Hey everyone, I was one of the lucky few who had a chance to receive a pack of MFD Vines at no charge in exchange for a review on the strings, so after about 6 hours of play, here is that review!
I received two different varieties in the pack- normal and phat- with both being 100% poly. As you might have guessed, these are the designations for thickness. In my opinion, the phat variety will be the go-to for most players as I feel that it is only slightly thicker than most “average” string out there. The normal could be a little thin for some people. The strings do not come with a pre-tied loop, and the length is about 54” out of the bag so they should be more than long enough for the vast majority of players. Both types felt good as I examined them. Not too limp, not too stiff, with a nice medium twist and density.
Once set up and ready to go, the play was nice from the start with no break in period. These strings do have a bit of texture that is detectable on the fingers if you get up to high speed, but it never veered into string burn territory, or anything that I would even consider uncomfortable or annoying. It was more like a gentle feedback. Slacks and whips work well with both normal and phat, but I feel like the phat type has the edge here. This was really no surprise or fault of the normal, but the extra mass of the phat moves through the air with less force and a bit more predictably. I actually really enjoyed the phat for whips and I’d rate it above average in that category.
After about an hour of play, the strings start to get fuzzy (but still retain playability), and performance (for me) was tapering at around an hour and a half, maybe an hour- forty five. Two hours would be about the max I’d go.
In the end, I would say that the Vines are a great all-rounder. These will be strings that are accessible for any player, with no special finess that’s sometimes required to reign in some of the more progressive boutique blends. If you have been playing Kitty but want to step up to more of a quality string, the Vines are an excellent option. If you have any specific questions about my experience with the strings, feel free to comment or send me a PM, and thanks for reading!
(I know you all know what used string looks like, but here is a side-by-side pic of a 2hr used phat string on the left with a new phat on the right)
Excellent review! How do you tell when a string is too beat to use any more?
Good question, but one that can be hard to articulate. There is definitely the drop in performance, but that can be hard for new players to detect, or any player for that matter, since the degradation is gradual. The easiest way is to visually compare your used string to a new one, if you still have the same type around. You can see in my comparison pic that the used string is fuzzed out, as well as thinned out/ stretched out.
Thanks for doing such a detailed review! What sort of tricks are you doing to test the whippiness/etc? I tend to go to Jade Whip (to test control/ability to resist twisting) and then various hooks to check for speed. Also, how bouncy are the vines?
Edit: To add on to the “how do you tell if it’s too worn” discussion, certain tricks become a lot more difficult - you’ll find that jade whip simply isn’t moving fast enough, twists in the air even with very little string tension, and so on. Also, binds get less and less reliable as the string gets fuzzier near the response area. If binding is getting frustrating then the string is done for.
When it becomes so frizzy it has a little bit of friction between the finger and string. It doesn’t have the some texture or thickness a new string has, nor the whippy or slackiness.
I typically run through a lot of whips and slacks but the one I find is the best litmus test is the GT laceration. I’ll do a couple of those, then do some double GT lacerations. If the string is going to have any quirks, this is where I’ll see them. Hooks don’t seems to be as sensitive to string behavior.
I wouldn’t say they have too much bounce, which is part of the reason I feel like they are a really accessible string. Sometimes too much bounce in a string can make it difficult when crossing and uncrossing hands during passes.
This is all true, but it also takes a bit of playing time to be able to pick up on. I think this is part of the reason you’ll see horribly ratty strings on the yo-yos of newer players, and also why I think using the visual indicators is a good way to tell until you really get in tune with your throwing