Head to head

Prince Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex vs Wilson Sensation 17

Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex leads on 3 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Sensation 17 is 36 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Prince

Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex

Nylon · 18 ga

Wilson

Sensation 17

Nylon · 17 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
16228th pct
16330th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
1916th pct
2224th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
9272nd pct
9378th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
3.621st pct
3.621st pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.37410th pct
0.43145th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.10468th 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 Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex at 52 lb

String Sensation 17 at 52.4 lb 23.8 kg

Coming from Sensation 17 at 52 lb

String Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex at 51.6 lb 23.4 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.

Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex mains / Sensation 17 crosses

Stiffness29th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss19th pct · 1 measured
Energy return73rd pct · 1 measured
Spin potential21st pct · 1 measured
Ball bite14th pct · 1 measured
String friction73rd pct · 1 measured

Sensation 17 mains / Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex crosses

Stiffness29th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss21st pct · 1 measured
Energy return75th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential21st pct · 1 measured
Ball bite39th pct · 1 measured
String friction80th 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.

Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex

~35 hours of play

Sensation 17

~33 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Prince Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex Nylon18find16219923.60.3740.104
Wilson Sensation 17 Nylon17$13.9516322933.60.4310.119

Add a third string Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex in full Sensation 17 in full