Wilson Red Alert 16 vs Wilson Synthetic Gut Extreme 17

Measured, side by side

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.

• More spin and shape

  Red Alert 16658th

  Synthetic Gut Extreme 17698th

• Easier on my arm

  Red Alert 16306th

  Synthetic Gut Extreme 17281st

• More control, less launch

  Red Alert 16488th

  Synthetic Gut Extreme 17532nd

• More power and depth

  Red Alert 16276th

  Synthetic Gut Extreme 17181st

• Plays the same for longer

  Red Alert 16137th

  Synthetic Gut Extreme 1799th

• Lasts longer before it breaks

  Red Alert 16511th

  Synthetic Gut Extreme 17697th

• Best feel and touch

  Red Alert 16277th

  Synthetic Gut Extreme 17199th

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 Red Alert 16 in full Synthetic Gut Extreme 17 in full