Hi,
Apologies about the review and video. I did make a video but the production quality isn't very good so I am reluctant to release it and I have been very busy with other things and thus no time to redo the editing However, I did spend the time stringing the 4 rackets, 2 with and 2 without the string weaver. After some time analyzing the video and the results, my summary was as follows.
I did an experiment with stringing the middle 12 cross strings, the ones that are in the middle of the racket. this is done to isolate the strings at the shared or blocked holes, which the stringweaver do not help. this is to make a better and fair comparison.
I measure the total time it took me to complete the 12 strings. start timer, 12 strings, stop timer. the string weaver one includes attaching the weaver into the string bed, and then also to remove it. i believe that's a fair comparison as it measure the whole process and not just part of it.
i averaged out the 4 attempts and found out that with the string weaver, it took me 25 seconds LONGER to weave those strings. the analysis boils down to 3 things.
1. with 12 cross strings, each time engaging and disengaging the string weaver may take 1-2 seconds. that's just moving the device in place and flipping the lever. however, 1-2 second 12 times results in a lot.
2. the stringweaver does not speed up the weaving process. at least not for me. disclaimer is that I am avg 20-23 minutes stringer. so the weaving process is pretty streamlined. While it is possible to be faster, that's just purely finger dexterity and the string weaver do no help there. in fact, i find that it took more effort when the strings are spread out by the string weaver. p.s. I am not claiming it won't help for someone who say, take 1 hour to string, but I can only speak from my own experience.
3. a couple of seconds to get the tool, and then attach it to the string bed, that's another few seconds but still part of the process.
the part to take home is that, maybe it will speed up part of the process, but it is the total time that matters, if it take 1-2 second to setup the device and 1-2 seconds extra for each weave, in the end there is not a net speedup, it is not worth the extra effort.
there is also the claim that it reduces string burn. this maybe true if ppl try to pull the string perpendicularly. however, any decent stringers will pull the string over while pulling it towards the top of the racket head. the amount of force (and thus resistance/friction) needed is very small. and since it is done with the other hand/arm, the time cost is zero.
so my conclusion is the same, it is a nice idea, but in practice, it slowed down my stringing process with extra effort put in (to use the device)
ps. as for that video, the pulling/weaving part of it look impressive, however, it is only speeding up part of the process. you need to add up the time to put the string into the rope, pull it over, and then take the string off the rope, and then put the string into the frame hole. and you will also have to add the time to weave that ROPE through the stringbed too. and then it works only for the strings in one direction, ie half the strings. i think you will find out that it doesn't save any total time if the stringer is decent.