Reels - Tecnifibre Spinfire vs Babolat Ballistic Polymono

[Kris Will]

Hey Guys,

I wanna buy a reel of string, but I don't really what is what, I'm more into racquets than strings. I'm looking at the Tecnifibre Spinfire 16/17 reel, the Babolat Ballistic Polymono 16/17, and the Babolat Conquest 16. I'm interested in control, feel and durability, in that order. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Kris.

 

[Richie Rich]

Kris,

Conquest will feel the best out of the 3 you mention but will be the least durable. Polymono plays better than Spinfire. Why don't you buy a reel of Conquest for the crosses and Polymono for the mains? That way you get better durability and a little better feel than all poly.

 

[moosryan]

i'm really hooked on this old usrsa study right now, and i can tell you that spinfire held tension much better than ballistic. never played with 'em though.

 

[ragnaROK]

I'd take the Spinfire over the Ballistic. The Ballistic is just a harsh dead string for brainless bashing. Spinfire in the mains and Conquest in the crosses for the closest to what you're looking for. Conquest is an ok string by itself but that's exactly what is: pretty average. You could do full Spinfire jobs but that's a little too much on the arm for some people.

 

[DANMAN]

I bought a reel of the Spinfire 18 and must say that it is better than the Ballistic Polymono. I have never hit with a more harsh string than the Ballistic. The 18G Spinfire is durable enough, and the spin is great. I would go with the 17 unless you are an extremely frequent string breaker. I break ALU in about 3 weeks, and the Tecnifibre Spinfire 18 lasts about 2 weeks. I like my string to break because I feel bad cutting them out, but polys lasting longer than 3-4 weeks really lose their playability (in my opinion of course).

 

[passerofgasses]

I bought some spinfire reels of 17 and 18g. I can't believe how much it stretches on the tensioner. It's like a syngut. I was intending on using spinfire on the cross of rackets I do with kevlar mains. The necessary softness is there as I played with a full set of 17g today (they felt really nice), but it notched much more than it should for 3 sets of play and I really doubt these have the durability they say they do. I'd say they were softer feeling than polylon comfort 17 and probably less durable (we'll see). I haven't tried any of the kirchbaums and I don't know who else professes soft feeling poly.

I hit once with ballistic and it felt somewhat soft, but my arm was telling me different, enough to change my mind. They might have been old strings though.

Anyways, the price and feel and performance make spinfire my personal choice for the next little while, that is, if I'm not testing other strings. It's not NRG2, but for 1/3rd the price in a reel, it'll certainly do.