Head to head

Gamma Zo Tour 16 vs Gosen Polylon 16

Polylon 16 leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is string friction, where Polylon 16 is 36 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Gamma

Zo Tour 16

Unspecified · 16 ga

Gosen

Polylon 16

Polyester · 16 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
21583rd pct
20775th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
5292nd pct
5190th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
838th pct
826th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
3.824th pct
4.132nd pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.42239th pct
0.3574th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.11076th pct
0.08739th 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 Zo Tour 16 at 52 lb

String Polylon 16 at 54.6 lb 24.8 kg

Coming from Polylon 16 at 52 lb

String Zo Tour 16 at 48.6 lb 22.0 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.

Zo Tour 16 mains / Polylon 16 crosses

Stiffness80th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss91st pct · 1 measured
Energy return7th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential25th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite31st pct · 1 measured
String friction69th pct · 1 measured

Polylon 16 mains / Zo Tour 16 crosses

Stiffness79th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss91st pct · 1 measured
Energy return7th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential31st pct · 1 measured
Ball bite7th pct · 1 measured
String friction52nd 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.

Zo Tour 16

~12 hours of play

Polylon 16

~13 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Gamma Zo Tour 1616find21552833.80.4220.110
Gosen Polylon 16 Polyester16find20751824.10.3570.087

Add a third string Zo Tour 16 in full Polylon 16 in full