The Chairman3's review of Kirschbaum Flash Black
Preamble: From the beginning it kind of felt like my racquet got strung at the wrong tension. It felt very tight, low-powered outside the sweetspot, smaller sweetspot, and never really loosened up. The performance was inconsistent with the other strings I've used in this racquet at the same tension. Maybe it's the pre-stretch, but it seems unlikely it would have that huge an impact. Wanted to put this at the beginning to better frame my review observations. I will touch on it more in additional thoughts.
•
What color did you review? Black
•
Tension(s) used for playtest: 48lbs
•
Regular string setup: Poly Tour Strike 1.20, Hawk Power, Big Banger OG, testing alot of strings continuously
•
Racquet used for test: Solinco Whiteout 18x20 with leather grip
•
Power/Control of test string: So despite the packaging I didn't find it to be overly powerful like some softer polys. I understand why they say powerful because it strays more toward the power side in the response than the more stiff/dead control polys. Honestly it strikes a nice balance of not feeling dead but still having some control. It is firmer and the only downside is it falls too much in the middle. I either want a little more power or a little more directional control. It didn't quite give me the confidence on every shot. As my preamble said, I do think power could have been impacted by being strung too tight. At a looser tension it probably opens up a bit more. The power also dropped off quite a bit outside the sweetspot which usually isn't caused by the string alone, I find it usually more impacted by tension. Overall, a good balance of power and control, but too much in the middle for me.
•
Feel (Stiff? Mushy? Muted? Crisp? Comfortable?): The feel was quite firm. It didn't really feel dampened, the feedback was good, pretty direct, but definitely firm. I didn't experience any arm pain but, I wouldn't say it's arm-friendly. You're probably safe if you stay at or below low 50's, of course racquet dependent. Also mine could have felt a little firmer due to the possible too high tension. The feel remained consistent throughout, which is a positive; maybe the pre-stretch works?
•
Spin: For a round poly, I'd call it pretty average. Coming off of Hyper-G round, this has less "easy" spin than that string. I don't think it was providing much free spin like HGR did, where if you maybe half swing or block-back a ball you'll still get decent spin off of it. I commented earlier this string kind of gives you what you put into it and I think that is accurate for the spin category.
•
Playability Duration: I played about 7-8 hours with it, probably only a quarter notched (I don't break poly, so I'm not surprised). It was definitely still playable. I was starting to get hints of tension loss from the feel and sound. It definitely wasn't dead and I could've kept using it. The feel was also pretty consistent throughout the playtest, no major change in the response or feedback. I was actually hoping it would loosen some and feel a bit softer but it didn't dramatically.
•
Tension Recommendations (would you string it differently next time - why?): Again, my racquet felt like it got strung higher than 48lbs. So I feel the sample size is too small to draw a conclusion. I've used stiffer strings than this at the same tension and it seemed about right. I'd probably keep it the same.
•
List any additional thoughts (optional): My thoughts are pretty mixed. It feels like my racquet was strung at the wrong tension but, if not, then Flash really didn't impress me much. It reminds me of Isospeed Baseline, just a basic poly. It will give you what you put into it, performance-wise, and for a price. Baseline probably wins because it is less than half the price, however. The other aspect is the possible bad stringjob. Because I like to give strings a fair shake, I will probably have to re-test this string and see if I get the same results. Typically, I just want strings to have a bit more identity. The string was by no means bad, but I can easily think of reasons to use others over it.
As always, a huge thank you to
@TW Staff! I always enjoy these playtests and feel very fortunate to be able to continue participating.
ecent spring for a round poly. The ball was never jumping off the court like it would with a shaped poly but there wasn’t a lack of spin really. My opponents were never able to tee off on a shot because of a lack of spin. 
