Head to head

Tourna Black Zone 16 vs Yonex Poly Tour HS 16L (1.25)

Poly Tour HS 16L (1.25) leads on 3 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Poly Tour HS 16L (1.25) is 27 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Tourna

Black Zone 16

Polyester · 16 ga

Yonex

Poly Tour HS 16L (1.25)

Polyester · 16L ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
19765th pct
19867th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
3047th pct
2944th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
8848th pct
8848th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
5.671st pct
5.773rd pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.41735th pct
0.46162nd pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.07514th pct
0.08126th 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 Black Zone 16 at 52 lb

String Poly Tour HS 16L (1.25) at 51.7 lb 23.5 kg

Coming from Poly Tour HS 16L (1.25) at 52 lb

String Black Zone 16 at 52.3 lb 23.7 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.

Black Zone 16 mains / Poly Tour HS 16L (1.25) crosses

Stiffness65th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss46th pct · 1 measured
Energy return48th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential72nd pct · 1 measured
Ball bite40th pct · 1 measured
String friction16th pct · 1 measured

Poly Tour HS 16L (1.25) mains / Black Zone 16 crosses

Stiffness66th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss46th pct · 1 measured
Energy return48th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential72nd pct · 1 measured
Ball bite59th pct · 1 measured
String friction22nd 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.

Black Zone 16

~26 hours of play

Poly Tour HS 16L (1.25)

~27 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Tourna Black Zone 16 Polyester16find19730885.60.4170.075
Yonex Poly Tour HS 16L (1.25) Polyester16Lfind19829885.70.4610.081

Add a third string Black Zone 16 in full Poly Tour HS 16L (1.25) in full