Head to head

Ashaway Dynamite Soft 17 vs Pacific PMX 16L

Dynamite Soft 17 leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Dynamite Soft 17 is 67 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Ashaway

Dynamite Soft 17

Nylon/Zyex · 17 ga

Pacific

PMX 16L

Nylon · 16L ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
1203rd pct
1469th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
2843rd pct
2639th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
9165th pct
9164th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
2.65th pct
2.02nd pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.52786th pct
0.39219th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.20498th pct
0.19297th 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 Soft 17 at 52 lb

String PMX 16L at 39.4 lb 17.9 kg

Coming from PMX 16L at 52 lb

String Dynamite Soft 17 at 69.9 lb 31.7 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 Soft 17 mains / PMX 16L crosses

Stiffness4th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss41st pct · 1 measured
Energy return65th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential4th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite80th pct · 1 measured
String friction98th pct · 1 measured

PMX 16L mains / Dynamite Soft 17 crosses

Stiffness4th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss40th pct · 1 measured
Energy return65th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential3rd pct · 1 measured
Ball bite31st pct · 1 measured
String friction98th 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 Soft 17

~27 hours of play

PMX 16L

~28 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Ashaway Dynamite Soft 17 Nylon/Zyex17find12028912.60.5270.204
Pacific PMX 16L Nylon16Lfind14626912.00.3920.192

Add a third string Dynamite Soft 17 in full PMX 16L in full