Head to head

Gamma Professional 17 vs Wilson Reaction 16

Professional 17 leads on 5 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Reaction 16 is 21 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Gamma

Professional 17

Nylon · 17 ga

Wilson

Reaction 16

Nylon · 16 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
1458th pct
1469th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
2330th pct
2639th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
9272nd pct
9168th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
2.87th pct
2.44th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.39319th pct
0.42440th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.13890th pct
0.17797th 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 17 at 52 lb

String Reaction 16 at 51.2 lb 23.2 kg

Coming from Reaction 16 at 52 lb

String Professional 17 at 52.9 lb 24.0 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.

Professional 17 mains / Reaction 16 crosses

Stiffness9th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss33rd pct · 1 measured
Energy return70th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential7th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite22nd pct · 1 measured
String friction92nd pct · 1 measured

Reaction 16 mains / Professional 17 crosses

Stiffness9th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss36th pct · 1 measured
Energy return70th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential4th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite37th pct · 1 measured
String friction96th 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 17

~31 hours of play

Reaction 16

~28 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Gamma Professional 17 Nylon17find14523922.80.3930.138
Wilson Reaction 16 Nylon16find14626912.40.4240.177

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