Head to head

Babolat FiberTour 16 vs Dunlop S-Gut 17

They split the measurements 2–2. The widest gap is ball bite, where S-Gut 17 is 11 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Babolat

FiberTour 16

Nylon · 16 ga

Dunlop

S-Gut 17

Nylon/Polyurethane · 17 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
16330th pct
16330th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
2328th pct
2123rd pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
9493rd pct
9490th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
3.111th pct
3.111th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.38716th pct
0.40627th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.12384th pct
0.12987th pct

Bars are percentile against all 791 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 FiberTour 16 at 52 lb

String S-Gut 17 at 51.5 lb 23.4 kg

Coming from S-Gut 17 at 52 lb

String FiberTour 16 at 52.6 lb 23.9 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.

FiberTour 16 mains / S-Gut 17 crosses

Stiffness30th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss27th pct · 1 measured
Energy return92nd pct · 1 measured
Spin potential12th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite17th pct · 1 measured
String friction86th pct · 1 measured

S-Gut 17 mains / FiberTour 16 crosses

Stiffness30th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss25th pct · 1 measured
Energy return91st pct · 1 measured
Spin potential12th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite26th pct · 1 measured
String friction87th 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.

FiberTour 16

~32 hours of play

S-Gut 17

~33 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Babolat FiberTour 16 Nylon16find16323943.10.3870.123
Dunlop S-Gut 17 Nylon/Polyurethane17$5.4916321943.10.4060.129

Add a third string FiberTour 16 in full S-Gut 17 in full