Oliver XP-65

Discussion in 'Badminton String' started by Mark A, May 10, 2008.

  1. Mark A

    Mark A Regular Member

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    I was sent a free set of this by Winston of MBS, so I feel honour-bound to give it a thorough review and solicit opinions from other users: has anybody else out there tried it? I can't seem to post this in the Reviews forum, so here it is; your mileage may vary...


    SOTX Woven-7 @ 27/30. Two piece/top down.


    Pre-game...

    Surface - unique, in my experience. It's more like a tennis string, and feels distinctly "plasticky". Doesn't bode well for slicing, but we'll see.

    Stringing ease - excellent. 0.65mm coupled with the slippery coating meant that I didn't have to use my awl at all.


    Game time:

    Power - VERY impressive. My first game was a singles, and my high serves all went WAY long in the first few minutes. It took noticeably less effort for me to make my usual shots, especially high backhands. Not as "lively" as YY Vectrans, though.

    Control - again, very good. My doubles serves and net trick shots were lovely and tight throughout the evening, as were drops from the back. Slicing was more effective than I anticipated as well, as were smash blocks.

    Feel/sound - dependent on accuracy of shot. Sweet spot hits gave a nice stab of vibration that quickly diminished, but mishits tended to resonate. Sound was quite muted with anything other than 100% smashes/drives/clears, which gave a nice bassy boom.

    Tension holding - a really nice surprise. I usually see a relaxation towards the end of the first session, but not this time. Going by the flick test, I'd say it lost no more than 0.5lb over the course of 6-8 games. Obviously, this will need monitoring a long time hence.


    If it's really 0.65mm, then it's the thinnest string I've ever tried, but on instinct I am optimistic about durability.

    Updates in due course!

    M.
     
  2. azn_123

    azn_123 Regular Member

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    Very nice review on the Oliver XP-65, well done.
     
  3. Jackster

    Jackster Regular Member

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    Yeh i agree with Mark. I've tried this string aswell and the performance is good!! I strung at 28lbs in 1 piece and feel great, power and tension r 8.5-9/10 but the only con is the surface is qiute slippy compare to the YY NBG98.
    Anyway I rate this string for 8.5/10:D
     

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