion. It's lower powered than many polys.
 
i am a MRT/ Head Professional and ive tried everything under the sun. i also am a string tester for the USRSA as well as a string instructor for them as well.

As we all know strings are super subjective and incredibly personal depending on your tactile sensitivities. what feels great to me, may in fact , feel awful to you; even if we are are chasing the same string characteristics.
I too am always looking for the most soft, most plush, string on the market.
Synthetics have no feel to me anymore and they launch the ball
Poly is always too stiff unless its a co-poly, but co-poly loses its magic too soon for me.
so here we sit.
if youve tried a ton of different strings and still you want more soft, but with great control, here are my go toos:
Head FXP tour - discontinued unfortunately but is still around in the right corners..
Volkl V square 17
Weiss Cannon ultra cable 17
Isospeed professional 17
Isospeed control 16
lastly you can also try any co-polys with super thin gauges. most of the time the thinner the string the softer it becomes.

***** the key ingredients to isospeed and fxp tour is the magic of:" polyolefin " which used for many applications, but they use it to make wetsuits which is quite illuminating.
 
I also like WCUC, but it's square. I string it at 45 in trusty Rossignol F230 and can play it until it breaks without it getting too launchy until just before breaking. I usually just hit harder the last 20 minutes or so and it works fine until it breaks.

Cyber Blue is also very good and I like it better than Cyber Flash personally. I couldn't find it in stock the last time I looked for it and since then have switched to WCUC, so haven't used it since before Covid IIRC.

I like all the strings @teachingprotx mentioned as well, but the non polys break too quickly for me these days, so I don't tend to use them when playing matches. They also have quite different tension requirements IME, so if you've never used them before it may take several stringings to dial in the tension.

An older string I liked quite a bit is Kirschbaum Competition. It's not quite the softness of some of the newer strings, but I found the 16g at a lowish tension to be very satisfying. The 17g was good as well, but the 16g had a softer feel and I think it actually performed better over the life of the string. The one downside was the bump in swing weight. If your frame is already near your max SW you might find it a bit too heavy.
 
Kirschbaum Competition 16g has a Stiffnes rating of 210. Its pretty stiff if we look at this number, is it still arm friendly?
 
like racer eluded to, you can go with a stiffer string but with a higher gauge. thinner string will play softer.
 
teachingprotx said:
i am a MRT/ Head Professional and ive tried everything under the sun. i also am a string tester for the USRSA as well as a string instructor for them as well.

As we all know strings are super subjective and incredibly personal depending on your tactile sensitivities. what feels great to me, may in fact , feel awful to you; even if we are are chasing the same string characteristics.
I too am always looking for the most soft, most plush, string on the market.
Synthetics have no feel to me anymore and they launch the ball
Poly is always too stiff unless its a co-poly, but co-poly loses its magic too soon for me.
so here we sit.
if youve tried a ton of different strings and still you want more soft, but with great control, here are my go toos:
Head FXP tour - discontinued unfortunately but is still around in the right corners..
Volkl V square 17
Weiss Cannon ultra cable 17
Isospeed professional 17
Isospeed control 16
lastly you can also try any co-polys with super thin gauges. most of the time the thinner the string the softer it becomes.

***** the key ingredients to isospeed and fxp tour is the magic of:" polyolefin " which used for many applications, but they use it to make wetsuits which is quite illuminating.
Click to expand...
If you are looking for the softest, plushest string on the market, why don't you just string natural gut and be done with your search?
 
born_hard said:
Kirschbaum Competition 16g has a Stiffnes rating of 210. Its pretty stiff if we look at this number, is it still arm friendly?
Click to expand...

I used to string it in the mid 40s to low 50s depending on the frame, and I thought it was quite good. It's been a long time since I used it though. I was thinking about this string not that long ago. I've got a small list of strings to buy single sets of when my reel of WCUC runs out. I am curious to see how well my current string compares to some of the ones I used to use and also a couple of newer ones I haven't tried yet.
 
Why not try a poly strung in the 30s or even 20s pounds? It will feel soft, and hitting as hard as you can will result in a very low powered shot.
 
Wouldn't something strung in the 20s have a really pronounced trampoline effect and be the opposite of behaving low powered?

Icsa said:
Why not try a poly strung in the 30s or even 20s pounds? It will feel soft, and hitting as hard as you can will result in a very low powered shot.
Click to expand...
 
CREAM if you watch the test by TW, you will never see Chris and Andy hit better and with such confidence ever since that test.
 
Kevo said:
An older string I liked quite a bit is Kirschbaum Competition. It's not quite the softness of some of the newer strings, but I found the 16g at a lowish tension to be very satisfying. The 17g was good as well, but the 16g had a softer feel and I think it actually performed better over the life of the string. The one downside was the bump in swing weight. If your frame is already near your max SW you might find it a bit too heavy.
Click to expand...

It is the 3rd time I'm seeing someone reporting that a Kirschbaum string is softer in 16g vs 17g. Previous two were about Max Power. How could this be? Poor Kirschbaum quality control and consistency?
 
Icsa said:
It is the 3rd time I'm seeing someone reporting that a Kirschbaum string is softer in 16g vs 17g. Previous two were about Max Power. How could this be? Poor Kirschbaum quality control and consistency?
Click to expand...

There's no rule that says thinner strings have to be softer. It just depends on the material and the construction of the string. Some strings are softer when they are thinner and some aren't. Some are so similar it's hard to tell a difference. I think you'll also find that this happens with some kinds of synthetic gut strings as well. I think there were a couple of oddball gamma synthetic guts that were that way, but it's been a long time since I played them so I could be mistaking the brand. The only synthetic guts I've played recently are Ashaway Liberty and Babolat Powergy since I still have them on reels. Both decent strings for a non-breaker btw. Powergy has a really nice feel.
 
teachingprotx said:
i am a MRT/ Head Professional and ive tried everything under the sun. i also am a string tester for the USRSA as well as a string instructor for them as well.

As we all know strings are super subjective and incredibly personal depending on your tactile sensitivities. what feels great to me, may in fact , feel awful to you; even if we are are chasing the same string characteristics.
I too am always looking for the most soft, most plush, string on the market.
Synthetics have no feel to me anymore and they launch the ball
Poly is always too stiff unless its a co-poly, but co-poly loses its magic too soon for me.
so here we sit.
if youve tried a ton of different strings and still you want more soft, but with great control, here are my go toos:
Head FXP tour - discontinued unfortunately but is still around in the right corners..
Volkl V square 17
Weiss Cannon ultra cable 17
Isospeed professional 17
Isospeed control 16
lastly you can also try any co-polys with super thin gauges. most of the time the thinner the string the softer it becomes.

***** the key ingredients to isospeed and fxp tour is the magic of:" polyolefin " which used for many applications, but they use it to make wetsuits which is quite illuminating.
Click to expand...
I’ve got a racquet strung with isospeed control at the moment but you need to string at high tension in order to obtain good control. And the string frays with simply looking at it :)
 
Kevo said:
I also like WCUC, but it's square. I string it at 45 in trusty Rossignol F230 and can play it until it breaks without it getting too launchy until just before breaking. I usually just hit harder the last 20 minutes or so and it works fine until it breaks.

Cyber Blue is also very good and I like it better than Cyber Flash personally. I couldn't find it in stock the last time I looked for it and since then have switched to WCUC, so haven't used it since before Covid IIRC.

I like all the strings @teachingprotx mentioned as well, but the non polys break too quickly for me these days, so I don't tend to use them when playing matches. They also have quite different tension requirements IME, so if you've never used them before it may take several stringings to dial in the tension.

An older string I liked quite a bit is Kirschbaum Competition. It's not quite the softness of some of the newer strings, but I found the 16g at a lowish tension to be very satisfying. The 17g was good as well, but the 16g had a softer feel and I think it actually performed better over the life of the string. The one downside was the bump in swing weight. If your frame is already near your max SW you might find it a bit too heavy.
Click to expand...
I have a cyber blue. I’ll give that a try. On paper it’s exactly what I’m after but the way I remember that string, it was on the powerful side.
 
DariaGT said:
CREAM if you watch the test by TW, you will never see Chris and Andy hit better and with such confidence ever since that test.
Click to expand...
Yes! I like cream. Unfortunately I made the mistake of buying a reel of the wrong gauge (1.23 instead of 1.28) which doesn’t work as well on my racquet so I don’t play with it as much as I should.
 
what_army said:
Yes! I like cream. Unfortunately I made the mistake of buying a reel of the wrong gauge (1.23 instead of 1.28) which doesn’t work as well on my racquet so I don’t play with it as much as I should.
Click to expand...
i crossed control classic with cream 1.23 in a relatively tight pattern. spin clearly went up vs fb control, and it stayed comfy until crosses went dead.
 
DariaGT said:
CREAM if you watch the test by TW, you will never see Chris and Andy hit better and with such confidence ever since that test.
Click to expand...

I don't know about that. It's a very good balance of softness and control but it won't give you as much control as a stiff strings. Maybe they're going more out because it's easier on the arm then control strings? Anyway, I just tried it and I like it kore then volkl cyclone tour
 
what_army said:
I have a cyber blue. I’ll give that a try. On paper it’s exactly what I’m after but the way I remember that string, it was on the powerful side.
Click to expand...

I think it was slightly more powerful than cyberflash, but I also remember it being more comfortable than cyberflash at the same tension and I don't recall any control issues with it which were quite apparent with some of the other softer polys I tried around that time.
 
Isospeed is just flat out awesome on every level . I’m sooooooooo happy they are keen on still giving us professional 17 and classic and classic control .
To me all their stuff is almost like it would be made and manufactured in Belgium ..
Meaning it’s of the highest order in terms of quality.
their use of polyolefin
Is pure genius so much to the point that it to me is far superior in every way to natty gut . It does absolutely everything it’s asked and rewards with such comfort but not without feel and control .
it ticks and entire litany of needs .
the only down side and I mean this is the spin dept . Oh the spin is phenomenal but it will never compare to poly . But no syn gut/ multi / nylon ever will ……. So there’s that ….
 
Thanks everyone for the input, this is where I stand:
- signum pro firestorm: strung at 22kg it does everything well for me so no complains. I would love if it was softer but I’ll take it as it is if I can’t find anything else;
- isospeed cream: I am using the wrong 17 gauge strung at 23kg which feels a bit springy and not as controlled as 16 (probably). I think I prefer firestorm for everything other than comfort;
- topspin cyber blue: I’ll be trying this string next, will probably string at 23kg;
- head sonic pro: looking at specs it seems that it could be a good fit. I have bought a few sets, looking to string at 23kg.
- mayami hit pro: I have this string lying around. At some point I was loving it but it may be too powerful for what I’m after.
 
in case it helps, here are the lowest stiffness AND lowest energy return poly strings in the TWU database. There are actually a bunch of Polystar and Polyfibre strings that also fit into this list, but to keep the list manageable I excluded those. cyclone tour gets a lot of love from folks here.

StringMaterialGaugeStiffnessTension Loss PctEnergy Return PctStS CofStB CofSpin Potential
Gamma Poly Z 16Polyester1.3179.551.880.80.0740.3965.4
Gamma Zo Power 16LPolyester1.25193.256.781.70.1320.3832.9
Gosen Polylon PolyBreak 18 (1.20)Polyester1.2165.253.382.80.0740.3544.8
Head Sonic Pro 16Polyester1.3160.65781.20.0920.3884.2
IsoSpeed Pulse 16Polyester1.3164.656.981.50.0740.3464.7
MSV Focus-Hex +38 16L (1.25)Polyester1.25173.253.581.50.080.6137.7
Prince Vortex 16 (1.30)Polyester1.318858.580.60.0690.5498
Solinco Tour Bite Diamond Rough 16 (1.30)Polyester1.3192.65282.10.1110.544.9
Volkl Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25)Polyester1.25170.952.682.60.0780.4726.1
Volkl V-Star 16 (1.30)Polyester1.3172.654.582.80.0730.5016.9
Weiss Cannon Silverstring 120Polyester1.2167.450.682.60.1070.3973.7
Weiss Cannon Ultra Cable 17 (1.23)Polyester1.23174.947.782.80.0650.77411.9
 
teachingprotx said:
Isospeed is just flat out awesome on every level . I’m sooooooooo happy they are keen on still giving us professional 17 and classic and classic control .
To me all their stuff is almost like it would be made and manufactured in Belgium ..
Meaning it’s of the highest order in terms of quality.
their use of polyolefin
Is pure genius so much to the point that it to me is far superior in every way to natty gut . It does absolutely everything it’s asked and rewards with such comfort but not without feel and control .
it ticks and entire litany of needs .
the only down side and I mean this is the spin dept . Oh the spin is phenomenal but it will never compare to poly . But no syn gut/ multi / nylon ever will ……. So there’s that ….
Click to expand...

Many Ytex strings also use polyolefin. I'm a big fan an user of Square-X, but Quadro Twist, Trivolution and Square-X Sharp are all made with polyolefin too.

Here are the list of strings Ytex says Square-x is comparable to (many of them are being discussed in this thread):

YTEX Square-X - Comparable Strings Table

Brand - Reference String
Ashaway - Dynamite Touch
Babolat - RPM BLAST
Head - FXP Tour
Kirschbaum - Competition
Weis Cannon - Scorpion, Ultra Cable
Luxilon - Adrenaline
Prince - Tour XC
Signum Pro - Plasma Xtreme
Topspin - Cyberblue
 
what_army said:
Yes! I like cream. Unfortunately I made the mistake of buying a reel of the wrong gauge (1.23 instead of 1.28) which doesn’t work as well on my racquet so I don’t play with it as much as I should.
Click to expand...
Try the Cream1.28mm on the Mains and the thinner you have on the crosses or Tour Bite soft 1.30mm mains (that is if you have an open pattern)

SlowTiger said:
I don't know about that. It's a very good balance of softness and control but it won't give you as much control as a stiff strings. Maybe they're going more out because it's easier on the arm then control strings? Anyway, I just tried it and I like it kore then volkl cyclone tour
Click to expand...

Its an interesting situation as I find I get more control on softer offerings as I can hold the ball, change direction and guide it to where I want versus stiffer strings at lower tensions.
Not sure on your needs or pattern/racquet as there are so many variables compared to the wooden racquet with nylon days but I would use the 1.23 on crosses exclusively then
use Mains like UC, TB or Hyper-G soft in a larger diameter at lower tensions. Even buy a single pack of Pro's Pro Plus Power 1.28 and be prepared for a surprise.
 
I have been trying Prince Vortex. Much lower stiffness and much lower power than Lynx Tour at 50# tension. Feels like I can go 5 pounds less with Vortex and get similar power level to Lynx Tour. Tension maintenance hasn't been that great with 17g Vortex, but it is so low-powered that it hasn't really mattered. I have about 5 hours of hitting on the strings at the moment. We'll see how they are at 10 hours. I can get 15-20 hours out of 16g Lynx Tour. Most I usually get out of a poly is 10-12 hours before I break it or have to cut it out.
 
Isospeed cream is very soft, controlled, and holds tension well. It’s not high powered like most soft poly either. Only downside is durability in the 1.23 gauge, so I’d recommend 1.28 gauge for most higher level players. Cream also plays great as a cross to natural gut mains.
 
@what_army Have you looked at any of these:
  • Head Lynx Edge Blue 125
  • Yonex Poly Tour Tough Black 125
  • Yonex Poly Tour Drive Silver 125
  • Signum Pro Firestorm Amber 120
  • Signum Pro Outbreak Anthracite 124
  • Solinco Tour Bite Diamond Rough Grey 125
All soft strings based on comfort, static, and dynamic stiffness scores and all 70 or below in power ratings.

One is 1.20, and some are not round, but this should be a good jumping off point.



what_army said:
Hello! I’m looking for the least powerful / softest poly available. Typically I string at 22 or 23kg and I play with the tc95 16x19. As far as the string I’m looking for is concerned, it should be round and no thinner than 1.25mm. I am not concerned about spin.
At the moment I’m playing with firestorm but on paper (assuming TWU’s stiffness and energy return ratings are accurate) it appears cyber blue and cyber flash would both be softer and less powerful?
Hopefully someone who’s gone down the same route and/or has experience with these strings I’ve mentioned can chime in. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
 
You could always try to string a poly or co -poly at super low tensions like 33 to 23 lbs which I have personally done.
Y’all it’s pretty neat . Soft too . But just like Goldilocks it wasn’t “ just “ perfect due to the dang BONG sound it makes when you hit the ball. You wouldn’t think acoustics are all that important.. but to some they are .
 
For the average player, going that low is going to have the opposite effect of "low power"

teachingprotx said:
You could always try to string a poly or co -poly at super low tensions like 33 to 23 lbs which I have personally done.
Y’all it’s pretty neat . Soft too . But just like Goldilocks it wasn’t “ just “ perfect due to the dang BONG sound it makes when you hit the ball. You wouldn’t think acoustics are all that important.. but to some they are .
Click to expand...
 
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