Head to head

Gamma Professional 16 vs Gamma Professional 17

Professional 17 leads on 5 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is tension loss, where Professional 17 is 6 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Gamma

Professional 16

Nylon/Zyex · 16 ga

Gamma

Professional 17

Nylon · 17 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
15012th pct
1458th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
2535th pct
2330th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
9168th pct
9272nd pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
2.44th pct
2.87th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.40225th pct
0.39319th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.16596th pct
0.13890th 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 Professional 16 at 52 lb

String Professional 17 at 54.2 lb 24.6 kg

Coming from Professional 17 at 52 lb

String Professional 16 at 49.9 lb 22.6 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.

Professional 16 mains / Professional 17 crosses

Stiffness10th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss33rd pct · 1 measured
Energy return70th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential4th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite24th pct · 1 measured
String friction95th pct · 1 measured

Professional 17 mains / Professional 16 crosses

Stiffness10th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss32nd pct · 1 measured
Energy return70th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential7th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite20th pct · 1 measured
String friction92nd 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.

Professional 16

~29 hours of play

Professional 17

~31 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Gamma Professional 16 Nylon/Zyex16find15025912.40.4020.165
Gamma Professional 17 Nylon17find14523922.80.3930.138

Add a third string Professional 16 in full Professional 17 in full