Adidas strings 2019

I don't see it as a BG65 alternative though, much nicer to play with, a little bit thinner. Better in all aspects (despite durability) to me.

By coincidence, I have it side by side with Nanogy 99 right now (same racket, same tension, same string, string within two days, played roughly the same) and to me, it has a little bit better feedback than NBG99, but overall they're quite similar.
Neither of them will become my favorite string, at least on this racket (Babolat Satelite 6.5 Blast; box frame, rather stiff, head heavy).

I also tried it on the Überschall F2 test racket I have in my bag and I like it much better than the G-Tone 5 I had on it before. I guess it's the thicker string providing better contact with this open stringing pattern.

For reference, at the sweet spot, the (average) distance between cross strings (measured beginning of string to beginning of string over five gaps to get an average, this is equivalent to center of string to center of string) on the Überschall rackets is between 9.5 mm and 10.0 mm, compared to 7.5 mm on the beforementioned Babolat. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it is. Without measuring it, I would have guessed that it's slightly less than 1 1/2 times the distance.

 

After some time, the NBG99 stayed pretty much the same as before while the E68 did get worse (feeling wise, performance was still fine), but it never got to drop before NBG99 before I killed it with a really really bad mishit at the top of the frame.


Recently strung one of my new rackets with Adidas Wucht P68. Compared to the G-Tone 5 (on the racket I strung first), I had to tighten the clamps more. That's really surprising, because G-Tone 5 is thinner. Maybe it has something to do with the "hard skin"? I also noticed that the string gripper (T20) did seem to damage the coating slightly (I think it was slipping slightly at the beginning of the pull), leaving something that felt almost sticky. Now that it's on the racket, the string doesn't look damaged, but I'll be very careful observing these things when using this string the next time.

 

Even if I ignore the first day with this string on a new racket, not hitting cleanly most of the time, even the second and third time were not that great. I couldn't complain about performance in any way. Power. Control. All there. But it felt dead to me. I expected more from a string with a hard coating. One idea was that I did damage the string while stringing, that it was still slipping or anything else went wrong during stringing.

I don't think that's the case though, because the tension is as expected, it does perform like a good string, so.... I might just not like it.

Then, yesterday came and the ZM68TX broke during warm up, so I had to decide between G-Tone 5 and this and I did take the risk. I trusted it to perform well enough anyway...

... but suddenly it felt alive. It's a medium feeling string with nothing to complain about, really. I'm still not sure how much I like it, but that also depends on longer term performance and feeling anyway.

Reading this today made me remember that I didn't like LN1 for the first hours (and it snapped shortly after that), so I can see that similarity.

It still might just be me getting used to the racket, really starting to bond with it now... I cannot tell.

 

Out of curiosity, what's your current favourite string? If you don't like LN1 and P68, is it safe to assume you didn't like Aerosonic (if you have tried it).

Also that does sound like string slippage? Was this on main pulls or crosses? Are you cleaning your clamps?


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Well, give me some more time with P68... in a colder hall and last weekend, I did even like the feel. And before that, there was nothing to complain about performance wise. That's a rather big compliment... and I'll give LN1 another try at some point. Only tried it once and maybe my expectations were too high.

I can play with any string, but in the past years, I've always chosen G-Tone 5 or BG80, though on the Überschall rackets I did prefer E68 over G-Tone 5.

Never tried Aerosonic.

I do clean them from time to time and didn't have any issues until that day. Something felt weird when clamping the first main, so I tested and adjusted before stringing... or starting over if you want. Cannot really see that it was still slipping afterwards (held my finger just behind the clamp at the beginning and when starting crosses to feel it slipping, but not all the way through).

 

Yeah that's my thoughts as well. Power wise its closer to LN1, whilst retaining the feel of a thicker string similar to LN5. Its a definitely win over LN5 for me.


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GT5 was my string before LN1. Better string for control and my wife preferred it, because at her tensions it didn't move, whilst LN1 did.

Make sure when you do the clamp test to use the teeth only. I think someone on here has complained the crosses were slipping and that was because you clamp the mains, there can be more surface contact.



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Tried the Kalkul A68 tonight strung at 12kgs switching every set between my other racket strung with lining #1 at 12kgs and strings are both 1 week old. Same stringer.

It's a sort of BG80 with more repulsion so it doesnt highlight the features of the BG80 as much but it's more of a compromise I would say. Repulsion wise it isn't as good as the lining #1 for example (how could it be it's not even the same diameter so not really a good point of comparison but just to give an idea) but it has more grip. Good control at the net and I liked it to play doubles with it but I need more repulsion in singles to get me out of some situations. Especially in winter in France when players often use slow shuttles. The lining is better imo but still, the Kalkul A68 is a good string.

I need to compare how it holds tension now and how long it last. Will try to push the string to its limit with 3 sessions per week of 3 hours and one tournament every 15 days.

 

I strung one of my P4 with the Kalkül A68, the other one is strung with BG80 as a tough opponent. Both at 13.0 kp.
Stringing was... interesting. On one hand, the string felt slightly stiff, which helped threading through shared holes, on the other hand, it did feel like the string stretched a lot. And when tying off, to the tails were significantly longer, so it probably was more than a subjective impression.
The surface is structured, but it's far from BG80 rough, so it's not the same shrieking sound when pulling the crosses.
It's supposed to be a control string, but I already know from rackets that I sometimes disagree with Adidas's definition, but that's the reason why I wanted to compare it to BG80.

A68 vs. BG80

I strung one of the P8 with the Überschall F66 string at 13.0 kp (BG80P @ 12.5 kp and G-Tone 5 @ 13.5 kp, but a little older on the other ones). It's a smooth surface... slippery even... and noticeably thinner. And just like the A68, it did stretch a lot.


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I wrote this before playing, but I just had a few hits with the Kalkül A68. First impression: crisp feeling (big surprise), nice shuttle bite for slicing (no surprise), very easily accessible power (small surprise for a control string)

To me, that only partly matches what I would have thought about a "control string", but I'm most surprised - almost impressed - by that feeling. I liked it. The shuttle might have helped with that (AS50), but my expectations for this string were raised and Yoda might be on that string for a better reason than it being green!