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Head to head

Babolat Ballistic Polymono 16 vs Kirschbaum Long Life 15

Ballistic Polymono 16 leads on 5 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is string friction, where Ballistic Polymono 16 is 21 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Babolat

Ballistic Polymono 16

Polyester · 16 ga

Kirschbaum

Long Life 15

Polyester · 15 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
21886th pct
23294th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
4679th pct
5595th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
839th pct
803rd pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
4.748th pct
4.645th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.40225th pct
0.43044th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.08534th pct
0.09454th pct

Bars are percentile against all 788 strings, and the marked side is the one that measures better, which is not always the one you want. A firmer bed is worse for your elbow and better for your control, and no measurement knows which of those you came for.

Which one wins, by problem

Each string's standing on the site's rankings, out of every measured string in the database. This is where a comparison stops being arithmetic and starts being a decision.

Swapping between them: what tension?

Bed stiffness is published at one reference tension, so the only honest conversion is to scale it. These are starting points from 52 lb, not prescriptions. The calculator takes your own tension.

Coming from Ballistic Polymono 16 at 52 lb

String Long Life 15 at 47.8 lb 21.7 kg

Coming from Long Life 15 at 52 lb

String Ballistic Polymono 16 at 56.3 lb 25.5 kg

Hybrid: what if you used both?

Estimated, not measured. No hybrid combination has been tested as a bed. These figures are the two strings' own lab measurements weighted by how much of the bed each one actually is. Treat them as a guide to which way a pairing moves, never as lab data.

Ballistic Polymono 16 mains / Long Life 15 crosses

Stiffness90th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss87th pct · 1 measured
Energy return7th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential47th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite28th pct · 1 measured
String friction41st pct · 1 measured

Long Life 15 mains / Ballistic Polymono 16 crosses

Stiffness92nd pct · 1 measured
Tension loss92nd pct · 1 measured
Energy return5th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential47th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite42nd pct · 1 measured
String friction48th pct · 1 measured

Open this in the hybrid builder

Which goes dead first?

Estimated from tension loss, which is the only thing the database measures about ageing. This is when the bed stops playing the way you strung it, not when the string breaks.

Ballistic Polymono 16

~16 hours of play

Long Life 15

~12 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Babolat Ballistic Polymono 16 Polyester16find21846834.70.4020.085
Kirschbaum Long Life 15 Polyester15find23255804.60.4300.094

Add a third string Ballistic Polymono 16 in full Long Life 15 in full