Head to head

Signum Pro Poly-Plasma 16L vs Solinco Barb Wire 16

They split the measurements 3–3. The widest gap is ball bite, where Barb Wire 16 is 26 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Signum Pro

Poly-Plasma 16L

Polyester · 16L ga

Solinco

Barb Wire 16

Polyester · 16 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
22691st pct
21483rd pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
3966th pct
4067th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
8734th pct
8735th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
4.748th pct
4.440th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.46563rd pct
0.54289th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.09861st pct
0.12384th 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-Plasma 16L at 52 lb

String Barb Wire 16 at 57.1 lb 25.9 kg

Coming from Barb Wire 16 at 52 lb

String Poly-Plasma 16L at 45.9 lb 20.8 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-Plasma 16L mains / Barb Wire 16 crosses

Stiffness88th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss66th pct · 1 measured
Energy return35th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential47th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite69th pct · 1 measured
String friction69th pct · 1 measured

Barb Wire 16 mains / Poly-Plasma 16L crosses

Stiffness87th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss67th pct · 1 measured
Energy return35th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential41st pct · 1 measured
Ball bite86th 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.

Poly-Plasma 16L

~20 hours of play

Barb Wire 16

~20 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Signum Pro Poly-Plasma 16L Polyester16Lfind22639874.70.4650.098
Solinco Barb Wire 16 Polyester16find21440874.40.5420.123

Add a third string Poly-Plasma 16L in full Barb Wire 16 in full