Gamma Moto String Review

Power - Score: 50 / Control Score: 85

Unlike some of the more elastic members of the co-polyester community, Moto was definitely on the dead side of the power spectrum. For Marco this meant more confidence when it came to adding his own power. He said, "This string offered little power, so advanced players with fast strokes will gain confidence in this string's ability to get you the power you need. I obtained more power as I got confident in my ability to swing hard at my shots while getting more than enough RPMs on the ball to bring it down on the other side of the net."

"I found this string to be fairly low-powered with lots of control," said Brittany, who had to drop the tension to squeeze enough power out of Moto. "I first strung it in my Yonex EZONE Ai 100 at 54 lbs, which for comparison is actually 2 lbs lower than normal. I was yearning for a little more power after my hit so I restrung the racquet and dropped the tension to 47 lbs. I liked the results I was getting with that tension so I decided to stick with that for the rest of the playtest. I was getting enough power to be aggressive but still had plenty of control, and I didn't feel like the ball was launching off the stringbed."

Spin - Score: 85

Armed with seven sharp edges, Moto gave our crew a tight grip on the ball. This helped give Brittany all the spin she needed. She said, "I thought I was getting a ton of spin from this seven-sided polyester. While I hit mostly flatter groundstrokes and first serves, I appreciated the easy access to spin when I needed it. Angled groundstrokes and dipping passing shots were quite effective with this string. I was also pleasantly surprised that I had more than a few groundstrokes drop right inside the baseline that normally would have sailed long. Lastly, I loved the spin I was getting when hitting second serves; there was plenty of spin to kick the serve up and out of my opponent's strike zone."

Marco also found great spin, saying "The seven-sided nature of Moto gave it some great bite. This string will really reward players with fast swing styles who like to get a lot of spin off the stringbed. I found myself swinging faster and going for more pace because of how easy it was to make the ball come down with spin."

Comfort - Score: 58

Moto's high stiffness level should definitely preclude it from winding up on anyone's short (or long) list of comfort strings. That said, our team of polyester veterans reported no problems with excessive shock. Marco explained, "I didn't have any issues with the comfort level of this string. Even though it does have a relatively high stiffness rating, I never felt any discomfort. I didn't feel as though the lower comfort level hampered my ability to go for my shots. I was able to get all the power and control I needed."

With proper technique and a wise tension strategy, Brittany had no issues with Moto's low comfort level. She said, "I wasn't expecting a ton of comfort since this is a polyester string, and it played exactly how I expected. I wouldn't call it a comfortable string, but it did its job and didn't cause any issues. As long as my technique was there, and I wasn't hitting out of the sweetspot too much, I was happy with the comfort. However, as I noted earlier, I did drop my tension significantly from 56 to 47 lbs, and that helped with the comfort level."

Feel - Score: 80

Some co-poly strings separate the player from the ball with layers of technology and a variety of hard to pronounce additives. The softest among these strings can feel too mushy or 'trampoline-like,' leaving the player feeling disconnected from both the ball and the resulting shot. On the other side of the spectrum there lies Moto, which provides very firm and direct feedback. In fact, Moto's feedback was so firm that Brittany had to lower the tension below her standard range. She said, "Gamma Moto is an extremely firm string. Dropping the tension below 50 lbs allowed for a slightly softer feel. After hitting with the string for a couple weeks I got the impression that the ball was coming off the stringbed quickly and didn't dwell on the stringbed for very long."

Appreciating the firm feel, Marco said, "This string was pretty stiff and felt firm when making contact with the ball. However, it played slightly softer than I expected compared to other strings with high stiffness levels. Overall, the response felt very reliable, which made it easier to attack the ball."

Playability Duration - Score: 88

Gamma Moto definitely stood the test of time. Even with the standard tension loss the stringbed response stayed consistent for Marco. He said, "The strings did move a little bit toward the end of their lives, the mains in particular started sliding a little left and right. I didn't find this to impact how the ball was coming off the racquet, though."

"I thought the playability duration was very high for this polyester," said Brittany, who got outstanding mileage from this co-poly. "I had no complaints from start to finish. Both tensions I played at held up the entire three weeks. I didn't notice any change in tension and felt like it stayed consistent for the whole playtest. I think I could play with this string for at least another couple of weeks."

Overall - Score: 81

Scores

(Scores are determined by averaging individual play test scores)

Playtester String Setups

Review date: July 2015. If you found this review interesting or have further questions or comments please contact us.

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