Solinco Revolution 18 (1.16)
Tension: 56#
Stringing: Not too bad - coil memory isn't as bad as the Barb Wire that I tried earlier this year - it's textured, but crosses weren't a nightmare.
Initial Impression: Again, not bad - I didn't feel like I was creating huge topspin, but it had plenty of control. I did have a few Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moments when the ball felt good off of the strings, and then just took off on me. The feel was what left me wanting - the stringbed felt lively, but just didn't quite give me any wow moments.
Serve: Good power on the serve - it didn't feel like I was able to bottom out the strings like I can with certain polys, which was nice. I also, sadly, didn't notice any crazy movement on the ball - I had confidence to swing through my second serves, but they didn't have a significant amount of twist on them. Not terrible, but to be honest, I expected more spin from a textured Solinco string from past history with Tour Bite and Barb Wire.
Returns: Easily the highlight of my string trial with Revolution - I was able to really hammer the return without it flying on me. When I really put a cut on my returns, they went exactly where I expected.
Groundies: Some good, some bad. I felt like I was missing a bit much, and when I switched to the frame strung with Proline, I was landing more balls in play. I could put some decent heat on the ball, but unlike the serve, I felt that there was a point of diminishing returns where I wasn't getting any more out of the string when I added batspeed. The one HUGE thing was my slice was insane - I was taking full swings on my slice backhand and they were skidding low and causing all kinds of trouble.
Volleys: Didn't hit many, but the feel was OK - hardly what I'd call a feel string, but it's middle of the road for a poly.
Touch: TBD
Stiffness: It's different than the Proline, that is for certain. It's what I'd call a muted firm string - it's firmer than the Proline, but it almost felt a little indistinct for lack of a better word. The Proline felt a bit more crisp while still feeling like a softer stringbed.
Tension Maint: So far, not bad. It was strung about 2 hours before heading to play, and came off of the stringer with a Gamma STT reading of 55#. After a set of 4.5 doubles, it's now reading at 54#.
Overall: I'd have to say that the jury is out on this string for me. In a stiffer frame or an open pattern, I can see it being fantastic, but it's likely just a bit too vanilla for the Redondo due to the feel of the string and lack of added spin.
Update: Hit with our own Jonny S&V (and got my butt kicked - he's totally a TTW 4.0 to my TTW 3.0 level
) last night for a while, and was using the Revolution for about half of the time. My initial impression seems to be right on - I felt like the string has a "limit" to it where you just don't get any more out for more effort in. I am wondering if lower tension would help, but I don't think I'd like it at any lower tension than I have it. On a more open patterned frame that needs more taming, this would be an OK string, but I don't think it plays nice with tight patterned mids, even as a thinner string.