StringSpec
String finder

Browse all 791

Head to head

Polyfibre Hightec Premium 17 vs Polyfibre Poly Hightec 18

Poly Hightec 18 leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Poly Hightec 18 is 24 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Polyfibre

Hightec Premium 17

Polyester · 17 ga

Polyfibre

Poly Hightec 18

Polyester · 18 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
15822nd pct
15013th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
6298th pct
6197th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
803rd pct
815th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
3.927th pct
3.927th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.40024th pct
0.43547th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.10367th pct
0.11278th 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 Hightec Premium 17 at 52 lb

String Poly Hightec 18 at 54.8 lb 24.9 kg

Coming from Poly Hightec 18 at 52 lb

String Hightec Premium 17 at 48.8 lb 22.1 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.

Hightec Premium 17 mains / Poly Hightec 18 crosses

Stiffness17th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss98th pct · 1 measured
Energy return3rd pct · 1 measured
Spin potential27th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite27th pct · 1 measured
String friction70th pct · 1 measured

Poly Hightec 18 mains / Hightec Premium 17 crosses

Stiffness16th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss98th pct · 1 measured
Energy return4th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential27th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite43rd pct · 1 measured
String friction75th 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.

Hightec Premium 17

~11 hours of play

Poly Hightec 18

~11 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Polyfibre Hightec Premium 17 Polyester17find15862803.90.4000.103
Polyfibre Poly Hightec 18 Polyester18find15061813.90.4350.112

Add a third string Hightec Premium 17 in full Poly Hightec 18 in full