Dunlop Sonic Core Evolution 130

The Dunlop Sonic Core Evolution 130 is the successor to Dunlop’s Hyperfibre+ Evolution. It first came out in 2020 and an updated model was released in 2022.

2022 Model – Sonic Core Evolution 130

Review

I did a quick review of this racket in the video below:

I liked this racket and have used a prior model of it. It has good power and is very stable, with very little vibration. I found it a little tough to maneuver in the back corners, and personally found the Evolution 120 more fun to hit with, at least this year. After doing the video, I measured the rackets and found them to be almost exactly the same weight. The 130 was just a little head-heavier. It’s funny to me that the difference felt so dramatic on court but it was only a slight difference on the scale. So we are not talking about a very meaningful difference between the rackets, but I have to go with my first instinct in the video and say I had a slight preference for the 120!

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2020 Model – Sonic Core Evolution 130

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Here’s a video review I did for this racket:

Here’s an auto-generated transcript of this video:

What’s up squash players it’s the Dunlop Sonic Core Evolution today on the Squash Source YouTube channel. Thanks for stopping by. This is the Declan James racket. There he is. Good looking man. Where is he? There he goes. This is the 130 gram racket, the Sonic Core Evolution. I just reviewed a few weeks ago the 120 Evolution, which is the Nick Matthew one. So this is 10 grams heavier (advertised) on my scale. Interestingly it was actually a few grams lighter than the Nick Matthew one. That’s interesting. Probably just there’s always some variation, so keep that in mind. This one ended up a little lighter though interestingly. But it played a little bit head-heavier and I don’t know … this is why you should never trust me in anything I say but it felt heavier on court and I think it’s and this is true it is head-heavier. 37 centimeters balance point on my on the beam versus 36 for this one and in the percentage-wise about 54% of the weight in the head on this. It felt heavier even though I just put it on the scale and it is actually lighter. I couldn’t believe it and I re-weighed it like four times because I was thought I was going crazy but there you go. So this is the 2020 model. Big thanks to Dunlop for sending me this. It’s part of their Sonic Core new range. I like to show the cosmetics on this. I’m like unnaturally happy about this design element but it makes the little Dunlop triangle when you put the cover card on it. Isn’t that great? I love it. And also the Dunlop logo shows through like that. I love it. The cosmetics on this look sweet as usual. It’s this sort of black green and white variation. I have used this racket before and the prior version of this I used it for many months and if I still have one of them — I’m not even sure because my club has been closed. I might have sold it um but if I have it it’s in my locker and I haven’t been there since February. So we’ll have to do a comparison head-to-head comparison uh if I can with this versus the old one. It felt similar to the old one. The biggest difference is that I haven’t been playing squash for several months and I feel weak and just usually I want a little bit of a heavier and head-heavier racket because I’m you know I want that extra feeling of guiding through my shot but right now as I’m coming back into squash I personally have a slight preference for this one. I hit with them side by side doing some solo hitting. Speaking of which P.S. new merch is coming out: “Solo Hitting”. I want to do a little review on that uh separately if you want to get the Solo Hitting pandemic t-shirt. But anyway back to Dunlop. This is a um it’s very similar to the prior model, it’s just the only reason that I’m sort of tempted to switch to this one is because I’m out of practice and kind of like I said weakened from the pandemic. This has got the hybrid shape as the other one does which gives it a little bit extra stiffness which I like. I think this is the Great White string from uh from Dunlop and this baby goes for in the US $190. It’s 10 bucks cheaper than the Evolution. I’m gonna be back with some more videos. I had to take a few weeks off because my family was traveling and I had a cold — not Covid! — cold for like four weeks it was crazy but I’m back and we’re gonna have some more reviews coming up so subscribe, like, stay tuned and I will be back. Let me know any questions you have about this racket. I’m gonna be doing some comparisons and try and do some shorter videos, which I’ve said, before but this time I’m really gonna do it so we’ll see you in the next one. Thanks.

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Spotted

Here’s how Declan James walks in with this racket:

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