Head to head

Gamma Live Wire 16 vs IsoSpeed Energetic 17

Live Wire 16 leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Energetic 17 is 18 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Gamma

Live Wire 16

Nylon/Zyex · 16 ga

IsoSpeed

Energetic 17

Nylon/Polyolefin · 17 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
15924th pct
15720th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
3048th pct
3457th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
9165th pct
9061st pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
2.65th pct
1.91st pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.38113th pct
0.41332nd pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.14592nd pct
0.22099th 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 Live Wire 16 at 52 lb

String Energetic 17 at 54.6 lb 24.8 kg

Coming from Energetic 17 at 52 lb

String Live Wire 16 at 50.1 lb 22.7 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.

Live Wire 16 mains / Energetic 17 crosses

Stiffness22nd pct · 1 measured
Tension loss50th pct · 1 measured
Energy return64th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential4th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite15th pct · 1 measured
String friction95th pct · 1 measured

Energetic 17 mains / Live Wire 16 crosses

Stiffness21st pct · 1 measured
Tension loss53rd pct · 1 measured
Energy return63rd pct · 1 measured
Spin potential2nd pct · 1 measured
Ball bite28th pct · 1 measured
String friction98th 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.

Live Wire 16

~26 hours of play

Energetic 17

~23 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Gamma Live Wire 16 Nylon/Zyex16$11.8915930912.60.3810.145
IsoSpeed Energetic 17 Nylon/Polyolefin17find15734901.90.4130.220

Add a third string Live Wire 16 in full Energetic 17 in full