Head to head

Kirschbaum Xplosive Speed 1.25 vs Tourna Big Hitter Black 7 17

Xplosive Speed 1.25 leads on 5 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is string friction, where Xplosive Speed 1.25 is 13 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Kirschbaum

Xplosive Speed 1.25

Polyester

Tourna

Big Hitter Black 7 17

Polyester · 17 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
18653rd pct
17644th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
4169th pct
4372nd pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
8733rd pct
8631st pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
7.191st pct
6.383rd pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.58594th pct
0.55291st pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.08229th pct
0.08842nd 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 Xplosive Speed 1.25 at 52 lb

String Big Hitter Black 7 17 at 55.0 lb 24.9 kg

Coming from Big Hitter Black 7 17 at 52 lb

String Xplosive Speed 1.25 at 49.1 lb 22.3 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.

Xplosive Speed 1.25 mains / Big Hitter Black 7 17 crosses

Stiffness48th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss70th pct · 1 measured
Energy return32nd pct · 1 measured
Spin potential90th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite94th pct · 1 measured
String friction32nd pct · 1 measured

Big Hitter Black 7 17 mains / Xplosive Speed 1.25 crosses

Stiffness46th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss71st pct · 1 measured
Energy return32nd pct · 1 measured
Spin potential85th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite91st pct · 1 measured
String friction38th 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.

Xplosive Speed 1.25

~19 hours of play

Big Hitter Black 7 17

~18 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Kirschbaum Xplosive Speed 1.25 Polyesterfind18641877.10.5850.082
Tourna Big Hitter Black 7 17 Polyester17$10.5017643866.30.5520.088

Add a third string Xplosive Speed 1.25 in full Big Hitter Black 7 17 in full