Head to head

Head Ultra Tour 16 vs Pacific Poly Force 16L

Ultra Tour 16 leads on 3 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Ultra Tour 16 is 15 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Head

Ultra Tour 16

Polyester · 16 ga

Pacific

Poly Force 16L

Polyester · 16L ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
20270th pct
20876th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
4577th pct
4678th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
8628th pct
8628th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
4.543rd pct
4.543rd pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.39420th pct
0.3615th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.08739th pct
0.08126th 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 Ultra Tour 16 at 52 lb

String Poly Force 16L at 46.0 lb 20.9 kg

Coming from Poly Force 16L at 52 lb

String Ultra Tour 16 at 58.1 lb 26.4 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.

Ultra Tour 16 mains / Poly Force 16L crosses

Stiffness72nd pct · 1 measured
Tension loss78th pct · 1 measured
Energy return28th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential43rd pct · 1 measured
Ball bite17th pct · 1 measured
String friction35th pct · 1 measured

Poly Force 16L mains / Ultra Tour 16 crosses

Stiffness73rd pct · 1 measured
Tension loss78th pct · 1 measured
Energy return28th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential43rd pct · 1 measured
Ball bite7th pct · 1 measured
String friction30th 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.

Ultra Tour 16

~17 hours of play

Poly Force 16L

~16 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Head Ultra Tour 16 Polyester16find20245864.50.3940.087
Pacific Poly Force 16L Polyester16Lfind20846864.50.3610.081

Add a third string Ultra Tour 16 in full Poly Force 16L in full