A little while ago I received some products from GOSEN for review. One of the items in the goodie box is a set of Momone strings.

Gosen as a badminton manufacturer almost need no introduction. They are base in Japan and only second to the big Y in terms of reputation. Gosen in their years have had a fair amount of innovations, some took off and some didn’t. One of the many strength Gosen has is the quality of their strings. The Momone is among a few newer offering from Gosen and we were curious what kind of performance they bring compare to our favorites.

Upon unpacking, the Gosen Momone R4X and other Gosen packaging was impressive. Perhaps it was a Japan local model, the string came in a nice paper box on the outside, and internally the string is also sealed in a plastic bag.

The information about this string is hard to find in Gosen’s websites. As they were in Japanese and English sites are either not well advertised or non-existent.

This is where things starts to get confusing. From the pricing that I have gathered from various online websites, the string should be lined up as one of the top models. The string package shows that it is a 0.66mm string that is for Power. So far so good.

However, the packing also shows a cartoon of a girl playing badminton. This is the only packaging from Gosen (or any other manufacture for that matter) that has such graphics. My initial impression would be to believe that this would be for beginners. So there seems to be an inconsistent message shown by Gosen marketing.

The real performance though, shows the true nature of this string.

Upon examining after taking out the string from the package, it shows that the string has a very stiff body and a smooth coating.

Given the stiffness, thickness and smoothness, stringing the R4X Momone was an absolute breeze. It goes through tight grommets with ease and pulls very smoothly. Twisting is minimal even at the worst offending shared grommets.

Strung at my now standard tension of 22.5/25.5lbs the frequency came out at a sharp 1250Hz. Which reflects the thinness and stiffness of the string. A ping test shows that the string is a lively one.

So far so good. But all of the above is pointless without great performance in court.

Regular readers of Badminton Central probably have understood how enthusiasts among us like to rate our badminton equipment, esp for strings and rackets. The major factor that we look for are:

– Repulsion / Resilience / Power

– Feel (soft/hard) / (crisp/dull)

– Longevity

Firstly, the feel. Being a thin 0.66mm, the overall absolute stiffness i’d say is 8/10. Pretty stiff for a thin spec string, but not going to be as stiff as the thicker strings like Victor VS850, Yonex BG80 or the extremely stiff/thickness ratio of Babolat Finebraid Micro. This is a good range of stiffness for medium fast shots like drives and light smash, which provides a good kick to the shuttle. However, a heavy hitter will find it stretch more than what he/she would desire.

The Momone really stands out when it comes to crispness. The combination of a thin and stiff string, and the material used makes the Momone one of the most crisp feeling string i have used. I will give a conservative crispness of 9.5/10. Surpassing other similar strings like Ashaway Zymax 62. In fact, the crispness I felt from the Momone is one of the best I have experienced among the dozens of strings I have ever used. The feeling is excellent.

The result of which is that one can gain excellent feel on delicate touch and push shots from mid court, as well as excellent control on netshots. If one really treasure the feel coming from top feeling strings like Ashaway Zymax 62 or Victor VS-850, the Gosen R4X Momone is definitely worth and try and be prepared to be surprised.

Where i had problem with the Momone though, is the defense. For some reason while it excelled on crisp and feel, I have problem finding the right timing for returning medium to heavy smashes. The speed and crispness of the string doesn’t seem to provide enough dwell time for the shuttle to bound off.

As for power, while rated for Power Playing by Gosen, I find it to be very good but not excellent. Freshly off the machine the string gives out a crisp and fast rebound upon impact, the shuttle flies off fast and quickly. The sound is a medium tone ‘whack’ instead of a boom. I’d rate it to be 8/10 in terms of power.

Unfortunately I given the limited time i have with the Momone I don’t have much data in terms of the longevity of the string. For that I will defer to the rated 7/10 given by the manufacturer. For the few full sessions including games and training that I have had with the Momone, i see no sign of wear at all.

At the end of the reviewing period, the last session I had to cut the string to make space for the next string review, the Momone has only lost a little of the crispness it showed fresh off the stringing machine.

Overall, I find the Gosen R4X Momone to be a top string when it comes to crispness, feel and control. The power is very good. Unfortunately, it falls short slightly in the defense.