Head to head

Polyfibre Poly Hightec 18 vs Topspin Cyber Flash 17L

Cyber Flash 17L leads on 6 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is spin potential, where Cyber Flash 17L is 18 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Polyfibre

Poly Hightec 18

Polyester · 18 ga

Topspin

Cyber Flash 17L

Polyester · 17L ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
15013th pct
1447th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
6197th pct
5997th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
815th pct
8310th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
3.927th pct
4.645th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.43547th pct
0.44653rd pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.11278th pct
0.09861st 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 Poly Hightec 18 at 52 lb

String Cyber Flash 17L at 55.7 lb 25.3 kg

Coming from Cyber Flash 17L at 52 lb

String Poly Hightec 18 at 50.4 lb 22.9 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.

Poly Hightec 18 mains / Cyber Flash 17L crosses

Stiffness10th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss97th pct · 1 measured
Energy return6th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential31st pct · 1 measured
Ball bite49th pct · 1 measured
String friction74th pct · 1 measured

Cyber Flash 17L mains / Poly Hightec 18 crosses

Stiffness10th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss97th pct · 1 measured
Energy return7th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential41st pct · 1 measured
Ball bite52nd pct · 1 measured
String friction66th 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.

Poly Hightec 18

~11 hours of play

Cyber Flash 17L

~11 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Polyfibre Poly Hightec 18 Polyester18find15061813.90.4350.112
Topspin Cyber Flash 17L Polyester17Lfind14459834.60.4460.098

Add a third string Poly Hightec 18 in full Cyber Flash 17L in full