Yonex Pro Poly Tour

Yonex Pro Poly Tour

Gauge: 17 (1.25)
Price: Unknown
Type: Polyester
Color: Yellow

Setup:
Mains - Yonex Pro Poly Tour 17G @ 45lbs
Cross - Prince Synthetic Gut w/ Duraflex 16G @ 42lbs

Stringing: Very easy to string. String is a little rough, not as smooth.

Play: I was able to pick up a set of these from a Yonex rep. These strings are used by WTA player Maria Kirilenko. The string has been out on sale in Japan since earlier this year but still have not been released in the United States. The Japanese Yonex website claims that the new string is 15% more durable and is 1.3% more powerful when compared with other polyesters of 17G.

Durable? yes

Powerful? ummm....not really. Well the power kicked in when the string lost tension.

So how did it play? Well fresh off the stringing machine, the power was definitely on the average side. Not very powerful like Alu Power or Big Ace, but not under powered like Polylon. Feel, ball bite, control, was on the average side again.

I would say this string felt very similar to Wilson's Enduro Tour. But with very little string movement and much much better durability.

After about 2 hours of play, the strings settled in and there was a definite increase in power and ball bite. But again it's not to the point of "WOW!". As the Japanese website pointed out, durability was up there. Notching was not present and surprisingly the strings still didn't move very much.

After 4-6 hours of play, the string started to die at a rapid pace. There was much more string movement. Power was getting somewhat uncontrollable. Notching was present but not as much when compared to other strings. I eventually cut the strings out because of loss of tension.

Quick Review (out of 10):
Power: 6
Control: 6
Spin: 6
Stiffness: 7
Feel: 6
Durability: 7
Tension Maintenance: 6

Pro Supex Big Ace

Pro Supex Big Ace
Gauge: 16 (1.28), 17 (1.25), 18 (1.22)
Price: $8/set
Type: Polyester
Color: Red, Pearl White, Lime Yellow

Setup:
Mains - Pro Supex Big Ace 17G @ 45lbs
Cross - Pro Supex Maxim Touch 16G @ 42lbs

Stringing: Fairly easy to string. Nothing special.

Play: I haven't been able to post an entry for about a month. I haven't had time to play test strings because of consistent tournaments and league matches. Here is my take on Pro Supex Big Ace.

Pro Supex Big Ace has been around for a few years now. It was the talk on Tennis Warehouse's strings discussion board. This string still was one of my favorite strings to play with until recently. My reasoning can be found below.

Big Ace has excellent playability for its price. It is considered as a powerful and soft polyester. Even with the big power you can get with Big Ace, the string also has ample control, spin, and feel. The string can be easily played for 4-6 hours before tension starts to loosen. My favorite aspect of the string was the power and spin that you were able to generate. I think it was as good as Luxilon Alu Power. The biggest drawback on this string was the playability drops off like a rock after the first 4-6 hours. The string becomes very very mushy and soft. This characteristic of the string was the only reason I switched to another string. But don't get me wrong. This string is an excellent string to play with when freshly strung. I still know many players who still love playing with Big Ace. I recommend that players cut out the string one the string bed becomes mushy.

Quick Review (out of 10):
Power: 9
Control: 8
Spin: 8
Stiffness: 6
Feel: 7
Durability: 6
Tension Maintenance: 6

MSV Focus Hex

MSV Focus Hex
Gauge: 16L (1.27), 17 (1.23), 18 (1.18), 18L (1.10)
Price: $7.90/set
Type: Co-Poly Hexagonal
Color: White, Black, Red

Setup 1:
Main - MSV Focus Hex 18LG @ 45lbs
Cross - Prince Synthetic Gut 16G @ 42lbs


Setup 2:
Main - MSV Focus Hex 18LG @ 50lbs
Cross - Prince Synthetic Gut 16G @ 48lbs

Stringing:
Fairly easy to string. Nothing special. On the back of the package the manufacture recommends that this string should not be strung over 24kg (53lbs)in the mains and 22kg (49lbs)in the crosses.

Play: This string won "String of the Year" in 2007 and it shows. The playability of this string is incredible. I consider this string to be one of the best overall valued strings that I have played with recently. Power, feel, control, spin, was all there. Furthermore, the tension maintenance was excellent compared to other big-name mainstream polyester strings. I was able to get 6-8 hours comfortably before noticing a significant drop in tension.

The string is on the softer side when compared to Luxilon Alu Power or Tecnifibre Pro Red Code. The string is very comfortable at mid tension and has increased comfort at even lower tensions. Along with Genesis Black Code, I would rate this string as one of the best price to playability ratio.

Quick Review (out of 10):
Power: 8
Control: 8
Spin: 9
Stiffness: 6
Feel: 7
Durability: 7
Tension Maintenance: 7

Pro Supex Matrix Hybrid

Pro Supex Matrix Hybrid
Gauge 1: 16L Big Ace (1.25) Maxim Touch (1.30)
Gauge 2: 17L Big Ace (1.22) Maxim Touch (1.25)
Price: $7.95/set
Type: Co-poly / Multifilament Hybrid
Color: Red / White

Note: If you purchase the retail pack, Big Ace will come in Red. I was able to recreate this hybrid from reels of Pro Supex strings I had.

Setup
Mains: Pro Supex Maxim Touch 16G @ 55lbs
Cross: Pro Supex Big Ace 17G @ 52lbs

Play Test:
In this play test, Maxim Touch was strung on the mains to see Maxim Touch's playability. I will be focusing mainly on how my main strings perform since the crosses only act as support. I also have another setup that I will be blogging where Big Ace were strung on the mains.

Pro Supex Maxim Touch has earned very high reviews among other play testers. These testimonials can be seen all over the internet. My experience with this hybrid setup has been very positive. Maxim Touch in the mains provided plenty of power, feel, control, and spin. I felt that Maxim Touch played very similar to Wilson's NXT in pre-stretched form. The only down side about Maxim Touch was that it became fairly mushy towards the end of its life. If I had a full bed of Maxim Touch, the mushiness would be bothersome. By having a poly in the crosses helped maintain stiffness of the string bed.

A head to head comparison is shown below:
Wilson NXT Pre-stretch vs. Pro Supex Maxim Touch
Power: NXT by a slight margin.
Control: About the same.
Spin: Ball bite was slightly better with NXT pre-stretched.
Stiffness: About the same
Feel: About the same
Durability: About the same
Playability for Price: Maxim Touch by a huge margin.

The playability-price ratio is what really stood out. Maxim Touch's playability is very similar but the price is at a much lower rate. A set of Maxim Touch is priced about $9 where as NXT is priced at $16. This multifilament is highly recommended for player who do not want to play with polyester strings and want to play with a high-end feeling multi at almost half the price.

Quick Review (out of 10)
Power: 8
Control: 8
Spin: 8
Stiffness: 5.5
Feel: 6.5
Durability: 4
Tension Maintenance: 7

NXT vs. NXT Pre-Stretched vs. KGut

NXT versus NXT Pre-Stretched versus KGut

Since I played with 3 top end multi-filaments by Wilson, here is a quick comparison on all 3 strings.

Power: NXT -> NXT PS -> KGut
Control: NXT = NXT PS -> KGut (Very thin margin. Mostly the same)
Spin: NXT PS -> NXT -> KGut
Stiffness: KGut -> NXT PS -> NXT
Feel: NXT -> NXT PS -> KGut
Durability: KGut -> NXT = NXT PS (Very thin margin. Mostly the same)
Tension Maintenance: All about the same

From my experience, NXT performs better than KGut.

Wilson NXT (pre-stretched)

Wilson NXT (Pre-Stretched)

Setup
Main: NXT PS 16G 55lbs
Cross: Gosen Polylon Ice 17G 52lbs

Stringing: It is suggested by many stringers that NXT be pre-stretched before stringing. NXT holds massive coil memory in its stock form. If strung without stretching, the string tends to lose tension quicker and play much softer than anticipated.

I decided to give NXT a stretch and compare it to the stock form of NXT. Here is the quick comparison between NXT and NXT pre-stretched.

Power: NXT
Control: About the same
Spin: NXT PS by a slight margin
Stiffness: NXT PS
Feel: NXT
Durability: About the same
Tension Maintenance: NXT PS

NXT PS plays slightly with more spin and stiffness. For me stock form and stretching it did not make a huge difference in playability. Others may argue that stretching NXT makes a huge difference in play. Bottom line is I believe stretch or no stretch all comes down to personal preference.

Wilson NXT

Wilson NXT
Gauge: 16 (1.30), 17(1.24)
Price: $16/set
Color: White
Setup:
Mains Wilson NXT 16G 55lbs
Cross Gosen Polylon Ice 17G 52lbs

Stringing: Nothing special. Very easy to string. Watch out not to kink it.

Play:
NXT is considered to be one of the most popular premium multi-filament strings for players of all levels. You really get what you pay for in this string. The string plays lively compared to low end multi-filaments. NXT gives plenty of pop, control, and feel. The string is well rounded and overall the value is great.

Durability is on the low side. Again I am a string breaker and NXT lasted me about 5 hours of play. If you are not a choric string breaker, NXT will give you great playability for a reasonable price.

Quick Review (out of 10):
Power: 9
Control: 8
Spin: 8
Stiffness: 5
Feel: 7
Durability: 3
Tension Maintenance: 7