I was always skeptical about “performance strings,” never thinking they really made a difference compared to regular sidewall/shooting strings. So when a learned about Firethreads and their rubber grip print on them, I thought they could be just for show. Lorne at Firethreads got a hold of Lacrosse Playground and challenged me to try their Stringers Pack:
The Stringers Pack includes three shooting strings, four short strings, two long strings, a bottom string, and a bracelet.
To test out theses out, I strung them up using black Stringking Type 2s mesh in my dyed matte-black Epoch Hawk. I strung it with the same pocket and shooter setup that I had in it before, the only difference was the Firethreads. This way, I would have a control for a fair before-and-after comparison.
The strings for Firethreads feel a little more soft and stretchy than most normal sidewall strings. They feel a little more like paracord. But the big difference is that they have grip print on them, which are little rubber bumps going all through the strings. The biggest impact the GripPrint makes is that when tying knots, these hold together making your knots much tighter than I’ve ever been able to do. Having these tight knots that won’t come undone or loose will make your pocket much more consistent and stay the same over time, which is a huge benefit.
The Firethreads shooters, which have a full stripe of grip print going all the way across them are definitely beneficial and are the best part of Firethreads. They feel similar to other laces that are available but when throwing with them they have a few differences that give you a big advantage. The grip print gives you a tiny bit of extra hold, without adding whip, but it helps a ton when shooting. They seemed to give me a bit of a faster shot than usual, but the bigger thing I noticed was that I was shooting the ball much more accurately. Because of the grip print, it ensures that the ball doesn’t fly off the shooter randomly if your shot isn’t perfect. While testing them, I was shooting at the corner targets I have on my box lacrosse net and was hitting them what felt like much easier than normal. These shooters were improving my game, believe it or not. .
Currently, Firethreads are only available in the volt color with the black grip print. This does look awesome in some setups, like this one, but could clash with some other colored heads and meshes. I’d like to see them come out in multiple colors, especially some flat colors with the same color grip print and string.
I highly recommend Firethreads for advanced stringers looking to get better performance out of their strings and shooters. The strings will improve the consistency of your pocket and the shooters will improve your shots.
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