Head to head

Polyfibre Hexablade 16L (1.25) vs Polyfibre TCS 16/1.30

Hexablade 16L (1.25) leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Hexablade 16L (1.25) is 35 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Polyfibre

Hexablade 16L (1.25)

Polyester · 16L ga

Polyfibre

TCS 16/1.30

Polyester · 16 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
17240th pct
17341st pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
6398th pct
6097th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
791st pct
781st pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
4.645th pct
4.440th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.44351st pct
0.38716th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.09759th 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 Hexablade 16L (1.25) at 52 lb

String TCS 16/1.30 at 53.5 lb 24.3 kg

Coming from TCS 16/1.30 at 52 lb

String Hexablade 16L (1.25) at 50.8 lb 23.0 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.

Hexablade 16L (1.25) mains / TCS 16/1.30 crosses

Stiffness40th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss98th pct · 1 measured
Energy return1st pct · 1 measured
Spin potential44th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite47th pct · 1 measured
String friction56th pct · 1 measured

TCS 16/1.30 mains / Hexablade 16L (1.25) crosses

Stiffness41st pct · 1 measured
Tension loss97th pct · 1 measured
Energy return1st pct · 1 measured
Spin potential41st pct · 1 measured
Ball bite21st 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.

Hexablade 16L (1.25)

~11 hours of play

TCS 16/1.30

~11 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Polyfibre Hexablade 16L (1.25) Polyester16Lfind17263794.60.4430.097
Polyfibre TCS 16/1.30 Polyester16find17360784.40.3870.088

Add a third string Hexablade 16L (1.25) in full TCS 16/1.30 in full