Head to head

Prince Lightning XX 17 vs Wilson NXT Tour 17

NXT Tour 17 leads on 5 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where NXT Tour 17 is 25 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Prince

Lightning XX 17

Nylon · 17 ga

Wilson

NXT Tour 17

Nylon · 17 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
17744th pct
17644th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
1915th pct
1812th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
9388th pct
9493rd pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
3.518th pct
3.621st pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.38716th pct
0.42541st pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.11076th pct
0.11982nd 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 17 at 52 lb

String NXT Tour 17 at 52.6 lb 23.9 kg

Coming from NXT Tour 17 at 52 lb

String Lightning XX 17 at 51.4 lb 23.3 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 17 mains / NXT Tour 17 crosses

Stiffness44th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss14th pct · 1 measured
Energy return91st pct · 1 measured
Spin potential19th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite19th pct · 1 measured
String friction78th pct · 1 measured

NXT Tour 17 mains / Lightning XX 17 crosses

Stiffness44th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss13th pct · 1 measured
Energy return91st pct · 1 measured
Spin potential19th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite37th pct · 1 measured
String friction81st 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 17

~35 hours of play

NXT Tour 17

~36 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Prince Lightning XX 17 Nylon17find17719933.50.3870.110
Wilson NXT Tour 17 Nylon17find17618943.60.4250.119

Add a third string Lightning XX 17 in full NXT Tour 17 in full