Solinco X-Natural 16 (1.30) vs Volkl Gripper 17

Measured, side by side

Bars are percentile against all 788 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.

• More spin and shape

  X-Natural 16 (1.30)401st

  Gripper 17459th

• Easier on my arm

  X-Natural 16 (1.30)37th

  Gripper 1747th

• More control, less launch

  X-Natural 16 (1.30)745th

  Gripper 17743rd

• More power and depth

  X-Natural 16 (1.30)32nd

  Gripper 1748th

• Plays the same for longer

  X-Natural 16 (1.30)168th

  Gripper 17243rd

• Lasts longer before it breaks

  X-Natural 16 (1.30)648th

  Gripper 17330th

• Best feel and touch

  X-Natural 16 (1.30)39th

  Gripper 1763rd

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.

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.

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.

Both strings in full

Add a third string X-Natural 16 (1.30) in full Gripper 17 in full