Head to head
Dunlop Explosive Synthetic 16 vs Prince Lightning XX 16
Explosive Synthetic 16 leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Explosive Synthetic 16 is 30 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.
Measured, side by side
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.
-
Explosive Synthetic 16540th
Lightning XX 16627th
-
Explosive Synthetic 16271st
Lightning XX 16279th
-
Explosive Synthetic 16529th
Lightning XX 16517th
-
Explosive Synthetic 16210th
Lightning XX 16244th
-
Explosive Synthetic 16149th
Lightning XX 16122nd
-
Explosive Synthetic 16533rd
Lightning XX 16636th
-
Explosive Synthetic 16222nd
Lightning XX 16246th
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 Synthetic 16 at 52 lb
String Lightning XX 16 at 51.4 lb 23.3 kg
Coming from Lightning XX 16 at 52 lb
String Explosive Synthetic 16 at 52.7 lb 23.9 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.
Explosive Synthetic 16 mains / Lightning XX 16 crosses
Lightning XX 16 mains / Explosive Synthetic 16 crosses
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 Synthetic 16
~34 hours of play
Lightning XX 16
~35 hours of play
Both strings in full
| String | Gauge | Price | Stiff lb/in | Loss % | Power % | Spin | Bite COF | Friction COF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunlop Explosive Synthetic 16 Nylon | 16 | find | 180 | 21 | 93 | 3.6 | 0.444 | 0.122 |
| Prince Lightning XX 16 Nylon | 16 | find | 181 | 19 | 93 | 3.4 | 0.398 | 0.117 |
Add a third string Explosive Synthetic 16 in full Lightning XX 16 in full