Syngut/Poly Hybrid - Why??

[ppetrich]

I understand the reasons for using a hybrid of natural gut mains and poly crosses, but I'm unclear why you'd use syngut mains and poly crosses. It's cheaper - I get it - but the performance is nowhere near equivalent. I've looked through the forum and found all kinds of recommendations on brands of strings to use, tensions, etc..., even switching it up and using poly mains and syngut crosses. But nothing explaining the reasoning behind it.

Is it strictly a choice for greater comfort, or is there some performance benefit over full bed poly? I've tried the hybrid, and if there's a performance improvement, I'm missing it. Can someone please explain?

 

[hadoken]

People who use syn/multi mains and poly cross are those who don't like the harshnes of poly. If you are someone who only played full poly your whole life, then it's gonna feel mushy. For those of us who grew up using syn gut, a poly hybrid (strung low) is a good crossover setup to get the benefit of the poly while retaining the feel and comfort of syn/multi. By and large people who do this hybrid do it for the comfort.

 

[WNB93]

After tearing my supraspinatus, I played with multi mains even though I'm used to poly. It sucked for a while but then I got used to it. I did, because it's cheaper than gut. Because breaking gut every 2-3 hours is not fun for the wallet. I broke multis in about 45 mins but yay for sponsorships.
I tried both multi crosses and mains and I preferred mains as when I put it in crosses the poly mains were not snapping back into place and I hated it so much.
I tried a few. For example, hated Wilson Sensation. Loved (what is now) Tier One Sports "Triumph" and settled on Yonex Rexis Speed because of the aforementioned wallet related reasons.

But it stopped being fun so I was extra motivated for rehab and got back to soft polys like PT Rev or PT Pro. Hyper G is also soft but it's a bit harsh even with the softness. Not sure how that works. So as said above, comfort would probably be the only reason. Power's also there. It was easier for me to hit winners but harder to get to the point of where I opened up enough space to go for a winner.

 

[ChrisJR3264]

Cost and comfort are truly the main reasons why.
To me - a thin poly strung low helps. But that’s also if your form is improved and consistent for the most part. But I still don’t recommend polys for young juniors and high school players. Always suggest they ease into poly with a set up like multi/poly hybrid or syn gut/poly hybrid. If they can afford gut - great.

 

[ppetrich]

I appreciate the responses. Comfort aspect makes sense. I didn't really see the power difference, but that could have been my fault for the way I strung it. Thanks again.