Head to head

Babolat RPM Blast 16 vs Signum Pro Poly Speed Spin 1.28

RPM Blast 16 leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Poly Speed Spin 1.28 is 43 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Babolat

RPM Blast 16

Polyester · 16 ga

Signum Pro

Poly Speed Spin 1.28

Polyester

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
23395th pct
24699th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
4679th pct
4168th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
8524th pct
8519th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
4.543rd pct
4.337th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.40627th pct
0.48070th pct
Snapback lower = strings slide and snap back
0.09046th pct
0.11278th 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 RPM Blast 16 at 52 lb

String Poly Speed Spin 1.28 at 48.5 lb 22.0 kg

Coming from Poly Speed Spin 1.28 at 52 lb

String RPM Blast 16 at 54.9 lb 24.9 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.

RPM Blast 16 mains / Poly Speed Spin 1.28 crosses

Stiffness97th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss74th pct · 1 measured
Energy return22nd pct · 1 measured
Spin potential42nd pct · 1 measured
Ball bite35th pct · 1 measured
Snapback56th pct · 1 measured

Poly Speed Spin 1.28 mains / RPM Blast 16 crosses

Stiffness98th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss71st pct · 1 measured
Energy return22nd pct · 1 measured
Spin potential38th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite65th pct · 1 measured
Snapback71st 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.

RPM Blast 16

~16 hours of play

Poly Speed Spin 1.28

~19 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugeStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFSnap COF
Babolat RPM Blast 16 Polyester1623346854.50.4060.090
Signum Pro Poly Speed Spin 1.28 Polyester24641854.30.4800.112

Add a third string RPM Blast 16 in full Poly Speed Spin 1.28 in full