Whats the difference Tourna Silver 7 Tour vs non tour?

dannyjjang

Semi-Pro
very confusing heard alot of good things about this. as a lux clone, but stabler not a ball sprayer

If this truly plays like a stable lux I'd be delighted! And my wallet!
 

McLovin

Legend
Do you mean Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour vs Big Hitter Silver? There is no “Big Hitter Silver 7”.

If so, then as @EggSalad said; 7 Tour is…7-sided.

Normal “Silver” was Tourna’s attempt at a Lux ALU clone. It’s widely regarded as one of the better clones, along with WeissCANON Silverstring and Topspin CyberFlash, although none are really “like” ALU.
 

AKB

Rookie
is the tour version that better than the original?

the reel is 30 dollar difference

Just similar in name, nowhere close to each other. Original Silver is a soft round poly that pockets well while Silver 7 Tour (S7T) is a stiff spin poly that feels crisp no matter what you string it at. It is also known to have shear breaks at the hoop. S7T a cool string and worth trying but ain’t nothing magical about it except it’s tension maintenance.

Weiss Cannon Silverstring comes closest to ALU power when compared to Tourna BH Silver and Topspin Cyberflash.

Solinco Tour Bite Diamond Rough is the ALU Power Rough alternative, it’s slightly softer and cheaper but lets tension go a bit too easily from my experience.
 

Klatu Verata Necktie

Hall of Fame
Thread resurrection alert!

I called the manufacturer of Tourna strings to ask if there were any differences between Big Hitter Silver and Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour beyond the shape of the string, and they said that there were none. The strings are made from the same material. The only difference between them is their shape.
 

dr. godmode

Hall of Fame
Thread resurrection alert!

I called the manufacturer of Tourna strings to ask if there were any differences between Big Hitter Silver and Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour beyond the shape of the string, and they said that there were none. The strings are made from the same material. The only difference between them is their shape.
Do we attribute the tension maintenance difference to the shape then?
 

Klatu Verata Necktie

Hall of Fame
Do we attribute the tension maintenance difference to the shape then?
Don't know, but here are some possibilities:

1. Shape has something to do with tension maintenance.
2. There were discrepancies in some lab tests along the way that filtered into placebo effects in playtesters.
3. Tourna lied to me and there are material differences between the strings.
 

dr. godmode

Hall of Fame
Don't know, but here are some possibilities:

1. Shape has something to do with tension maintenance.
2. There were discrepancies in some lab tests along the way that filtered into placebo effects in playtesters.
3. Tourna lied to me and there are material differences between the strings.
I imagine all 3 are more than possible, however, my intuition suggests round should have better maintenance than shaped, unless there's something weird they had to do with the extrusion that pre-stretched it. I would be surprised if it was the same formula and when the launched S7T, they prestretched it and decided to start doing that with round going forward, but who knows
 

Klatu Verata Necktie

Hall of Fame
I told the guy that I generally prefer round strings, but that I wanted the best performing product available. He said that in that case, I should go with the round Big Hitter Silver because there's no difference between them besides the shape.

The reason I doubt that I'm being misled is that the Silver 7 Tour is a bit more expensive than the original round version, so if there's really a difference between the two it would make sense to actively promote the more expensive of the two.
 

Steve Huff

G.O.A.T.
Maybe the 7-sided string lost more tension due to friction while stringing the crosses than the round, thereby giving it a lower overall tension at the same reference tension. A lower tension of same string would result in less tension loss.
 

Klatu Verata Necktie

Hall of Fame
There was a Tennis Warehouse podcast a while back with the head of string development at Head Tennis. He was asked about the effect of color pigment on string performance, and he said that the amount of pigment in the formula is so small that their detection devices can't measure a difference. That's not to say there is no difference, just that if there is a difference, it's minimal. However, there are some strings that are exactly the same products save for the color pigment, and their lab results show significant variation in tension loss.

To me, this is more likely to be a discrepancy in the Tennis Warehouse testing than a significant performance difference:

PropertySignum Pro Poly Plasma 17 (1.23)Signum Pro Poly-Plasma Pure 17 (1.23)Difference %
MaterialPolyesterPolyesterNA
Stiffness (lb/in)1981991
Tension Loss (%)264365
Energy Return (%)8884-5
Spin Potential5.45.2-4
String to String Friction (COF)0.0890.086-3
String to Ball Friction (COF)0.4830.449-7
 
There was a Tennis Warehouse podcast a while back with the head of string development at Head Tennis. He was asked about the effect of color pigment on string performance, and he said that the amount of pigment in the formula is so small that their detection devices can't measure a difference. That's not to say there is no difference, just that if there is a difference, it's minimal. However, there are some strings that are exactly the same products save for the color pigment, and their lab results show significant variation in tension loss.

To me, this is more likely to be a discrepancy in the Tennis Warehouse testing than a significant performance difference:

PropertySignum Pro Poly Plasma 17 (1.23)Signum Pro Poly-Plasma Pure 17 (1.23)Difference %
MaterialPolyesterPolyesterNA
Stiffness (lb/in)1981991
Tension Loss (%)264365
Energy Return (%)8884-5
Spin Potential5.45.2-4
String to String Friction (COF)0.0890.086-3
String to Ball Friction (COF)0.4830.449-7

Good stuff. I would also suggest that slight variations in manufacturing conditions and QC can produce changes that are just barely perceptible. Polyester strings may be a feature-rich product with tons of differentiation, but it's still a consumer-grade commodity product made in enormous batches with just enough QC to get by. This is not lab-grade or mission-critical materials.

Would love to see some information about manufacturing tolerances, e.g. does ALU Power have a more robust QC process or are we truly paying for marketing? Does Tourna Premium Poly just come off the line as-is with virtually zero QC oversight?
 

codonnell

Semi-Pro
I use silver 7 tour as my main string. Definitely a stiffer spin string but I think for the cost vs longevity is quite excellent and I really do enjoy the bite of the string. I string at 45 for reference and definitely don’t feel the huge tension drop off compared to some strings. Cyclone is one example where the strings just completely drop off a cliff.
 

johnmccabe

Hall of Fame
I'm halfway through a reel of silver 7 tour. I string it 35-38 lbs in the main of Gravity pro to feel comfortable. Looking through old threads. Thinking big hitter black 7 may be my best bet to replace s7t. Any suggestions?
 

codonnell

Semi-Pro
I'm halfway through a reel of silver 7 tour. I string it 35-38 lbs in the main of Gravity pro to feel comfortable. Looking through old threads. Thinking big hitter black 7 may be my best bet to replace s7t. Any suggestions?
May not be able to help but how did you like the strings in the mid to high 30?. I string in the mid 40s and like low tension but feel the string may be a bit powerful for that low.
 

Injured Again

Hall of Fame
I'm halfway through a reel of silver 7 tour. I string it 35-38 lbs in the main of Gravity pro to feel comfortable. Looking through old threads. Thinking big hitter black 7 may be my best bet to replace s7t. Any suggestions?

I switched from S7T to BHB7 when I was dealing with a wrist injury. BHB7 has more power and worse tension maintenance, but ball response off the strings is close enough that you can adjust easily. BHB7 also changes a bit more over its life, which is shorter than S7T because BHB7 notches more easily. I also had shear breaks with BHB7 but to a lesser degree.

The difference in comfort, especially on mis-hits, is pretty noticeable. BHB7 is quite a lot softer on contact high on the stringbed.
 

Injured Again

Hall of Fame
May not be able to help but how did you like the strings in the mid to high 30?. I string in the mid 40s and like low tension but feel the string may be a bit powerful for that low.

In my time using S7T, I felt it was pretty insensitive to tension changes. But I also found that lower tension didn't decrease the shock much on mis-hits so I used the tension that got me the launch angle I wanted.
 

topspin2000

New User
Just strung up Tourna BHS a few weeks ago and been playing with it. One thing I noticed is that the BHS does not have the same playability duration as BHS7T. The BHS7T lasted much longer for me in terms of playability. The BHS lasted maybe 10 hours and started to get springy and the feel is mostly gone. I would go for the S7T, even with the higher cost. It just feels better and lasts longer for me.
 

2ndServe

Hall of Fame
Do you mean Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour vs Big Hitter Silver? There is no “Big Hitter Silver 7”.

If so, then as @EggSalad said; 7 Tour is…7-sided.

Normal “Silver” was Tourna’s attempt at a Lux ALU clone. It’s widely regarded as one of the better clones, along with WeissCANON Silverstring and Topspin CyberFlash, although none are really “like” ALU.
Is Head Hawk Power a decent ALU clone? I really liked it. But don’t have a ton of time with ALU
 

Mjolnir

New User
Is Head Hawk Power a decent ALU clone? I really liked it. But don’t have a ton of time with ALU
Not really. That is, not really a clone, not not really decent!

Just cut out a full bed of ALU Power (1.25 silver @ 50 lbs) that I played with for ~2 months, 1x a week.

Just yesterday strung up and played 1.5 hr with Hawk Power 1.25 @ 48 lbs in the same model but diff racquet.

I like it a lot, but it doesn’t feel like ALU Power.
 
Thread resurrection alert!

I called the manufacturer of Tourna strings to ask if there were any differences between Big Hitter Silver and Big Hitter Silver 7 Tour beyond the shape of the string, and they said that there were none. The strings are made from the same material. The only difference between them is their shape.
So I recently also spoke with a tourna sales rep and they said the opposite. They’re different each a different composition and not the same string (meaning, not same underlying chemical material). There is more than just the 7-sided vs round shape that is different between the two.
 

z00

Rookie
I use silver 7 tour as my main string. Definitely a stiffer spin string but I think for the cost vs longevity is quite excellent and I really do enjoy the bite of the string. I string at 45 for reference and definitely don’t feel the huge tension drop off compared to some strings. Cyclone is one example where the strings just completely drop off a cliff.
How many hours do you get out of Silver 7 Tour? I get about 12h crossed with outlast at 46/44lbs.
Which is not great, now I need to find something else that lasts longer. Looks like all paths are leading to natural gut mains with round poly crosses for 25+ play hours.
 

codonnell

Semi-Pro
How many hours do you get out of Silver 7 Tour? I get about 12h crossed with outlast at 46/44lbs.
Which is not great, now I need to find something else that lasts longer. Looks like all paths are leading to natural gut mains with round poly crosses for 25+ play hours.
I don’t count my hours too much but I’d say I get a good 15,16 hours in on it, towards the end it actually plays pretty good at the tail end too until that extra bit of tension loss leads to everything going long. I recently dropped to 42ibs as well and felt like that initial break in period didn’t take as long prior, in my main set up. The strings are also not too expensive like some of the higher scored tension maintenance strings so I would say give it a try before the hybrid to see if it lasts long enough for you.

If you go the hybrid route I’m sure you’ve heard the suggestion but I would say 4G is the way to go. The stiffness and low power is balanced out well by natural gut and the tension maintenance will be pretty much as good as I could imagine.

let me know how it goes!
 

z00

Rookie
I don’t count my hours too much but I’d say I get a good 15,16 hours in on it, towards the end it actually plays pretty good at the tail end too until that extra bit of tension loss leads to everything going long. I recently dropped to 42ibs as well and felt like that initial break in period didn’t take as long prior, in my main set up. The strings are also not too expensive like some of the higher scored tension maintenance strings so I would say give it a try before the hybrid to see if it lasts long enough for you.

If you go the hybrid route I’m sure you’ve heard the suggestion but I would say 4G is the way to go. The stiffness and low power is balanced out well by natural gut and the tension maintenance will be pretty much as good as I could imagine.

let me know how it goes!
Maybe you missed it, but I already have tried it (7 tour 17g with outlast 18g @46/44lbs) that lasts around 12h before losing tension, mains moving too much. I doubt 4G is gonna prolong durability much.

But yes, 7 tour has been the most durable poly I used. I never played with natural gut, but it seems the only choice left after trying sync gut hybrids and a bunch of stiff & high tension maintenance poly.
 

Injured Again

Hall of Fame
I used S7T for a few years and switched due to the number of shear breaks I was getting. I went to Confidential, which has nearly the same launch angle, with slightly less of a lively feeling but much better comfort on mid-hits. Tension maintenance is nearly as good and Confidential is also playable until about the last hour before it breaks from notching through.
 

codonnell

Semi-Pro
Maybe you missed it, but I already have tried it (7 tour 17g with outlast 18g @46/44lbs) that lasts around 12h before losing tension, mains moving too much. I doubt 4G is gonna prolong durability much.

But yes, 7 tour has been the most durable poly I used. I never played with natural gut, but it seems the only choice left after trying sync gut hybrids and a bunch of stiff & high tension maintenance poly.
Sorry I missed the crossed part and only red outlast 18g.

I think the only other string that scored higher then bhs7t is Dunlop Explosive Speed. I think only minimally (and new data could be out now) but also may be worth a shot if you want to stick to your full bed of poly.
 

SteveI

Legend
I used S7T for a few years and switched due to the number of shear breaks I was getting. I went to Confidential, which has nearly the same launch angle, with slightly less of a lively feeling but much better comfort on mid-hits. Tension maintenance is nearly as good and Confidential is also playable until about the last hour before it breaks from notching through.
Have to try it out again. Pretty sure I was on the Talk Tennis playtest. I have to look up what I said..LOL


Looks Like I passed..:)
 

z00

Rookie
Sorry I missed the crossed part and only red outlast 18g.

I think the only other string that scored higher then bhs7t is Dunlop Explosive Speed. I think only minimally (and new data could be out now) but also may be worth a shot if you want to stick to your full bed of poly.
Yes, Explosive speed is 1% better than BHS7T.
On my 3rd racket that I hit more serves with, BHS7T lasted 10h. So I doubt poly is gonna be the answer.

Are there any other sync gut/multi as mains that would last 20h+ and have decent playability? Or get into nat gut and call it a day?
 
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