Head to head

Dunlop Black Widow 16 vs SuperString Viper V2 Rough 16L

Black Widow 16 leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Black Widow 16 is 19 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Dunlop

Black Widow 16

Polyester · 16 ga

SuperString

Viper V2 Rough 16L

Polyester · 16L ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
19361st pct
19462nd pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
3864th pct
3865th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
8739th pct
8848th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
5.262nd pct
5.056th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.55791st pct
0.48672nd pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.10772nd pct
0.09759th 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 Black Widow 16 at 52 lb

String Viper V2 Rough 16L at 48.7 lb 22.1 kg

Coming from Viper V2 Rough 16L at 52 lb

String Black Widow 16 at 55.1 lb 25.0 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.

Black Widow 16 mains / Viper V2 Rough 16L crosses

Stiffness61st pct · 1 measured
Tension loss65th pct · 1 measured
Energy return43rd pct · 1 measured
Spin potential61st pct · 1 measured
Ball bite90th pct · 1 measured
String friction69th pct · 1 measured

Viper V2 Rough 16L mains / Black Widow 16 crosses

Stiffness61st pct · 1 measured
Tension loss65th pct · 1 measured
Energy return45th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential58th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite76th pct · 1 measured
String friction62nd 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.

Black Widow 16

~21 hours of play

Viper V2 Rough 16L

~21 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Dunlop Black Widow 16 Polyester16$10.9919338875.20.5570.107
SuperString Viper V2 Rough 16L Polyester16Lfind19438885.00.4860.097

Add a third string Black Widow 16 in full Viper V2 Rough 16L in full