Ran across this old video and yep, very accurate. Head Hawk is fantastic as a cross string, particularly when the main is natural gut. Seems to last forever because the Hawk at 17 or 18 gauge is so good at staying slick, and at durability and tension maintenance. It doesn't tear up the gut, and gives control while the gut gives power and snap-back. As a main, though, Head Hawk is nothing special. It works well as a cross to gut, Head Lynx Tour, 4G, Hyper-G, and almost every other string I've tried. It even works nicely with Prince Synthetic Gut or Gamma Synthetic gut as the main; in fact, those feel spectacular (I hit a few serves over 120 mph the other day with that setup) but those synguts will notch pretty fast on the Hawk crosses and won't last nearly as long as poly main would do.
I have tried head hawk touch and not the regular hawk. It did not shine in most area that people look forward to in a poly string like crispiness, snapback and power however it did stand out in playability duration, control and comfort. it felt surprisingly soft while maintaining a very low powered response. It held tension very well too and its probably on par with hyper G or better from my experience. The only thing that stopped me from using it was Its so low powered. Its probably the most low powered string ive tried and Ive got to use it in different set ups from 44-48 lbs. My guess is, it will work great as a hybrid.
The original had a weird feel. Wasn't super brutal on the arm but def not soft either. Just kind of a dead response. I'd probably prefer the soft iteration in a full bed and the original in a hybrid with Nat Gut Mains.
finally getting around to this video. thx for posting. I used head hawk touch as a cross to nat gut mains in an older model radical pro and loved it. used same setup in the latest graphene 360 radical pro and it simply would not work in various tensions. tried it again in the blade v7 16/19 and still could not be controlled. I have moved on.
Would like to hear your thoughts on Tecnifibre Ice Code. It has become one of my favorites due to overall performance and feel, I’m currently testing Yonex poly tour rev and liking it as well,
We've talked about it. I just don't really have the time/patience to watch a lot of pro tennis. So much easier to find stories now then back when we did it though. You never know though :)
@@brianbollmantennis what was the reason u stopped if it's not a secret, I listened to manny tennis podcasts and yours was really unique and the best imo
@@gtptv983 I think we just got bored of it at a certain point. Doing show notes and research eventually just didn't feel like it was worth the hassle. To be honest it's hard for me to watch more than a handful of matches around the 4 slams.
Which string has the longest durability, Babolat Origin, or Babolat Synthetic Gut? Which one is more comfortable Babolat origin or Babolat Synthetic Gut or Babolat Xcel?
@@brianbollmantennis Are strings with the name "FEEL" stricter? Because some strings come with the name "FEEL", what does this mean? Like for example Babolat Pro Hurricane FEEL vs Babolat Pro Hurricane vs Pro Hurricane Tour?
I like your concise and clear reviews! 👍🏼
Ran across this old video and yep, very accurate. Head Hawk is fantastic as a cross string, particularly when the main is natural gut. Seems to last forever because the Hawk at 17 or 18 gauge is so good at staying slick, and at durability and tension maintenance. It doesn't tear up the gut, and gives control while the gut gives power and snap-back. As a main, though, Head Hawk is nothing special. It works well as a cross to gut, Head Lynx Tour, 4G, Hyper-G, and almost every other string I've tried. It even works nicely with Prince Synthetic Gut or Gamma Synthetic gut as the main; in fact, those feel spectacular (I hit a few serves over 120 mph the other day with that setup) but those synguts will notch pretty fast on the Hawk crosses and won't last nearly as long as poly main would do.
I have tried head hawk touch and not the regular hawk. It did not shine in most area that people look forward to in a poly string like crispiness, snapback and power however it did stand out in playability duration, control and comfort. it felt surprisingly soft while maintaining a very low powered response. It held tension very well too and its probably on par with hyper G or better from my experience. The only thing that stopped me from using it was Its so low powered. Its probably the most low powered string ive tried and Ive got to use it in different set ups from 44-48 lbs. My guess is, it will work great as a hybrid.
The original had a weird feel. Wasn't super brutal on the arm but def not soft either. Just kind of a dead response. I'd probably prefer the soft iteration in a full bed and the original in a hybrid with Nat Gut Mains.
finally getting around to this video. thx for posting. I used head hawk touch as a cross to nat gut mains in an older model radical pro and loved it. used same setup in the latest graphene 360 radical pro and it simply would not work in various tensions. tried it again in the blade v7 16/19 and still could not be controlled. I have moved on.
Would like to hear your thoughts on Tecnifibre Ice Code. It has become one of my favorites due to overall performance and feel, I’m currently testing Yonex poly tour rev and liking it as well,
Hi Brian any chance of bringing the tennis podcast back?
We've talked about it. I just don't really have the time/patience to watch a lot of pro tennis. So much easier to find stories now then back when we did it though. You never know though :)
@@brianbollmantennis what was the reason u stopped if it's not a secret, I listened to manny tennis podcasts and yours was really unique and the best imo
@@gtptv983 I think we just got bored of it at a certain point. Doing show notes and research eventually just didn't feel like it was worth the hassle. To be honest it's hard for me to watch more than a handful of matches around the 4 slams.
Which string has the longest durability, Babolat Origin, or Babolat Synthetic Gut?
Which one is more comfortable Babolat origin or Babolat Synthetic Gut or Babolat Xcel?
Origin is more durable/plays better longer than BSG...
Personally I'd say in terms of comfort Origin and Xcel are pretty close then BSG
@@brianbollmantennis Are strings with the name "FEEL" stricter? Because some strings come with the name "FEEL", what does this mean?
Like for example Babolat Pro Hurricane FEEL vs Babolat Pro Hurricane vs Pro Hurricane Tour?
Give Ytex Quadro Twist a try
I'll add it to the list. Literally have about 50 strings in the cue.