Still not sure whether they are realy realy going away... at least D'Addario still put the Flex Steels on their website, but yeah as Jason said, they're discontinued, maybe temporary, maybe for good that they're just waiting for the whole stocks around the world get consumed. Could be it's their sales that haven't been so good or as some said that D'Addario just want to focus on to their latest NYXL products.
Anyhow, I'm one of maybe a few who feel unfortunate about D'Addario decision ending the Flex Steels. I'm still using them on my main gigging bass for the last 8 months. Despite lately I've been using them quite intensively in studio rehearsals and few outdoor gigs, I say that they still sound good. Maybe my hands aren't the heavy sweaty kind of type.
I agree with other poster that the Flex Steels feel and sound different than the Pro Steels. Previously, Pro Steels and RotoSound Swing 66 Stainless Steels were my choices for stainles steel strings. I actually was having problems with the tension, the stiffness and also the roughness of the Swing 66 SS but continued to live with them for many years... then I discovered the Pro Steels... still with them I had to use the Super Light EPS220-5 set to tame with the tension and stiffness problems. The roughness were also there, given the fact that these are stainless steels, but much acceptable than the Swing 66 SS. Soundwise, the Flex Steels enable me to be heard better in live band mix situations.
And so I've also been thinking for the replacement when they eventually died. Dunlop Super Bright Steels (and some say that the Nickels version of the Super Bright are in par to replace any stainless steel strings) also came in mind, but I'm reading some of them were just too quick to die. The other that came in mind is the Dr Hi-Beams. But these are round core, so as flexible as they could, there must be differences when compared to the Flex Steels.
