Signum Pro X-Perience Review and Play Test
String: Signum Pro X-Perience (16 1.30 mm)
Construction: Co-Polymer Monofilament
Racket Used: Babolat Aero Pro Drive
Tension: 59 lbs (about 26.5 kg)
Cost: $12 a set
X-Perience – What You Need to Know
One can’t help but compare this string to Hyper-G. The cost, the color, the “promised” exceptional feel, control, and spin. Personally I thought this string was fine but did not perform anywhere near as good as Hyper-G. If you like more of a muted feel you’ll like this string. I have no complaints but I don’t really have a lot to rave about either. I think for $12 there are better polyesters out there but this is still a high performance high quality poly that if you enjoy the more muted feel you might like. This is not an entry level polyester string or the sort of polyester to immediately try if your used to synthetics or multifilaments.
X-Perience – What I Loved
Good control. It is a strong where you feel pretty confident about taking your biggest cuts with. I was surprised that volleys and drop shots/slice didn’t feel as dead as expected considering the muted response on top spin groundstrokes. As I’ll mention in a second this string feels similar to cyclone out of the packaging (kinda sticky) but I didn’t find that a break in/settling process was necessary with X-Perience like it was with cyclone.
X-Perience – What I Hated
Like Volkl cyclone this string is kinda sticky. That makes it somewhat of a pain to string especially if your hands have any moisture on them. When it comes to playability nothing that I really hated. I would love a little more pop but I don’t think that’s what they are going for with this string and that’s fine. I didn’t find serving with this string to be comfortable or enjoyable. That’s maybe the biggest downside for me. I need the pop and softer responsed to feel confident attacking my serve. This string doesn’t give you that nice feedback on flat serves but I’d imagine if you have a killer kick serve with a tremendous amount of racket head speed you won’t have any issues.
Value
It’s about what you expect to pay for a high performance polyester string. Again I think there are better values for money out there but I definitely don’t feel like I’m getting ripped off or that it’s a terrible string.
Who this string IS for
Players who take massive cuts at the ball that enjoy playing with more muted feeling polyesters. This is the sort of string that’s designed for the 4.5 and up topspin baseliner used to playing with deader polys.
Who this string is NOT for
Basically everyone not listed above. This is not an entry level polyester string based on the response off the string bed. I really think this string is suited to a niche sort of player looking for a very specific feel out of their polyester. It performs well but doesn’t have the kind of lively feel off the string bed that I want.
Final Verdict
This string is fine. That’s really all I have to say and it shows in the length of this review. I wasn’t blown away but I wasn’t disappointed. Muted feel with good spin potential. Didn’t find this string to be super comfortable or like a super spin generator as advertised but it’s serviceable as a Poly. Bottom line is Hyper-G costs the same amount and in my opinion exceeds X-Perience in every way.