Head to head
Grapplesnake Alpha 17 (1.25) vs MSV Focus Hex Soft 17 (1.25)
Alpha 17 (1.25) leads on 3 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Alpha 17 (1.25) is 22 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.
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Alpha 17 (1.25)82nd
Focus Hex Soft 17 (1.25)118th
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Alpha 17 (1.25)578th
Focus Hex Soft 17 (1.25)612th
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Alpha 17 (1.25)170th
Focus Hex Soft 17 (1.25)172nd
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Alpha 17 (1.25)394th
Focus Hex Soft 17 (1.25)352nd
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Alpha 17 (1.25)365th
Focus Hex Soft 17 (1.25)347th
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Alpha 17 (1.25)331st
Focus Hex Soft 17 (1.25)201st
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Alpha 17 (1.25)419th
Focus Hex Soft 17 (1.25)377th
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 Alpha 17 (1.25) at 52 lb
String Focus Hex Soft 17 (1.25) at 49.8 lb 22.6 kg
Coming from Focus Hex Soft 17 (1.25) at 52 lb
String Alpha 17 (1.25) at 54.3 lb 24.6 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.
Alpha 17 (1.25) mains / Focus Hex Soft 17 (1.25) crosses
Focus Hex Soft 17 (1.25) mains / Alpha 17 (1.25) 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.
Alpha 17 (1.25)
~26 hours of play
Focus Hex Soft 17 (1.25)
~26 hours of play
Both strings in full
| String | Gauge | Price | Stiff lb/in | Loss % | Power % | Spin | Bite COF | Friction COF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grapplesnake Alpha 17 (1.25) Polyester | 17 | find | 218 | 29 | 89 | 6.7 | 0.532 | 0.079 |
| MSV Focus Hex Soft 17 (1.25) Polyester | 17 | find | 228 | 29 | 91 | 6.3 | 0.469 | 0.075 |
Add a third string Alpha 17 (1.25) in full Focus Hex Soft 17 (1.25) in full