Breakdown

Power: 7.6

A common complaint against polyester monofilaments is that they are overly stiff and dead, which not only takes its toll on the arm but also makes it harder for some players to hit penetrating shots, especially with shorter strokes. Mach-10 was designed in part to mitigate this problem. According to Brittany, the design works in spades, and the result is a co-poly with greater balance. She said, "I am currently figuring out the best string and racquet setup, and one of my complaints with my current racquet of choice is that it's missing some easy power. After overhearing some of the other playtesters' feedback about this string, I jumped at the chance to try it myself. It is still a polyester string, so it is mainly control oriented. However, it packs a little more pop than other similar strings on the market. For me, this meant I could take full cuts at the ball on groundstrokes without fear of overhitting, but my shots had a couple more MPHs. This was great when I was being aggressive and going after my shots, as well as when I was approaching the net. Overall, Mach-10 has a good balance of control and power for me and complements my Yonex EZONE 100 very well."

Like Brittany, Michelle also discovered Mach-10's powerful side. She described, "As a longtime Hyper-G gal, the first things I noticed from Mach-10 were easier power and ball pocketing. Depth and pace were simple to find (almost too much at first), and while it felt more powerful than some of my other favorite Solinco strings, Mach-10 was not mushy or too soft. Once I got my tension figured out, Mach-10 still had the feel and access to control that I like, but was definitely more powerful than Hyper-G or Confidential. I have to admit I wasn't expecting as much free power as it offered, but this was a long playtest for me, so I had the chance to play around with different racquets and tensions. I settled in with the Babolat Pure Drive 98 at 57 pounds. By the end of the playtest, I was convinced Mach-10 would be a fun string to hybrid with. I specifically would throw Hyper-G Round in there, or even some firmer, more controlled string options. We got to play with several versions and prototypes of this string through its creation, so it’s fun to see the final product."

Although Troy found Mach-10 to be slightly livelier than his trusty Hyper-G, it still delivered impressive control. He said, "Compared to my go-to string, Solinco Hyper-G, when I first started hitting with the final production of Mach-10 I found a slightly softer feel. With that softer feel, I noticed a bit more ball pocketing, and it also added easier power. Now I will say this is more of a sensation since I don't have any concrete data to show that I was getting more ball speed on average. I will also mention that I was still getting plenty of control; I could swing freely, and I didn't feel like I had any trouble with the depth of the ball. This control I was finding may have been due to the shaped profile of the string (five edges) and the fact that I hit with a lot of topspin on my forehand, which helped me to get the ball dipping down in the court. Also, because this string has a softer feel to it, I found that I could bump up the tension by a couple of pounds (compared to my go-to Hyper-G) to tone down some of that lively response."

Spin: 8.2

With its shaped profile for bite and a slick surface for snapback, it's not suprising that Mach-10 earned a decent score for spin. While our playtesters didn’t rank it above their favorite spin stings, it received plenty of accolades. Troy explained, "Spin is pretty much all that I could ask for from a shaped poly. I would say that all the Solinco shaped poly strings that I have tested have been top-notch in terms of spin potential. I think Solinco Tour Bite is probably the most spin friendly, Hyper-G is a close second and Confidential is third. I would rank Mach-10 right there with Confidential. It might not have the craziest bite on the ball, like say a square-shaped Weiss CANNON Ultra Cable or Volkl V-Square, but I still found plenty of topspin access and bite, especially on my groundstrokes and on my spin serves. So all in all, it's a thumbs up from me in the spin department."

"The spin potential was perfect for me," added Brittany, who had all the bite and ball rotation she needed. "I mostly hit a flatter ball, so I don't need a lot of topspin from my string. However, I do like having the ability to add spin if needed. Mach-10 had the perfect amount of bite, and I didn't have to change my groundstrokes or my game style to benefit from it (as I sometimes do with a shaped poly)."

Michelle had no problems shaping her shots with Mach-10. She described, "I found just about the same access to spin as I have with Hyper-G and Confidential, so if you can get some RPMs going with those strings, you should be just fine here! I thought Mach-10 offered nice snapback and I didn't have any issues when I wanted to generate massive spin. I found depth and height were available on every shot, but I had no problem getting the ball to drop with Mach-10. I have no complaints in the spin department!"

Feel: 8.2

Although Mach-10 is far from the softest co-poly our team has tried, the playtesters were roundly impressed by its pocketing and relative comfort compared to other polys. Michelle who typically uses stiffer polys, scored this string fairly high for comfort, although she did have to tinker with the tension to dial in the response. She said, "I found Mach-10 to be pretty comfortable. It offered good feel and pocketed the ball well in all the setups I tried. I have to say, as someone who likes a dead stringbed, I appreciated that this string didn't just feel bouncy. It still felt like the other Solinco strings that I enjoy, but with the addition of more zing off the stringbed. At the beginning of this playtest I was shocked by how much power some of my shots had (when installed at the TW playtest standard of 52 pounds), which led me to work on finding the ideal tension for my game (between 56 and 57 pounds). Also, as mentioned above, it didn't feel mushy or too soft. It felt like it might pocket a bit better than Hyper-G."

Brittany was pleasantly surprised by Mach-10's comfort. She explained, "For a polyester string, I found Mach-10 to feel slightly softer than I expected and very comfortable. Now, by no means is it as soft as a multifilament, but it wasn't as firm as other polyester strings on the market. I also had no issues with comfort. I will note that I am fortunate enough that I have not experienced any arm, wrist, or shoulder issues during my tennis career, so I don't necessarily look for strings that are comfort-oriented, but I can appreciate them!"

Troy appreciated the fact that Mach-10's comfort didn't compromise the crisp and connected feel he gets from his favorite Solinco polys. He described, "I found better-than-average comfort for a poly, having a nice pocketing feel and pretty good dampening (maybe it had something to do with the CloudFORM technology). I have tried some other soft feeling polys, such as Isospeed Cream or V-Star, and I either found them too muted and mushy, or the tension bagged out too quickly for my taste. I didn't find that to be the case with Mach-10; it is comfortable, soft for a poly, and slightly muted but not too mushy. There was that little bit of crispness in this string's DNA that I find from the big three (Hyper-G, Tour Bite and Confidential). Mach-10 feels softer than those three, but there is still that crispness that I like from some of my favorite Solinco strings."

Playability Duration: 7.5

All tennis strings lose tension over time, resulting in changes to the feel and response. The important question for each player is when - or even if - those changes compromise performance. For Michelle, Mach-10's feel and overall performance never wavered. She said, "This was one of the highlights for me. I've been testing a lot of strings, and one of my toxic traits is struggling with the trampoline effect when a string bags out after a couple weeks of use (Hyper-G never does this for me, so I had high hopes for Mach-10 in this category too). Mach-10 maintained a similar feel from first installation to last hit, no matter how many days were between them. I appreciated the consistent playability. I found it to play well in the Wilson Pro Staff RF 97, Pure Drive 98, Solinco Whiteout XTD 305 and a few other frames."

Although Mach-10 didn't quite match the top strings in this category, Troy was ultimately impressed by its longevity, especially given its softer construction. He said, "When it comes to most soft feeling polys that I have tried over the years, the biggest complaint is that they lose tension quickly; they bag out and feel loose and springy faster than most other strings. I found that the playability duration of Mach-10 was pretty good, even with it having that softer, more comfortable feel for a poly. I didn't think it held up quite as well as Hyper-G or Luxilon 4G do for me, but the trade-off for the added comfort was worth it, and the tension maintenance wasn't bad by any means."

"This was the one area of the playtest where I found room for improvement," added Brittany. "With a lot of strings (polyester specifically), I like the feel for the first two to four weeks of the playtest, probably longer than the average player. I really liked Mach-10 the first two weeks and slightly into the third week. But once three weeks were up, I noticed that the playability had changed, and I felt like I lost some control and had even more power. Therefore, I cut these strings out after the three-week mark."

Breakdown Summary