I took to the courts to test out the Tecnifibre Dynergy APX range of squash rackets. That’s the Dynergy 120 APX, the Dynergy 130 APX and the Dynergy 135 APX. If you’re after a squash racket that offers plenty of power and a forgiving feel, it’s well worth reading on.
First, a little bit of history on the Tecnifibre Dynergy
The Dynergy range launched in 2013 with the ‘Kickstep 125’ and ‘Flexarm 117’ models. The range was touted as being Tecnifibre’s rackets for amateurs and intermediate players. They promised increased power with a more forgiving feel thanks to their ‘jumbo shafts’.
In 2016 we saw the launch of the Dynergy ‘AP’ rackets, with the AP standing for ‘Arch Power’, thanks to their Prince style power ring. They were initially endorsed by Miguel Angel Rodriguez, who ended up reverting to a much older Carboflex racket, eventually launching his own ‘Cannonball’ variant.
Fast forward to 2019, and we were presented with the latest Dynergy design, the APX (pronounced Apex). Endorsed by Belgian #1 Nele Gilis, these rackets promise to continue the trend of powerful shots with a forgiving feel.
Tecnifibre Dynergy APX – Reviewing the full range
Rather than reviewing each racket separately, I thought it would be logical to review the range of rackets as one. Hopefully this’ll help people to make an informed decision when it comes to choosing a racket within the range. I’ll be comparing the Dynergy range with the Carboflex range in a separate article. Keep your eyes peeled!
Tecnifibre Dynergy APX – Design
Straight off the bat, I really like the way these rackets are designed. They have a ‘hybrid’ shape – sitting somewhere between traditional and teardrop shaped rackets thanks to the ‘Arch Power’ design in the throat.
The new head shape feels much closer to a ‘regular’ squash racket than the previous versions of the Dynergy, a welcome change in my eyes. They feature Tecnifibre’s ‘jumbo shaft’ design, making them 38% thicker than the Carboflex models. This theoretically increases the potential power of the rackets and gives a more comfortable, softer feel on impact.
The black and orange paint looks really sleek, and as ever, the ‘grip condom’ (as I like to call it) is a nifty design feature to keep your racket looking neat and tidy when you replace the stock grip. It’s a small detail, but something I think is a nice touch.
Tecnifibre has included their ‘Squash Tacky’ grips as standard with the Dynergy range. These to me feel a lot more comfortable in the hand than the ‘Squash Dry’ grips found on the Carboflex and Suprem models. Not that this matters a great deal – I tend to replace stock grips with Karakal ones straight away, though I did really like the feel of these Tecnifibre ones and would happily use them until they needed replacing.
Both the 120 and 130 feature Tecnifibre’s premium X-One Biphase string. The 135 features the less premium, but still perfectly adequate, Synthetic Gut string.
Weight
I think it’s really important to give an idea of how much each racket weighs ‘off the shelf’. It’s worth remembering that looking at a racket’s advertised weight is a futile exercise – ‘what you see’ generally isn’t ‘what you get’.
Manufacturers only advertise their ‘frame weight’. When you add strings, grips and bumpers to a racket’s weight, it tends to add on around 30 grams.
I’ve taken a leaf out of Squash Source’s book and weighed each racket across two electric scales. Placing the head on one scale, and the grip on the other gives a rough idea of how the weight is distributed across the racket. It’s not as scientifically accurate as a swing weight machine, but it does give an indication as to how heavy or light a racket will feel.
| Racket | All in weight | Weight in the head | Weight in the grip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tecnifibre Dynergy APX 120 | 150g | 81g | 69g |
| Tecnifibre Dynergy APX 130 | 155g | 85g | 69g |
| Tecnifibre Dynergy APX 135 | 154g | 84g | 69g |
Let me guess – you’re thinking two things – ‘why are all the weights so close’, and ‘why is the 135 lighter than the 130’ – there’s a couple of logical answers here:
- Manufacturers have a +5/-5g tolerance on thier frame weights. It’s likely the 120 I received was a little heavy, and the 135 was a little light. It happens.
- The 120 and 130 both have Tecnifibre’s X-One Biphase string, whereas the 135 has the Synthetic Gut string. I suspect the Synthetic gut is lighter – if each racket was equipped with the same string, you’d probably see more linear results.
Overall, these rackets appear to have a somewhat head heavy balance, getting more head-heavy as you go up through the different racket weights.
Taking the rackets on court
Drives/lengths
The immediate thing that hits you with these rackets is how easily they generate power. I was able to hit through the ball unlike any racket I’ve used before. They almost made me question whether a racket can be ‘too powerful’ – though I’ll leave that thought for another day.
I found my shots stayed nice and tight to the side wall, even when I didn’t hit the ball perfectly in the centre. Tecnifibre’s claims of these rackets being ‘powerful and forgiving’ are well founded, it seems.
As I switched between the 120 and the 130, the difference in weight was subtle but still noticeable. Given the more head light balance, the 120 felt a little easier to manoeuvre, allowing me to quickly whip the racket through the ball and lift the racket up with ease. The 130 on the other hand felt a touch slower to move around (though still a very manoeuvrable racket in its own right), but it delivered a ludicrous amount of power thanks to the additional weight in the head. I found my shots stayed tighter to the wall with the 130 – the additional weight helped to guide the racket head through the ball nicely, with a generally smoother feel through the swing.
The 135 is a tough one to comment on, given it had almost an identical weight on my scales to the 130. It felt very similar, with the only real difference being the feel off the strings, with the upgraded X-One Biphase strings offering a somewhat softer feel. I imagine with the same strings, the 135 will feel a touch more head-heavy and therefore offer a little more power, at the cost of manoeuvrability.
My only real criticism with these rackets was the consistency in my lengths when I took the pace off. A drill I like to do is to hit continuous low-medium pace drives into the service box, and I did find a few shots going haywire with these rackets (though this might just have been me having a bad day on court!). Generally speaking, when power and forgiveness is increased, touch and feel is reduced. I did find the length on these particular shots to be a little more consistent with the 120, as I felt I had a little bit more feel off the strings at slower paces.
Short game
Now I’ll be completely honest, my short game leaves a lot to be desired. However, I found myself getting along with these rackets much better than I’d expected. I was able to hit cross court nicks fairly consistently, which is most unlike me.
Drop shots were the same story as when I tried to take the pace off the ball on my drives – still accurate, but with an occasional inconsistency in length/power due to not having a great deal of feel off the strings. Though that’s me being really critical, on the most part I really enjoyed using these rackets when taking the ball in short and can’t imagine myself playing much more accurate shots with other rackets.
Which of the Dynergy rackets did I prefer?
Looking at the rackets within the Dynergy range, again it’s a close call, but the 130 edged it for me. The 130 I received wasn’t actually a great deal heavier than the 120, and I found the slight extra weight in the head gave the racket a more solid feel, without really sacrificing a great deal in the way of manoeuvrability.
Overall, I really liked these rackets. I went in to this test with a pretty negative mindset, I used to play with the Flexarm 117 and didn’t enjoy using it (I stopped using it after the stock strings broke and switched to the Carboflex 125). It was therefore a really pleasant surprise to enjoy using the new Dynergy APX rackets as much as I did. If you’re a club level player looking for a racket that delivers a generous amount of power, that doesn’t punish your mistakes and has a nice feel on impact with the ball, it’s well worth giving the Tecnifibre Dynergy APX rackets a try.
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