Head to head

Prince Lightning XX 16 vs Wilson Extreme 16 Synthetic Gut

Lightning XX 16 leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Extreme 16 Synthetic Gut is 21 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Prince

Lightning XX 16

Nylon · 16 ga

Wilson

Extreme 16 Synthetic Gut

Nylon · 16 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
18147th pct
17442nd pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
1915th pct
2018th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
9381st pct
9378th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
3.416th pct
3.213th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.39822nd pct
0.42943rd pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.11781st pct
0.13589th 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 Lightning XX 16 at 52 lb

String Extreme 16 Synthetic Gut at 52.8 lb 23.9 kg

Coming from Extreme 16 Synthetic Gut at 52 lb

String Lightning XX 16 at 51.2 lb 23.2 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.

Lightning XX 16 mains / Extreme 16 Synthetic Gut crosses

Stiffness45th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss16th pct · 1 measured
Energy return80th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential15th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite25th pct · 1 measured
String friction83rd pct · 1 measured

Extreme 16 Synthetic Gut mains / Lightning XX 16 crosses

Stiffness44th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss17th pct · 1 measured
Energy return80th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential14th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite41st pct · 1 measured
String friction88th 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.

Lightning XX 16

~35 hours of play

Extreme 16 Synthetic Gut

~35 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Prince Lightning XX 16 Nylon16find18119933.40.3980.117
Wilson Extreme 16 Synthetic Gut Nylon16find17420933.20.4290.135

Add a third string Lightning XX 16 in full Extreme 16 Synthetic Gut in full