solinco revolution 1.20mm (17ga)
coming from the luxilon 4g, which i did not report about here as it is not a structured/shaped poly (but did file a report on stringforum), even a lower powered and basically stiff string like solinco's revolution seems to be a relief.
i have played the pre-packaged hybrid of solinco revolution 1.25 / tru-feel 1.30 and i could not supress the idea that there is more to the mains than in that combo. since it was (and is) a stiff string, i have chosen to purchase the slightly thinner version to see if my intuition was correct. i know that the nitpickers will argue that there is a difference between any 1.25 and 1.20 in playing characteristics, and i am more than willing to agree, as i have experienced that i loved the 1.20 version of a certain string while being completely unable to connect with the 1.25 version of the same string, so let's agree to this point, that my intuition told me that there is something to be found in the thinner version of that stiff string, that played obnoxiously dead and dumb in the aforementioned combo.
power: it is low powered, end of story. but it is low powered in a positive way, in the sense that it gives you the exact feedback of what you are putting in, and it does not prompt me at any times to overhit in order to get a decent acceleration and put away the ball. it is also behaving pretty decent on offcentershots, i still get some juice on the ball when stretched. of course, bear in mind i have previously played the 4g.
grade: 7/10
control: really good. i could control depth and height very easily, was able to hit shortangled crosses and rarely did my slices float beyond the baseline. due to the shaped profile i got a better contact with the ball than with the 4g, but then there are also regular round polys out there that enable good contact, like the mantis power poly or the kirschbaum competition 1.20, i have so often written about. so, i think that this good control is a result of the lower powered nature of the string paired with the shaped profile.
grade: 9/10
feel: not a forte of this string but still better than the 4g. i already wrote about the shortangled crosses and i managed to hit quite some good droppers, so i would realistically say this makes a solid 8 in my evaluation.
grade: 8/10
spin: really good, not top notch but not really far away. the profile started to get worn towards the end of the second session but there was no tremenduous drop to be observed in the rpm-production department. i started to doubt my kickers coming from the luxilon originals (both regular and rough) and the 4g and i was more than happy to see that i can still get my second serve kicking up shoulder high.
grade: 9/10
comfort: it is stiff but not jarring. i had no issues with my shoulder, not even after hitting a basket of serves in one of the practice sessions. nevertheless, not really recommended for players with elbow or wrist issues.
grade: 8/10
tension maintenance: pretty impressive. while i have gone through my first set of mains within 4 days after stringing, due to some bad weather, the second set has been in the stick for 14 days. it has only seen 4hrs of action, but it played well until it's demise. there was a slight loss of tension to be observed, but not to the extent that required adapting strokes.
grade: 9/10
durability: for such a thin string really good. both sets lasted roughly 4 rather intensive hitting hour each. as i decided to just note the number of hours, the grade will be low, but has to be seen in perspective.
grade: 4/10
overall: 54/70
altogether a really good string, if there would not be the tour bite for instance. i played the 1.25 tb and will soon play the 1.20 tb, as well as the soft ones. from my notes and my memory, given the fact that there is just very little difference in pricing, i personally would rather take the tour bite. it is a little bit crisper, a little bit more controlled and spins the ball a little bit more. this obviously is a slightly softer version of the tour bite and i'm pretty sure it's not as soft as the new tour bite soft versions.