170. Honolulu J2CR LH, PaddleTek HoneyFoam, and Our Top Paddles of 2026

[00:00:03] All right, what's up guys? We are back with another podcast episode and this week we're going to be going over a couple of paddles as well as a recent video I just launched about how to pick the perfect paddle for you, a recent re-injury of mine which is kind of unfortunate. And then we're going to talk about what we think are the best paddles of 2026 so far. So it's going to be kind of fun to go over. Oh and then in the kitchen we'll have a long list of questions and answers. So we'll hop right into it. But I do think this week will be a little bit of a shorter one.

[00:00:34] All right, we'll see. I always mess it up when I say that. It is possible. All right, first thing we're going to go over. I figured I'd just give this update now because there's a chance that I'm going to miss out on at least doing in-depth on some big pad reviews as many of you have probably noticed. I've actually been very far behind on some like more important releases. I would say the Honolulu Blue Crystal Grit, the Friday Aura Pro. I mean there's probably a number of paddles sitting

[00:01:01] in my office right now that many of you have noticed. There is no review. And the last two weeks I have had a back injury again. I was free of this for, man I would say since like August of last year. I've really not had any, I don't think my back has bothered me at all. My hip bothered me a bit, but that was like manageable. But then Isaac and I were just practicing like two weeks ago. We were just hitting some paddles for fun and my back just started hurting. I was like, oh, that's

[00:01:29] uncomfortable. Then the next day it was really bad and I was like, oh, that's not good. And I was like, ah, it'll go away quick. And it hasn't gone away. So I do actually have an MRI scheduled for next week just to check if it is a disc herniation because at this point this has gone on for so long or on and off that I would like to know. So I'll have more info next week. You know what's happening this year, this summer? Why are you having back problems? Why? Turning 30.

[00:01:53] That must be it. That must be it. But yeah, so potentially with how it has been going so far, my court time has been like effectively zero. Like I had a session a week ago where I was supposed to play some doubles and I literally looked like a 2-0 because I could not move. And then I just canceled all my other sessions. I actually have a tournament this weekend, which I am probably going to cancel if my partner can find someone else to play with because I just can't play.

[00:02:21] I can like lightly hit if we drill and I'm not like trying to move around a lot. I can do that, but I just can't play games. So there will be paddle content, but it's probably going to be very slow. And it's probably also going to limit the podcast because I really need to focus on just like getting this healthy. For sure. I think I know what I need to do at this point, but unfortunately it's just probably going to be a slow process, which kind of sucks. It takes time. So for all of you who are healthy right now,

[00:02:49] stay healthy, go to the gym, don't hurt yourself. As soon as you hurt yourself, it is the only thing you care about fixing. Yep. It is, trust me, just it sucks. So yeah, we'll have more information about that. But yeah, that's one of the reasons that I've been a little slower than I would prefer lately. So, okay. Uh, with that being said, since, uh, my back is going to limit how many paddles I can actually hit and we can talk about on the podcast. If you have topics you want to hear on the podcast

[00:03:16] that are not related to brand new paddles that need to be hit, leave them down in the comments, because if we want to keep doing this podcast for the next, you know, I would say month and maybe two months, depending on how long it takes me to fix this, uh, we're going to need paddles or topics that are not about new paddles. So let me know down in the comments. That would be great. That is your homework this week. Uh, okay, moving on. Uh, one piece of news. So everyone knows a Selkirk bought bread and butter, but one of the updates that got released

[00:03:44] on their Instagram is that bread and butter will now go from a six month warranty to a one year warranty. And that also will go for all paddles purchased prior to the sale. Uh, I believe is what they said. So one year from six months, that's great because I feel like that was one of the things that was like, why are they six months? Like pretty much everyone that went to a phone paddle went to a year for the most part. Uh, so it was always kind of odd to see that. So it was nice to see that they're on a year. And if you already bought one, it's not like,

[00:04:13] oh man, you missed out. Yeah. It still applies. So that's nice to see. Um, yeah, I appreciate that. I feel like it would have been fairly understandable even if they said, you know, it doesn't apply to existing paddling. It would have sucked and people probably would have been angry, but somewhat understandable, but it's nice that they're, you know, adding it to all existing paddles. Yeah, totally. Uh, and then, uh, this isn't, uh, this isn't, I guess this is, we'll just, we'll put this in the news here. This could technically be a primary topic. News was

[00:04:40] pretty light this week, but, uh, I just recently released a video a couple of days ago that was about how to pick the right paddle for you. Because I think one of the things when it comes to paddles, first of all, it's just extremely overwhelming. Cause I mean, look at this wall. Uh, this isn't even close to all of the paddles that are in this house. Yeah. Yeah. Not even half. Uh, and I just think it's extremely overwhelming. And I was trying to think of a video, how do you break this down and

[00:05:07] make it easier for people to buy a paddle? And you can go watch the whole video. I'll have it linked down below. I'd actually highly recommend most people do. Uh, we're going to kind of go over it a little bit here, but basically there's 12 things that I think if you answer these 12 questions, you should be able to narrow down your paddle options to like five paddles. If you can answer all 12 of these and you're not saying like, Oh, I don't care. I don't care. I don't care.

[00:05:34] Like as long as you can be a little more specific, then I think it narrows it down drastically. And also you split these 12 questions into what I call primary categories and secondary categories. Primary is this is a non-negotiable. Like you will not play with a paddle unless it has this, like, as we can probably already imagine, we're going to go over it here in a second. I can guarantee you one of Isaac's primary categories is that it has to be an elongated paddle. I can pretty much guarantee you. I'm shocked. You knew that. That's wild.

[00:06:04] How could you have ever guessed that? I know. Right. I just magic bottle. Um, and then secondary categories are things that you might still care about, but if enough of your primary categories are taken care of, you could get over it, right? Like if, if a paddle has literally everything you wanted, but let's say maybe the grip size was a little bigger than you wanted, at least for me, I'd be like, okay, I'll get over it and play with the bigger grip,

[00:06:29] but I just might not love that. So you want to have as many of your primary categories met and your secondary, but secondary tends to be like, I'll get over it. If it's not this, you know, maybe that's budget for some people. Like they'd prefer to spend 200, but if they found the perfect paddle for two 30, they might go, ah, okay, I'll get over it. You know? Yeah. So as we go through this, just think about what your primary and your secondary categories are. Cause everyone's different. There is no magic recipe. I can't tell you what your primary

[00:06:58] category should or shouldn't be, but I think once you know that it'll just, you can ignore so much hype. If a new paddle comes out and you're like, Oh, well it doesn't have two of my primary categories. Then you're like, I don't need to care about it versus hearing everyone talk about a paddle and say, it's amazing. And then go, Oh no, maybe I should try that. And then you start going like, you know, maybe they don't have the power level or the shape you want. And you're like, well, maybe I'll get over it. Well, you might not. If that, if shape is one of your important categories,

[00:07:24] the perfect one is like the P one. Like I think the P one has gotten a lot of hype and a lot of people do really like it, but it also has a bit of a different feel. The sweet spot. I mean, sweet spot is good, but it doesn't line up a lot with everybody. And a lot of people went out and bought it immediately and I've been seeing people return it, sell it, talking about they didn't like it because yeah, I think it's a really great paddle, but it doesn't fit everybody. Yeah,

[00:07:49] totally. So I'll go over the, I'll just read off the 12 here and kind of maybe quickly summarize them. And then we'll kind of go into our list and we can kind of go back and forth on some stuff. Yeah. Yeah. So number one, uh, and these, I did list these in the video as what I generally think are the most important for people. Uh, but again, it's going to vary for everyone. So number one, I had paddle shape, right? Is that an elongated, a hybrid or a wide body? It's basically those

[00:08:16] three paddle shapes are the standard. Now pick amongst those three, find your favorite, uh, swing weight. It was number two. Uh, I'd highly recommend you watch the video. I actually made a graphic for that, that I think really, if you don't already understand swing weight, I think it simplifies it. I think for a lot of people, swing weight is a primary. I actually, I'd be curious how many people know it. Yes. Without like thinking about it or knowing a lot about the topic, swing weight is a primary category for them. They just don't know exactly

[00:08:46] why. Yes. I would agree. Or they don't fully understand it. But obviously if you're picking up a paddle that's too heavy, you're like, well, I can't flick with this. They just might not necessarily know that that's swing weight. Exactly. But yeah, you know, and you can basically split swing weight into, there's kind of like three ranges in my opinion. There's, uh, light. I kind of have it split into five. It's like ultra light, light, average, heavy, and then very heavy. But if you want to simplify that even more, you could go light, average, heavy. Yeah. Anything to me under

[00:09:13] like 111 swing weight is what I would consider light. If you're sensitive to swing weight, you're probably going to be good under 111. If you're really sensitive and you're like, I need a light paddle, then it's probably going to be under 105. Yep. Average to me is about 112 to 118. Most people short of them having an injury or something kind of abnormal, you hand them a paddle in this range. They're probably okay. Or sometimes kids, sometimes kids. Um, and then once you go 118

[00:09:41] and above, I would consider that to be the heavy and then 126 and above. That's like very heavy. I would say unless you're, you know, former like big tennis athlete, or you're just very strong or bigger, you probably don't want something like that. There are going to be people who prefer it. Like you don't mind swing weights that large, but I would say generally speaking, that's too heavy for most people. Yep. Um, I know a lot of pros they'll have swing weights in that

[00:10:06] range, but also pros are pros for a reason. Most of us are not pros. Um, number three is power level. There is control all court and power. I think everyone's familiar with that. Uh, for the most part, finding the power level that works for you and just stick with it again. I generally think all court for most people get in the really nitty gritty and there's, you know, different categories inside of the category. Yeah. Right. There's like high tier power, mid tier low, which I think can matter. But generally speaking, if you pick from the first three buckets,

[00:10:35] you'll be good. Like if you're like, Hey, I want a high, like I want a power paddle, then you might get a little bit more nuanced. If you're saying I want the most powerful paddle possible and then someone gives you like a P1. Yeah. Like it's a power paddle, but it's not, you know, boomstick. Yeah. Right. Right. Totally. So knowing what you want within that, I, again, I don't think the control category is as dead as people want to make it sound like. And I definitely don't think the all court category is as bad as people make it out to be. I think it's

[00:11:04] actually, I would love to see what would happen to a lot of players. Like let's just say I could snap my fingers and everyone had to play with an all court paddle for a year. It would be very interesting to see the stats of like how much better certain people played. Cause I, again, I think there are people who don't, it's not exciting to them. So they don't want to try it. Right. Now the drive percentage would go up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Probably made. Yeah. Not made out. Yeah. Number five was paddle durability, but really what it came down to more was,

[00:11:32] do you want a Gen 3 paddle or a Gen 4? Gen 3 is polymer honeycomb paddles with foam around the edges. Gen 4 is entirely foam paddles. And a lot of that comes down to Gen 3 for a lot of people. They feel more connected to the ball. They like that feedback. They feel like they can shape their shots better, but they're not very durable. They core crush a lot. Gen 4 certainly has its own durability issues. It's not perfect, but eliminates the core crushing issue. And then some people don't

[00:11:59] like it because of the feedback it gives. Personally, I think a lot of that's going away. I think we have a lot of options now that are maybe not exactly like a Gen 3, but in the realm, right? Thrive Ignite, the, um, the Boomstick gives a lot of feedback. I don't think it necessarily feels like a lot of the Gen 3s, but it's so different from most foam paddles that I'm like, I feel like that kind of counts. And then there's one other that I'm completely blanking on.

[00:12:26] I've just, I feel like I was just hitting it recently. I don't remember, but there are more Friday or a pro I feel like is like getting in that realm. So it's like, there are options that when people say like, Oh, foam just doesn't work. I'm like foam is like a big spectrum now. Yeah. Foam is not like this little narrow window. It's like, dude, we have like pick up a carbon true foam Genesis and hit it next to a Boomstick and tell me they're the same thing. Yep. They're not. So knowing, do you prefer Gen 3 or do you not prefer, uh, Gen 3? And then

[00:12:56] if you don't have a preference, I would say just buy a foam paddle, make your life simple, avoid a lot of the warranties, but you may have a preference one way or another for sure. And then smaller ones that'll rattle off kind of quick that are kind of obvious budget, uh, self-explanatory spin. I said this in the video, but spin is very much across the board. Spin is mostly the same across paddles. Yes. There are occasionally paddles that come out that are really gritty. That shouldn't be that gritty. Then sometimes they get caught and then it goes down and it's like

[00:13:26] largely spin is the same across the board minus maybe three or four paddles right now that stand out kind of above the rest paddles like that would be like the Spartus P1, 11, 624 is power to, um, Honolulu's crystal blue endurance grit. And then there might be like one more clumped in there. Yeah. Largely it's kind of the same, right? It's, you're not going to be like, wow, this one, as long as you buy a reputable

[00:13:52] paddle that people generally like, it's not going to be like, wow, I can't get any spin on this versus wow. I get amazing. I feel like for the last year to year and a half spin was just kind of like irrelevant because everything was catching up and being the same. And then now we're starting, we are starting to see a bit of a difference again with the UPA only approved paddles because they have now we're starting to see it matter a bit more again. Yeah. It's getting a little bit more

[00:14:17] relevant than it had been in the past. Yep. Um, so yeah, spin. And then obviously we have the longer lasting textures. This is one thing I actually took out of the video cause I thought it made it too long. In hindsight, I kind of wish I had kept it in, but it's mostly cause I, there are becoming more and more options of longer lasting grit, but so many of them are currently untested and unproven. And I don't very niche. Yeah. I just not a ton of options, right? They're, they're becoming more

[00:14:45] and more. And some of them it's like, for example, the cyclone aerial nanograph, it's like so far, at least from what John has seen, it's like, yeah, it might be a little better than raw carbon fiber, but it's not like the P one. Like to me, that's like a very big gap in terms of how good or not good it is. So I didn't include it for that reason. I just think with the current options on the market, it'd be a little bit more confusing than helpful. Yup. Uh, and then next up sweet spot,

[00:15:10] I think mostly across the board, things are mostly all good. Yes. There are some paddles a little worse than others, but it's like, it's kind of hard to find one that's bad these days. Like nothing. I don't think that has come out this year is like paddle tech Bantam bad. I mean, the only one I can think of is like the C 45. Yeah. But even that was like the 12. Oh sure.

[00:15:35] Yeah. The 16 is fine. So yeah, but the 12, if you don't put weight on it, yeah, sweet spots, pretty bad on that. But like you said, otherwise I'm looking at everything on the wall and I can't think of one thing that had like a bad sweet spot. There's some that were definitely tighter, more noticeable, like not as good, but nothing that I would categorize as like, this is really bad. Yeah. Yeah. So to me, unless you hear people talking, saying specifically that a sweet spot is bad,

[00:16:02] it's like, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Obviously everyone wants one as big as possible. Um, but mostly I think they're all pretty good, especially if you add just a little bit of weight. If you're fine adding some weight, you'll be completely fine. Yeah, for sure. Next up paddle thickness, pretty self-explanatory 16 millimeter versus 14 millimeter can range from like 10 to 20 millimeter. Most people should probably play with a 16 millimeter paddle unless you know you like a

[00:16:24] 14. But I would say these days, 16 millimeter has pretty much everything. Like in the past, it was like 14 millimeters of power paddle, 16 millimeters more control. These days, that's like not true at all. It's like sometimes the 16 actually hits harder than the 14. Yeah. Uh, but I think for most people, the extra forgiveness that a 16 gives is going to outweigh most benefits that you get from a 14, unless you're someone who's like, I just like, cause it has a thinner grip. I like

[00:16:51] that. It feels a little thinner through the air, but most for the most part, 16 is better. Yeah. In my opinion, uh, next up handle length. How long is the handle goes, you know, from about five inches up to like six inches, most paddles. And for most players, I would say between 5.25 and 5.5 inches. The really tricky thing with this category is I'm not saying brands lie, but all brands measure differently. And so you can't take one brand that says 5.5 and another

[00:17:21] that says 5.5 and think they're the same because I guarantee a lot of them are different or at least they will feel different depending on the taper of the, the throat of the paddle. It's going to be different. You know, some paddles might advertise 5.5, but it's going to feel more like you have the room of a six inch handle. Yeah. So unless you've either held the paddle in your hands or know somebody or have watched reviews, you, it's really hard to just read it at face value and, and compare it to others.

[00:17:49] I actually just had an idea. I just had an idea for handle lengths and videos that I might start incorporating. I'm not going to say it so people don't steal the idea, but I think I just randomly had a thought of at least how to like somewhat standardize this so that it's less confusing. That'd be nice. Okay. I might do that. I'm going to write that down later. Um, okay. So yeah, handle length, uh, you know, obviously do you have a two handed backhand? Do you not have a two handed backhand? If you don't, or you have like a ping pong grip, you don't need a long handle 5.25

[00:18:16] inches and below fine. You do have a two handed backhand depending on your hand size, 5.5 inches might be the minimum. Yeah. I can not even necessarily hand size, which I think does matter, but how you grip the paddle. Some people like to stack their hands and then they're fine hitting a two with a really short handle. Some people like me have to have it stacked like a typical tennis grip, in which case I also have bigger hands. Now I need a much longer handle to be comfortable.

[00:18:42] Totally. Cause for me, I would say I can make a two, we work just fine on like 5.25 inch handles. Like I may not love it, but it's like, it's fine. I'll make it work. But some people like you, it's like, I just, you can't, that's not going to work. Yeah. So I think that's kind of important to know for you. Um, and you know, when you're going, uh, if, if you don't know yet, if you can go to a facility and they just have paddles on the wall, if you're just like trying to

[00:19:10] figure out something like handle length, you could be like, Hey, could you just like, let me see that paddle, put two hands on and be like, Oh, this feels good. What's the handle length on this? And then you kind of have a benchmark of like, I don't want it any less than this or more than this. Uh, cause I, one of the things I hear all the time is like, how am I supposed to know if I can't try paddles out? And the thing I always say is go to your friends and ask them, Hey, can I just try your paddle for a couple of points? Be respectful with it. If you do that, don't throw it, don't hurt it. I would not do anything crazy while you have it. Uh, and then

[00:19:38] if you have pro shops, you could demo it there. Uh, look at some of the paddles there. Like that is one of the better ways to do it. And then also there are places like pickleball central where you can buy it and then return it in, I believe you can use it and still return it. So that could be another option, but there are a lot of brands like Honolulu who aren't sold through there. So it's like with them, you're just kind of out of luck. Some of the more niche brands, little out of luck, but generally speaking, if you're new, there are options to try paddles.

[00:20:07] Uh, and then last two things, grip size. That's just how big the grip is. Do you want something that's more chunky and will feel bigger in your hand? Or do you want it to be thinner there? Basically it comes down to like two options. There's 4.25 inches and then there's a four and one eight. It's all personal preference. I personally prefer four and one eighth. Can I kind of all be adjusted? You can add more of a grips, make it bigger. You can take the original grip off, slim it down. It can be adjusted. It can be adjusted a little bit. Generally speaking,

[00:20:36] I think it's a little easier if it starts smaller and you can build it up and it's a little harder to slim it down, but you can do it. There are ways. And then last but not least, number 12, uh, would be certification. This is, is it USAP approved? Is it UPA approved? Is it dual certified? Again, 99.99% of you listening to this? USAP is going to be just fine. Yeah. Like if it, if it needs to be a UPA paddle, you probably already know that that would be juniors playing on the PPA

[00:21:05] tour. That's pros playing on the PPA tour qualifiers, but otherwise USAP paddles are pretty much accepted literally everywhere in the country, except the divisions I just mentioned or challengers or challengers. But so it's basically like anything related to pro at the PPA, you just can't use it. Um, uh, use a USAP approved paddle and then UPAA, depending on your local tournaments, they may or may not allow it. So that's why I just say, look, if you buy a USAP approved paddle, that's all you need

[00:21:32] to know right now. However, if you play tournaments, you're going to want to learn about those different certifications because it may impact you depending on what you play. For sure. Um, so that's the list of 12 things. I know it's kind of a lot, but I really think if you just write these down as a player and learn what your preferences are for these things and you have an answer, it will seriously knock out so many options. You could go on my website, use the database. You can filter by

[00:21:58] almost everything in this list. I think the only thing you might not be able to filter for the two things are sweet spot because that's hard to quantify and two paddle field that is quantifiable. It's just a lot of work to get that in the database, but then you can filter by almost everything. Yeah. And it will help a lot. It slims it down and it's, it's worked really well for a lot of people. Pretty much everyone who we know that's taken it, the paddle they currently play with is what shows up. Yeah. So for the paddle finder quiz. Yeah. And then paddle database will be a little

[00:22:27] easier to filter some of these exact things. So now that we kind of know the list, let's just go over what our primary and secondaries are. You can go first. Basically, basically primaries because then everything else is a secondary. Yeah. So I mean, obviously the number one most important. Let me see if I can just guess. Okay. Because I, I think I can guess all of yours. I think it's going to be. Okay. Paddle shape is obviously one of them. I was already putting my finger, but you got that

[00:22:54] one. Handle length, I think is another one. Yup. I think that paddle thickness is one of them. Um, no, you will only play 16. That one is more of a secondary. I've played 14s and there are some that I like, I it's, I definitely prefer them, but if somebody makes a really good 14, I would use it. I mean, I used a Genesis for a while in tournaments. Yeah. It's like the only 14 millimeter you've ever

[00:23:22] played. I played a challenger with a waves. I played, you know, like I didn't love the shift, but if I was forced to use it, I wouldn't be that upset. So I don't know it, the thickness like flip-flops between primary and secondary. It's like on an edge. How many primaries do you have? Uh, let me look through one, uh, two and four. Okay. Well then my only other guesses for the last

[00:23:52] two would be gen three or gen four and then certification. Nope. What? Well, certification kind of is forced. I'm forced into having as a primary. So I guess, yeah, I'll give it to you. I'm forced into having that one, but my primaries are shape, um, spin, sweet spot and handling. I, I'm like shocked that sweet spot is one of them just because of how much of a gimme it is for so many. I mean, I guess, I guess I could take that off. That one doesn't really matter that much

[00:24:21] to me. Like, Hey, it's more, it's, there's something on this list that isn't, uh, here that matters way more like the response energy return. And that's hard to like quantify or sure, but energy return into the ball is very important and it kind of plays a role into sweet spot, but not really, they are different. Um, and that matters a lot to me, but yeah, I mean, I could take sweet spot.

[00:24:48] I guess then that case would be three shape, um, spin and handling. And then I guess, yeah, sure. We'll throw thickness in there, but I was going to say, bro, bro's always dogging on every 14 millimeter paddle out there. I didn't dog in the shift that much. Yeah. But you didn't love it. I didn't love it. Yeah. So that, yeah, those would be mine. And then, yeah, I forced into having certification on there because I play qualifiers. Yeah. So yeah, but for sure handle length is super

[00:25:15] important. I was going to say grip size too, but that one I've kind of like, like I'm so picky about the grip, but I, I've, I can kind of flip flop between if it's really thick and I'm fine. I can adjust it and change it how I want it to be. So it's not, it's not a deal breaker. Yeah. If I really like use a paddle, right. And elongated 16 long handle, everything else was amazing.

[00:25:40] Spin was through the roof and the handle is like a little chunky. I can deal with it unless it's the boomstick handle. And then I'm just, I can't get over that one. So it just kind of depends. What about you? What are yours? Mine are. Wait, wait, wait. I was going to say swing weight for sure. I already know that. Okay. It's got to be like 110 and under for this guy. Hey, my prison was like

[00:26:03] 120 right now. All right. All right. I mean, you're getting there. Um, for you, since you missed so much sweet spot, sweet spot is not on the list. Sweet spot is not on the list. Okay. Uh, so swing weight paddle feel. Yup. And then thickness. No, no, really? No, I was gonna say I pretty, I would

[00:26:29] think you'd only have like three because shape. You flip, I have flip flops five. You have five. Yeah. So it's probably throw a dart at the board and hit one. How am I missing? It's swing weight, paddle feel durability. So kind of like gen four. I don't really love paddles. Oh wait, I told my notion must not have updated paddle durability is not on. Well, it's number five. It was gen three or gen four. They're kind of like in the video I had it titled as durability, but really what it came

[00:26:55] down to was about like gen three or gen four since those are the two primary paddles moving forward. Like I don't think we're going to see a lot of only gen twos and only gen ones moving forward. So that was kind of more what it was about. Gotcha. So that, um, and then I just prefer my paddles to be a little more durable, not changing a lot as I use them and then shape and power level. Really power level for you. Yeah. Because I mean, that one doesn't really matter that much to me.

[00:27:24] Like I can flip flop between power paddle and all core paddle. It doesn't really matter. I think what it is is that I, I think I am broadly flexible on that. Like I was saying playing with a prison right now is playing with a loco before that's like a very big jump in power. I think really what it is for me is the highest tier of power is does not feel awesome to me right now. Like when I was

[00:27:49] using the MPP turbo, I was like, this is just too much. I cannot play that well with it. So I think that's kind of what made me put it in there. But now that I'm thinking about it with, um, you know, using a prison and being able to use some of the power paddles, right? Like at the nerdy tourney, I may just be using a loco there or something, you know, and I'll probably play just fine. Um, so maybe that one is like a little iffy to me, but it's like, I probably would just don't want to be in the highest tier of power for me, but most other things after that, I can kind of get over,

[00:28:17] right? Like paddle thickness, not that important to me. If like, it just, I think there are some 14 millimeters that play well. Like I really liked the Genesis. I don't really care that it's a 14 millimeter. I just care that it does all the other things. Well, handle length, I prefer a longer handle, but I'll get over it. I played with the carbon and I I've also made a J2 and F both historically pretty short handles. So it's like, don't love it, but I'll get over it. If the rest of the paddle is good. Uh, same thing with grip size. I prefer four and one eighth, but

[00:28:46] I'll be flexible. So there are things that, you know, I can kind of like give and take if the rest is good enough, right? Like clearly the Genesis at the time was good enough that I was willing to overlook a short handle, uh, and kind of just like a slightly awkward shape. Paddle thickness didn't matter. Sweet spot was tighter, got over it with some weight. Yep. Um, so anyways, I think if you guys can figure out what your primary and secondaries are, it's going to help a lot. I really, really think it'll probably help with a lot of paddle FOMO,

[00:29:15] right? Cause then I can't remember if I use this example in the video or not, but like, for example, if something like a boomstick comes out, like last year is probably one of the most talked about paddles when it comes out, right? If you know, you hate really poppy paddles and you can't reset with a really poppy paddle, it doesn't matter how amazing everyone is saying the boomstick is. You're just like, I hate, you're not going to like it. Like take it off your list. Ignore what everyone is saying on the internet and you know, I'm good. Yep. So hopefully this

[00:29:42] paddle saves people from some FOMO and, uh, feeling like they need to go buy a new paddle. Um, so, all right, let's talk about some paddles here. We'll talk about first the paddle tech honey foam. So unfortunately, because it was raining this morning and also, uh, being a little injured, we didn't get to do the Isaac didn't get to do the side by side comparison that I think would have been nice to have for this comparison. But I want to talk about the new paddle tech honey foam 16

[00:30:12] millimeter versus the Friday aura, not the pro, uh, because I think they're actually very similar at very different price ranges before we go into that. I do just, I mentioned this in the video, but if you didn't see it, so the Yola lawsuit, the first company that seems to have settled with Yola is paddle tech. That is why this paddle was able to come out. It was to my knowledge, supposed to come out sooner. Uh, but this paddle was named in the lawsuit. It is, they're good now.

[00:30:38] They will pay a royalty and then they can sell it until the fall. And then the paddle has to be discontinued in the fall so they can sell through their current inventory and then they're done after that. So a couple of things with that, if you do end up really liking this paddle, you better buy multiple because you're not going to have it for all that long. Uh, or two, maybe if that is a deal breaker for you, you're like, well, then I'm not going to try it because if it's going to be gone, what's the point? Uh, so just keep that in mind. And I thought it was interesting news that we did

[00:31:04] finally have a brand, uh, settle with Yola on that. So we'll see how many more there are that end up doing something similar. But anyways, the, let's see if these will stand. I don't think that paddle tech is going to stand unfortunately. Oh, nope. I'm wrong. Got it. They both stand. Okay. So $250 for the honey foam. And then the Friday aura is like one 29. Both of those are before a code. You can use code PB studio. If you want to save some money at the moment,

[00:31:30] the honey foam only comes in this elongated, I think. Yes. And the aura has three shapes. Yes. So that could be a deal breaker, uh, possibly for you. Yep. But to me, I know you've hit both of these, but it's been a while since you've hit the aura. Yeah. Well actually it's been a minute since I've hit the aura, but it's been a while since I've hit the honey foam. Sure. Sure. Sure. Though recently when we went out to go make that video, hitting them both side by side,

[00:31:53] what I felt was they fall into a very similar category of softer and more dense. And the honey foam feels like a little bit more crisp. It like the ball jumps off a little quicker. Like it definitely feels like it has more pop at the kitchen line. Whereas the aura feels just like it doesn't give as much on pop. But after that, I find that they're very similar. Like I think top end power is going

[00:32:20] to be higher for pop and power overheads, anything related to hitting the ball hard. But I don't know that it's such a difference that it's worth double the price. Yeah. Right. I, you might disagree. I

[00:32:44] a very soft paddle. It, it is firmly in the soft category, but the honey foam is not definitely on the stiff, not quite stiff and dense, but all like it's like maybe almost more neutral, like in the middle between soft and stiff or something. Yep. Yeah. I would agree with that. But it's stiffer than the aura. Like if you, if you, like if you come from a Lux, something very soft, you'll feel more comfortable with the aura than the honey foam. Yeah. I would agree with that. Yeah. And so it's really

[00:33:14] interesting to me because like, as I was hitting the honey foam, I was like, why does this reminds me of another paddle? And then I was like, Oh, I think it's the aura. Let me go bust that out and hit both of these. And the fact that the honey foam doesn't have a longer lasting texture, they're both just using raw carbon fiber. I'm like, man, unless that, I think it comes down to a couple of things. One, the honey foam does have like a slightly longer handle than some of the elongateds out there, the way the neck tapers. So that could be important to some people and might be a reason that they are willing to spend more for it. And if that extra little bit of pop and power,

[00:33:43] maybe you play, you know, UPAA tournaments that might be important to you. But otherwise, like I feel like I would just tell more people to go buy the aura unless they really want that extra little bit of power. But then I'm like, if you really want that little bit of extra power, I feel like you could just buy some other paddles unless you really need it to be more in the soft and dense style category and not like a stiff and hollow, you know, chunky grip on the honey foam.

[00:34:11] Both of them. Yeah. And I don't particularly love both their handles. The weird thing about the aura though is the shapes kind of have different sized handles. Like the hybrid was very different from the wide body. Hmm. I'll have to check. I noticed that on our wide body or a pro, but since the rest were all thick, I was like, this had to have just been like an accident at the factory or something is what I was thinking. It could be. Yeah. It could have been just an accident. Cause like, if you pick

[00:34:41] up this, I mean, both of these are pretty chunky. Yes. Very square. So I would say for a lot of the women out there, if you like a thinner grip, I would say neither of these paddles are awesome in that department. But if you don't care, you know, if it's a secondary category for you, then they're fine. They're not like horrible handles or anything. It's just like, it just feels a little blocky in the hand. Handles feel fine. Like the, the quality of them, but yeah, they're a little blocky. The shape of them is just, it's chunky. So to me, I would say aura definitely going to be

[00:35:09] better for like a definitive all court. The honey foam to me is kind of in that like low tier power realm. Like it's, it packs a punch, uh, but it's not drastic over the top or anything like that. So I guess it kind of just depends if you really want that extra little bit of juice. Like I feel like if you were, let's just say hypothetically, these were both UPA certified and you know,

[00:35:34] obviously in an elongated shape, I feel like you would lean the honey foam more than the aura. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. I would, I would probably still pick the honey foam. I think the sweet spot is a, I think it's a little better on the aura, but with a little bit of weight, the, the honey foam improves to a point where it doesn't bother me. It doesn't really bother me right now anyways, but it definitely can be improved with weight where I feel like the aura, if you really don't like

[00:36:02] putting weight on a paddle, it's already going to have a good sweet spot. Yeah. You know, but I definitely think I would, I still lean towards the honey foam. Also this elongated shape, man, money. I was going to say, I feel like this is like perfect. This is the ideal, like paddle tech knows what's up. They know how to make an elongated paddle. This is, this is ideal. Yeah, I do. I would like to see the, the honey foam, uh, in a wide body. Uh, I think that could be kind of

[00:36:28] interesting. Um, you know, just for someone like me. Right. But yeah. So I think if you're, if you're deciding, those are some things to think about. Obviously right now, honey foam, only one shape or the masses. If you struggle with popping up dinks or resets or any kind of softer shots or immediately go to the aura, like the, not that the honey foam is difficult to use, but you are going to struggle more and it might not be as enjoyable as if you use the aura.

[00:36:57] Yeah. And that tighter sweet spot because ours, I think our two units had swing weights of like 118 and 119. So it's, you know, also if you're more sensitive to a heavier paddle, adding weight might push that even a little bit further and be a little bit more annoying. Whereas I don't believe the auras come in quite as heavy. So that could be something to consider as well. If the sweet spot is going to be a little tighter on the honey foam and you have to add weight to get, make it better. That could be a

[00:37:23] deal breaker for some. Yep. So yeah, that's pretty much what I wanted to say about these. I think what's interesting is I genuinely think the honey foam is a good paddle and it being the power level it is and being more soft and dense, I think is, uh, an interesting differentiator when everything is kind of stiff and hollow right now. It's just that it's overpriced. Yeah. Like it's expensive for sure. No special grit, you know, sweet spot a little below average. I would say it just like,

[00:37:52] it makes it tough. Right. Whereas I think the players that was built for who are on the pro tour, one, they're going to add weight, make it heavier. It doesn't matter to them to long lasting grit doesn't really matter to them because they're going to replace them anyways. So like the players that was built for, it doesn't really matter to them. But then if you're talking about people like us amateurs where those things do matter more, it's like that could be a deal breaker, especially when you have something like the aura. Right. Right. So just thought I would mention, uh, go over that next up. I have not hit this at all,

[00:38:20] but it did come in the mail and thought I'd talk about it is, uh, the MPP turbo hybrid, but they did not make it in what I would have considered to be a very weird, uh, hybrid shape as before. If you're looking at this, this is a flat top hybrid, slightly shorter handle. It's actually not as short as I thought. Um, like I thought originally it was like Honolulu sized handle, but it's not, it is longer than that. Like it's close though. But if you hold them both,

[00:38:47] it's a noticeable difference for sure. For sure. So, uh, probably a little bit better than the wide body handle, but not by a lot. And then flat top put this next to, uh, Cosmos. Uh, the, uh, our brother has that. So we can't lose it. He's been, he's been messing around with that. Are you sure? Is it not that one right over there? Yeah, I'm positive. Uh, actually, no, you might be right. He might have the Scorpius. Yeah, he has the Scorpius. Isaac is grabbing the paddle right now.

[00:39:20] I mean, identical. Is it? Yeah. Let me, let me see. We, uh, okay. So if you want to try the Cosmos shape without spending $300, I mean, it's like maybe a little different at like the bottom, like a millimeter. Yeah. It's like essentially the same thing. So if you like the Cosmos shape, the second you pulled it up, I was like, that just looks like a Cosmos. I did. I did say that people, when Yola did this, they're going to copy the same thing. Yep. They're a trendsetter.

[00:39:50] Um, okay. So anyways, like I said, haven't hit this yet. So I can't really tell you about how it plays. I just wanted to go over that it was out and then the specs. So the swing weight is 114 and then the twist weight is 6.37. To be honest, I'm actually surprised the swing weight isn't higher and the twist weight, given that it's a flat top. Um, I actually thought overall that would have, uh, cause there are a lot of hybrids out there that are lower in swing weight and higher in twist

[00:40:15] weight. So I'm surprised seeing the flat top that that actually didn't change it as much, but for all of you who are like, man, that long handle hybrid, not it for me, they do have at least for the MPP turbo, a more normal one that may be more, uh, widely appealing to the players out there. Just more appealing to the ice. It just looks better. I will say though, to their credit, that old one is weird as it looked, it did not play bad. It played totally fine. Like way better

[00:40:43] than how it looks. Yeah. I mean, I could use it. Yeah. But I wouldn't want to. Right. All right. Let me set this down. And then next up again, another one that I wish I had more time on to talk about. Cause I know everyone really wants to hear a lot about this paddle. Uh, that is the Honolulu J2CR. I've probably hit this more than you have. Yeah, you did hit this. So maybe you can share some thoughts on it. Um, I'll go over some stats really quick. So this is not the short handle.

[00:41:09] This is the longer handle J2CR swing weight is one away, which is actually lower than our short handle one, which is wild and interesting to me. And then twist weight of 6.1, which again, like I don't really put that much value in twist weight these days. Like I think it, it can be a quick, helpful indicator of like, yeah, you know, if it's going to be below six or something, that's probably not awesome, but I don't put much weight in it to where I'm like, Oh, it's 6.1. Like I, this is going to, I'm going to hate this sweet spot. Like it's,

[00:41:37] I don't think about it like that, but just from a number standpoint, I am surprised to see that it's so low. I feel like a lot of times Honolulu paddles have historically been much higher than that. And 6.1, like there are elongated paddles that sometimes match that. So I just, I just think that's kind of interesting. And then the balance point is extremely low on this paddle. It's like 231. So for how low the swing weight is, I'm sure they're not really putting any perimeter weighting in here. Keep it really light. I guess it doesn't surprise

[00:42:05] me too much that this twist weight's pretty low. Yeah. Um, but yeah, yeah. Anyways. So, uh, again, these, these ones with the crystal blue endurance grit, not USAP certified. So if you, that matters to you or is important, you should not buy this paddle. Uh, it is only UPAA certified. Yep. So anyways, you can go over some thoughts. You've hit it. I haven't gotten to hit it. Yeah. I mean the going over the thing that everyone wants to hear about the grit, um,

[00:42:30] plays plays well. It spins the ball very well. Like I had no complaints in terms of spin shape, anything along those lines, you know, on slower shots, uh, speed ups reset, like everything. It felt felt good. There was nothing I complained about. I'd, I'd want to hit it side by side with a P one to really compare it. Cause in my mind right now, the best at all those things is the P one. Uh, so to compare it to, to the top would be nice. Um, but

[00:42:59] obviously I haven't put a ton of time on it. So I don't know durability wise, how well it's going to hold up, but in terms of play phenomenal, no complaints felt great. Drives were awesome. We're shaping the ball crazy. Uh, but with it being so light and so low twist weight, the plow through was not great. So you did actually mention that even before we took the stats, you were like, I feel like this needs weight. Yeah. It, I would want to put weight at the head of this paddle.

[00:43:27] Like it, it needs weight even like at the kitchen, just dinking. I could tell he was, it was just not returning much energy into the ball. I'm like volley dinks. It would, the ball would just die. It wouldn't go anywhere. So didn't love that. Um, but again, weight could fix that issue. Always everything else about it was fine. You know, the handle, this is the long handle J2. So it felt comfortable. It's still hybrid. So I wouldn't really want to use this, but I didn't have a ton

[00:43:53] of complaints, uh, feel off of it. It was very similar to, I didn't hate it side by side with a regular CR, but trying to think back to how a regular CR feels, it didn't really feel that different. So I don't know. I'll have to come back, you know, give an update on that, but yeah, to how it feels right now. I don't think it's that different. Sure. Yeah. I really wish I could hit this one more. Um, cause I, I said with my CR original video,

[00:44:20] like the only thing that really made me not be more excited about it was that hex grit and the P1. And it was like, okay, so you've got the same price thing. I would say the power level is not drastically different, but you don't have the longer lasting grit. Now that it has the longer lasting grit. I'm like, I'm sure this is going to be a top recommended paddle just because of that. It was already good. It just needed the better grit. And now it seems to have that at least from John's testing so far. It's like, that's optimistic from the early signs. We'll

[00:44:47] kind of keep, keep tabs on that. Um, I probably just need to get this in the hands of a friend and have them, have them beat it up. Um, just for testing, just cause I think with my back, it's going to be too hard to do that right now. But yeah, I, I'm excited to see more of it. Um, I have a feeling actually last year with the NF, I actually ended up preferring the short handle, which is kind of odd for me. So I'm curious if, uh, with the J2 CR, if I would also prefer the short handle or if that would have changed this year. Yeah. In theory, the long

[00:45:17] handle would be better, but for me, but yeah. It's definitely very blue. If you like the color blue, then you'll love this. Yeah. If you're a blue bubble user, you're going to love this paddle. Oh yeah. Someone should make one that's like enhanced should make one that's totally green. It can be Android versus iPhone. Oh no. What do you mean? It's the aura right there. A true. Yeah. I mean, yeah, that's, yeah, that's a SMS green right there. Uh, okay.

[00:45:44] So now that that's out of the way, let's go over some of just what we think the best paddles in 2026 so far are only this year. Uh, this is kind of something we like to do about halfway through each year just to say like what's been released so far, what's been crushing it. And, uh, yeah, you can go over yours first and then we can go over my list. So there have not been, there's obviously been a lot of paddles that have been released in 2026, but there have not been a lot

[00:46:09] of paddles that I have really liked in 2026. My list is pretty short. Um, number one by a landslide. Well, maybe not a landslide two is could be close, but the aura pro I know I've raved about this paddle a lot, but man for the price, the performance that thing gives you dude, it's just so good. Yeah. Like if you told me I can only use one paddle for the rest of the year or a pro. Okay.

[00:46:37] Okay. For sure. That's what I'd pick. Solid. Second would be the P one longer lasting texture. I think play wise really good. It doesn't go crazy on power level, but it's not like if you want power, it has it. It's not like it's a controller all court paddle, which I don't think is bad, but it's a, I think it's in a good range. So obviously the P one's nice, but I mean, they are certain they have, you can buy the other shapes now, right? Yeah. I think all of them are approved. Okay, nice. So now you have the other shapes. That would have been the only thing holding

[00:47:04] it back was that it was only a hybrid for a while. Yeah. And I know people like delays and stuff on the order has been pretty rough. So yeah, that is frustrating, but forgetting all that, just the paddle itself. I think that the P one is really good. Uh, the turbo series budget, tons of options. You have different core materials to give different feels. It's on the high end of power. I think the turbo series is great. Probably one of that's one of my

[00:47:32] top picks of the year. And then kind of a sneaky sleeper pick that we just talked about, um, that I kind of came back around on. I wasn't super in love with it when I first tried it, but now I'm starting to like it more is the honey foam. Oh, okay. I think the honey foam is, is good with the right weight setup. I think it's really solid. It's just, it's just expensive. So if money doesn't matter to you, then I think the honey foam is a good option. Okay. Yeah. That would be like my four. Okay. I think I

[00:48:00] definitely have more than that. There just wasn't many that I like, really there hasn't been many this year that I've enjoyed that much. Three, four, five, six. I have about six, maybe seven ish. Um, so one of them, one of them's a question mark because I'm, I'm making a little bit of an assumption on it, but we'll see. Okay. So as far as P one, obviously I've, I maimed that, uh, for good person portion of this earlier, like that paddle a lot. It's really good. Um, no real

[00:48:28] complaints. And then next up, uh, while I haven't spent like exhaustive time with them, I think the time I have spent with them so far, it's enough for me to go. I like both of these quite a bit. The Friday aura and the Friday aura pro. I actually think there is a chance that when I can start hitting again and I wait up the aura, probably similar to how I have my prism. I actually feel like I'm going to like that pedal a lot. Um, I feel like it, I feel like it's going to remind me a lot

[00:48:56] of the prison, but maybe just a little bit more modernized. Um, so I feel like the aura is actually has some pretty strong potential to be a main, uh, to be honest. I think both of them are really good. I just think with how I currently have been, at least for indoor play, the, uh, more all court style is kind of nice. Who knows once, you know, we're outside in the backyard and it's summer and 90 degrees, maybe I'll be like, I need the aura pro or something. But, uh, yeah, the aura is like on my list of like, I really want to hit this paddle more right now. So I'm, I'm interested in

[00:49:26] that one. I think the, you know, the thicker handle is going to bother me a little bit, but again, it's like, we'll see, we'll see if the primaries are enough to make up for the secondaries on that one. I mean, at least the handle is fixable if you want to tweak around with it. Yeah. I think for me, what it has been lately, the one thing you can't really fix is I do, I wouldn't necessarily say I heavily prefer, but I do think I like putting a Hesse core on my paddle. Now I don't do it all the time. Cause sometimes I'm just a little lazy and that is where the handle being thinner makes a huge

[00:49:55] difference. Like if it is four and a quarter, I will absolutely not put a Hesse core on it. Like it's too big and I don't like it. Uh, even with the thinnest Hesse core, it's too much. Funny how much you like the Hesse core. You know, at first I did like it. I just didn't want to use it cause I was too lazy to putting it on paddles. But now I use one again and I'm like, I've flipped. I'm like, man, I do not like this at all. It's one of those things that I don't think I would really go out recommending it often at all. Like, I mean, there are, I think there's a segment

[00:50:25] of people who it really fits, but it's not saying I'd be like, yeah, you dude, you got to try this. It's like, you might be someone who really wants this, but most people might just stick with there. There's no performance gains. It's just a preference thing. Yeah. So that, um, I would say the Q2, uh, I think like as a, as an alternative to a boomstick with two thickness options, uh, especially and not without the weight, like if you like customizing it to me, it almost feels like the,

[00:50:53] like, what would you say? Like pro version of a boomstick? Like, Hey, you want to weight it up the way you want? Cause only way you're doing that with a boomstick is if you get the UPA one. Yep. So I think that is like an interesting option to me. Q2 is good. Turbos. Like you said, I think those are really good for the price. Uh, they're awesome. I mean, for a hundred dollars and the power you get out of the MPP turbo is insane. Uh, if you like that. Yeah. While not the paddle I would take to a main, I just recognize like objectively it's very good.

[00:51:20] I can't argue with it. Yep. Uh, next up would be the power to, I think hex grit. I mean, made a massive splash. It's probably at least in our testing so far, it's by far the paddle that has the most testing on it in terms of grit. Uh, the unit that one of my buddies has been beating up for us. I think he crossed 500 games now and the paddle is still above 2000 RPM. So it's like, I mean,

[00:51:44] that's insane. Like it's, it's starting, it's used position is what a lot of brand new raw carbon fiber paddles are. And like after a week, raw carbon is below that. Yeah. So I mean, 500 games is wild. So I think from a grit durability standpoint, that is just like massively impressive, uh, which is awesome for sure. And now the one that I add on here as a question mark was the J2CR blue grit, but it's like, I've hit the J6CR. I knew it was a good paddle. The only thing that I thought was

[00:52:14] holding it back was the grit. And so it's like, now that they have that and it seems to be showing up really well in John's tests, I am optimistic that that is going to be like a very good paddle throughout the year. And you know, it's going to be interesting. Actually, this is, let me look at the list so far. The only one, uh, of the durable grits really that have, I would put, you know, in the elite tier, uh, 11, six 24 is the only one that has managed their stock

[00:52:40] like exceptionally well. Like I don't think they've really had any sold out issues or like, Hey, you need to pre-order. And then meanwhile, the P one has been on like crazy back order. Hey, I don't know what's happening with Spartus. Honolulu is eternally on back order. I think they only do things on pre-order basically. Like you're just never buying a paddle and having it actually be ready to ship. And I think that can be a big reason to push you towards one of the others.

[00:53:04] Like waiting sucks. Yeah. Like I think you, if I recall correctly, you were able to pre-order the blue grit ones, like back when we went to the YOLA event or shortly thereafter. Dude, remember when that, uh, like clip of the blue grit like got leaked? No, not leaked. It was like, you could share it. Oh, sure. It was meant to be shared. Gotcha. That dude, that was back like the Lakeville PPA. It was after that. It was February because it was, it was when we were at the YOLA event,

[00:53:33] which was February. Okay. But, but still a long time ago. Pre-orders from back then. I mean, a lot of paddles have come out that would look appealing and I just feel like it's really frustrating to have to wait that long. Obviously no one is forced to buy into a pre-order and I get why companies do the pre-orders, but I do think it can just be such a frustrating thing if the expectations are managed properly. Like even actually a great one on this list, uh, that falls under the category of having pre-order problems was the turbo. Like after I put up my review,

[00:54:00] I didn't realize this, but a ton of people were like, I've been waiting 40 days. I'm at 37 days. I'm at 30 days and like no update. And I was like, Oh my gosh, like I didn't even know this was on such a crazy back order or whatever. And that's just a frustrating amount of time to wait for a paddle. Yeah. You know, like I wouldn't want to wait well over a month for one of my paddles. I'd be like, dude, like I want it now. Yeah, for sure. So, uh, yeah, just props, I guess, to 11624. They clearly know how to manage their inventory, uh, which is awesome to see though.

[00:54:29] I'm sure they probably knew they had a winner that they were testing it for a while. So it's based on previous success. It was probably pretty easy to determine. Um, but yeah, that's, um, that's what I would say our best battles of 2026 so far are actually, I do just want to mention really quickly. There are some notable paddles. I have not really gotten to hit yet that have come out, uh, this year, uh, one, the Paco fuse. So I've been hearing a lot about this paddle. And then I saw that they are coming out with a durable grit option and the paddle is still going to be like

[00:54:58] pretty inexpensive. I think don't quote me, but I want to say it's like less than one 30. And so that sounds interesting. Uh, so I'm keen to hit that a little bit. And then three others would be the chorus coda, the engage X2, and then the area cyclone nanograph. Like I just haven't hit those really at all. So I can't really comment on it. But, um, just thought I'd mention that in case people like, what about this one? It's like, I just haven't hit it. So I couldn't tell you if it's good or not. Um, but anyways, that is what we had for primary topics. Let's answer some

[00:55:28] questions. There are some pretty good ones. I was going to say, I was reading through here. There's some, there's some good ones that I'd I'm interested in. Yeah. So first one is, uh, how do I know I need a new paddle? If mine is just fine, what is the usage expectation? The problem with this is it's so heavily depends on what paddle do you have? Yes. And like the bigger thing to me is if you are not complaining about it, like nothing feels wrong to you or

[00:55:55] something feels off about the paddle and just fine. Just keep using it. Yeah. Use it until you're like either the spin feels like a noticeable drop or you're like, Oh, something just isn't right. But depending on what it is, if it's a gen three, you better be checking that thing if it's core crushed. Cause the amount of people that just, Oh, I use it. It's totally fine. And it sounds like they're playing with a potato chip bag. Yeah. It's, you should be checking that weekly. Once a week, you should just take your paddle, press in the center. It doesn't, it takes

[00:56:21] two seconds. Yeah. Just check. And if you hear crack, even if it's slight gone, it's done for get it out. So yes, actually, I guess now that you say that yes, even if it feels fine, you might want to check for that. Yeah. But generally speaking, otherwise I would say just don't replace until something like maybe the sweet spot feels like it's way worse power lost or spin. I mean, I know people who've had a gen two paddle, they don't hit super hard that they played with the

[00:56:46] same thing for like seven months or longer. So just depending on play style, what paddle you have, is it a foam paddle, like full foam? Is it gen three, gen two usage varies? Your mileage may vary. Yep. I completely agree. And I also, I would say, I give this question a lot. This is semi related. Like a lot of times people say, Hey, I love the paddle I have currently, which one should I buy next? And I'm like, why, why wouldn't you, why wouldn't you just buy the same one? It's, it's fun to try

[00:57:15] new things. But if you play really well with a specific paddle and you don't want that to change, just keep using that paddle or just buy that paddle again. 100%. 100%. All right. How do you tell if your weighted tape is doing something to a paddle? The way I would probably phrase this is if you play with a paddle after adding weight and you don't feel a difference, you probably didn't add enough weight or you didn't add it in a spot that impacts the performance much. Uh, let me just grab one.

[00:57:43] So three and nine, the edges of the paddle here, this whole side, that is like the best spot to feel a performance change in your paddle. You'll get more stability out of it. You'll get more plow through. It is going to make it feel a little heavier, but that's going to be the best spot. And also if you're adding like really thin strips, like if you're adding one strip of Selkirk tungsten tape to

[00:58:07] the side, it is going to be a minor impact. Those strips are very light. The more weight you can tolerate, the more change you're going to feel. Like I will see people put extremely small, like cut up lead tape, like at the bottom of the throat. I know somebody who put like quarter gram per inch lead tape at about half an inch strip at the corner on both sides. And I was like, I guarantee you a

[00:58:34] million dollars that if I blacked out the paddle and covered it, you would not be able to tell me which one had that weight and didn't. And they were so certain that they could. And I'm like, there's just no chance. It's such a minuscule amount of weight. And it has, I would venture to say zero effect on play. Yeah. It would be the, the more weight you have, the more you're going to feel change. So it's like, I always recommend people like at a minimum, probably start three grams on

[00:59:01] each side. I'm not saying that you can't do lower or that there's no purpose for it. But I just think if you, if you're new to it, start three grams and then go up from there. If that's like, oh, it's not too heavy. Maybe go up a little. If it didn't make the change you wanted. Yeah. But any less than that, I'm like, ah, you just might not get the benefit that you're looking for. For sure. So that's what, that's what I would say. Okay. Uh, next, how do you break, how do you break in paddles quickly? So the play,

[00:59:27] so the playability of the paddle is most accurate. I don't know if they're asking in terms of as a paddle reviewer, how do you do that? Or if just as a regular person, but I guess I'll answer both. Seems more like as a regular person question. Funny. I actually thought it as a paddle reviewer. So it's funny how we read that different. Uh, as a paddle reviewer, well, this is just why things are slow is because if you want to be really accurate with it, you just have to hit it a lot. Just play. Which means, you know, it might be 10 plus hours of hitting. Which is what I recommend everyone do.

[00:59:55] Yes. Yeah. And then if you are just an average person, my answer is still going to be just play with it. That is the best way to break it in. Yes. Sometimes it might be a little bit slower, but look, you're playing pickleball already anyways. Just play with it for a week. And it'll probably, probably not even a week. I actually feel like most paddles settle in quicker than that. I also think the kind of era of like paddles breaking in and really changing a lot has slowed down, right? Like there's still, you know, gen three paddles will kind of break in and change and

[01:00:23] the feel will be different. A lot of foam paddles. I haven't noticed any change. I played with the Loco for so long and it felt, I hit a side by side of the brand new one. Identical. I did have the same thing with my used Loco when I switched to a new one. I would say what I find these days is that there is, it's more of like, like breaking is the wrong word. It's like, what word would I use? Like settling or loosening where it's just like, once the materials relax a

[01:00:49] little bit, it just, it like feels slightly different, but not necessarily increasing in like power or something where in terms of like how we used to refer to break in. I just say, just go play some games, play the game. We all love. I agree. Uh, how long should you stick with the paddle before you say it's not for you? That's an interesting one. It really depends on the person. Like how in tune with your preferences are you? If you're someone like me, who's pretty picky

[01:01:16] and really knows what I like and don't like, it can literally take me a game or two. And I can quickly tell you if something, I either hate this paddle or I could, I could get used to it or, you know, give it some time, play a few games. If you don't like it, throw some weight on there, try it. If you still don't like it, maybe try one more weight setup. And if you still don't like it, then it's not for you. I think at least try putting weight on a paddle. I think what's always like tricky about this is just with some of the friends you and I have both helped, uh, switch paddles.

[01:01:45] They're like, Hey, I really want to switch off of this paddle. What do you recommend? What makes it tricky is, you know, we've had a couple of friends where it takes like a month for them to like eventually go, Oh, you know what? This is a lot better than my old one. So it's like, sometimes you are just so dialed in with your old one that you do need time just to like change your muscle memory a little bit. Right. Assuming it's a change you really want to make, right? If you bought a paddle and it's in within the same realm of your old one, it's not like you went from

[01:02:12] a control to a power paddle where there is going to be just a learning period. I think that's very different than you bought two all court paddles and you're like, wow, this all court paddle feels way worse to me. Right. If you bought within the same category, I think you're going to know pretty quick. If you entirely switch categories, then yeah, it might take you one or two weeks just to learn how to dial that paddle in for sure. So consider that. All right. Next up. How do you know what to work on when watching yourself? I actually think this is a really good question.

[01:02:39] I like this. I was reading this. This is actually, this is a fantastic question. Yeah. So I think it depends. I think every player has something that they know about their game that they should be working on. And a lot of times I think if you know that going in, like, let's just, I'm going to make up an example. Let's say it's like your forehand drop and you watch every time you hit a forehand drop and you just look for things that look a little odd. Like how was your

[01:03:06] footwork getting to the ball? Was, were you getting your paddle low enough? Were you like moving weirdly with your body? Like, were you moving backward in the court to hit the drop or were you moving forward in the court to hit the drop? Like what does your technique look like relative to higher level players like, I think there are things a lot of times if you just watch yourself, you'll be like, why, why am I doing that? Like, it's not even that you're like, oh, I'm going to, I don't need to, I shouldn't do this with my wrist. Sometimes there's going to be nuanced stuff you just don't know to

[01:03:34] pick up on. That happens to me all the time. But I think there are, sometimes you watch yourself and go, I didn't know this thing was a problem, but now I know it's a big problem. Yeah. I mean, like you said, there, there's a great story from a really well-known coach in the pickleball world, Zach Silvernell, you played with him. Um, he coaches Augie Gah. He was telling a story. He was coaching somebody and the guy was like, my thirds are a problem. Third shot drop. I have issues. Okay. So start hitting some thirds and every single one is great. So they played some,

[01:04:04] he's like, I don't know what to help you with, man. They look fine to me. They played some skinny singles points and immediately found the actual issue. It wasn't involved with his thirds. It was after he hit a serve, he immediately leaned into the court. And then when the third was coming, he had to move backwards to hit it. So he's off balance. So sometimes you have to identify like, okay, you might think your third is a problem or your reset is an issue, but it might be bad because it's being caused by some other issue. Right? So a lot of times when you watch yourself,

[01:04:33] you kind of just have to ask questions. Why am I doing this? Why am I here? Why am I making errors? And like identify what's going on. Like the biggest thing I would say when you watch yourself play, if you really are struggling to find something to work on is like, okay, one, find where you are making the most errors, right? A lot of people make a lot of errors in the mid court. Like, why am I making errors in the mid court? Am I missing low? Am I popping them up? Uh,

[01:04:59] is my footwork off? Am I in the right position? Like sometimes a lot of people lean heavily towards one side of the court and you're leaving a huge gap and you just don't even, you don't even realize that. Right? So like asking a lot of questions of why I'm making these errors in this specific spot and then work on that. Also another thing too, uh, one, two things. The first thing going off of what you said, I think based on the framework that I just made for the paddles, it'd be interesting. I'm sure someone who actually coaches pickleball could come up with something way better here,

[01:05:26] but you could probably make a very similar, uh, broad list for watching yourself or things to get better at a shot, right? Like I'm just going to make a list here. This is do not take this as actual advice. Cause I am not a coach and I should not be a coach, but like, for example, if you are watching yourself, I feel like there's gotta be like five questions you could ask yourself. Like, why did I miss this ball? Like first one, was I in the right spot when I hit the ball? So for a third, that could be, was I behind the baseline or was I inside the baseline? And it came right at my feet. If it came

[01:05:55] right at your feet, you probably should have been back, which means you were in the wrong spot. So it could be like court positioning. Then it's maybe like a swing mechanic. And like, I don't, I don't know what the list would look like, but I feel like there's probably a handful of questions. You could just ask for every single shot and then be like, well, I did one, two and three, right? But Oh, four and five. I did those really poorly. A lot of times I think like, so there's different categories of improvement that I think people get stuck on right early on it's mechanics,

[01:06:24] right? A lot of people just have poor mechanics over swinging, right? Then you kind of start dialing some mechanics. You used to hitting the ball. You're keeping rallies going. Then it becomes kind of strategy, right? Hitting third shot drops, moving into the kitchen, dinking and getting that down. And then, you know, you start learning it compounds, keeps going, going, going. Yeah. Right. And we all find like different levels where we hit plateaus. And I think once you get mechanics down, you're probably like a four Oh and you feel like you're hitting things fine.

[01:06:53] It kind of rolls back again. It comes down to strategy. It comes down to decision-making. What decisions are you making? Are you hitting random speed ups in the mid court and you shouldn't be, or are you just taking the easy ride to the kitchen and getting into a neutral dink battle? Yeah. Right. And kind of identifying what you're doing. And I think a lot of times in that four Oh to four or five range is more just strategy and decision-making. Yeah. Focusing on, I said this on a recent podcast, the first four shots, what are you doing with your serve? Are you placing your

[01:07:22] return, making sure you're getting your thirds, you know, consistently over the net, right? If you're missing in the net, you just lose the point. It's over. You can't win the point if you miss in the net. And then are you being aggressive on your fourths? Yep. So identifying the first four shots and are you getting, are you consistently having rallies last longer than the first four shots? And the other thing I was going to add to it too, is I think a shot that you are specifically

[01:07:48] working on, we'll go back to drops again. If you watch like maybe some of your favorite pros, either who you want to emulate or you just think would be good to emulate. Obviously I would not recommend emulating everything a pro does. I think there are things that they have the physical capabilities to do the fitness level and all of that, that not every amateur should emulate. Like they use a lot of wrist on certain things that I don't think amateurs should necessarily do, but I'm about to say this and it's funny because this is the reason I got hurt. So this is

[01:08:15] really funny. But for example, after a tournament, the tournaments that I just recently did well in that I got gold and silver, I was like, I'm just going to watch these back. And I picked one thing. I was like, I just want to see how low I'm getting. And I just noticed like, man, I am whenever my partner's hitting the ball, I'm just standing straight up. Like I don't look very ready. And so I was like, I'm going to go watch like Christian Alshon. I know he gets low. And I was watching this like, oh my gosh, this is a night and day difference. Like the difference

[01:08:40] between me and him for many reasons is like wild, how big the difference is in terms of how low and high we are. And so then the next time we went and drilled, I literally just focused on being very low to where like my legs were sore. And now I think the reason this ended up hurting my back is I was bent forward so much. And I think a lot of people just disengage in the middle of the point. Like if you're not actively hitting the ball, you naturally just slowly start to stand up and disengage from the point. And then the second the balls hit to you, you just don't, you're not ready. Yeah. You're not

[01:09:10] ready. You don't know what to do. Yeah. That's very common. So yeah, definitely doing that. And I was just going to say that I think that's why I hurt my back because I think I was loading my lower back too much. So again, you know, be warned with exactly what you're mimicking, but generally speaking, if it's not something crazy, I think that can be a good way to contrast and compare like, what does mine look like? What does theirs look like? What is the difference here? Yeah. So yeah, that was a really good question. It was a great question. I like that one a lot. Next one. I just

[01:09:35] thought this one was more humorous than having a real answer. Sure. But it said, should pickleball be an indoor sport? Wind sucks in the summer. Now, look, I'm going to say I agree with you because as spring is, you know, coming to an end here and we're getting to summer, we've been able to use the home court, but it's been windy and the wind sucks. Like I think I've gotten so spoiled by the indoor play in Minnesota that now like any little bit of wind just frustrates me more than I feel like it ever

[01:10:03] has. Like there are probably conditions in the past, like four years ago that I would have played pickleball in and been so happy. And now less than that, I'll be like, this sucks. I don't want to play. For me, it's like, I just love being outside so much. That's the reason I say no love being outside. I, the reason I hate Minnesota is we spend so much of the year cooped up inside and just can't do anything outside that it angers me. So now that it's summer, any chance I get to be outside,

[01:10:32] I'll take it. So no, I think pickleball should still be played outside. Yes. Wind sucks. If it's over like 15 miles an hour, even less, to be honest, I'd be like somewhere between like 12 and 15. It's like not great. Yeah. I mean, 10, 10 and below is just like normal. Yeah. So yeah, over that it gets kind of annoying, but I will deal with it just because I like being outside. Yeah. I feel like just the, the vitamin D man, it's just, it's good for you. It is.

[01:10:58] Okay. Uh, down to the last three here. Have you and your wife ever had an argument regarding how many paddles you have? No, I think she knew what she signed up for. The only thing is never sparked an argument. I don't even know where this is going. There are a lot of times where we test paddles and you know, let's say I have a huge stack that I bring outside for whatever reason comes in packages at the door. Yeah. We get a lot of packages. So there's two things that happens. One, if I'm testing a lot of paddles in the backyard, usually when I come in,

[01:11:26] our back door goes straight into our kitchen, which has a big table. So it's very easy for me to just dump everything on the table. Yeah, exactly. It's a loading zone. We work there sometimes. We bring our laptops. Yeah. My wife does not love that. I do that. I am still not great about not doing that, but it was never sparked an argument. There's only, there's been a few times where I've walked in, you know, getting ready to do some work and I look at the table. I'm like, Whoa. Yeah. This is not good. There was one time where it was so bad. I was like, I'm just going to

[01:11:56] clean this up for you. Cause I know it's like not necessary to be here. And it was, it was bad. Yeah. Yeah. It's sometimes, and the packages that just ends up being so cardboard, much cardboard. Holy cow. The amount of recycling is actually insane. Kind of wild. We always outpace our recycling bins, which is frustrating, but first world problems is not a real complaint, but it's just, yeah. Last two. Where do you get ideas for drills? I've sometimes I see ones on Instagram that I think

[01:12:24] are just kind of interesting and I'm like, Oh, I want to try that out. But largely it, I feel like sometimes it's almost like making up either just using normal drills, like, Hey, we're going to dink cross court or whatever, or hit mid court, whatever. Or I'm working on something really specific and I just try and find a way to make it similar to a real world scenario. But I think there's like ways you can build this up. So there's like, build it up to where it's extremely

[01:12:51] cooperative just so you can learn the skill. Like, let's just say it's a backhand flick. Like maybe your buddy is literally just hand feeding you balls so you can learn the motion and then you go a step up from there. Maybe you do it with cooperative dinking and then you're looking for the ball to take out of the air and then you do it like competitive. So I feel like there's ways to segment it for learning, but I don't do anything super fancy. I don't think I'm not seeking out like the craziest drill. You personally, I think people overcomplicate it. Yeah. Just go back to the

[01:13:21] basics. Like if, if you only worked on thirds, resets, four shots, you know, some volleys out of the air that will get you so far in the game. If you just nail down the basics and get really consistent, even if you just up your third percentage, you will win more games and you know, doing really basic stuff. Like I, like I said, working on those things and then, you know,

[01:13:47] to keep drilling fun playing games like seven 11, where you can kind of work on those things and then quickly incorporate it and actually try it in a more competitive setting where, you know, you're not just feeding a shot to your buddy. You're actually like having a, an aggressive competitive shot against you is important. Um, keeping it simple. Like it's fun. Unless you're working on something really specific, like some kind of combo pattern or dinking somewhere,

[01:14:13] or you're working on Ernie's then. Yeah. I, I feel like it's still kind of, um, what's the word I'm looking for intuitive on how to work on those things. Right. You just have to be kind of selfish. And also I think things that turn it into real world scenarios. For example, when we were talking about that guy's thirds a couple minutes ago, yeah. Okay. If you're just like at the kitchen and you feed a ball and then they hit a third, that might be easy, but that might

[01:14:40] also not necessarily simulate a real return that you're going to get. So sometimes you might actually just need to do a serve return third. If you really want a real world scenario to figure out what's happening, play scanning singles. Yeah. Like something to emulate it actually happening in the real world, I think helps a lot, but there's definitely stages to drilling, right? You know, there's shots that I'm like, I don't really know how to hit this. So I need something cooperative just to get reps and then I'll work on the real world. Cause if I just

[01:15:08] go straight into competitive and like my buddy's like speeding, like let's say I'm trying to learn a two handed backhand and he's just like speeding up into my right hip. I'm like, well, this doesn't help me. Like I'm not getting the rep I want and I don't know how to do this yet in at real time speed. Yeah. So I'm probably going to develop a bad habit. You kind of just have to communicate with your partner. Like what are the things you want to work on that day? Cause like, like you said, if that was happening, you'd probably be getting pretty frustrated. Cause like, this is the only thing I want to work on and I'm not getting a single ball here. Yeah. And I think it's one thing I've done

[01:15:36] with my partners is, uh, I think you should both come with one or two things you want to work on for the hour, hour and a half, however long you're going to drill. And then you literally just take turns going back and forth where you both get to be selfish. If it's like, Hey, I need you to just hand feed me some balls or do something that's like kind of boring for you. I have found with my partners, we are both willing to do that for each other because we both know we're going to get the thing we want. So it's like, if I got to feed balls for like 15 minutes and I'm not really getting

[01:16:04] much, yes, I'd like to both be getting something out of it, but we know right after I do this, I'll get whatever it is I want and they'll help with that. Yep. So find people who are helpful in that way. Keep it drill sessions down to like a minimum of things you're working on. The less, the better. Yeah. Last one, uh, is the arrow curve shape dated? I think we're going to disagree on this. Well, I just think this one's like kind of nuanced because for a couple of reasons. One, I think there is some paddles that are curved more or less. There are some like,

[01:16:34] like levels to it. Yeah. There's like definitely levels to it, but I think it really is just a, sometimes a pro and con depending on the player, right? Like for you, you really value that stability from the flat top, the extra plow through being able to roll the ball in different spots because it's flat and you have some more surface area. Whereas I do think there are players, whether it's an elongated or a hybrid where that curve top lowering the swing weight is more beneficial to them than

[01:17:03] being able to like roll at the tip of the paddle. So I think I would say there are probably more people now that benefit from the flat top than the curve head, but I don't think it's so easy or obvious that it's like, Oh, let's just get rid of the curved head. I would say for elongated, that seems to be pretty well phased out. I mean, let's just look at the wall here for a second. Like, okay. Well, how would you define the era? I was looking at that. I mean, that one,

[01:17:29] it's basically flat, but it is just flat. Um, but looking at like, you know, the speed up tide, that one's curved. Yep. Um, why can't I think, Oh, the, uh, 11, 624. Yep. The garage. Um, so there are curved ones for the Hyperion, the Hyperion, like those, I don't even want to touch it with a 10 foot pole. Right. Like I just, I wouldn't, wouldn't use those. I personally think that it was

[01:17:56] just, it's like a trend that can die off. Yeah. See, I'm not, I'm not quite there with it. I'm out on the curve. Like there's some that are just really, really curved, right? Like, uh, even for wide bodies, the Mach 2 Forza, so curved way too much. But then you go to like the Friday aura, the fat boy, it's a Q2 Scorpius. Well, the Q2 is flat or I thought you were saying flat. No, no, no. I'm saying these ones are like slightly curved. It's not a lot. Like the Mach 2 Forza is really curved.

[01:18:25] Yep. And then the Friday aura is fairly subtle, right? It's not like a ton. Sure. But I would still always prefer a completely flat top. Yeah. I think it's, it's just one of those ones that's like kind of nuanced. Like for me, I actually still think for hybrids, maybe it's just because there haven't been a lot of hybrids that have been flat top, but so far when I have played flat top hybrids, I have liked them less than the curved one. I don't know for myself yet if

[01:18:51] that's just a, I'm not used to it and I need to adjust or if it's, I actually just don't really like it. Yeah. But currently with hybrids, I feel like I tend to gravitate towards it being a little bit more curved, but I'll maybe have more insight onto that later this year as more companies do flat tops. But I'm curious how many more we're going to see like that. Oh, the, uh, the engage paddles. Those ones are curved elongateds. Oh yeah. It's right there. Not a fan

[01:19:16] of that one. So yeah, I don't know. I think specifically for elongated, I don't, I would highly advise any company to not make. I do think these days for elongated, it's pretty definitive that people prefer flat. It also confuses people. Yes. Anyone who sees a paddle with a curved top immediately thinks it's a hybrid guaranteed, even if it is truly an elongated. Yep. I'm very, I don't know if I can say never, but very rarely ever met somebody who's like, can identify an

[01:19:44] elongated one. It's curved. Yeah. Yeah. It does happen a lot for sure. So yeah, that's, uh, all the questions we had this week. Those are good. Yeah. That was, I really enjoyed those questions, uh, this week. So yeah. Uh, but anyways, if you guys enjoy the pod, make sure to let us know down below and hopefully we will be back over the next few weeks. Hopefully this back injury doesn't keep me out for too long. Yeah. Word of the week is injured back, back problems. Yeah. Take care of

[01:20:12] yourself. It's not fun. Definitely not fun. So anyways, thanks for listening and, uh, we'll catch you next week. Peace.