Why do some say black code is stiff others say soft

[Ramjet]

Hi, I've been reading the posts as I've just tried tecnifibre black code for the first few times, coming from gut poly hybrid.
Why are the opinions on whether it's stiffness so varied? Some say stiff, others say soft. It seems to divide opinion more than other polys?

My own impression is that it is much softer than kirschbaum Max power, and maybe similar to SPPP and cyclone. But that's about the extent of my experience with polys. I was first impressed by it, as I tried a demo that had black code in it for a year and I thought it still played well.

 

[esgee48]

Player, tension, frame and gauge all influence the feel of the string. That’s something you have to consider when someone evaluates strings. (Forgot to mention age of strings.)

 

[Slicehand]

black code feels rather soft to me

 

[Chairman3]

I think sometimes soft and powerful get conflated when talking about polys
I think Black Code is a pretty powerful string, I felt the ball launching a tad comapred to some other strings I had used in the same racquet.

 

[brownbearfalling]

Esgee mentioned the main factors. I would also say the stringer and stringing machine in which the black code was string.

Feel is subjective. To give you a better idea of a specific reviewers “scale”, see how they rate other strings that you have already tried.

 

[1HBHfanatic]

-even hard polys feel OK/comfortable on a large/open pattern racquet
-soft polys feel like crap when strung too tight and/or strung on a closed racquet pattern

 

[Tennisist]

It also matters an awful lot - WHEN - people play. If right off the stringer, half of all polys can easily be classified as "soft".
Two days later -- not so much.
Playing in the heat of the summer -- 90F/32C -- even those polys which are "stone dead" suddenly feel "soft".
That's even in addition to the pattern/tension/stringer variations which people have mentioned above.

 

[oh_ yuzzz]

I’d check it out on the TWU String Comparison Tool. Compare it to something you’re familiar with and go from there. Individual reviews can be pretty unreliable since there’s so much variability in people’s experiences. Tension, gauge, racquet, etc. also make a difference. Fortunately, strings are relatively cheap so it’s easy to simply buy a pack to find out for yourself.

 

[blai212]

most people can only compare to what they know so it’s all relative

 

[A_Instead]

Depends on what frame and what tension and what ambient temperature when playing..

 

[jmacdaununder2]

One man’s soft is another man’s stiff...