Players: What is your favorite string? Stringers: What's your most popular string?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Javier Djeu on November 5, 2011 at 8:50pm

Eagnas, they are so inexpensive and great . ive been using them for 2 years now

Permalink Reply by Giselle Sotelo on November 5, 2011 at 11:54pm

Thanks! I will check them out!

Permalink Reply by Hal Wagner on November 5, 2011 at 9:02pm

Well the top sellers tend to be, Prince syn multiflex, Lux Alu, Wilson Sensation and NXT, Babolat RPM. I personally like Solinco Tour Bite, Lux M2, gamma professional, Pro Line II.

Permalink Reply by Giselle Sotelo on November 5, 2011 at 11:50pm

Thanks for your input, Hal! I had heard that the RPM Blast, NXT and Luxilon ALU are pretty popular, and your response just confirms that.  I just bought a Prince Neos stringing machine and I'm hoping to do some stringing on weekends.  Not sure where you're located but if you're ever in LA I'll string a racket for you for real cheap!

Permalink Reply by Hal Wagner on November 5, 2011 at 11:55pm

no problem, I'm in Nor Cal, but have a nice electronic so I'm good. Good luck with the stringing you got a solid machine also. make sure to carry the top ones and then fill out inventory with sets of less popular and custom set ups.

Permalink Reply by Tim Prapong on November 6, 2011 at 11:44pm

Giselle, here is the list I promised you, but this is more like what I feel about all these strings.

 

Luxilon:

            Alu Power (regular)- remarkable cut and drive potential, stiff but manageable, durable.

            Alu Rough- stiff, must be strung lower than regular Alu Power, great cross string to support either synthetic guts or multis, never do full set about 57 lbs, too boardy otherwise.

            Ace- great 18 gauge, do not string above 60, has nice feel with synthetic gut hybrid

            Timo- very good 17 gauge, good in a full set around 57-59 lbs.

            M2- little dull, too much spring, better off hybriding with a multi like Fisher M-One multi

            Original/ Fluoro- both very dull, sluggish.

 

Tecnifibre

            Red Code: 16 gauge great for flat hitters, 17 gauge for spin hitters, stiff, yet comfortable

            Black Code: rubbery, not good tension maintenance for very long, 18 gauge use as a cross only 

            X-One Biphase: very gut like multi, frays alot but has very soft feel, slight bite

            NRG 2:  More punchy than X-One, and not as soft, but still has nice feel

 

Kirschbaum:

           Pro Line 2: very good blend of touch, feel, slight bite, more for those who like to roll their drives, all around string

           Super Smash: Very thick, bland feel. First generation, can get decent spin though, doesn't last.

 

Babolat:

          Hurricane Tour: solid, smooth playing, good bite, lasting control string, 17 or 18 gauge plays best

          Excel Power: very good multi, has nice soft feel, doesn't last very long, lightweight

          RPM Blast: works well for spinners, better than Black Code, but gets dull and dead at the same time

          Addiction: cheap soft string, loses tension too fast, avoid.

          VS Gut: Best gut I've ever tried. Good protective coating, but better to string only in the mains. Real easy to burn the string as a cross against poly mains and snap if not careful. Prestretch always. The hybrid package with Hurricane Tour is a very good one to have, if you have picky seniors who want the best.

 

Wilson:

           NXT Tour: very good multi but frays very fast

           Sensation: Very bad tension loss, overly soft, cheap. Avoid.

           Enduro: decent playing, some bite but can break suddenly on shearing mishits

 

Head:  FXP Power: polyolefin string, strange feeling, no bite

 

Gamma: 

          Live Wire/ Professional : Very good multis with lots of bite, lasts moderately

          TNT2: soft multi, very decent

          Zo Tour: Good bite, Alu Power competitor

 

Gosen:

         OG Sheep Micro: very trampoliny, only use as a cross

         Nanocubic: punchy multi

         Kevlar: very stiff, always string low like 52 lbs

 

Weiss Cannon:

         B5E: highly rated spin string, crispy, lots of bite

         Scorpion: all around control string

         Silverstring: control string, but very dull on slices, not a great deal of bite

 

Klip Excellerator: very smooth string, no bite, maybe too smooth to point of weird feel

 

Topspin Cyberflash: cheap reel, plays good for about 4 hrs, then loses ALL tension, avoid.

 

Tourna Big Hitter Blue: slightly unpredictable, but has good cut on ball

 

Yonex 850: decent mid range multi, smooth. use in cross with Solinco Tour Bite or Alu Rough

 

Signum:

          Pro Poly Plasma: very good medium performing poly, cheap reel, nice bite, orange, good feel, hold tension

          Hyperion: good soft poly with good feel

          Tornado: rubbery but soft, good feel, but needs to be strung tighter than usual, like 61

 

Polystar:

          Energy: good soft string, for conservative hitters, not much spin, oily coating, cheap reels

          Turbo: excellent spin, blade like profile, loses tension fairly quickly, cheap reels

 

Volkl:

          Cyclone: very textured, crispy, brittle feel, use 17 or 18 gauge only

          Powerfiber: decent multi

 

Boris Becker Bomber: probably the best cross for a stiff poly like Alu Power or Red Code

 

Solinco

          Tour Bite: the best spin string period. Almost as stiff as Alu Power, but has slight trampoline, but not annoying. Always hybrid with either syn gut or multi like Yonex 850.

          Outlast: crappy plastic feel, avoid.

 

MSV Focus Hex: stiff, dull feeling, has some bite. did not like.

 

Pro's Pro: 

          Cyber Power: a cheaper alternative to Alu Power, supposed to have some of the same characteristics

          Vendetta: terrible feel, avoid. no feel.

 

Eagnas:  strings for the budget conscious. Reels are very cheap from Gardena factory, Nano string that might be like Gosen Nanocubic. received only fair performance ratings on stringforum.net. 

 

Synthetic Guts: a must have reel if you're going to do a stringing business

          Prince: great feel, non Duraflex feels better to me

          Dunlop: gold version has great feel

          Head: nice feel

          Wilson Stamina: decent feel

          Forten: very decent feel, cheap.

 

 

 

 

 

Permalink Reply by Hal Wagner on November 7, 2011 at 12:14am

Now that's a list, great info, and I would concur with those reviews. I would say that the average player has not tried more than 3/4 of that list, but its good to have an idea of how all these strings play. I still string for many of my students and most use the most common strings, but I try to always let them know about new and potentially better setups.

Permalink Reply by Tim Prapong on November 7, 2011 at 12:20am

Thanks Hal for concurring. I tried my best to say what the strings were without too much bias. Yeah, I doubt many people has tried all these strings. Unless they're a string junkie like me ;)

Permalink Reply by Giselle Sotelo on November 11, 2011 at 10:15pm

Tim, This is quite the list.  You are awesome!

Permalink Reply by Mark / The Mayor on November 7, 2011 at 3:48pm

I also agree with Hal and Tim that Solinco Tour Bite is a great string.  I have one racquet strung with it right now.  A similar string, that is much more affordable, is Genesis Spin X.  I like it so much, I just bought a reel of it (my first reel peeps!)

Permalink Reply by Tim Prapong on November 7, 2011 at 3:58pm

I've read about Genesis strings. Does Spin X get as much bite as Tour Bite? There is only one string I feel that got more spin and that was Polystar Turbo. A reel of that is $90 from a seller named "BigT Tennis" in Encino, CA. He sells reels on ebay too. Genesis has a similar price.

 

Permalink Reply by Hal Wagner on November 7, 2011 at 8:42pm

Haven't tried Genesis, is it similar to Pro Supex, I see former Pro Sup players using it.

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