Hope the title got your attention. SO here's my dilemma. I've tried BG80, BG66, BG85, NGY95, and BG65. I like BG65 at 24 pounds, it has good control, decent enough power, and enough feel for decent doubles playing. But I'm looking to get more feel and more power, with the same kind of control (or even better) that I get from BG65 at 24/26 pounds (dropweight with a 15 percent pre-stretch). My next current fave is NGY-95 at 23 ECP, which has a ridiculous amount of power despite my poor clearing technique, or rather, my tendency to use 90% wrist, 10% arm on clears. There's so much power that it flies a good foot out on a full court clear. I don't need THAT much power, but its a bit too numb for my liking. I don't like the lack of control or feel that BG66 or BG85 has at 24-25 pounds, though they do have pretty good power, I'm more of a technique player that likes to make the opponent run around instead of smashing down at him, so power is not super important to me. BG80 also doesn't seem like anything super special either. I've read SO many good things about BG66 and BG85/80, but I just dont get it, and I was wondering if its too high a tension for me, or too low a tension for the strings to "come alive" as they say? Is there a string or tension you guys would recommend I try? I remember reading something about stringing 66/85/80 1 or 2 pounds below what I normally would use for 65, so does that mean i should try them out at 23 pounds, like what I got for NGY95? OR are there other strings I can try? Also, since I'm not a super power player, and I also don't mishit too badly, string breakage is not a problem. BG85 was fraying for 5 months of 4hrs/week of playing before it finally broke when my friend borrowed it because the microlegend on his Tantrum 200 broke. Because i'm not a string breaker, price isn't too much of a problem either. My rackets, in order of usage right now, are APACS Nano Super Light (BG80 @ 25), Yonex Carbonex 8600-Ti (NGY-95 @23), MP99 (BG65@25), Zelm PP9990 (BG66 @ 25). The Nanogy makes my carbonex play better than my mp99 unfortunately ><
So you mean try stringing with BG80 or BG66 at maybe 28 or 27 pounds? The only thing I might have against that is that it seems really high for my skill level. Would that really be advisible?
I remember reading something about too high a tension causing shoulder or arm damage, and that's really what has me worried.
Technically with the thinner string's higer repulsion, you won't need to put in as much strength as you would a less repulsive string at the same high tension. This is very obvious if you could compare two racquets of the exact same model, one strung with BG65 and the other BG66, both at for example 26x28lbs. Although if you really have that power in your whole arm, I personally will stick to BG65 as I find the thicker string diameter actually gives more overall control and also for guiding the shuttle at tight net shots.
Well I'm getting my MP99 restrung with BG66 at 27 to compare with it's previous strings, BG85 at 25 and BG65 at 25. Hopefully that'll give me the touch I need. If anyone else has ideas or suggestions, keep them coming. My search for an answer is far from over.
hi singnflip4life. Its true you should string bg66, 80 and 85 about 10% less than you would string bg65. That could very well be the reason you find those strings are not as responsive as you would like because all of those strings out perform 65 in the touch, feel and power category. The only category 65 has going for it is durability. If you play bg65 at 27 lbs you need something around 24lbs on a constant pull. And if you want to switch to 66,80,85 that means 22 lbs on a constant pull. Now this sounds low, but thats about where I play at and I find it works well. Everyone is going to like a different touch/feel so when you say you like the touch, you may like a different aspect than another person. If you have gone through the yonex strings and didnt like them, i always recommend ashaway mp. I find it comparable to bg70/80. Not as thin, its a 0.7mm string like bg65, but it produces great power. Maybe a slight bit more slippery than bg80, but much better all around than bg65.
Well I got BG66 strung at 25.5/28.5 on a crank yesterday and I have to say the control was amazing, but I couldn't flex the strings to perform a proper clear. I'll try again in a few days to see how it holds up but it seems too high right now.
I also received a pack of zymax 62,67, and 70 as samples from Ashaway yesterday and I was wondering if anyone had a recommendation for which to try out first. The mp99 with bg66 @ 27 i used again, and for sure I can't flex the string bed. But the control was amazing. I also used my newly strung Trixon 8 which was strung with by 66 at 25 lbs and my Powerplay 9990 which is bg66 @ 24 lbs. 24, 25 pounds both don't generate enough power for me, nor do they have enough control. 27 pounds has wonderful control, but I can't generate power with it. It seems like bg66 is not for me at all. So which zymax string should I try next? I also get the feeling that ngy95 would do it at a higher tension, say 25 or 26, because the control is a little iffy but it has more than enough power at 23 lbs, but I kinda don't want to go thatrouter yet because it's 13 bucks a pack >.<
Ok, so I was on my way to work this morning thinking about string tensions and rackets since there is another thread like this one I posted on. One aspect I think we're over looking is you are using different rackets. We're not looking at this scientifically like we should. Using the same string tension on different rackets can produce much different results which will give you bad data. For example: for me ashaway micro power @23lbs on a panda power trinity will feel like it has good power and good touch/control, but ashaway micro power @23lbs on a panda power ultra will still feel powerful, but the touch will be very numb. The first case, I can feel both the racket generating power and also some of it coming from the string, control is also coming from both the racket and string. In the 2nd scenario, the power is coming from the racket being such a beast. Mine is very end loaded. The touch is numb because the racket is so stiff and again end loaded, that I cant get a good feel on my shots. This shows that using the same string under the same conditions on two different rackets will yield results based on both the string and the rackets. To effectively distinguish string characteristics its important to use the same racket. We should also use a control variable, so ideally 3 set ups would be ideal. One example is using 3x pp trinity with bg65, bg66, bg80 all at 23lbs. Compare everything relative to bg65. Then adjust your tension so that a 80% over hand clear will yield a full court clear. Compare characteristics then at that point. This is pretty much a science if you know what you are looking for, but a lot of times i see people changing string, tension and racket and saying bg66 feels weak, or there is no touch on bg66, when in my experiences bg66 is the most crisp and very powerful string. Keep your variables down, and you can really dial in a good string. I took about 2 months to dial in on bg9@22 lbs. After a month playing that set up i noticed im clearing shots out the back just a tad, so i bumped it up 1lb. Its a little costly if you have to pay every time, but find a good stringer in your area and let him/her know what you're looking for. Im friends with the person who taught me how to dial in on strings and he offered to restring for just the cost of the string until I found what i wanted. I will honor this too, but within reason. I wont restring for $6/7 unless the strings were basically cut out of the frame. If some one wants to do this but plays until they're dead, loose, and broken, is taking too much time and playing with improper settings. This process will cost some money, but your arm and game will be very happy with your investment.
I see. Also, what is bg9? I read it on your site as giving top power an control but mediocre durability and I've never heard of this string. Maybe I'll go pick up 2 more CAB 8600ti. That's my most comfortable racket, and it's also 50 bucks or less.
I just tried the NGY95 at 26lbs with Victor BS09 for the first time and boy does it give me a nice pop on my smashes. A bit more than what I expected over BG80 at 26lbs. Was winning a lot more points off of my smashes today. Control and feel is still up in the air but I think I'll stick with this for the next few time. It's only $3cnd more than BG80 and the extra durability may be worth it. I find BG65 lack the feel and power.
