Laserfibre or Silent Partner

[eagle]

Hi,

Just want to ask the collective wisdom here for opinions on these stringers:

* Laserfibre MS200 ECO (Drop weight)
* Silent Partner Swing (Drop weight)
* Silent Partner e.Stringer (electronic)

I break my strings almost every week and having two racquets easy costs me close to $100 in pro stringing. :(

The Laserfibre sounds and looks interesting with its constant pull design but I haven't been able to find any customer feedback or even pricing on this.... website doesn't have prices either.

The Silent Partner Swing looks like a good product with its clutch design.

The Silent Partner e.Stringer is priced competitively against drop weight systems which makes it almost a no brainer.

I take it these systems are of high quality that provide results as advertised.

Just wondering what would be a good system for me to get. This would be my first stringer and don't plan to make a living out of it. Just want to do it myself to save a little, do it on my sked, and investigate diff string combo to improve my game.

Would appreciate your help.

Thanks,
eagle

[Jaypro]

i dont know about any of these machines, but off the top of my head i'de go with the laserfibre. they have a good rep for putting out quality machines, whereas i have heard sp can put out some crap. just my opinion, i'll let Jay Cee put his 2 cents in now

[Jay Cee]

Hi Eagle,

Thanks for the intro JB, you are a real friend, have another big one on me. :cool:

Yesterday I received an e-mail from someone who read some discussions on the board, and he asked me to recommend some lower priced stringing machines. What is incredible is that you have posted today, exactly the same 3 machines that I recommended. I am quite sure that it was not addressed to you, but my answer seems to be appropriate, so here it is.

Quote :

There are some reasonably good machines available at low prices, for example SILENT PARTNER has a good model drop weight machine :

- The S.P. SWING with a 6 point mounting it costs US$199

or the same machine with an electric motor

- The S.P. E-STRINGER with a 6 point mounting it costs US$279

Both have fairly good quality flying clamps and correct tools, you can find them at :

http://www.sptennis.com/stringer.asp

I personally do not like the Klippermate, not at all. The clamps are the worst in the business and a real problem for both the stringer and the strings. For the small difference you would be far better off taking a machine from Silent Partner. Avoid EAGNAS machines, they are bad. :o

For me the best machine is from LASERFIBRE, a drop weight with excellent flying clamps would cost about US$400, which is probably too much for you, but you can keep a machine all your life, and the pleasure you get from stringing on a good machine is really something else. :)

To string your own racquets can be immensely satisfying, even if it's only once a month, because once you start you are not going to limit it to 4 times a year. Even if you don't believe it now, before long you will have friends asking you to string for them, and you will accept to do so. The convenience is too evident. If you want to keep it basic, for $200 the SWING is fine.

The best choice is the MS-200 ECO with flying clamps, have a look at it on this address :

http://www.laserfibre.com/MS200_ECO.html

Now its up to you.
Later,
JC.

Unquote.

That saves me time and effort to write it all again. Hope that answers your questions.
Bye,
:cool:

[eagle]

Thanks guys.

Hmmmm.... interesting that another person is interested the very same stringers I'm looking at. :)

I was actually also considering the Klippermate, but the readjustments with the drop weight (sans the clutch like the SP) was a concern. Appreciate you making a side note on that. I've now eliminated it from my short list.

The idea of an electric stringer is good since theoretically it will cut down the stringing time. My concern though is maintenance and durability of the motor. Mechanicals like a motor have a finite lifetiime which means I'd have to replace the motor or the whole system.

With a manual system, there will be less maintenance and no motors to worry about.

Based on that..... I will probably get either the SP or Laserfibre drop weight. I like the latter though. We will see.

Thanks a bunch guys.

r,
eagle

[ericb]

I have the Silent Partner CL which is their electronic machine with 6 point mounting and fixed clamps. I am very happy with the machine, the clamps, and the tensioner so far.

Their customer service is incredible. I originally bought their cheaper stringer with floating clamps and two point mounting, and after using it for a few months I really wasn't happy with it. They let me upgrade, and even paid the shipping one way! Since then I've had a few questions, and the people on the other end of the 800 number are always happy to help out.

The only thing I'm not crazy about with this machine is the size of the mounting system. Consider this picture:

http://www.cim.mcgill.ca/~ericb/starting_clamp/top%20view-small.jpg

Click here for a full size image: http://www.cim.mcgill.ca/~ericb/starting_clamp/top%20view.jpg

If you look carefully at the top part of the mounting system you'll see there's a piece of steel in the way for placing the fixed clamp to hold the last cross if you string in one-piece, with crosses from bottom to top. This can be easily fixed using a floating clamp, but it's worth mentioning. If you string in two pieces, this is not problem - there's enough room at the bottom to clamp the final cross.

The other problem which is related is that you can't place a starting clamp on the inside when pulling the first main. This is also fairly easily accomodated by placing the starting clamp on the outside of the racquet as shown.

All in all, I'm very happy with the machine and have probably strung more than 200 racquets on it by now.

Cheers,

Eric

[eagle]

Hi Eric,

Looking at the comments in the Machine Reviews section, other owner found it necessary to regularly calibrate the system.

What's your experience on this?

Thanks,
eagle

[ericb]

Hi eagle,

I have found that I don't need to calibrate the machine overly often. I check the tension with a calibrator about every 5 racquets just to be sure everything is ok, and have only had to make adjustments twice since I bought it last year (which is very easy to do). Once was after the machine arrived :)

Feel free to ask me anything else about the machine if you are interested. All I can say is that so far I am very happy with the machine.

Cheers,

Eric

[eagle]

Thanks Eric.

r,
eagle