Head to head

Babolat RPM Blast Rough 15L vs Grapplesnake Tour M8 17 (1.25)

Tour M8 17 (1.25) leads on 5 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is stiffness, where RPM Blast Rough 15L is 12 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Babolat

RPM Blast Rough 15L

Polyester · 15L ga

Grapplesnake

Tour M8 17 (1.25)

Polyester · 17 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
20068th pct
21080th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
3763rd pct
3457th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
8631st pct
8738th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
7.393rd pct
8.297th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.52385th pct
0.54490th pct
Snapback lower = strings slide and snap back
0.0727th pct
0.0662nd 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 Rough 15L at 52 lb

String Tour M8 17 (1.25) at 49.3 lb 22.4 kg

Coming from Tour M8 17 (1.25) at 52 lb

String RPM Blast Rough 15L at 54.8 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 Rough 15L mains / Tour M8 17 (1.25) crosses

Stiffness72nd pct · 1 measured
Tension loss60th pct · 1 measured
Energy return34th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential94th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite86th pct · 1 measured
Snapback5th pct · 1 measured

Tour M8 17 (1.25) mains / RPM Blast Rough 15L crosses

Stiffness74th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss59th pct · 1 measured
Energy return35th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential97th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite89th pct · 1 measured
Snapback2nd 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 Rough 15L

~21 hours of play

Tour M8 17 (1.25)

~23 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugeStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFSnap COF
Babolat RPM Blast Rough 15L Polyester15L20037867.30.5230.072
Grapplesnake Tour M8 17 (1.25) Polyester1721034878.20.5440.066

Add a third string RPM Blast Rough 15L in full Tour M8 17 (1.25) in full