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Head to head

Head ETS 16 vs Wilson NXT 17

NXT 17 leads on 3 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where NXT 17 is 74 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Head

ETS 16

Nylon · 16 ga

Wilson

NXT 17

Nylon · 17 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
15619th pct
15619th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
2534th pct
2329th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
9598th pct
9490th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
1.91st pct
2.02nd pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.3311st pct
0.49375th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.17396th pct
0.248100th pct

Bars are percentile against all 788 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 ETS 16 at 52 lb

String NXT 17 at 50.7 lb 23.0 kg

Coming from NXT 17 at 52 lb

String ETS 16 at 55.0 lb 24.9 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.

ETS 16 mains / NXT 17 crosses

Stiffness19th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss32nd pct · 1 measured
Energy return96th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential2nd pct · 1 measured
Ball bite3rd pct · 1 measured
String friction97th pct · 1 measured

NXT 17 mains / ETS 16 crosses

Stiffness19th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss31st pct · 1 measured
Energy return95th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential2nd pct · 1 measured
Ball bite65th pct · 1 measured
String friction99th 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.

ETS 16

~30 hours of play

NXT 17

~31 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Head ETS 16 Nylon16find15625951.90.3310.173
Wilson NXT 17 Nylon17$23.9515623942.00.4930.248

Add a third string ETS 16 in full NXT 17 in full