Wilson Sensation 16 vs Wilson Sensation 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

  Sensation 16590th

  Sensation 17551st

• Easier on my arm

  Sensation 16233rd

  Sensation 17211th

• More control, less launch

  Sensation 16579th

  Sensation 17588th

• More power and depth

  Sensation 16186th

  Sensation 17201st

• Plays the same for longer

  Sensation 16165th

  Sensation 17185th

• Lasts longer before it breaks

  Sensation 16492nd

  Sensation 17670th

• Best feel and touch

  Sensation 16195th

  Sensation 17202nd

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 Sensation 16 in full Sensation 17 in full