Head to head

Ashaway Dynamite 17 vs Ashaway Dynamite Soft 17

They split the measurements 3–3. The widest gap is ball bite, where Dynamite Soft 17 is 53 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Ashaway

Dynamite 17

Nylon/Zyex · 17 ga

Ashaway

Dynamite Soft 17

Nylon/Zyex · 17 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
1273rd pct
1203rd pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
3048th pct
2843rd pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
9270th pct
9165th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
3.09th pct
2.65th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.41533rd pct
0.52786th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.13890th pct
0.20498th pct

Bars are percentile against all 791 strings, and the marked side is the one that measures better, which is not always the one you want. A firmer bed is worse for your elbow and better for your control, and no measurement knows which of those you came for.

Which one wins, by problem

Each string's standing on the site's rankings, out of every measured string in the database. This is where a comparison stops being arithmetic and starts being a decision.

Swapping between them: what tension?

Bed stiffness is published at one reference tension, so the only honest conversion is to scale it. These are starting points from 52 lb, not prescriptions. The calculator takes your own tension.

Coming from Dynamite 17 at 52 lb

String Dynamite Soft 17 at 57.2 lb 25.9 kg

Coming from Dynamite Soft 17 at 52 lb

String Dynamite 17 at 47.3 lb 21.5 kg

Hybrid: what if you used both?

Estimated, not measured. No hybrid combination has been tested as a bed. These figures are the two strings' own lab measurements weighted by how much of the bed each one actually is. Treat them as a guide to which way a pairing moves, never as lab data.

Dynamite 17 mains / Dynamite Soft 17 crosses

Stiffness3rd pct · 1 measured
Tension loss47th pct · 1 measured
Energy return68th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential8th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite46th pct · 1 measured
String friction94th pct · 1 measured

Dynamite Soft 17 mains / Dynamite 17 crosses

Stiffness3rd pct · 1 measured
Tension loss45th pct · 1 measured
Energy return66th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential6th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite81st pct · 1 measured
String friction97th pct · 1 measured

Open this in the hybrid builder

Which goes dead first?

Estimated from tension loss, which is the only thing the database measures about ageing. This is when the bed stops playing the way you strung it, not when the string breaks.

Dynamite 17

~26 hours of play

Dynamite Soft 17

~27 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Ashaway Dynamite 17 Nylon/Zyex17find12730923.00.4150.138
Ashaway Dynamite Soft 17 Nylon/Zyex17find12028912.60.5270.204

Add a third string Dynamite 17 in full Dynamite Soft 17 in full