StringSpec
String finder

Browse all 791

Head to head

Dunlop Explosive 18 (1.20) vs Yonex Poly Tour Strike 16L (1.25)

Explosive 18 (1.20) leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is string friction, where Explosive 18 (1.20) is 28 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Dunlop

Explosive 18 (1.20)

Polyester · 18 ga

Yonex

Poly Tour Strike 16L (1.25)

Polyester · 16L ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
19462nd pct
20068th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
2945th pct
2842nd pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
9058th pct
8850th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
5.056th pct
4.645th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.41836th pct
0.45156th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.08331st 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 Explosive 18 (1.20) at 52 lb

String Poly Tour Strike 16L (1.25) at 50.6 lb 23.0 kg

Coming from Poly Tour Strike 16L (1.25) at 52 lb

String Explosive 18 (1.20) at 53.4 lb 24.2 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.

Explosive 18 (1.20) mains / Poly Tour Strike 16L (1.25) crosses

Stiffness64th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss44th pct · 1 measured
Energy return56th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential55th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite39th pct · 1 measured
String friction38th pct · 1 measured

Poly Tour Strike 16L (1.25) mains / Explosive 18 (1.20) crosses

Stiffness65th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss43rd pct · 1 measured
Energy return54th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential47th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite54th pct · 1 measured
String friction53rd 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.

Explosive 18 (1.20)

~27 hours of play

Poly Tour Strike 16L (1.25)

~27 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Dunlop Explosive 18 (1.20) Polyester18find19429905.00.4180.083
Yonex Poly Tour Strike 16L (1.25) Polyester16Lfind20028884.60.4510.097

Add a third string Explosive 18 (1.20) in full Poly Tour Strike 16L (1.25) in full