The search for my own 'OG' tennis string. The 81 tennis strings playtest

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

Hi,
I made my intro here in galapagos's Ultimate String of Choice. After a introduction i've posted a list of strings i would test in coming months.


A quick recap. My go to strings is Yonex Poly Tour Pro. I do like that one a lot, but as always the perfect string just doesn't exist, or does it ...?

The Playtesting will be done in Vcore 2021 rackets (98L, 100L, Game) and Prince Warrior 285 gr rackets (2023 and previous version).

Starting point is that I'd like to have the same level of comfort or a tad more crisp, with a bit more spin potential and better tention maintenance.

Or something that feels totally different but great, that's why i've included a lot of different strings.
Initially we're looking for the string that suits me best in a full bed. We'll be looking into hybrid set ups after that.
That said, I'll also be learning about how to string myself. The owner of the local tennis club will teach me. Who has learned from someone who has strung on the ATP Tour. I'll be educated on a Tecnifibre TF 7000 stringing machine.
About buying one for myself such a machine is way to expensive for me. As it will be my first machine, I'll be happy to have something very decent for less than 2 K. Option look to be the following:
Penta Premium 3600+Wise 2086
Penta Premium 3800 +Wise 2086
Penta Premium 7600 + Wise 2086
Penta Premium 8600 Electro with Penta Motor
Gamma Progression II ELS
Tennispro CB 14 Pro

As a future stringer i've also been thinking about which strings I would like to stock as inventory. Ofcourse this will partially correlate with the results of playtesting.

And now the list of strings:

The Complete List

Babolat: RPM Blast, RPM Rough, Babolat Vs Touch
Diadem: Solstic Power
Dunlop: Black Widow, Explosive Speed
Dyreex: Alu Tour, Alu Tour Edge, Super Tour, Super Tour Edge, Pro Player, Hexablast
Gamma: IO Soft, Moto Soft, Ocho, Moto
Genesis: Typhoon, Hexonic
Gosen: OG Sheep Micro
Grapplesnake: Alpha, Paradox Pro, Tour M8, Tour Sniper, Mako
Head: Hawk, Head Hawk Touch, Lynx, Lynx Tour, Synthetic Gut PPS, Velocity
Isospeed: Cream, Black Fire, Grey Fire, Baseline Control
Kirschbaum: Super Smash, Xplosive Speed, Max Power Rough
LaserFibre: JB 100 Tour, Laser GT
Luxilon: 4G,4G Soft, Alu Power, Alu Power Soft, Eco Power
Mayami: Big Spin, Hepta Power, Hit Pro, Magic Twist, Tour Hex
Msv: Bussard, Co Focus, Co Ultra, Focus Hex, Focus Hex +25, Focus Hex +38, Focus Hex Soft, Focus Hex Ultra, Go Max, Hepta Twist, Swift
Oehms: Alu Pearl Rough, Alu Pearl Pro, Alu Star
Pacific: Xcite
Polystar: Classic
Pro's Pro: Cyber Spin, Nano Cyber (grey/silver)
Restring: Zero, Sync
Signum Pro: Firestorm, Poly Plasma, Poly Plasma Hextreme, X-Perience, Micronite
Solinco: Confidential, Hyper G, Hyper G Soft, Hyper G Round, Revolution, Tour Bite, Tour Bite Soft
Tecnifibre: (Black Code)4S,Razor Soft, Razor Code
Tier One/ Tru Pro: Atomos, Black Knight, Firewire,Ghostwire, Pure Rush
Topspin: Cyber Blue, Cyber Flash
Toroline: Caviar, Wasabi, Wasabi X, Enso Pro, Toro Toro, Wasabi Pro, K-Pro, Caviar X, O Toro, Super Toro, Snapper
Tourna: Blackzone, Big Hitter Black 7, Big Hitter Silver, Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour
Volkl: Cyclone, Cyclone Tour, V Square, V Torque Tour
Weiss Canon: Blue Rock N Power, Silverstring, Ultra Cable
Wilson: Revolve
Yonex: Poly Tour Air, Poly Tour Drive, Poly Tour Fire, Poly Tour Pro, Poly Tour Rev, Poly Tour Spin, Poly Tour Strike
Ytec: Quadro Twist, Hexagon X, PentaPower Twisted, Pro Tour (colour is still to be decided) and also in an 'on hold' mode. No use to test them now as unpractical to get them as European.

Still to Test:
Solinco Mach 10
Restring Vivo
Toroline O Toro Tour
P6 (if i get my hands on it as European)

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

This second post will be used to edit and update the string playtesting progress

* I've received all my ordered strings but one, so playtesting can start, will breefly be intorupted in christmas holiday (playing 2 tournaments). Will resume second week of January till end of May. Summer months is dedicated to tournament play. Will resume testing in September. Primary objective is to found a new favourit full bed string. After that is accomplished, we will be looking into hybrid set ups. As it is not intention to be writing reviews of each tring, but rather leaving what impressions the strings give me. The group of strings that will be tested from September on is also preditermend:
Babolat RPM Blast, Diadem Solstice Power, Gamma Ocho, Head Hawk, Head Lynx Tour, Luxilon 4G Soft, Msv Focus Hex, Pacific Xcite, Signum Pro Poly Plasma Hextreme, Solinco Revolution, Solinco Confidential, Solinco Hyper G, Tecnifibre 4S, Tecnifibre Razor Soft, Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour, Weiss Canon Blue Rock N Power, Yonex Poly Tour Spin. All those strings will be playtested with a lower tension in comparison with my go to tension of 24kg or 53 pounds.
To begin I'll be trying narrow down the choices by brand, so Msv and Yonex strings wil be the first to trying out, and moving from there on.

** Update: The Total of strings went up to 84 => I've gotten 2 extra strings with my order of Toroline reels. Got a set of Enso Pro and Toro Toro. On top of that i stumbeld upon a deal i could not pass by. A 400 meter reels for less then 30 euro . Will be perfect to actually learn to string on my incoming stringing machine.

Had to pass on playing tournament because of wrist issues (not tennis related), I have fallen ill just before christmas but luckily recovered in time to actually enjoy the festivities.
The wrist issue didn't stop me from continueing to play, in a more recreational setting at least. Will keep away from tournaments for now and focus 100% on the string testing

First i wanted to narrow down the choices by brand
Dunlop: I've prefered Black Widow over Explosive Speed. I like BW for being a comfortable shaped spin string. Also surprised by how comfortable it actually felt.
Gamma: I've prefered Moto Soft over IO soft and Ocho
Head: Didn't actually test Velocity MLT and Syn Gut PPS but will keep those for stringing purposes (always interesting to have a Multi and Syn Gut in your inventory). Regular Lynx loses tension to fast and Hawk felt to powerfull for me.
Grapplesnake: Alhpa felt like an improved Yonex Poly Tour Pro to me. So that string advances for sure. Despite the raving about M8 and Tour Sniper, wasn't to impressed by those, Paradox on the other hand was like top noth on backhand slices, felt really good.
Yonex: YPTP, YPTF and Rev advance. Didn't like the rest as much
Weiss Canon: Silverstring was the winner here. I dont mind shaped strings, but sharp edges seem to put me of.
Tourna: I've liked Big Hitter Silver and it's Tour version over the black colored strings
Toroline: I haven't played Wasabi and Caviar. But did a play test on Wasabi X (full bed), Enso Pro en Toro Toro. Toro Toro i disliked. Enso Pro is powerfull, not bad but i prefer an other powerfull round string above this one. Actually loved Wasabi X as a full bed even more than Toro Toro and Enso Pro, even thou it's main quality is to be used as a cross.
Topspin: As Cyber Flash plays a bit like a poor mans Alu the choice here was pretty easy
Kirshbaum: To my own suprise Super smash didn't feel harsh on the arm, as i did 2 years prior. Xplosive Speed was also pretty good. Although looking at value for money Super Smash takes the win here.
Luxilon: I guess i'm not gonna tell anything new. It plays great, but doesn't last long. For that reason i do see the logic to pay 200+ for a real. As Eco Power is the only one of which we can say it's at least somewhat affordable. I'll let that one advance.
Signum Pro: I've talked about powerfull round strings, where i had a preference. That preference is Signum Pro Firestorm
Solinco: I have played Hyper G and Hyper G soft before, but no other Solinco strings, well now i did and during the testing i had a 'wtf is this moment'. Confidential is just wow

That's it for know
Msv, tecnifibre and some other brand will follow in february

***Update

Msv flagship string is still the best in their lineup. So Msv Focus Hex takes the win
Tecnifibre (Blackcode) 4S suited my playstyle better than Razor Soft
Tourna: Silver Tour 7 is way better than it's rounded counterpart
Volkl: as aspected i didn't like regular Cyclone, Tour version played better for me. V Square and Torque Tour aren't bad, but their pricepoint is just to steep for what it is, at least to me. If you wanna spend 150 or more, there are better options.
Yonex: I do like YPTP, it was my string of choice before starting this excessive testing modus. Conclusion for me is the following, Rev is quite good but has the same problem as some Volkl strings. It's not worth the 160-180 price point. What i miss in YPTP is more spin potential en better tension maintenance.
Yonex Poly Tour Fire does a better job at that than Pro

 

[jmacdaununder2]

Sounds like fun but for comparative purposes you can’t really rely on first timer restrings.

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

Update posted

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

I've been through MSV, Tecnifibre and Yonex strings, Volkl and Tourna strings these last 2 weeks to narrow the list further down. Updates will be posted above

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

I'll continue the list update here with the remaining strings

Soft Cross String: Msv Swift, Isospeed Cream, Tru Pro (Tier One) Ghostwire => Generally the most chosen cross strings if you want to soften up your stringbed

Syn Gut: Head Syn Gut PPS => As a stringer you can't just have Poly's in your inventory

Multifilament: Head Velocity MLT=> Same reason + decently priced

Best Bargain deal: Polystar Classic => 28 Euro for 400 m reel,=> for learning to string purposes

Best Round String: Signum Pro Firestorm, Yonex Poly Tour Fire, Yonex Polytour Pro, (sorry Wilson revolve).=>I kinda prefer shaped strings, but you have to have round strings in your inventory too.

Best Silver Coloured String: Probably Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour(Sorry silverstring, regular Big hitter Silver, Cyber Flash)=> Many players of my local club play Silver strings. So gotta have some of those. Aside being best Silver coloured string, it's also the best 7 sided string out there, proabably best value for money too

Great Value for money: Signum Pro X-Perience (prefer it overMsv Focus Hex Can't go wrong with this string at that price point.

Other Personal Favorites: Solinco Confidential (Square)& Grapplesnake Alpha (Pentagonal)

Found Confidential better than following strings: Babolat RPM Blast, Diadem Solstice Power, Dunlop Black Widow, Luxilon Eco Power, Tecnifibre 4S, Volkl Cyclone Tour & Mayami Big Spin

Grapplesnake Alpha for being a perfect substitute for my to go string YPTP. Feels as comfortable + more spin potential. In short to me it’s a superior version of Yonex Poly Tour Pro before starting this excessive playtesting a lot too as it feels a lot like YPTP, plays and feels like a superior version of it.

Best Hybrid: Caviar X (Caviar/Wasabi X), which is also imo better than any full bed Toroline string. Also more to my liking than restring Zero which i found to powerfull.

*** update
Have played Gamma Moto Soft, Head Lynx, Mayami Tour Hex, Mayami Magic Twist, Tru Pro Fire Wire, Tru Pro Black Knight, Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour, Pacific Xcite and Ytec Quadro Twist.

With Maymi Tour Hex and Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour cleary being on top.
I now have Restring Zero and Toroline strings in my rackets.
I also ordered a set of Signum Pro X-Perience.

As things are now my top 5 will probably be something like this:
Confidential, Tour Hex, Silver 7 Tour, a Toroline string or Restring + Alpha or X-Perience

**** Update

Some small changes in preferences after testing ultimately 87 in total
Favorite round string: Signum Pro Firestorm (with Yonex PT Fire as a more expensive but very good alternative)
Favorite Hybrid and Toroline string: Caviar X
Great Value for money string: Signum Pro X-Perience
Favorite Square string: Solinco Confidential
Favorite Hexagonal string: Mayami Tour Hex (Along side Caviar in Hybrid and X-Perience as value Option)
Favorite Heptagonal string: Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour
Other Favorite: Grapplesnake Alpha

That's also in short what i found to be the best of the best alter testing close to 90 strings
I'd say with to following 5 (in no particular order) i'd be confident to play in tournaments:
Solinco Confidential (best Solinco string for my game)
Mayami Tour Hex (hard to find something that feels and plays similar, but i love it, it does everything damn well + some added comfort compared to Silver 7 Tour and Confidential)
Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour ( Solinco Tour Bite alternative + cheaper) + also a bit of Alu Power with edges
Toroline Caviar X
Signum Pro X-Perience (more comfy Hyper G-ish alternative + cheaper)

Testing made clear i prefer shaped strings over round once, but you cant go wrong with Firestorm (has similar properties as Alu Power + interesting price point)
Strong honorable mentions: Yonex Poly Tour Fire (it's equally as good, as Firestorm, even better in some aspects, but the pricepoint isn't as inviting) and Grapplesnake Alpha (the perfect improved replacement for Yonex Poly Tour Pro (but it's pricepoint keeps it from getting in my top 5)

With Caviar (as part of my favo hybrid) X-Perience and Tour Hex it's pretty clear that within the shaped strings, my preference goes to hexagonal strings.

As for playability differences in colors. It didn't play a huge rol so it seems. I got, Dark Grey, Silver, Blue, Yellow and Green all in my top 5 + Red and Bronze in my honorable mentions.
There is after all this, only one set up of string i would like to test out someday => Babolat Vs Touch/ RPM Rough Hybrid just for the curiosity. Never played nat gut before so looking forward to it. Paired with RMP Rough, i think it could be a very interesting combo. Wonder if it would come into my top 5 or not

Concerning the stringing machine, I've also made up my mind, i've noticed that one of them is sold in promotion +- once every 3 months give or take. Interesting to safe some couple of 100 bucks.
Has been quite a monologue, but hope for those who read this, that they found something usefull.

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

Update posted

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

Final update posted

 

[zipplock]

I would have guessed that you’d have loved Ghostwire. That’s the most “crisp” feeling soft, comfortable poly I’ve ever played. It was actually too crisp for me.

For reference, I play PP Black Force 1.19 at 43lbs.

 

[workerONE]

Cool writeup I'm surprised more people didn't comment here. Since Ive been into tennis again in the last few years I've been playing with Solinco confidential, at first in a hybrid and now in a full bed. My other favorite string is Grapplesnake Tour Sniper which I just bought a reel of. They feel similar to me so I'm a little surprised you didn't like Tour Sniper. I'm playing at 45lbs lately. I wonder if you could be playing at much higher tension and getting different results.

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

I would have guessed that you’d have loved Ghostwire. That’s the most “crisp” feeling soft, comfortable poly I’ve ever played. It was actually too crisp for me.

For reference, I play PP Black Force 1.19 at 43lbs.

I don't dismiss Ghostwire. I did my testing initially all as fullbed and in that case i found ghostwire to be lacking in spin potential. But it could work wonders as a cross. In fact I'll be stocking them as a stringer.
Although I've been string testing a lot, haven't played any string of Pro's Pro. Blackforce seems to be for someone looking for a comfortable string, and tension maintenance should be decent. Sounds kinda interesting.

As a stringer intend to stock the following
Tier One/ Tru Pro Ghostwire
Head Velocity
Head Syn Gut PPS
Gosen OG Sheep Micro
Wasabi X
Caviar
Polystar Classic
RPM Rough
Grapplesnake Alpha
Yonex Poly Tour Pro
Yonex Poly Tour Fire
Signum Pro Firestorm
Signum Pro X-Perience
Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour
Mayami Tour Hex
Solinco Confidential
Babolat VS Touch (for personal use only)

Guess I'm gonna have a little bit of everything for everyone + my own personal favorites

And a Gamma Progression II ELS stringing machine

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

Cool writeup I'm surprised more people didn't comment here. Since Ive been into tennis again in the last few years I've been playing with Solinco confidential, at first in a hybrid and now in a full bed. My other favorite string is Grapplesnake Tour Sniper which I just bought a reel of. They feel similar to me so I'm a little surprised you didn't like Tour Sniper. I'm playing at 45lbs lately. I wonder if you could be playing at much higher tension and getting different results.

Confidential is really great, top notch stuff. Although i haven't decided on new string of choice. Have to play some more with those 5 favorites of mine to be able to put them in order of preference.
I Guess you are right. Tour Sniper & M8 didn't feel that great at the tension i'm used of playing. That's what i've done during testing, set all strings on my 'go to' tension. I Guess those to work way better at lower tensions.
Normally i play 53 pounds for about every string. When i know the string is a bit less arm friendly or on the stiffer side, i drop it 2 pounds at 51. Which i did with Silver 7 Tour and Confidential.
Dont want to go lower than that. My assumption is that those Grapplesnake strings will work well when you go below 48 pounds

 

[zipplock]

I don't dismiss Ghostwire. I did my testing initially all as fullbed and in that case i found ghostwire to be lacking in spin potential. But it could work wonders as a cross. In fact I'll be stocking them as a stringer.
Although I've been string testing a lot, haven't played any string of Pro's Pro. Blackforce seems to be for someone looking for a comfortable string, and tension maintenance should be decent. Sounds kinda interesting.

As a stringer intend to stock the following
Tier One/ Tru Pro Ghostwire
Head Velocity
Head Syn Gut PPS
Gosen OG Sheep Micro
Wasabi X
Caviar
Polystar Classic
RPM Rough
Grapplesnake Alpha
Yonex Poly Tour Pro
Yonex Poly Tour Fire
Signum Pro Firestorm
Signum Pro X-Perience
Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour
Mayami Tour Hex
Solinco Confidential
Babolat VS Touch (for personal use only)

Guess I'm gonna have a little bit of everything for everyone + my own personal favorites

And a Gamma Progression II ELS stringing machine

So I string in the Gamma X-ELS (for reference).

I use BF for two reasons. Comfort AND spin. It’s a round, super slick string, so there’s lots of string movement and snap back.

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

So I string in the Gamma X-ELS (for reference).

I use BF for two reasons. Comfort AND spin. It’s a round, super slick string, so there’s lots of string movement and snap back.

The description sounds like a trio of strings all wrapped into one. Think of Yonex Poly Tour Pro and Fire + Toroline Wasabi X all blend into one string.
Could be a good option as a cross maybe

 

[MR.bkebab]

Hey have you tried any Pacific strings and have you tried Dunlop NT Max Plus?
My local store only has those strings + Alu Power, but Alu power has horrible durability.

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

Hey have you tried any Pacific strings and have you tried Dunlop NT Max Plus?
My local store only has those strings + Alu Power, but Alu power has horrible durability.

Can't be of much help i'm afraid. Haven't played Dunlop NT Max.
I Did play 1 Pacific String, being Xcite. It's good alright. But at what price. Don't now how much your store is asking for it. But it's price usually starts around 230 or more. To be honest imo that's pricing yourself out of the market. Other Pacific strings are more reasonably priced, but can't comment on how they play.
Anybody can find his 'go to' string in a range between 70-130 euro. When you have Tourna Bit Hitter Silver 7 Tour, Mayami Tour Hex, Signum Pro Firestorm and X-Perience + the well known solinco strings in that range. I wonder why anyone would be 150 or more for a reel.
If people are willing to pay that much, well go hybrid something with Babolat Vs Touch i would say

 

[Maas]

Interesting what you're doing. Looks like a lot of work.

What is your playstyle, forehand, etc.? Curious, because I assume your findings would only be applicable to those with similar playstyle. If you hit the ball flat, I assume your feelings about each string would probably not be shared by a topspinner, for example.

Thanks for posting.

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

Interesting what you're doing. Looks like a lot of work.

What is your playstyle, forehand, etc.? Curious, because I assume your findings would only be applicable to those with similar playstyle. If you hit the ball flat, I assume your feelings about each string would probably not be shared by a topspinner, for example.

Thanks for posting.

You are right, will be of more relevance for players who have a similar playing style as mine. Nonetheless, I've not only started this thread to find my own new favorite string. B.ut will also be stringing for my club players, so tried to have a representative list of strings (reels) that could suite a large range of players. That's why i've put approx 17 strings a bit above this post (nr 11).
That list also take cost effectiveness into account. Aside my own favorites I got some interesting strings for crosses, a multi, 2 syn guts, a nat gut, several round strings, shaped strings with about any shape on the market (square, pentagonal, hexagonal, heptagonal, Octagonal) So i guess i'm pretty sure I could offer something for almost everybody.

The string testing was intense, worked through the entire list in about 4 months, with 10 /12 hours a week play. Did this with hitting partners with different playing style than mine, aka flat hitters, double specialists (volley etc). So that way i've tried to be as relevant as i could be.

About my own style. I'm a topspin player, grinder, counter pucher, all court players with 2 handed backhand, who tries to push back opponents, who that way leave a shorter ball to attack. I dont play flat, so i dont hit 'that hard' but rather hit 'heavy'.
If i would pick a top 25 atp tour player who i feel like my style is pretty similar about how i play and hit the ball. I would have to say Sebastian Baez comes to mind.

For extra reference, most of the frames i have are frames from 'spin oriented' lines. Head Extreme, Dunlop Sx 300, Tecnifbre Tf X1, Babolat Pure Aero, Yonex Vcore (all in 285 gr versions). Also some others like Yonex Ezone, Prince Warrior and some Pro Kennex frames.

In tournament play the 2 rackets i turn to the most are the Vcore and Pure Aero.

 

[Josaya]

@Tennis And Anime Lover Great test and writeup, glad you found your own setup and had the sanity to go through with it. Would you mind telling me what gauges you tested your top 5 in?

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

@Tennis And Anime Lover Great test and writeup, glad you found your own setup and had the sanity to go through with it. Would you mind telling me what gauges you tested your top 5 in?

thx for the appreciation
I usually play 1.25 mm and if that is not available, i choose the gauge that is closest to it. Also my go to tension is 24 kg /53 pounds but I drop it 1 kg if the string is considered rather stiff.
So played Mayami Tour hex in 1.23 at 24 kg
Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 tour in 1.25 at 23 kg,
Solinco Confidential in 1.25 at 23 kg, Signum Pro X-perience in 1.24 at 24 kg
Caviar X (Caviar main in 1.24 and wasabi x cross in 1.23) both at 24 kg

I only play thicker gauges when i knew i could break to soon (Msv Swift, Volkl Cyclone Tour)

Only have to test Babolat RPM Rough as a cross and Babolat VS touch now. But for know i'm gonna focus on my game a bit instead of testing strings. Tournament season coming up

 

[Josaya]

thx for the appreciation
I usually play 1.25 mm and if that is not available, i choose the gauge that is closest to it. Also my go to tension is 24 kg /53 pounds but I drop it 1 kg if the string is considered rather stiff.
So played Mayami Tour hex in 1.23 at 24 kg
Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 tour in 1.25 at 23 kg,
Solinco Confidential in 1.25 at 23 kg, Signum Pro X-perience in 1.24 at 24 kg
Caviar X (Caviar main in 1.24 and wasabi x cross in 1.23) both at 24 kg

I only play thicker gauges when i knew i could break to soon (Msv Swift, Volkl Cyclone Tour)

Only have to test Babolat RPM Rough as a cross and Babolat VS touch now. But for know i'm gonna focus on my game a bit instead of testing strings. Tournament season coming up

Cheers for that! You're brave, the guy that introduced me to tennis told me if the setup works, not to tinker until something breaks (i.e. racket or body... both for me atm).

In order of most $ to least... between Caviar X, Mayami, S7T, and X-perience, what order would you rank based on power and comfort? Apologies for the silly question as it's always subjective, but for me to get any "single" set to test is ~35USD each, reels are 60-140USD! Pass on Confidential, stringing was not enjoyable.

Never used anything thinner than 16G/1.30 so this is super relevant to my lower (no longer breaking strings in 3-5hrs).

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

Cheers for that! You're brave, the guy that introduced me to tennis told me if the setup works, not to tinker until something breaks (i.e. racket or body... both for me atm).

In order of most $ to least... between Caviar X, Mayami, S7T, and X-perience, what order would you rank based on power and comfort? Apologies for the silly question as it's always subjective, but for me to get any "single" set to test is ~35USD each, reels are 60-140USD! Pass on Confidential, stringing was not enjoyable.

Never used anything thinner than 16G/1.30 so this is super relevant to my lower (no longer breaking strings in 3-5hrs).

I think you mean value for money right? Ain't a silly question but you are right, strings are always subjective and a personal kinda thing.
About pricing, it also depends where you are getting it from and where you are located. You speak in USD so i guess you're american. In that case Toroline is lot cheaper compared to European guy like me
If you only play 1.3 or above and exclude Confidential, Caviar and Tour Hex aren't options for you cause Tour Hex is only available in 1.23, and the thickest caviar is at 1.24
So between S7T and X-perience, value for money is both great (70-85 € a reel) where S7T is more controlled and stiffer, low powered think Alu Power with edges, so more spin or Solinco Tour Bite ish
X-perience has more comfort and power, less control. It's like a cheaper alternative than Hyper G with added comfort. To me X-perience feels like Hyper G and Grapplensnake Alpha had a baby.
Really different strings but i do like them both. Depends on what your really after when choosing between these two.

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

1 Confidential (Top Pick for now in my Yonex Ezone 98 L, just a perfect match, for my Vcore 98L and 100L previous and current models I’m searching for something different. Impact on the strings does not feel the way I want to in my Vcores opposed to my Ezone)

2 Mayami Tour Hex (will Tour Hex come to my rescue) Perfect string for someone who wants control/ comfort and spin all blended into one package. Downside, the business is pourly run)

3 Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour (my top 3 strings for now end’s here, for the simple reasonthat they are a step above the rest listed below in terms of control, although TBHS7 will ultimately not be my string of choice in tournaments in my Yonex Rackets

4 Grapplesnake Alpha (If you are looking for a soft poly with decent spin potential and tension maintenance, this is the one to go)

5 Toroline Caviar X (tried most of toroline strings, but for me, Toroline strings work better as hybrids with there Wasabi X in the crosses) Maybe O Toro will be a winner as full bed?

6 Signum Pro X-Perience (how Hyper G should play, but at a lower princepoint)

7 Signum Pro Firestorm (round string that I put above Fire because of more competitive princepoint)

8 Yonex Poly Tour Fire (imo the best round string out there)

9 Head Velocity MLT (‘stiffer’ multi at great pricepoint)

10 Head Synthetic Gut PPS (generally you’ll find this string in most top 5 syn gut string lists)

11 Gosen OG Sheep Micro (most talked about syn gut on this board so it seems)

12 Polystar Classic (Best Bargain I could find, 28 € for a 400m reel)

Not yet Ranked

Toroline O Toro
Tru Pro Pure Rush
Babolat Vs Touch/ Babolat Rpm Rough Hybrid


Still To Test= Toroline O Toro, Tru Pro (Tier One) Pure Rush, Babolat RPM Rough (as a cross) with Babolat Vs Touch (mains)

Toroline O Toro and Tru Pro Pure Rush are potential contenders for the top spots, based on what I read and hear about it.

Babolat Vs Touch would be more of a guilty pleasure. You have to at least play with a natural gut a couple of times to know what the appreciation is all about. Will do this full bed and in hybrid.

Babolat RPM Rough: Could be a perfect cross string, so will be directly compared to Wasabi X

So there a little overview of my top choices, with a little testing ahead.

As you can see, I’ve left out some of the popular one’s for different reasons. Keep in mind that I take cost effectiveness into account and + Stringing Purposes for club members. That is one there are Round strings, Poly’s, Multi’s, Syn Gut, Shaped Strings (3-4-5-6-7-8 sided)
So don’t go ‘hey how could you miss Restring Zero/Sync/ M8/ the New Grapplesnake Mako/ Tour Sniper’, as those are considered ‘to expensive’. Restring is also way to powerfull anyway.
Also Prefered Tourna BHS7 Tour over Solinco Tour Bite, Confidential over Head Lynx Tour, And Signum Pro X-Perience over Solinco Hyper G/ Hyper G soft.
My former String of Choice also was left out (Yonex PTP) because of below average tension maintenance, and spin could be better also. Got similar strings in my list that perform better.

So after testing Tru Pro Pure Rush, Toroline O Toro, Babolat Vs Touch/ RPM Rough Hybrid. I will have a ‘top 15’.

For know I have 12

Nr 9 till 12 won’t be played with personally but will stock up for string job purposes.
Something basic, 2 syn gut, a value for money multi

Nr 4 till 8: will be played with on occasion when I feel like it, because I like them, but outside Competition and not in my Yonex frames.
we have 2 round strings, a hybrid set up, and 2 comfortable 5 and 6 sided strings

Nr 1 till 3: Personal Choices to play competition with. These are imo a step above the rest in overall quality. Will also be used exclusively in my Yonex Frames (Ezone 98L, Vcore 98L 2021, Vcore 100L 2021, Vcore 100L 2023)

I think Tru Pro Pure Rush and Toroline O Toro are contenders for the top spots
Babolat Vs Touch/ RPM Rough is a too expensive option for competition use, will play that from time to time cause surely it will be good, at least that my presumption.

So we will have several 6 sided strings added, a square shaped one, a heptagonal one, and a High End S Tier Hybrid (with an Octagonal cross), Round strings, , Pentagonal String, a multi, 2 syn guts, and something really basic, aimed and players who dont care much about properties of a string and just want something to play with

A strong list, with a little bit of everything for everyone.

 

[K1Y]

Very good thread man, respect it. Keep going.

 

[Roforot]

Am curious to hear your thoughts on vs gut/poly. It is expensive, but if it keeps playability longer it may be worthwhile. What im wary of is losing spin. I’ve tried a full bed years ago and wasn’t impressed, but ppl are saying the slick poly cross now allow much better spin.

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

Very good thread man, respect it. Keep going.

Thx. Intend to keep going, but progress of string testing will go a lot slower, for several reasons.
For stringing options I think I will be offering more than enough variety in strings.
Covered what I've considered 'interesting strings' from the day I've started the thread till today.
From now on I'll only cover new strings with a square or hexagonal shape (as that's my preference) within a price range under 130-135 €
Like most of us here i'm not a afiliated youtube string reviewer, so i dont get strings for free
Aside stocking up reels for string jobs, I'm also been looking for my own new favorite string set up.
Personally i do feel like a string feels and plays differently depending on the racket you play, and that complicates things a bit.
I have +- a dozen and a half frames. But for tournament play I'll stick with Yonex. I have an Ezone 98L 2022, a Vcore 100L 2021, a Vcore 98L 2021 and a Vcore 100L 2023
For my Ezone i found Solinco Confidential as near as a perfect string
For my Vcore 2021 rackets I think Confidential is still very good, but just doesn't feel as good as in my Ezone, so looking for hopefully still somehting that suites the racket a little bit better.
For my Vcore 2024 Racket, thinks are more complicated. I found the racket to be an improvement on several aspects, but it also comes with a major drawback. Bigger sweetspot, more spin, more power, more stable, but... the VDM in that frame feels like it's on steriods. It so damn dampened that i dont feel the ball on the strings= no feedback. As per 2021 the feedback was not much either but still acceptable.
That's why in upcoming month I'll be doing a direct comparison between Confidential, Tour Hex, O Toro and Pure Rush, as that are the only contenders left as string of choice in Vcore 2021 and 2024 version.
After That i'll be doing some hybrid setups.

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

Am curious to hear your thoughts on vs gut/poly. It is expensive, but if it keeps playability longer it may be worthwhile. What im wary of is losing spin. I’ve tried a full bed years ago and wasn’t impressed, but ppl are saying the slick poly cross now allow much better spin.

I'll be deciding on my tournament play set up first.
Afterwards I'll be going over some hybrids.
I'll go over Caviar X (wasabi x) a second time and compare with O Toro X to see which Toroline hybrid i like more.
The already mentioned Babolat Vs Touch/ Babolat Rpm Rough
And some poly poly hybrids
Tru Pro Pure Rush/ Ghostwire (per beckett's recommendation)
Mayami Big Spin/ Tour Hex (tho Tour Hex is one of my favourites as full bed, using it as a cross with May Big Spin works great it seems following the comments in the Mayami Thread
As for Confidential in the mains, i'm not sure which string would work best as a cross (Ghostwire, Wasabi x, or RPM Rough)

I'll be also comparing it to it's full bed counter part.
So O Toro FB versus O Toro X
Tour Hex vs Big spin/Tour Hex
Pure Rush vs Pure Rush/Ghostwire
Confidential Vs Confidential/Ghostwire/X/or RMP Rough.
This Hybrid testing will not be for near future, but when i've covered it, i'll sure come back to it.
As for your question The reason being for using RMP Rough is that on paper it's the best option as a cross with a gut and should solve the lack of spin a nat gut tends to have. I myself i'm curious about the result also

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

So made some new orders

New: Toroline O Toro, Tru Pro Pure Rush, Kirschbaum Max Power Rough, Tecnifibre Razor Code, LaserFibre JB 100 Tour, Gamma Moto, Restring Sync, Grapplesnake Tour Mako

Revisite: Head Hawk Touch, Signum Poly Plasma, Yonex Poly Tour Strike, Grapplesnake Tour M8, Grapplesnake Tour Sniper, Solinco TourBite, Babolat RPM Rough

The will be testing against one another and compared to my current top 3

Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour, Mayami Tour Hex, Solinco Confidential

For now Signum Pro Firestorm is the king of budget Round strings and Poly Tour Fire in a higher budget class. Surely will find something better than that one, as I find it good but too powerfull.

Offcourse the round strings will suffer in spin department, but it’s interesting to compare them..They all tend to lack in spin, but I could counter that with a RMP Rough in the Cross

For reference all will be played in Vcore 98L or 100L (2021) and (2023)
Confidential is my nr 1 in my Ezone, Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour in the Vcore’s for now, with Mayami Tour Hex as a back up string for both.

Why this string selection and a couple of revisites?

Grapplesnake Strings, O Toro, Pure Rush, Sync are the most talk about these days, you simple have to play or replay those.

LaserFibre could be a hidden gem, not so well known at least for Europeans I think
Poly Plasma could be a decent round string in the budget category. Has better tension maintenance then Firestorm
RPM Rough could be great cross
Tecnifibre Razor should play more crisp then Black code
Tour Bite = Tourna counterpart
Gamma= not very much talk about, did not dislike the soft version, but guess I’ll like the regular version more. The one’s that play Gamma Moto are also pretty positive about it.
Kirshbaum= Many on the forum suggest this string
Head Hawk T= Hints of Alu, Sinner and I think Zverev string
Yonex= Baez and Fonseca play this string, although spin oriented players, they choose this round string in their Vcore 2023. One should think that spin oriented players prefer shaped strings.

Most of those have above average tension maintenance and should play on the crisper side.

Imo the VDM is the Culprit for the exaggerated muted feel, especially in the 2023 version.

Need a string of choice that counters that. Although I do like Confidential a lot, it fails to do that in Vcore rackets. So for me TBHS7T is the better option in that frame. It’s not perfect, but close

The feedback I get from hitting partners is that I get more spin and pace with Confidential, but I feel no connection with the ball, it’s like a pillowy feel on the stringbed, I don’t know where the ball is on the stringbed.

That’s why Tourna Is preferred cause at least, with that string I get feedback on what is actually going on = much more confident in your strokes. And that’s why you need to be able to trust your equipment for 100%, otherwise you can’t fully explode your tennis potential.

So why am I still searching if BHS7T is so good? Cause it’s not flawless.

I definitely don’t need a polyester string that gives power. I’m a spin oriented player hence the reason playing Vcore and preference for shaped strings (although not excluding round string entirely)
A perfect blend of Control, Spin and Tension maintenance, Crisp (feedback of the string bed) is preferred and BHS7T does all that. But I don’t get the pace and spin out of that string compared to Confidential.

What would be near perfection for me? A blend of those 2 strings could be my ‘cheat code’ string. A string that has the crispness, feedback,control and tension maintenance of BHS7T with the spin and pace of Confidential. If that string exists it surely would be my new string of choice. The question is, if it does exist, which one is it???


Aside all that I have a dozen of other rackets lying around where I don’t mind putting in cheaper strings. Pro’s Pro come to mind. Haven’t put much time investigating that brand. Seems they’re having 20-25 poly options
I do hear some good things about Black Force, Black Out, Red Devil, Strategem M8 (RMP Blast attempt?)

What would be Pro’s Pro closest option to BHS7T or Alu Power clone attempt? Don’t mind putting that in less used frames.

 

[K1Y]

So made some new orders

New: Toroline O Toro, Tru Pro Pure Rush, Kirschbaum Max Power Rough, Tecnifibre Razor Code, LaserFibre JB 100 Tour, Gamma Moto, Restring Sync, Grapplesnake Tour Mako

Revisite: Head Hawk Touch, Signum Poly Plasma, Yonex Poly Tour Strike, Grapplesnake Tour M8, Grapplesnake Tour Sniper, Solinco TourBite, Babolat RPM Rough

The will be testing against one another and compared to my current top 3

Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour, Mayami Tour Hex, Solinco Confidential

For now Signum Pro Firestorm is the king of budget Round strings and Poly Tour Fire in a higher budget class. Surely will find something better than that one, as I find it good but too powerfull.

Offcourse the round strings will suffer in spin department, but it’s interesting to compare them..They all tend to lack in spin, but I could counter that with a RMP Rough in the Cross

For reference all will be played in Vcore 98L or 100L (2021) and (2023)
Confidential is my nr 1 in my Ezone, Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour in the Vcore’s for now, with Mayami Tour Hex as a back up string for both.

Why this string selection and a couple of revisites?

Grapplesnake Strings, O Toro, Pure Rush, Sync are the most talk about these days, you simple have to play or replay those.

LaserFibre could be a hidden gem, not so well known at least for Europeans I think
Poly Plasma could be a decent round string in the budget category. Has better tension maintenance then Firestorm
RPM Rough could be great cross
Tecnifibre Razor should play more crisp then Black code
Tour Bite = Tourna counterpart
Gamma= not very much talk about, did not dislike the soft version, but guess I’ll like the regular version more. The one’s that play Gamma Moto are also pretty positive about it.
Kirshbaum= Many on the forum suggest this string
Head Hawk T= Hints of Alu, Sinner and I think Zverev string
Yonex= Baez and Fonseca play this string, although spin oriented players, they choose this round string in their Vcore 2023. One should think that spin oriented players prefer shaped strings.

Most of those have above average tension maintenance and should play on the crisper side.

Imo the VDM is the Culprit for the exaggerated muted feel, especially in the 2023 version.

Need a string of choice that counters that. Although I do like Confidential a lot, it fails to do that in Vcore rackets. So for me TBHS7T is the better option in that frame. It’s not perfect, but close

The feedback I get from hitting partners is that I get more spin and pace with Confidential, but I feel no connection with the ball, it’s like a pillowy feel on the stringbed, I don’t know where the ball is on the stringbed.

That’s why Tourna Is preferred cause at least, with that string I get feedback on what is actually going on = much more confident in your strokes. And that’s why you need to be able to trust your equipment for 100%, otherwise you can’t fully explode your tennis potential.

So why am I still searching if BHS7T is so good? Cause it’s not flawless.

I definitely don’t need a polyester string that gives power. I’m a spin oriented player hence the reason playing Vcore and preference for shaped strings (although not excluding round string entirely)
A perfect blend of Control, Spin and Tension maintenance, Crisp (feedback of the string bed) is preferred and BHS7T does all that. But I don’t get the pace and spin out of that string compared to Confidential.

What would be near perfection for me? A blend of those 2 strings could be my ‘cheat code’ string. A string that has the crispness, feedback,control and tension maintenance of BHS7T with the spin and pace of Confidential. If that string exists it surely would be my new string of choice. The question is, if it does exist, which one is it???


Aside all that I have a dozen of other rackets lying around where I don’t mind putting in cheaper strings. Pro’s Pro come to mind. Haven’t put much time investigating that brand. Seems they’re having 20-25 poly options
I do hear some good things about Black Force, Black Out, Red Devil, Strategem M8 (RMP Blast attempt?)

What would be Pro’s Pro closest option to BHS7T or Alu Power clone attempt? Don’t mind putting that in less used frames.

pros pro is waste of time imo. Will be interesting to see what you think of poly plasma and pure rush.

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

pros pro is waste of time imo. Will be interesting to see what you think of poly plasma and pure rush.

about pro's pro, maybe you are right. I dont expect premium quality for that price. Not that important also, as it is intented to use only in none competion frames. Mainly just some curiousity from my part. Maybe gonna stick with Signum Pro as budget brand
Ah, of that list you are interested in Poly Plasma? I thought first strings to pop up for reason of interest would be the grappelsnake ones.
Well if all goes well Pure Rush and Poly Plasma will be tested before the end of the month. Gonna start with a Pure Rush- Tour Hex- O Toro comparison (6 sided shape battle). After that I'll do the round ones which Poly Plasma is part of.

 

[K1Y]

about pro's pro, maybe you are right. I dont expect premium quality for that price. Not that important also, as it is intented to use only in none competion frames. Mainly just some curiousity from my part. Maybe gonna stick with Signum Pro as budget brand
Ah, of that list you are interested in Poly Plasma? I thought first strings to pop up for reason of interest would be the grappelsnake ones.
Well if all goes well Pure Rush and Poly Plasma will be tested before the end of the month. Gonna start with a Pure Rush- Tour Hex- O Toro comparison (6 sided shape battle). After that I'll do the round ones which Poly Plasma is part of.

Yeah I can understand the curiousity. Signum pro is good. I understand you did everything from MSV already? Kirschbaum is good budget as well.

Poly plasma is most interesting to me yes because its tried and true and a very very good price.

I think grapplesnake is interesting as well but there have been many reviews already.

Pure rush is on my radar as well.

 

[ServiceWinner76]

Hi,
I made my intro here in galapagos's Ultimate String of Choice. After a introduction i've posted a list of strings i would test in coming months.

A quick recap. My go to strings is Yonex Poly Tour Pro. I do like that one a lot, but as always the perfect string just doesn't exist, or does it ...?

The Playtesting will be done in Vcore 2021 rackets (98L, 100L, Game) and Prince Warrior 285 gr rackets (2023 and previous version).

Starting point is that I'd like to have the same level of comfort or a tad more crisp, with a bit more spin potential and better tention maintenance.

Or something that feels totally different but great, that's why i've included a lot of different strings.
Initially we're looking for the string that suits me best in a full bed. We'll be looking into hybrid set ups after that.
That said, I'll also be learning about how to string myself. The owner of the local tennis club will teach me. Who has learned from someone who has strung on the ATP Tour. I'll be educated on a Tecnifibre TF 7000 stringing machine.
About buying one for myself such a machine is way to expensive for me. As it will be my first machine, I'll be happy to have something very decent for less than 2 K. Option look to be the following:
Penta Premium 3600+Wise 2086
Penta Premium 3800 +Wise 2086
Penta Premium 7600 + Wise 2086
Penta Premium 8600 Electro with Penta Motor
Gamma Progression II ELS
Tennispro CB 14 Pro

As a future stringer i've also been thinking about which strings I would like to stock as inventory. Ofcourse this will partially correlate with the results of playtesting.

And now the list of strings:

The Complete List

Babolat: RPM Blast, RPM Rough, Babolat Vs Touch
Diadem: Solstic Power
Dunlop: Black Widow, Explosive Speed
Gamma: IO Soft, Moto Soft, Ocho
Grapplesnake: Alpha, Paradox Pro, Tour M8, Tour Sniper
Head: Hawk, Lynx, Lynx Tour, Synthetic Gut PPS, Velocity
Isospeed: Cream
Kirschbaum: Super Smash, Xplosive Speed
Luxilon: 4G Soft, Alu Power, Alu Power Soft, Eco Power
Mayami: Big Spin, Hepta Power, Hit Pro, Magic Twist, Tour Hex
Msv: Bussard, Co Focus, Co Ultra, Focus Hex, Focus Hex +25, Focus Hex +38, Focus Hex Soft, Focus Hex Ultra, Go Max, Hepta Twist, Swift
Pacific: Xcite
Polystar: Classic
Restring: Zero
Signum Pro: Firestorm, Poly Plasma, Poly Plasma Hextreme, X-Perience
Solinco: Confidential, Hyper G, Hyper G Soft, Revolution, Tour Bite, Tour Bite Soft
Tecnifibre: (Black Code)4S,Razor Soft
Tier One/ Tru Pro: Atomos, Black Knight, Firewire,Ghostwire
Topspin: Cyber Blue, Cyber Flash
Toroline: Caviar, Wasabi, Wasabi X, Enso Pro, Toro Toro, Wasabi Pro, K-Pro, Caviar X
Tourna: Blackzone, Big Hitter Black 7, Big Hitter Silver, Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour
Volkl: Cyclone, Cyclone Tour, V Square, V Torque Tour
Weiss Canon: Blue Rock N Power, Silverstring, Ultra Cable
Wilson: Revolve
Yonex: Poly Tour Air, Poly Tour Drive, Poly Tour Fire, Poly Tour Pro, Poly Tour Rev, Poly Tour Spin, Poly Tour Strike
Ytec: Quadro Twist

I absolutely love how you’ve (tennis) nerded out over these strings. I love the in depth and OCD approach you’ve taken to update and explain the how’s and why’s you’ve done, chosen, tried or revisited all these strings. I love that you’ve included your playing style and the specifics of what you’re altering to accomplish (from a personal standpoint and a business standpoint). If I could suggest one thing is to try some of the offering from Ytex. Square X Sharp is one of my favorites and strung with protour black 17l Cross (it’s a softer round poly that gives a little pop to the string bed) If you need more control then all the other colors of Protour are a little stiffer. Hexagon X has good spin potential and control. Square X (not the sharp) the same but with more power. Quadrotwist is decent but I think it’s too lively and I like thinner gauges. I’m a 4.0 player from the US and I string for players from recreational to high 4.5/5.0 and I’ve not had an issue with premature breakage of the 18 gauge square x sharp mains and 17L crosses. I thought these guys would blow through that set up but surprisingly they haven’t. Square x as a cross also works well. You can get wholesale pricing from ytex and that’s makes what’s already pretty affordable very price friendly! Oh I also have a Gamma progression ii ELS! I love it (going on 4 yrs, and I string on the side) but honestly can’t wait to upgrade to a linear pull machine with maybe a tilt and easily adjustable height. I hope you got the stand for the ELS as it makes a world of difference! Keep up the great work and love to hear about you feedback from Ytex (hint hint)!!! Cheers

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

I absolutely love how you’ve (tennis) nerded out over these strings. I love the in depth and OCD approach you’ve taken to update and explain the how’s and why’s you’ve done, chosen, tried or revisited all these strings. I love that you’ve included your playing style and the specifics of what you’re altering to accomplish (from a personal standpoint and a business standpoint). If I could suggest one thing is to try some of the offering from Ytex. Square X Sharp is one of my favorites and strung with protour black 17l Cross (it’s a softer round poly that gives a little pop to the string bed) If you need more control then all the other colors of Protour are a little stiffer. Hexagon X has good spin potential and control. Square X (not the sharp) the same but with more power. Quadrotwist is decent but I think it’s too lively and I like thinner gauges. I’m a 4.0 player from the US and I string for players from recreational to high 4.5/5.0 and I’ve not had an issue with premature breakage of the 18 gauge square x sharp mains and 17L crosses. I thought these guys would blow through that set up but surprisingly they haven’t. Square x as a cross also works well. You can get wholesale pricing from ytex and that’s makes what’s already pretty affordable very price friendly! Oh I also have a Gamma progression ii ELS! I love it (going on 4 yrs, and I string on the side) but honestly can’t wait to upgrade to a linear pull machine with maybe a tilt and easily adjustable height. I hope you got the stand for the ELS as it makes a world of difference! Keep up the great work and love to hear about you feedback from Ytex (hint hint)!!! Cheers

I Guess i'm gonna take the OCD remark as a compliment haha . I'm aware of Ytex as a brand, and have looked into it. Appriciate the suggestion.
Ytex (apart from quadro twist) isn't on my list, not because I find them 'not interessting' or something like that. Some brands are just damn hard to get your hands on. I'm European. While in the US Ytex is easy to get, over here it is not. Same problem for instance with Genesis. Would have played couple of their strings already for sure, if it were more accesable over here. But I guess it goes both ways. I presume for US citizens it's the same problem for specific brands i guess?
If i get my hands on some of the Ytex you've mentioned, I'll keep you posted.
About the stringing machine. Well i do not have one as of now, stringtesting isn't as cheap as it sounds lol. But will get one for sure. Was a bit hesitant on which one to choose. But made up my mind, i'm going after the same machine as you. Reasoning is pretty straigt forward. By checking my local prefered sites for tennis related gear, although the machines i mention in my opening post, are all in the same price range more or less and therefor quality wise speaking there wouldn't/ should'nt be much of a difference, i became aware that one specific machine was sold with a promo / discount more often than the others. So yeah, saving 300-350 on a machine that is normally around 2k give or take. I guess everyone would take that deal. On the other hand, i would prefer to be able to adjust the machine with a wise (linear pull).

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

Yeah I can understand the curiousity. Signum pro is good. I understand you did everything from MSV already? Kirschbaum is good budget as well.

Poly plasma is most interesting to me yes because its tried and true and a very very good price.

I think grapplesnake is interesting as well but there have been many reviews already.

Pure rush is on my radar as well.

Bit of a delayed reply. Had no access to TT forum, still unresolved actually, but found a way to work around it.

Just got some alternative suggesstions for Pro's Pro. That's the adventages of a forum at work. In the end we all want the same. The best possible equipment in a budget range we find acceptable.
Dyreex and Oehms strings. Will put some of those in my list here sooner or later. Aside finding my new string of choice, I'll be stringing myself sooner or later. So testing cheaper brands is still relevant. If you get customers on a budget you have got to have something to offer.

Msv, yeah i did. For me pretty much underwhelming.
As a budget brand i found Signum pro to be far superior in quality overal. Although Msv has many fans, but as always different tastes for different folks. I did not include another Signum Pro string in my list because I've only hit it ones for like 20 min (sparring partner testing them out) felt good too, but tension maint was below average. => Yellow Jacket.
I don't play multi's but even Signum pro has a real good multi in their lineup => Micronite.
The President of my local club has deals with Signum Pro and Tecnibre. I've told him to stock up Firestorm and Xperience. But Plasma yeah it's selling point is Control + Tension maintenance for a price under 60. If you are on a budget, that's retty hard to beat.
In the end all feedback and reviews are irrelevant until we test them ourselves. I'll not say that youtube reviewers are totally useless. After some time we have an idea about which reviewers are more relevant than others. For instance, i guess everybody has seen the 'top 70 polyester strings' of tenncom's becket aka dr godmode. when our own strings of preference get top spots. You know his word has at least some value. His budget king video is the reason i've ordered pure rush and o toro to be honest. I'm pretty sure i'll like at least one of them. Jonas from tennisnerd is also interesting. The rest are pure vendors and 100% affiliated reviewers, so take those guys word with grains of salt . Becket may be affiliated too, but at least he brings something to the table.

As for Kirshbaum, Supersmash has been my go to string for more then a decade in my teenage and 20's, at some point in my club, literally everyone that played competition was playing that string. I was actually one the first using it, guess i was a trend setter/ early adapter haha. Back in the day it was the golden yellow color. Now it's orange, doesn't feel as the same magic as it was back then. Or maybe it's me being in my 40's now. My eyes are on Max Power now.

Same goes for Yonex, 2 years ago i did the same thing with rackets what i'm doing now with strings. At some point a had more rackets lying (28) around than i have pair of shoes. Luckily have sold more than half of those already . I 've set my mind on Yonex and ain't turning back to anything else. What's funny is, there was litteraly no one playing Yonex at my club. 2 Years later they pop up everywhere lol.
Have you playtested Grapplesnake string yourself? As you go through this thread you already know i like Alpha a lot. Just a bit to powerfull for me, but man aside that its great.
Another reason for some revisted of strings is the fact that maybe in some days i had more trouble than others. I had wrist issues (none tennis related) but i guess some strings that i've anticipated liking, but finally did not that much, could be of wrist issues manifesting itself more. If it would have been a tennis related issue, I wouldn't be able to play TBHS7T all this time.
My O Toro strings are at customs so will take some more days before arriving, at my club we have a tournament going on, but already made plans with my stringer. If all my orders arrive on time. I'll start playtesting on the 19th. Dyreex and Oehms strings will be added shortly.

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

Had better not to put a number on stringtesting in the titel, as the total went up to 119. This includes the testing in coming weeks + some strings I'll do in 2025. After that i guess it all will depend on interesting new releases.

So Quick Recap so far. The meaning of all this work is 4 fold.
1 General interest in tennis string market
2 As future stringer want to provide a good variety in stringselection for potential customers. A little bit of everything for every type of player at an acceptable price range.
3 Find my own string of choice
4 As Alu Power is still a reference point, the best cheap mimic will also be stocked.

Focus is on Poly Strings, but will also stock up other types of strings, This selection is already decided on.

It's a value for money selection:
Head Velocity MLT (Multi)
Gosen OG Sheep Micro (Syn Gut)
Head Syn Gut PPS (Syn Gut)
Ghostwire (Poly): Focus is primairly on good strings as FB, Tru Pro Ghostwire fails in that department, but still is one of the best cross strings out there
Polystar Classic: For type of player that doesn't care much about quality, just wants to hit with something as cheep as possible

As per the real testing

Round String: Signum Pro Firestorm, Yonex Poly Tour Fire. This section could use a bit of competition. Firestorm has a great value for money ratio, and YPTF has the adventage that it works good in FB as it does as a cross string

Triangular: None

Square: Solinco Confidential

Pentagonal: Grapplesnake Alpha

Hexagonal: Mayami Tour Hex, Signum Pro X-Perience
Heptagonal: Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour, Toroline Caviar X Hybrid
Octagonal: None for now
Gear Shape: None

Testing in coming weeks
Round: Grapplesnake Mako, Restring Sync, LaserFibre JB Tour 100, Yonex Poly Tour Strike, Signum Pro Poly Plasma, Head Hawk Touch, Kirschbaum Max Power Rough, Tecnifibre Razor Code
Shaped: Solinco Tour Bite, Grapplesnake Tour Sniper, Toroline O Toro, Toroline Super Toro, Toroline Snapper, Tru Pro Pure Rush, Signum Pro Poly Plasma Hextreme,Gamma Moto, Grapplesnake Tour M8, Babolat RMP Blast Rough,
Guess i got some heavy competition in round string selection, a Solinco Duel, a Toroline Battle, 2 highly anticipated Grapplesnake Strings, another possible great cross String, and some other competition in the Hexagonal section.

Testing in 2025: an Alu Mimic Battle (more or less) with Dyreex Alu Tour, Dyreex Alu Tour Edge, Oehms Alu Pearl Rough, Oehms Alu Pearl Pro, Oehms Alu Star, Pro's Pro Nano Cyber Power Silver, Pro's Pro Cyber Spin
Dyreex Super Tour, Dyreex Super Tour Edge. Our Greek member tester here is quite a fan of Dyreex, and Jonas from tennisnerds described it as an attempt of mimic of Luxilon 4G Soft
Dyreex Pro Player is depending on own preferences probably their flagship string (quite demanding)
LaserFibre Laser GT out of own curiousity, should be a better choice for me than JB, but wasn't available in sets when ordering
IsoSpeed Baseline Control: Per Sansait raving about this string
Babolat Vs Touch as a hybrid with Babolat RRM Rough

After that i guess it'll be just following up interesting new string releases.

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

So new order of strings underway
Dyreex: Alu Tour, Alu Tour Edge, Super Tour, Super Tour Edge, Hexablast, Pro Player
Oehms: Alu Pearl Rough, Alu Pearl Classic, Alu Star
Pro's Pro: Nano Cyber Power, Cyber Spin
Genesis: Hexonic Power Yellow, Typhoon Grey
IsoSpeed: Baseline Control
Luxilon: 4G Soft

Left to order: LaserFibre Laser GT (was not available in sets at this moment), Babolat VS Touch (save the best for last )

 

[Roforot]

I don't know how many people you will string for, but hopefully you will convince them to restring on a regular basis. Realistically if you take any of those strings, after 3months of play, it is not really the same string as you are testing. The exception is perhaps a Natural gut/hybrid (I have nearly 16 hours of mostly doubles and a few clinics and only 9% tension loss and it hits/feels great). The other thing is while you may have a good list of shapes/poly, you may wish to consider that a lot of people will want strings that match or work with their frame. So hyper G can be hit or miss though it's a great string. You probably want a Red string, a gold, a black, a white, and a blue to go along w/ the Hyper G.

 

[silentkman]

Had better not to put a number on stringtesting in the titel, as the total went up to 119. This includes the testing in coming weeks + some strings I'll do in 2025. After that i guess it all will depend on interesting new releases.

So Quick Recap so far. The meaning of all this work is 4 fold.
1 General interest in tennis string market
2 As future stringer want to provide a good variety in stringselection for potential customers. A little bit of everything for every type of player at an acceptable price range.
3 Find my own string of choice
4 As Alu Power is still a reference point, the best cheap mimic will also be stocked.

Focus is on Poly Strings, but will also stock up other types of strings, This selection is already decided on.

It's a value for money selection:
Head Velocity MLT (Multi)
Gosen OG Sheep Micro (Syn Gut)
Head Syn Gut PPS (Syn Gut)
Ghostwire (Poly): Focus is primairly on good strings as FB, Tru Pro Ghostwire fails in that department, but still is one of the best cross strings out there
Polystar Classic: For type of player that doesn't care much about quality, just wants to hit with something as cheep as possible

As per the real testing

Round String: Signum Pro Firestorm, Yonex Poly Tour Fire. This section could use a bit of competition. Firestorm has a great value for money ratio, and YPTF has the adventage that it works good in FB as it does as a cross string

Triangular: None

Square: Solinco Confidential

Pentagonal: Grapplesnake Alpha

Hexagonal: Mayami Tour Hex, Signum Pro X-Perience
Heptagonal: Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour, Toroline Caviar X Hybrid
Octagonal: None for now
Gear Shape: None

Testing in coming weeks
Round: Grapplesnake Mako, Restring Sync, LaserFibre JB Tour 100, Yonex Poly Tour Strike, Signum Pro Poly Plasma, Head Hawk Touch, Kirschbaum Max Power Rough, Tecnifibre Razor Code
Shaped: Solinco Tour Bite, Grapplesnake Tour Sniper, Toroline O Toro, Toroline Super Toro, Toroline Snapper, Tru Pro Pure Rush, Signum Pro Poly Plasma Hextreme,Gamma Moto, Grapplesnake Tour M8, Babolat RMP Blast Rough,
Guess i got some heavy competition in round string selection, a Solinco Duel, a Toroline Battle, 2 highly anticipated Grapplesnake Strings, another possible great cross String, and some other competition in the Hexagonal section.

Testing in 2025: an Alu Mimic Battle (more or less) with Dyreex Alu Tour, Dyreex Alu Tour Edge, Oehms Alu Pearl Rough, Oehms Alu Pearl Pro, Oehms Alu Star, Pro's Pro Nano Cyber Power Silver, Pro's Pro Cyber Spin
Dyreex Super Tour, Dyreex Super Tour Edge. Our Greek member tester here is quite a fan of Dyreex, and Jonas from tennisnerds described it as an attempt of mimic of Luxilon 4G Soft
Dyreex Pro Player is depending on own preferences probably their flagship string (quite demanding)
LaserFibre Laser GT out of own curiousity, should be a better choice for me than JB, but wasn't available in sets when ordering
IsoSpeed Baseline Control: Per Sansait raving about this string
Babolat Vs Touch as a hybrid with Babolat RRM Rough

After that i guess it'll be just following up interesting new string releases.

How can you afford testing so many strings?

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

@Roforot : Clientele will grow with time, acutally the president of the local club is our stringer, but he will not do that for another 5 years, so I'll fill in the gap when time comes. Also in a 25 km ratio nearby looking at the clubs in the region, there are several without a stringing service, so gonna look into that.
Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to do a string recommandation service on top of the stringing itself
You cant force people to restring, that's enterly up to them to decide. You are right thou. Playing with strings that aren't that fresh, surely affects playabilty.
As for the colours matching frame mentality, I am aware that many care about that, althoug i myself found that irrelevant. How the string plays is a lot more important than the colour. But hey if people want matching colours I Probably could provide that to i guess. Without actually trying to offer all the main colours, I'll probably have most of them covered in my final selection

@silentkman : It's actually less expensive as it looks on first glance, because of different circumstances.
The total list is 124 strings now. Of these 124 strings, There where actually 15 of them already done before 2024.
Non poly string where paid for by other people, who actually play that type of strings, I was allowed to hit along with them to also have an idea about the strings.
Aside that, 33 strings where paid for by poly playing hitting partners.
There are also 4 strings that need to be bought still eventually (3 Ytex strings, depends on when and where that brand will have some kind of European distribution) and Babolat VS Touch, somewhat as a guilty pleasure.
That leaves 68 strings that i paid for myself as of today. Seems like a lot of money still, but... been having a persistent non tennis related wrist injury, which did not prevent me from keep playing, but skipped tournament season entirly in 2023 and 2024 as it did prevent me from playing my best. So i had 2 years where i didn't spend anything on tournament play.
Normally i allocated 600 for entery fees + expanses per season. So that makes 2* 600 euro that would have been spend, but i've got to keep in my pocket.
As i had 1200 to spare, and time, i decided to spend that on string testing+ sold 3 of my frames for 250. So i had 1450 of free money to spend without having to trouble to safe up extra money.
I am also able to do my stringing on a promotion price as i'm my stringers best customer, i get some reduction, which comes down to 95 Euro for every 11 string jobs. So I paid 590 for string jobs and 385 on my last to orders of 35 strings total, approx 400 euro or maybe/propably less for the other 33 strings. I also got myself 2 new rackets Tenx Strike and Diadem Nova V3 in promo for 290.
Thats 1650+- total. So i actually had to put in an extra 200 of my own money this year. All the rest was money that was already available to spend cause of circumstances permitted it.

 

[Roforot]

@Roforot : Clientele will grow with time, acutally the president of the local club is our stringer, but he will not do that for another 5 years, so I'll fill in the gap when time comes. Also in a 25 km ratio nearby looking at the clubs in the region, there are several without a stringing service, so gonna look into that.
Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to do a string recommandation service on top of the stringing itself
You cant force people to restring, that's enterly up to them to decide. You are right thou. Playing with strings that aren't that fresh, surely affects playabilty.
As for the colours matching frame mentality, I am aware that many care about that, althoug i myself found that irrelevant. How the string plays is a lot more important than the colour. But hey if people want matching colours I Probably could provide that to i guess. Without actually trying to offer all the main colours, I'll probably have most of them covered in my final selection

@silentkman : It's actually less expensive as it looks on first glance, because of different circumstances.
The total list is 124 strings now. Of these 124 strings, There where actually 15 of them already done before 2024.
Non poly string where paid for by other people, who actually play that type of strings, I was allowed to hit along with them to also have an idea about the strings.
Aside that, 33 strings where paid for by poly playing hitting partners.
There are also 4 strings that need to be bought still eventually (3 Ytex strings, depends on when and where that brand will have some kind of European distribution) and Babolat VS Touch, somewhat as a guilty pleasure.
That leaves 68 strings that i paid for myself as of today. Seems like a lot of money still, but... been having a persistent non tennis related wrist injury, which did not prevent me from keep playing, but skipped tournament season entirly in 2023 and 2024 as it did prevent me from playing my best. So i had 2 years where i didn't spend anything on tournament play.
Normally i allocated 600 for entery fees + expanses per season. So that makes 2* 600 euro that would have been spend, but i've got to keep in my pocket.
As i had 1200 to spare, and time, i decided to spend that on string testing+ sold 3 of my frames for 250. So i had 1450 of free money to spend without having to trouble to safe up extra money.
I am also able to do my stringing on a promotion price as i'm my stringers best customer, i get some reduction, which comes down to 95 Euro for every 11 string jobs. So I paid 590 for string jobs and 385 on my last to orders of 35 strings total, approx 400 euro or maybe/propably less for the other 33 strings. I also got myself 2 new rackets Tenx Strike and Diadem Nova V3 in promo for 290.
Thats 1650+- total. So i actually had to put in an extra 200 of my own money this year. All the rest was money that was already available to spend cause of circumstances permitted it.

I string for just myself. But I sometimes wonder if I should offer to restring for my teammates or friends. I'm not running a business and would not charge them, but then I worry, if I discover a crack or a busted grommet or if they dislike the tension, then maybe it sours the friendship. I do recommend especially with poly strings that they restring more often. I guess some actually prefer the feel of dead strings. It's also possible that at my low level of 3.5, we don't hit hard enough to hurt ourselves w/ dead strings... but I don't like to count on that assumption. So I do suggest them to use our club stringer once a month. With Poly I never had joint pains using lower tensions and restringing after 10-12 hrs. I would break it around 12-15 hrs and to be honest those last few hours w/ the poly weren't great so I was totally on board w/ cutting it before it became bad. People pay for court fees, shoes, lessons, clinics... but I would argue a fresh string would help your game more than one tennis clinic. I don't think it's so much the cost as it may be the logistics of leaving your racquet and picking it up before the league match or tournament. For me getting my own stringer is the best b/c I could make sure I started a tournament w/ fresh strings. Anyway, enough preaching from me. I'm sure you and most of the others here on the forum and other tennis nerds are already on the same page.

 

[CVT]

Just want to chime in give deep respect to the effort in play testing that many strings. Thanks for sharing your experience with the rest of us. I hope the players you string for appreciate how much effort you made in choosing your string selection. I am guessing many stores just stock from the main brands they are asked for. I like your approach and range of options.

Will be interested to hear how your hybrid journey goes. It is a deep dark hole to go down.

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

Thx man, well my father taught me, when you do something, prepare to commit to it fully and do it to the best of you abilties. If you don't, it's a waste of time and therefor better to do nothing at all. So i do things a 100%.
There is room to do business. My own stringer at my local club doesn't carry any shaped strings. Options in general are limited. 3 Multi and 5 round poly. Another stringer is a Signum pro dealer and doesn't carry anything else + more expensive and pretty slow too.
Some other clubs in the neighbourghood don't have an inhouse stringer. So there is potential to build clientele.
Where i differentiate from other stringers:
Versitale and very allround string selection
Competitive pricing
Stringjob reduction per saving card= x amount of stringjobs done = 1 stringjob for free
String recommendation service for clients that really want the best fit for their game and racket= intake interview by form. Already working on this.
As far as hybrids go, I'll try to avoid the rabbit hole. String testing is not supposed to be a never ending story.
When my initial testing is done. I'll select my personal top 3 in FB

Then i'll do the following
Personal favorite 1 fb against the hybrid version with same string in mains and then Firewire, YPTF, and RMP Rough as crosses
Personal favourite 2 fb against the hybrid version with same string in mains and then Firewire, YPTF and RMP Rough as crosses
Personal Favourite 3 fb against the hybrid version with same string in mains and then Firewire, YPTF and RMP Rough as crosses
The other hybrid I'll do is Bab Vs touch-RMP Rough
I'm curious for the first 3 if i would prefer fb version or hybrid version.

 

[Roforot]

One suggestion for hybrids is if you use very sharp 4 sided strings. Do the crosses w/ a round string to save your fingers. In my experience, the tradeoff on a little less spin is worth it for the playability let alone your sanity

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

Thanks for the headsup. I do like shaped strings, but i haven't got many favo in 4 sided segment, as for 6 sided to me that feels and plays the most versitale kinda, but kind really say that the string i prefer are on the sharp side. So I guess I'm safe. I do have 2 rounds as a cross. RMP Rough doesn't feel sharp also. Is more intended to test those with the natural gut. Seems to be a top notch combo (nat gut, with alu rough or rmp rough. But will safe that one for the very last. So will take some time.
Also gonna go full speed through it all. As per april, wanna be done with it and focus on tournament play. By then should have my new string of chocie hopefully. Thus, April- September no string testing.
After that will do the hybrids and the onces i have trouble finding here (Ytex I'm looking at you) and Laserfibre Laser GT, i know where to get it, but wasn't available in sets atm. If all is said and done, i'll only test out new release strings from certain brands
Still lots to do, so little time. Never ending struggle
38 strings to go (without new releases) but yeah all in all by the end of 2025. I guess it will be more calm, maybe 5 new strings or so per year. Maybe for the best, before people think of me as a freak hahahah

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

Finally found myself Ytex strings without the need of paypal or credit card and excessive import taxes. Hell yeah hahah

 

[pizzadontdie]

Tried the Oehms yet?

 

[BallsOfFire]

To start your stringing biz you just need:
Babolat Syn Gut 1.30 Blue. best syn gut out there and slick. also inexpensive.
Big Hitter Silver 16 (which is 1.25) round and last long and has high spin potiential and not too stiff ... Price is 1/3 of Confidential
long lasting MSV Focus Hex red 1.23 is in top 3 of all time heavy hitting tour player strings IMO and have high (alons full bed) to very high Spin potiential if crossed with round slick cross strings.
.....1/2 price of Head Lynx Tour.
Cross strings: Pros Pro Intense Heat 1.25/ Black Force/Cyclone power 1.25.... Topspin Cyber Blue/Msv Co-Focus 1.18
Alu Power equivalent : Pros Pro Cyber Power 1.25 (made by Gosen?)

With these strings you are covered from beginner to intermidiate to pro.... and you can charge a fair price that match your in-experience.

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

Tried the Oehms yet?

LaserFibre JB Tour 100, Tecnifibre Razor Code, Head Hawk Touch, Signum Pro Poly Plasma, Yonex Poly Tour Strike, Grapplesnake Mako, Restring Sync, Oehms Alu Pearl Pro, Oehms Alu Star, Dyreex Alu Tour, Dyreex Super Tour, Pro's Pro Cyber Power, Pro's Pro Cyber Spin, Dyreex Pro Player, Kirschbaum Max Power Rough, Luxilon 4G Soft

Dyreex Alu Tour Edge, Dyreex Super Tour Edge, Dyreex Hexablast, Genesis Typhoon, Genesis Hexonic Power Yellow, Oehms Alu Pearl Rough, Gamma Moto, Solinco Tour Bite, Tourna Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour, Grapplesnake Tour M8, Babolat RPM Rough, Toroline Snapper, Toroline Super Toro, Toroline O Toro, Mayami Tour Hex, Tru Pro Pure Rush, Signum Pro Poly Plasma Hextreme, Grapplesnake Tour Sniper.

That's about the order off going through it.

Have to squeeze in Ytex Pro Tour, Penta Power Twisted, Hexagon X Pearl Red, Isospeed Baseline Control somewhere still.

Confidential, LaserFibre Laser GT, Babolat VS Touch are excused from testing this time around.

Confi because i know for me it doesn't work as i would want in a Vcore contrary to popular opinion.
LaserFibre Laser GT, couldn't get my hands on a set. Was only available in reel.
Nat Gut have all the time in the world to test that, feel no need to rush for that one.

 

[pizzadontdie]

Thoughts on the oehms alu pearl rough?

 

[Tennis And Anime Lover]

Thoughts on the oehms alu pearl rough?

Haven't gotten that far yet, I'm stringing up Sync tomorrow. So by saying so, you know how far i'm at with all the string testing