Wilson Enduro Tour - Take 2

I strung my second racket with Wilson Enduro Tour 17 and Prince Synthetic Gut w/ Duraflex like my previous one but... this time I went 5% lower on my crosses. Why? Well Yonex recommends that you string your crosses 5% lower than your mains for maximum performance. So I gave it a try.

Setup:
Mains Wilson Enduro Tour 17G 55lbs
Cross Prince Synthetic Gut w/ Duraflex 16G 52lbs

My honest opinion is... I am not sure. It feels like the sweetspot was increseased slightly and I got a little more power compared to my previous setup. But then again, it may be just the placebo effect taking place. Whatever the situation I will have to try different setups with the Yonex recommended tension and continue to evaulate the outcome. If it's going to improve my game because of the placebo effect so be it.

Wilson Enduro Tour

Wilson Enduro Tour
Gauge: 16 (1.30), 17 (1.25), 18 (1.21)
Price: $5/set
Type: Polyester Mono-filament
Color: White

Setup:
Main - Wilson Enduro Tour 17G 55lbs
Cross - Prince Synthetic Gut with Duraflex 16G 57 lbs

Stringing:
Enduro Tour has a very tacky feeling when running the string through your hands. Other polyesters that I have strung were very smooth and silky. Also Enduro Tour stretched quite a bit when pulling tension. Other polyesters that were strung before did not stretch as much.

During this setup I strung the crosses 2 lbs higher than the mains. Why? Because synthetic guts are softer and I decided to up the tension to stiffen the string bed.

For only $5 a set, this string performs very well. Power is average. If you are used to strings such as Luxilon Alu Power or Pro Supex Big Ace, you will be feeling that Enduro is very under powered. But you have to keep in mind that those strings are powerful strings. The spin generation on Enduro is very good. I was able to get very good ball bite and produce some wicked spin. On ground strokes, the spin came in handy for short wide angle shots. Very useful for kick and slice serves. Serves were kicking high and away.

This string is fairly durable initially. After 4 hours of play very little notching is present. But then about 10 hours of play its very close to breaking. Feel is average in the beginning but then dies in about 30mins to an hour. That's pretty quick in my opinion. Start to lose a lot of control and spin. The other complaint I have is string movement. After 30mins of hitting the strings started to move. That's pretty short in my opinion. But I guess for $5 a set what do you expect.

Quick Review (out of 10):
Power: 5
Control: 6
Spin: 8
Stiffness: 5
Feel: 5
Durability: 5
Tension Maintenance: 4

Head Natural Gut

Head Natural Gut
Gauge: 16G (1.30)
Price: $24/ half-set
Type: Natural Gut
Color: Clear and Slightly Natural

Setup: Head Natural Gut 16G 55 lbs / Luxilon Alu Power Fluoro 17G 55 lbs

So head makes natural gut. I don't have a lot of experience with natural gut because it's too expensive and it doesn't last. After playing with this monster, I found out why pros choose natural gut over any other string.

Stringing:
So I give it a little pre-stretching action and away we go. Very easy to string. Half set so no cutting and installation on mains was a breeze. Just have to be careful not to kink the string when pulling through holes. Make sure to adjust clamps and tension head so you don't damage the string.

By the way, my set up is very similar to what the Japanese ATP pro Kei Nishikori uses. He uses Wilson natural instead of Head natural. Hybrid of gut and Luxilon Alu Power Fluoro.

Ground Strokes:
Very good power generation. Spin generation was very easy and the feel was awesome. You can actually FEEEEEEEL the ball with gut mains. Good ball pocketing and the control was superb. I was able to get a heavy topspin shot with ease.

Serves:
Again really good ball bite for slice and kick serves. Was able to kick high and away from opponent. Kick height was about shoulder to head level. When needed to blast a flat serve, ample power was there.

Volleys and Overhead:
Again nice feel and it's pretty much the same as above.

Durability Issue:
First 2 hours of play was superb. Excellent feel, excellent ball pocketing, excellent power. You get the picture. At the 1 hour mark it started to fray slightly. I was expecting it to fray more but it started to fall apart rather than fray. At the 2 hour mark, signs of complete coating breakage and unraveling were seen. 2.5-3 hour mark it was gone.

Conclusion:
Head's natural gut performs very well in all areas. If you are not a string breaker and can afford gut, this is one to try. The only drawback is that it's fairly expensive for only a half set. A full set of Babolat VS is $42. $24 for a half set is...uhhh yea.

Quick Review (out of 10):
Power: 9
Control: 9
Spin: 9
Stiffness: 5
Feel: 9
Durability: 2
Tension Maintenance: 10

Genesis Black Magic

Genesis Black Magic
Gauge: 16 (1.29), 17 (1.23)
Price: $8/set
Type: Mono-filament Co-polymer
Color: Black

My setup: Black Magic 17G 55lbs / Gosen OG Micro 16G 55lbs

WOW.... This string is something.

VERY VERY nice string. When freshly strung, crisp but not too crisp. Great power, great spin. Very nice control, very nice feel, and very nice tension maintenance. The string is not too soft and not too stiff. It's just about right. In my opinion, this string does everything well. And the price, it can't beat it. If you swing fast enough you can feel ball pocketing. Clocked about 10 hours on this string and yes the there is tension loss but it's very minimal.

Really good amount of power can be generated. but some players may think this string has too much power. If that is the case get the 16G and string a little be tighter. This is one of my favorite polyesters to date. Probably will be in my top 3 choices.

Quick Review (out of 10):
Power: 9
Control: 9
Spin: 8
Stiffness: 7
Feel: 8
Durability: 8
Tension Maintenance: 8