First things first
As somebody who has used Tecnifibre racquets religiously for a good few years, I'd like to assure you that my opinion of this racquet is completely unbiased!
Looks
For me personally, how a racquet looks is a really important factor when I'm looking to buy a new one. In terms of aesthetic, the Carboflex uses a combination of black, red, blue and white (geared towards the French flag), which I find gives it a great overall professional vibe.
The teardrop head shape is something that Tecnifibre has managed to perfect over the years. In my days as a junior I was insistent on using a traditional racket frame shape with a bridge, this all changed when I won an old model Carboflex 130 in my local club's raffle, thanks to this I have sworn by the teardrop head shape ever since.
Balance and weighting
As a UK Squash player myself, I would say that I have a reasonably large swing and I'm certainly the type of player that likes to take his space! I found that, as the X-Speed is slightly on the head-heavy side, it manages to do an awesome job of assisting a big swing, and also allows a smooth follow-through without throwing you off balance.
I usually like my racquet frames to weigh anything between 130 and 140 grams, the Carboflex frame weighs in at 130 grams, which is slightly on the lighter side than what I would normally prefer, however it has definitely given me a new appreciation of racquets that weight a little less. Obviously, there are racquets available that are considerably lighter than the Carboflex range, and this is a factor that comes down mainly to personal preference.
How it feels
The 14 x 18 string pattern is on the less-dense side, and definitely gives a slightly softer feel when striking the ball. This enabled me to be able to feel the balls contact with the strings a whole lot better which boosted shot accuracy significantly. I actually found the sweet spot to be on the large side which is relatively forgiving, it gave me some leeway on shots where I may have miss-hit the ball if the sweet spot were smaller.
The 500 squared cm head size further attributes to the forgiveness of the Carboflex and gives the user a very generous surface to hit on. Composed of Basaltex, graphite and iBlades on either side of the frame giving it an increased level of stiffness and stability, I believe this racquet hits the ideal level of sturdiness without losing feel of the ball. An ideal combination for any Squash player.
A racquet you can trust
It goes without saying that any squash racquet endorsed by highly respected players is one that you can be sure to trust! Tecnifibre's current reputation for producing excellent squash gear used by countless pros backs this up nicely. The X-Speed has been seen in the hand of some great players such as Marwan El Shorbagy, Gregoire Marche and Nouran Gohar.
If you're the sort of player who's looking to step up their game and access a new level of play, the X-Speed Carboflex 130 is, in my opinion, an ideal racquet to do so!
