Just had my third session with this Yonex Aerosonic 0.61 string strung at 27lbs on my 3U tk9000. I play only doubles and I tend to prefer at the back court smashing and playing drop shots. Repulsion is definitely slightly better than my regular choice of BG66 UM, clears are almost effortless here and i was surprised i over hit some of my clears with my usual swing and power which seldom happened with the BG66 UM and maybe its just me, but i swear i can feel the shuttle even more when i slice or hit my wiper drop shots and when i smash the strings seem to pocket the shuttle even better than the BG66 UM. Control was also great for my flat drives, i was able to control my directions when i was engaging my opponents in some of the flat drives rallies. For the string tension, i don't feel any significant loss of tension yet going into my 3rd session today despite being such a thin string, the repulsion still feels great today when i was smashing from the back court. Another great quality of the string is I didn't have to run in the string like my usual BG66 UM and especially Victor VS 850 which I have tried previously and both can feel a little hard when its new and freshly strung but for the Aerosonic 0.61, it felt just right almost immediately when i started to play with it. Overall i can say the string has been great so far! My only gripe is the price of the string which is more expensive than my usual choice of BG66 UM.
Finally got my 200m reel of the Aerosonic 0.61mm strings. As soon as I took out the string, I was amazed how noticeably thinner these are compared to the ZM62 and ZM62F. Even though technically they are supposed to be only 0.01mm thinner, they definitely felt much thinner than that. A pic is attached showing the close up view of the 3 strings. Visually the Aerosonic is noticeably thinner as well. I took several measurements with my digital caliper and averaged them (from scrap pieces, untensioned). I’m not sure how accurate my caliper is, but the relative values should be fairly reliable. These are the values I got: ZM62 = 0.68mm ZM62F = 0.69mm Aerosonic = 0.63mm I strung up my JS10 4U, using my Wise tension head, with 10% prestretch, at my usual 27x29.5lbs tension. With these extra thin strings, I will definitely be more diligent about checking the condition of the grommets, as I’m scared the strings may have higher chance of cutting through the grommets and. During stringing, the strings felt fairly slippery, and since these are so thin, it made weaving and threading though shared holes a breeze. In fact, they are so thin, I was actually able to put 2 strings through the non-shared holes. I have never been able to do that with any other strings I’ve tried. My current go to string is the Zymax 62 white. I’ve tried the ZM62F half a dozen times, which I’m not a big fan of. Each time I’ve always end up going back to my ZM62, as it feels to me, more crispy with similar repulsion. I I’ve always been a fan of thin and crispy strings. However I’ve come to learn that the newer generation of the ZM62 has lost its crispiness. On to the Aerosonic review. I got a short session in today. My initial impressions is very good! With some dry swings, I can feel less air resistance due to the extra thin strings, perhaps making the fast JS10 even faster (but I can’t rule out that it could be purely mental, knowing that it’s a thinner string). In terms of crispiness, if the string gauge were the same, it’s probably not as crispy as the older generation ZM62 (white). But since the Aerosonic is much thinner, overall, it does appear to increase the crisp feel, so overall probably similar crispiness as the ZM62. But it’s a different feel. I haven’t use the ZM62F as much, but from the half dozen times I’ve tried, I might even say that if a ZM58F existed, it would feel sort of like the Aerosonic. That might excite lots of people here, but personally I would have been more excited if it’s like a non-fire version older generation ZM58. In terms of repulsion, it’s definitely very high. If the ZM62 and ZM62 have a repulsion of 10, comparatively, perhaps the Aerosonic does truly have a repulsion of 11! Or maybe more like a 10.5. In terms of durability and tension retention, I’ll be able to comment more after a few more sessions. However since the string do seem quite slippery, perhaps the durability won't be overly bad for such a thin string. Since I just got the Aerosonic in the mail today and wanted to get one strung up right away in time of my night session, I wasn’t able to do a proper comparison of the 3 strings (ZM62, ZM62F, Aerosonic) freshly strung strings on my 3 near identical spec JS10 4Us. So my impression is mostly based on memory. Though I may not decide to do a proper test, as I’ve given the ZM62F many chances already, so may not want to string up another ZM62F. The regular ZM62, I’m almost out of the crispier older generation. I’ve tried the newer less non-crispy ZM62, and I didn’t like that. Since the older generation is hard to get now, so maybe it should not be in the comparison. So I may just string up more Aerosonic and test it on the other racquets in my bag (JS10 KRP, TK9900MYP) Based my a very brief trial, I'm going to tentatively say that the Aerosonic is my new go to string. Just hope the durability and tension retention wouldn't be to far behind the ZM62.
Whoa! Just what I wanted to hear! I'm a ZM62 fanatic too. And was annoyed by some batch differences too that seemed to affect crispness. Recently I've gotten used to ZM62F due to better durability. Now that you mention about a ZM string thinner than 62F, about a year ago, I was fortunate to be supplied with a test sample of ZM60 Fire!! Yep, that was what's printed on the string, and it was significantly thinner than 62F. Probably like this Aerosonic, which is what piqued my interest here. That ZM60F was incredibly crisp, responsive, repulsive, and with great feel. Easily 11 out 10 across the board! Not only that but it seemed to be quite durable for such a small diameter. It never broke but only after about a lengthy 40 hrs of play did it begin to lose playability due to notching developing. I've been told that Ashaway is in the process of finalizing this super thin string and may bring it to market mid next year or so. Looking forward to that! Meanwhile I'll have to get my hands on a set of these Aerosonic.
[MENTION=93]jsunsun[/MENTION] I just saw that you string 29.5 lbs?! What is the frequency right off the machine? Must be over 1400 Hz! I suppose it wouldn't be able to withstand much mishits at that high tension... Hmmm...I see you're in TO... I should buy a set or two off you...
Zm60F that's also crispy? Can't wait for that. Though ashaway seem to overstate the thinness of their strings, so they might have to come up with maybe a 0.57mm string to truly match the thinness of the 0.61mm Aerosonic.
I will check the frequency on my next Aerosonic stringing. At the same freshly strung tension, it did sound higher pitch than the zm62. I always put an extra cross at the top and that has drastically decreased the frequency of breakage on misshits. Majority of my breaks are still due to misshits. Nowadays at this tension, iIaverage about 1 break on the zm62 every 20 hours of play.
I strung another JS10 and frequency 15 min after stringing @ 27x29.5lbs is 1369hz while the one i strung 22hr ago and played 3 games with is now at 1317hz.
Just strung my N90 at 28x30lbs with a 15% pre-stretch. The whole time I was hoping it doesn't break during the stringing but it survived! Hopefully I will be able to have more than a couple of hits with it this Sunday. The frequency sounds really high, higher than my Li-Ning No.1 at 30x32lbs.
Both of the 2 JS10 I've strung, one 4 days ago (with about 1 hour of play) and the other 5 days ago (with about 4 hours of play), both are now pinging at 1284Hz (original off the stringing machine was 1369Hz), so seems like tension retention is not bad? And so far no broken strings yet, so durability might be ok too for such a thin string?
That's not too bad. But the ZM60F I had iirc pinged relatively high for the relatively low tension I had last year at 22x23. And the ZM62F already pings at 1330 right off the machine at 25x27, dropping to 1270 after 6 hrs play.
It's been 2 weeks since I started using the Aerosonic. I've probably had about 20 hours of play since then, yet no broken strings yet. Since I'm not a frequent string breaker, I still have to just tentatively say that the Aerosonic is at least as durable as the ZM62. Seeing that Aerosonic is considerably thinner than the ZM62 (more than 0.01mm than what technical specs suggests), I am surprised at how durable it is for such a thin string. In terms of tension retention. The first racquet (JS10) I strung initially pinged at 1369Hz, after two weeks and about 15 hours of play, it now pings at 1267Hz. Not sure if that is considered poor/average/or good on retention. However just based on my personal feel, it does feel as if it lost more tension than ZM62. Though I'm guessing that might be due to the "softness" of the string. eg. when a soft string loses tension, I can really start to feel it's "softness". However with the ZM62 being a comparatively harder feel string, perhaps when it loses tension, the "hardness" feel of the string may make the tension loss appear less in terms of feel? Using the Aerosonic, I think I will likely be cutting and restring earlier. With ZM62, assuming it didn't break, I was cutting and restring about every 15hours of play. With the Aerosonic, I might drop that to every 7-10 hours.
I strung my TK onigiri with aerosonic at 27x29 several days ago. been playing with it for 4 hours. Somehow it still pings around 1375Hz. On the other hand, I have 66 Force on my other racket at 25x27 and it pings around 1204Hz. Why is aerosonic pinging so high? Also, for BG 66 Force, should I cut it?
Update after 2 wks with this string. (First a disclaimer, my regular stringer is away, so had to resort to another, who seems to string 1 lb tighter. My regular string is ZM62 Fire @25x27 on my JS10 pinging at around 1260 Hz after 6 hrs play.) Having gotten 2 sets of Aerosonic (tks [MENTION=93]jsunsun[/MENTION] ! ), the first one strung at a lowly 24x26 was 1395 (wth!!) Hz 1 day after stringing with no play and ended up at 1335 after 6 hrs play. That's just crazy! Even accounting for the stringer's extra tightness, this string feels 2-3 lbs tighter than ZM62 Fire. On visual inspection, it is noticeably thinner than ZM62 Fire. As we all know by now, Zymax strings are thicker than spec, so 62F is 0.65mm. Even compared to the wonderful ZM60F prototype I had a year ago, the Aerosonic is still thinner by a hair. So that explains why it pings so dang high. The first set obviously I couldn't really play with as the stringbed felt like a board and the sweetspot was like penny sized. But surprisingly it didn't break on mishits. In any case, at that high frequency, I think I've really exceeded the string's useful elastic limits. The second set at 2 lbs lower at 22x24 came out at 1335 Hz at 0 hr play and is now 1300 after 4 hrs play. This time the stringbed is much more manageable. It's perfect. Repulsion is incredibly effortless. If the 62F stringbed energy return is 80%, then Aerosonic is probably 95%. From memory, very similar to 60F. In a sense, these super thin strings are designed for weaker players like me, strong players need not bother as they will be frustrated from hitting out frequently. Feel is medium hard and very crisp. Touch and net shots are deliciously tactile. Better than 62F. Same as 60F. Control is where it's not as good as 60F. It's better than 62F because of its thinness, but it's slightly less textured than 62F and significantly less so than 60F. 60F is still much better in this area, where the shuttle goes exactly where your brain wants it to go. I'm really looking forward to 60F if and when Ashaway brings it to market next year. Durability is still up in the air, but the first set seems to be starting to notch already after only 6 hrs play, so playability will probably not last as long as 62F. I've noticed that string playability will suffer when severe notching occurs, so even if it doesn't break by then, it'll need to be cut and restrung. Hence anyone thinking of using this string will likely need to restring every 10 hrs play or so, which can get expensive...
