Oval String Shape?

dandruffkb

Rookie
Hey everyone, just a quick question to throw out there.

I am currently intrigued by ISOSPEED Rexxxer and StringLab's Orbitour, just to try it and see how they play, and I was wondering what exactly would an oval shape string do. I do not see the obvious benefit for it and assume it's more of a "no one has done it, so we'll do it"

In my head, I'm assuming it'll play like a normal round (not oval...) poly except a slight increase in spin, but much less than that of an edged poly.

Looking to buy one, but doesn't seem like I can find a site that easily ships to the U.S. that has either one in-stock. Figured, I can get someone's opinion and persuade myself that the string + shipping will be worth the experience (and possibly fall in love with it).
 

Trip

Legend
One thing that an oval (Rexxxer, Orbitour) or rounded-rectangle (Grapplesnake Irukandji) poly will do, is serve as an extremely good hybrid cross to natural gut mains, allowing for enhanced snapback (and resulting spin) and much less sheer wear on the gut, extending playable life often times up to 2x or beyond. You can find some support for this in the gut/poly thread, starting with @J011yroger's post on page 74 (link), followed by a couple others.
 
@dandruffkb played both these strings, both made in Austria (Medri, I think). Won't regret buying at least a set of each one. The Orbitour Gold looks much better than the green Rexxxer in my opinion. Both played very similar.
 

dandruffkb

Rookie
One thing that an oval (Rexxxer, Orbitour) or rounded-rectangle (Grapplesnake Irukandji) poly will do, is serve as an extremely good hybrid cross to natural gut mains, allowing for enhanced snapback (and resulting spin) and much less sheer wear on the gut, extending playable life often times up to 2x or beyond. You can find some support for this in the gut/poly thread, starting with @J011yroger's post on page 74 (link), followed by a couple others.

This helps a ton! I tried multi/gut in the mains a while ago and I felt like I lost too much control, so I might genuinely explore this as a way to get multi/gut mains and oval in crosses to get some more spin for control. Thank you for grabbing that for me!



@dandruffkb played both these strings, both made in Austria (Medri, I think). Won't regret buying at least a set of each one. The Orbitour Gold looks much better than the green Rexxxer in my opinion. Both played very similar.
Thanks for this! I read up on your review of the rexxxer a while ago! Those are always fun and helpful to read. So you believe they're basically clones of each other right (or pretty much)? The only thing really differing is gauge? Hopefully, I can find somewhere that I can get my hands on them in the US!
 
@dandruffkb the Orbitour has 3 different colours/versions (Gold, Red and Gray). On their website there are some data for those who know how to read them!
Unfortunately, I didn't play them at the same tension and my forehand was much worse back then (Orbitour Gold), however, the big picture in my mind is that they played quite the same. Both very good. There's no way you'll regret buying them. Don't like, maybe, it's subjective.
The only thing I didn't like about the Rexxxer is the somehow fade-green colour.
 
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