StringSpec
String finder

Browse all 788

Head to head

Babolat RPM Blast Rough 17 vs Diadem Elite XT 16

RPM Blast Rough 17 leads on 5 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is string friction, where RPM Blast Rough 17 is 13 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Babolat

RPM Blast Rough 17

Polyester · 17 ga

Diadem

Elite XT 16

Polyester · 16 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
19664th pct
20573rd pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
3659th pct
4068th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
8629th pct
8628th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
9.9100th pct
8.798th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.56492nd pct
0.65499th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.0570th pct
0.07513th 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 17 at 52 lb

String Elite XT 16 at 49.8 lb 22.6 kg

Coming from Elite XT 16 at 52 lb

String RPM Blast Rough 17 at 54.3 lb 24.6 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 17 mains / Elite XT 16 crosses

Stiffness68th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss63rd pct · 1 measured
Energy return29th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential99th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite94th pct · 1 measured
String friction1st pct · 1 measured

Elite XT 16 mains / RPM Blast Rough 17 crosses

Stiffness69th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss65th pct · 1 measured
Energy return29th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential99th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite98th pct · 1 measured
String friction5th 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 17

~22 hours of play

Elite XT 16

~20 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Babolat RPM Blast Rough 17 Polyester17$21.0019636869.90.5640.057
Diadem Elite XT 16 Polyester16find20540868.70.6540.075

Add a third string RPM Blast Rough 17 in full Elite XT 16 in full