Head to head

IsoSpeed Pulse 16 vs Polyfibre Hexablade 16L (1.25)

Pulse 16 leads on 5 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Hexablade 16L (1.25) is 49 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

IsoSpeed

Pulse 16

Polyester · 16 ga

Polyfibre

Hexablade 16L (1.25)

Polyester · 16L ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
16532nd pct
17240th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
5796th pct
6398th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
826th pct
791st pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
4.748th pct
4.645th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.3462nd pct
0.44351st pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.07412th pct
0.09759th 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 Pulse 16 at 52 lb

String Hexablade 16L (1.25) at 46.2 lb 21.0 kg

Coming from Hexablade 16L (1.25) at 52 lb

String Pulse 16 at 58.5 lb 26.5 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.

Pulse 16 mains / Hexablade 16L (1.25) crosses

Stiffness36th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss96th pct · 1 measured
Energy return4th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential47th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite5th pct · 1 measured
String friction22nd pct · 1 measured

Hexablade 16L (1.25) mains / Pulse 16 crosses

Stiffness37th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss97th pct · 1 measured
Energy return3rd pct · 1 measured
Spin potential47th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite43rd pct · 1 measured
String friction48th 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.

Pulse 16

~11 hours of play

Hexablade 16L (1.25)

~11 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
IsoSpeed Pulse 16 Polyester16find16557824.70.3460.074
Polyfibre Hexablade 16L (1.25) Polyester16Lfind17263794.60.4430.097

Add a third string Pulse 16 in full Hexablade 16L (1.25) in full