nightfire700
Rookie
Looking for a shaped poly that has the best tension maintenance preferably in the thinnest gauge (19-17L). Durability is not an issue just that it should play similar for as long as it lasts.
Shaped poly with best tension maintenance?
- Thread starter nightfire700
- Start date
torpantennis
Legend
Even if you had no tension loss, the shaped poly would not play the same for that many hours. The notching changes the feel due to not allowing the strings to move and snap back. Also the wearing of the textured surface in the crosses increases friction, which further changes feel.
The only way to get a stringbed that feels the same throughout its lifespan is to use slick, hard-surfaced crosses (no notching/wearing) and whatever tension-stable mains you feel compliment your game. Also, you'd want to use as low stiffness mains as possible, to minimize notching of crosses, which inhibits movement of the mains.
Your fullbed shaped poly will never remain playable for more than couple of hours, irregardless of tension stability.
The only way to get a stringbed that feels the same throughout its lifespan is to use slick, hard-surfaced crosses (no notching/wearing) and whatever tension-stable mains you feel compliment your game. Also, you'd want to use as low stiffness mains as possible, to minimize notching of crosses, which inhibits movement of the mains.
Your fullbed shaped poly will never remain playable for more than couple of hours, irregardless of tension stability.
SpinToWin
Talk Tennis Guru
totally agree. If we're talking ideally, use a thick Natural Gut main and Head Hawk 16 cross hybrid. This has incredible string snapback for spin and really good tension maintenance.
JT_2eighty
Hall of Fame
Aside from what other have mentioned (polys drop in playability over time, etc), looking simply at "what shaped thin poly has best tension maintenance", then SP Tornado 18 is great in that regard, but since you mention durability doesn't matter, try Tour Bite 19. It breaks in a few hours, but plays awesome from the start and breaks before it dies anyway.
Typically thinner you go, the worst your tension hold is going to be, but the feel is great with thin poly. I find it plays great then breaks in 4-6 hours and I'm not wondering if it's dead or whatever. I also use the smooth cross as that helps reduce friction between strings and the playability is pretty level throughout.
There is no shaped poly to play similar as long as it lasts, except for those which last 1 hour maybe.
I would recommend Signum Pro Tornado or Yonex Poly Tour Spin (this one only has a 1.25 mm version).
Doubles
Legend
That's not true, depending on how hard one hits as well as their sensitivity to tension loss. With that said, I still wouldn't expect to get more than 15 hours of play out of it.
p.s. irregardless isn't a word.
nightfire700
Rookie
Yes, the idea to pick the thinnest gauge was specifically to pick something that will break before it goes dead and hence provide somewhat of a consistent play time while it lasts. Also since with shaped poly the spin is more because of the bite than the snap back, I am not so worried about notching. Infact I like it when they notch and stop moving as I find I get better control on the spin and direction when I get more bite on the ball than when I get more snap back.
Last edited:
15 hours of play from a shaped poly ? I don't know a shaped poly that can keep its texture longer that 6-7 hours. For me YPTS ' s texture lasts longest .
TennisManiac
Hall of Fame
I've been using Solinco Tour Bite 16L for three years now. And I can say for sure that it keeps its texture for at least 12-15 hours easy.
For me Solinco TB loses it's texture almost as fast as the Signum Pro Tornado in max 5 hours of play.
TennisManiac
Hall of Fame
I agree that the string starts to lose it's sharp texture within a few hours. But It's been my experience that the string still provides texture for many more hours after that. And after about 12-15 hours it's almost all gone.
SpinToWin
Talk Tennis Guru
The real question is when does the playability noticeably change due to wear of the texture... That generally is pretty fast...
Similar threads
