Before I begin my review, I'd like to thank TW again for the playtest opportunity.
My playtest came to an abrupt stop as the strings sadly suffered a quick
demise. I had about an hour of hitting before it snapped at the 6ish o'clock of the frame. Oddly, the ball was hit closer to the top of the hoop and the grommets where the shearing occurred look good as well.
A little about myself. I was a 4.0 player but was bumped down to 3.5 at the end of last year (an entirely different story haha). I have over a decade of league play under my belt. I hit a flat FH and a OHBH. I like to rush the net in doubles but am more content trading shots from the baseline in singles. I have a cut my strings to breaking them ratio of about 10:1, meaning I rarely break strings.
As mentioned before this review, my current favorite set up on the CX 200 Tour 16x19 is Lynx Tour 17 mains @ 50# and Gosen OG Micro 17 crosses @ 55#. I decided to split the difference and strung this playtest at 53#. If I can do it again, I'd definitely go tighter. More on this below.
Stringing: I string my own using a drop weight stringer. Overall, it was very easy to do a full bed job with these. Comparing stiffness to the Lynx Tour and Gosen SG, it falls between the two. There was some coil memory but not much. There's also a slick coating that transferred to my fingers making it slippery to pull at times.
Control/Power: Control was a challenge for me. The trajectory off the racquet was inconsistent. During feeds, I was either hitting the net or flying it long. There wasn't much natural spin, perhaps due to the combination or it being round and slick. I found myself consciously trying to hit with more spin to keep the ball playable. Interestingly, this doesn't translate to it being powerful. On the contrary, my normal set up is more powerful. My hitting partner confirmed this as the receiving end of the shots. I think increasing the tension would improve the ball flight's predictability.
Feel: This is a soft and comfortable string, although, it felt too mushy and lacked feedback and feel for me. Increasing the tension might improve things here as well.
Spin: As mentioned earlier, I didn't feel a whole lot of bite on the ball. This won't tear the covers off the ball.
Playability: Other than wondering if there's a break-in period, I can't provide any information here.
Durability: Looking at the strings, post mortem, slight notching was starting to develop from the hour of hitting.
Again, big thanks to TW for letting me participate.
thank goodness The due date is February 14th.
