StringSpec
String finder

Browse all 791

Head to head

Polyfibre TCS 17 vs Polyfibre TCS Rapid 16L/1.25

TCS 17 leads on 3 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where TCS 17 is 20 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Polyfibre

TCS 17

Polyester · 17 ga

Polyfibre

TCS Rapid 16L/1.25

Polyester · 16L ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
15924th pct
16026th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
6399th pct
6499th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
791st pct
791st pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
4.235th pct
4.337th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.41836th pct
0.38515th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.10063rd pct
0.08944th 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 TCS 17 at 52 lb

String TCS Rapid 16L/1.25 at 51.4 lb 23.3 kg

Coming from TCS Rapid 16L/1.25 at 52 lb

String TCS 17 at 52.7 lb 23.9 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.

TCS 17 mains / TCS Rapid 16L/1.25 crosses

Stiffness24th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss99th pct · 1 measured
Energy return1st pct · 1 measured
Spin potential36th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite32nd pct · 1 measured
String friction60th pct · 1 measured

TCS Rapid 16L/1.25 mains / TCS 17 crosses

Stiffness25th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss99th pct · 1 measured
Energy return1st pct · 1 measured
Spin potential36th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite17th 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.

TCS 17

~10 hours of play

TCS Rapid 16L/1.25

~10 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Polyfibre TCS 17 Polyester17find15963794.20.4180.100
Polyfibre TCS Rapid 16L/1.25 Polyester16Lfind16064794.30.3850.089

Add a third string TCS 17 in full TCS Rapid 16L/1.25 in full