Head to head

LaserFibre Native Tour 17 (1.25) vs Poly Star Strike 16 (1.30)

Native Tour 17 (1.25) leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Native Tour 17 (1.25) is 45 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

LaserFibre

Native Tour 17 (1.25)

Polyester · 17 ga

Poly Star

Strike 16 (1.30)

Polyester · 16 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
20068th pct
20169th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
4680th pct
4987th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
8413th pct
838th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
4.954th pct
5.159th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.50077th pct
0.41433rd pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.10266th 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 Native Tour 17 (1.25) at 52 lb

String Strike 16 (1.30) at 51.7 lb 23.5 kg

Coming from Strike 16 (1.30) at 52 lb

String Native Tour 17 (1.25) at 52.3 lb 23.7 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.

Native Tour 17 (1.25) mains / Strike 16 (1.30) crosses

Stiffness68th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss82nd pct · 1 measured
Energy return11th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential55th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite73rd pct · 1 measured
String friction57th pct · 1 measured

Strike 16 (1.30) mains / Native Tour 17 (1.25) crosses

Stiffness69th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss85th pct · 1 measured
Energy return10th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential58th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite42nd 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.

Native Tour 17 (1.25)

~16 hours of play

Strike 16 (1.30)

~14 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
LaserFibre Native Tour 17 (1.25) Polyester17find20046844.90.5000.102
Poly Star Strike 16 (1.30) Polyester16find20149835.10.4140.081

Add a third string Native Tour 17 (1.25) in full Strike 16 (1.30) in full