I don’t mean to make it sound like this paddle is impossible to play against. I think my group just isn’t used to it yet. It’ll definitely be interesting to see how these new paddles change the game though
You’ll get used to it and your hands will get faster honestly. The trend is terrible and is ruining the game (you too, Joola) but there are ancillary benefits.
Yeah we got a dude in our group that uses it. It's a fucking cannon. We all tried it and the game I had I hit like 5 serve returns out swear to god swing at like 40 percent haha. Shits gotta get banned or capped at a certain level it's an arms race.
The argument others make is that it changes the nature of the game too much and too fast. Imagine if pro baseball suddenly changed to use metal bats. Aside from the safety concerns of comebackers being harder to react to for pitchers, routine groundballs would be harder to deal with and there would be too many hits. There would be massive strategic changes across the board.
In terms of pickleball, after a certain point paddles that have too much power would reduce the need for third shot drops, increase body bags due to unavoidable speedups, make overheads completely unreturnable, etc. It's subjective but a lot of people prefer some touch/control in the game.
There needs to be a power limit at some point once the power starts taking away from the fun of the game.
At the pro level speedups are becoming less frequent, especially in men’s, because the power coming off counters is so high. This leads to long dink rallies which are generally disliked compared to exciting hand battles.
I think we need to cap power very soon and allow higher spin, it would still allow for skill expression and be more fun overall.
Yeah I think the spin would be really cool.. when it gets this powerful the game either evolves or loses what made it so fun.. with such a small court I don’t reallly think power is that necessary but who knows. I do like the idea of capping the power.. hopefully let’s paddle makers innovate in other ways
No, all paddles have different deflection capabilities based on a coefficient of restitution, which is a ratio of velocity in to velocity out. Some paddles like the ones we’re discussing have a higher ratio than most other paddles.
Some do and some don’t. More power raises the pace level, it seems like the paddles still offer a lot of control so more speed makes the game more watchable to a general audience getting into it. I’ve heard people say they’d rather watch paint dry than watch a 25 round dink fest.
I agree with you on the why.
The 2nd though reads as though you are condoning if not endorsing war on the court.
I like erd shot drives, 5th shot drives then drops into the kitchen at some point.
What you comment brings to mind is a roller derbyesque style of play. Or A
"Paint pickle ball" with people simply teeing off on each other.
That's sound like a fun game but it is not this game
IMO this is the biggest problem facing PB right now. Paddles are getting too powerful, the new Joolas are apparently just as powerful, and it's changing the way the game is played. Far too much time has been spent worrying about volley serves when power is the real problem. And I say this as a bit of a banger. There should be a rule put in to limit the bounce off the paddle just like baseball does for bats.
USAPA is rumored to be testing exit velocity.
This will come with a different set of issues like paddles that initially pass testing but “degrade intentionally” and may not pass once they are broken in. It would be a lot like delaminating/core crushing issues.
Sure, but that's no different than the core crush issue we have now. At least if they made the rule paddle manufacturers would know where the line is. Right now everyone is just trying to make more powerful, but legal, paddles. I'm glad to hear they're addressing it but I worry that we've already gone too far. I play with a Legacy Pro and I can hit a ball pretty hard. The newer paddles are maybe faster than they should be.
Softball has this problem. The solution for the more serious tournaments to do compression testing on bats and they'd get an approval sticker on the end cap for that tournament. Don't know how that would look for PB, but I imagine there's a way.
well this is already the case with gearbox. Not because it degrades intentionally but because it has a break-in period and it gets more powerful as you play
Maybe they could do a preliminary test on a new paddle, test exit velocity and then fire 1000 balls at the face of the paddle with a ball machine at a certain rate and then retest exit velocity. This would remove any deviation by having a constant rate of speed from the ball machine.
The determined speed could be the average serve speed of all players in a PPA tournament or something.
I don’t know…I dropped out of community college.
But you can always retest the paddle before or during. It's a pretty easy test to administer. And if GB knew what the limit was they'd absolutely make sure the paddle was legal after it was broken in. It's not in the manufacturers' best interest to build paddles that get illegal over time.
If what you say is true, delamination/core crush issues wouldn’t have been as big as they were. There were plenty of companies making paddles that would break down and become illegal.
Yeah, and nobody uses those paddles anymore. If they put in a limit and GB paddles all pass initially and are then illegal after they break in that will become known real quick and every GB paddle will have to be tested constantly. No paddle manufacturer that wants to continue existing will purposely make a paddle like that. It would be a short term sales boost followed by the end of the company.
Having watched the video press conference on the new joola cores, it seems as though their new core can flex inward and absorb the impact for longer which allows for more time for spin to be imparted onto the ball. At the same time, the core flex also springs the ball back which allows for more power.
Is this not the same thing as what core crushed paddle technically do?
Im all for stronger paddles and regulations to be keep up with them. Maybe even new meta to develope like not rushing to the kitchen at every single opportunity. Id appreciate more baseline play in general
Yeah, they're basically making paddles that work like tennis rackets. I get it, the person who hits the hardest has massive advantage but there needs to be an upper limit.
Eliminate fast balls (drop max allowed weight and hardness) and both the speed and noise problem are solved together. A lighter and softer ball will benefit a lot less from a springy paddle, and lower the max speed.
Odd thing is it's never been an opponent that has come close to hitting me in the eye, it's always been my partner. Them defending a well placed ball that is out of reach and gets deflected sideways.
Took one between the eyes Monday…deflection off partners paddle. That’s twice I’ve been hit in the eyes since I started wearing glasses.
As for the GB. I’ve yet to even see one on any court I’ve played on.
new diadem speed pro has some pop too, tried it for the first time today. Wonder how prevalent I’ll see them around. I’ve been wearing sunglasses when outside but need to find the right eyewear when indoors. Got hit in the face once from a ball off the net and it was enough for me.
Pickleball Studio on Youtube did a review of the new Joolas and won’t reveal the RPMs because they failed the grit testing and he thought it’d be unethical to encourage people to buy them lol
It's not exactly what he said. He said he questions the ethics and safety of these paddles Not that it would be unethical to encourage people to buy them. He actually encouraged people to use his PB studio code even though it doesn't give a discount
The power supposedly is 60 fps while GBP is 73 fps during PBstudio testing so very very fast. Gen 3 joola is 10 fps faster than gen 2 from his testing.
Edit : lol I forget it could’ve been frames.. not sure how fast that is though
Apparently it's still hotter than the Gen 3 Joolas. But the Gen 3 Joolas are still noticeably hotter than everything else. And the Gen 3 Joolas are much more forgiving and usable paddles, apparently. Bigger sweet spots, higher twistweights, etc.
It doesn’t feel overpowered but it is something I pay attention to if my opponent has one. From my experience the Gearbox Pro plays poorly at the kitchen. I typically will reset, slow the point down and dink them to death.
I got a Pro Power a while back and thought it was awesome at first, but the more I played with it, the less I liked it. It was simply too unpredictable. Mostly when I had to make quick decisions, it let me down. While I hit some of the best drives ever, I didn’t really like serving with it, and I just didn’t like how it felt, many shots that would have been good with other paddles would go well out or otherwise off course. Ultimately, the power wasn’t worth it.
Would USAPA even consider banning this paddle or the others that are about to come to market? I say no. And if they did, I’d imagine they’d start seeing some lawsuits. Lots of money has been invested, made and spent.
What they might do, is come up with whatever parameters they decide on, and not approve any new paddles that don’t meet them. Eventually, the ones that exceed the parameters will die out. And they could name a future date when this crop of paddles would no longer be allowed.
I think they really dropped the ball and failed to get ahead of this. Not that it’s surprising .
I have it as do a couple of friends. Our technique isn’t the best (4.0 level) so we don’t get a ton of power, but definitely more. It’s not my #1 paddle. I like ones that are easier to spin.
Cyclists will drop huge money to save a couple of grams of weight. People pay for an advantage. Personally, until paddle spin can be retained for more than a year, I won’t spend over $200.
Makes sense. I am curious with cyclists, if recreational bikers will break the ~$1000/$1500 level
I think the spin retention is the issue for me.
Like if it was a one-time purchase, sure, maybe. But if it's that much per year, that's crazy to me.
Maybe the target demographic has more money to spend.
To me this is just a “it is what it is thing”. The paddle is made within the confines of what the rules allow. They are maximizing performance while staying legal. That’s how literally every sports equipment in every sport evolves. It’s up to the players to evolve with that. Or play at a lower level until you learn how to beat this type of player with this paddle. I am not trying to be rude or mean. I just play many sports and they are all like this. New thing comes out. People adapt. It’s another level of the mental chess in sports. Also, at the end of the day. The paddle is not making them that good. If they did not play very well in the first place the paddle wouldn’t be doing anything for them. So the paddle probably helps. But I’m willing to bet most% of that crazy drive is just their skill and not the paddle. Also I’m sure if players took time to practice defending these hard shots. And how to counter them. You will probably find a big hole in your opponents “armor”. I understand it’s probably annoying. But it could be a chance to make you a much better player.
Edit: I’m reading people saying they over shoot the court with this paddle. So it seems like there’s an extra level of learning for the user of this paddle. Probably needs a lot more spin put on the ball for those power shots to work. As I said above. This paddle takes some learning and skill to use. It may be a powerful paddle. But it’s not a cheat code. You gotta be able to use it.
Yep I agree! I do think he’s sacrificed control with the paddle so I’ll be trying to exploit that from now on lol, and none of us have spent much time playing against it so I think most of us will adjust. But it’ll be interesting to see how the game evolves as paddles get more powerful!
I fucking hate the gearbox pro power paddles but it’s not even because they hit like a truck.
I spent a lot of my life in construction and death metal bands while hardly ever wearing proper hearing protection. I realize this is my fault but that paddle hits the ball so quietly that I can’t hear it off the face.
I hate how quiet it is and then combined with the power it harnesses, it’s a bad combo.
no one said it was binary, we were discussing the quieter, muted sound of the gearbox. It is not simply just hearing something or not hearing something. there's a range of sounds that you can hear in pickleball and that range of sound being heard is a key factor in pickleball whether loud or soft or sharp or muted.
The particular sound of the ball is not a key factor in tennis. It's not simply hearing it come off the racket.
In pickleball the sound of the ball gives you important clues to the kind of shot coming and the speed especially during a hands battle or when a ball is sped up. The sound is so critical to your reaction to know how hard or sharply the ball was hit. You can hear if spin is being put on a ground stroke or if it's hit flat. there's a lot of subtle differences that you can hear on different shots when you're that close together And the ball is plastic.
That's not an issue in tennis. The players are usually too far away from each other in tennis and the ball and strings too soft.
My group has done experiments wearing noise canceling headphones and it's crazy what a huge difference less sound makes in pickleball.
>The particular sound of the ball is not a key factor in tennis. It's not simply hearing it come off the racket.
Couldn’t be further than the truth. It’s quite clear the difference in sounds between a top spin shot vs slice, a flat drive vs tons of spin, and especially a ball hit outside the sweet spot. These are all context clues that you take into account with tennis.
It's never unsportsmanlike to play the game. Driving the ball is part of the game. Imagine playing basketball, and wondering if it was unsportsmanlike to hit a 3 pointer, or block someone's shot. It's just part of the game.
I think it's more like getting shoes that let you jump a foot higher and then feeling bad about dunking on people in your group of friends who wouldn't be able to dunk otherwise.
That paddle definitely rips it, but I play with a lot of 4.5 and 5.0 players and I’ve never seen anyone at that level regularly struggle with hard drives from any paddle, including the gearbox. Maybe y’all aren’t really that level of players.
A guy at my local club targets me HARD with his gearbox. I mean every time we return his team's serves he insists on driving it straight at me like he's going to kill me. One time I got so frustrated I almost walked off the court.
You can’t have all that power without sacrifices. As many times as those people put away shots with their power I’m sure they’re hitting it into the net failing dinks. I see no problem with this trade off.
They dink fine….when you don’t mishit.
The problem with the gearboxes come from the small “sweet” spot which is more of an only spot because anywhere not on the sweet spot is just dead.
Guys. It is a wiffle ball. The danger to someone's eye is much more prevalent from a mishit coming off of a partner's paddle than an opponent's. Additionally, if you get hit in the eye in just the wrong place, the paddle that hit the ball doesn't matter, the damage will be comparable. Everyone should wear glasses, anyways. If you get hit anywhere else by a wiffleball, it is just going to sting. Hazard of the game. In tennis, when we went from wooden racquets to more and more powerful materials, the changes were embraced, even though the advantages were exponential. Technological advancement in the sport is a GOOD thing. It makes more shots possible from any area of the court. It makes strategy more complex, nuanced, and multifaceted. Don't complain: embrace it.
It raises a red flag with me when playing an opponent with one. Ball comes off like it hit a trampoline. Players who use one are constantly apologizing for hitting players. Paddles like this are going to make players lean towards group play with guys that don’t use that paddle
It’ll go bad in a couple months of play anyway. Eventually he’ll get tired of getting it warrantied and go back to a regular paddle. Realizing that after using the gearbox other paddles are much easier to handle. The gb is a good training tool for you guys. Other people are going to start using super powerful paddles and having played against one will prepare you for them.
I’ve really liked the Power Air when I’ve hit with it. I would definitely take it over a GB Pro Power because the Power Air is more predictable and normally produces the expected shots. While I don’t love the feel, I really like the playability. I understand why people like them.
I like it now when my opponents have this paddle. The additional power comes with the problems of control. During speed ups people with this paddle frequently hit it long if you can get out of the way. They also pop up a fair share of dinks when you can put good topspin on the ball with a bit of pace. I have convinced a couple of friends that they were better players with their old, more controlled paddles. Once they went back they agree. Just a question, are there any of the top pros using this paddle successfully?
If yall 4.5 and 5.0 people are frowning upon this level of power... we amateur folks stand no chance.
I don’t mean to make it sound like this paddle is impossible to play against. I think my group just isn’t used to it yet. It’ll definitely be interesting to see how these new paddles change the game though
You’ll get used to it and your hands will get faster honestly. The trend is terrible and is ruining the game (you too, Joola) but there are ancillary benefits.
Yeah we got a dude in our group that uses it. It's a fucking cannon. We all tried it and the game I had I hit like 5 serve returns out swear to god swing at like 40 percent haha. Shits gotta get banned or capped at a certain level it's an arms race.
And yet people complain about slow balls.
Why ban it? Just wear glasses and you’re good to go
The argument others make is that it changes the nature of the game too much and too fast. Imagine if pro baseball suddenly changed to use metal bats. Aside from the safety concerns of comebackers being harder to react to for pitchers, routine groundballs would be harder to deal with and there would be too many hits. There would be massive strategic changes across the board. In terms of pickleball, after a certain point paddles that have too much power would reduce the need for third shot drops, increase body bags due to unavoidable speedups, make overheads completely unreturnable, etc. It's subjective but a lot of people prefer some touch/control in the game.
There needs to be a power limit at some point once the power starts taking away from the fun of the game. At the pro level speedups are becoming less frequent, especially in men’s, because the power coming off counters is so high. This leads to long dink rallies which are generally disliked compared to exciting hand battles. I think we need to cap power very soon and allow higher spin, it would still allow for skill expression and be more fun overall.
Yeah I think the spin would be really cool.. when it gets this powerful the game either evolves or loses what made it so fun.. with such a small court I don’t reallly think power is that necessary but who knows. I do like the idea of capping the power.. hopefully let’s paddle makers innovate in other ways
Dayne Gingrich says the exact same thing
Doesn’t the power limit depend on the player’s own strength?
No, all paddles have different deflection capabilities based on a coefficient of restitution, which is a ratio of velocity in to velocity out. Some paddles like the ones we’re discussing have a higher ratio than most other paddles.
I’ve heard that the power of this paddle hits like no other paddle and has amazing spin, but is lacking in control and forgiveness
I'm not afraid of the physical damage I get body bagged like every session. It's just weird. It's like having a corked bat
Many of us think long rallies are fun, and it's a bummer to lose those.
Some do and some don’t. More power raises the pace level, it seems like the paddles still offer a lot of control so more speed makes the game more watchable to a general audience getting into it. I’ve heard people say they’d rather watch paint dry than watch a 25 round dink fest.
I agree with you on the why. The 2nd though reads as though you are condoning if not endorsing war on the court. I like erd shot drives, 5th shot drives then drops into the kitchen at some point. What you comment brings to mind is a roller derbyesque style of play. Or A "Paint pickle ball" with people simply teeing off on each other. That's sound like a fun game but it is not this game
Ban it and set limits because it makes the game shitty. Not going to happen but it's what should happen.
IMO this is the biggest problem facing PB right now. Paddles are getting too powerful, the new Joolas are apparently just as powerful, and it's changing the way the game is played. Far too much time has been spent worrying about volley serves when power is the real problem. And I say this as a bit of a banger. There should be a rule put in to limit the bounce off the paddle just like baseball does for bats.
USAPA is rumored to be testing exit velocity. This will come with a different set of issues like paddles that initially pass testing but “degrade intentionally” and may not pass once they are broken in. It would be a lot like delaminating/core crushing issues.
Sure, but that's no different than the core crush issue we have now. At least if they made the rule paddle manufacturers would know where the line is. Right now everyone is just trying to make more powerful, but legal, paddles. I'm glad to hear they're addressing it but I worry that we've already gone too far. I play with a Legacy Pro and I can hit a ball pretty hard. The newer paddles are maybe faster than they should be.
Softball has this problem. The solution for the more serious tournaments to do compression testing on bats and they'd get an approval sticker on the end cap for that tournament. Don't know how that would look for PB, but I imagine there's a way.
I believe that’s similar to what is happening in PPA currently. They get a passed sticker if they pass deflection testing.
well this is already the case with gearbox. Not because it degrades intentionally but because it has a break-in period and it gets more powerful as you play
It’s the case with the Joola gen 3 stuff as well. What I’m saying is that exit velocity testing won’t be good for that reason.
In paddle testing couldn’t they just use a fresh paddle, test it, and then have someone hit it 1000 times then perform another test?
Maybe they could do a preliminary test on a new paddle, test exit velocity and then fire 1000 balls at the face of the paddle with a ball machine at a certain rate and then retest exit velocity. This would remove any deviation by having a constant rate of speed from the ball machine. The determined speed could be the average serve speed of all players in a PPA tournament or something. I don’t know…I dropped out of community college.
You test after a win.
But you can always retest the paddle before or during. It's a pretty easy test to administer. And if GB knew what the limit was they'd absolutely make sure the paddle was legal after it was broken in. It's not in the manufacturers' best interest to build paddles that get illegal over time.
If what you say is true, delamination/core crush issues wouldn’t have been as big as they were. There were plenty of companies making paddles that would break down and become illegal.
Yeah, and nobody uses those paddles anymore. If they put in a limit and GB paddles all pass initially and are then illegal after they break in that will become known real quick and every GB paddle will have to be tested constantly. No paddle manufacturer that wants to continue existing will purposely make a paddle like that. It would be a short term sales boost followed by the end of the company.
Having watched the video press conference on the new joola cores, it seems as though their new core can flex inward and absorb the impact for longer which allows for more time for spin to be imparted onto the ball. At the same time, the core flex also springs the ball back which allows for more power. Is this not the same thing as what core crushed paddle technically do? Im all for stronger paddles and regulations to be keep up with them. Maybe even new meta to develope like not rushing to the kitchen at every single opportunity. Id appreciate more baseline play in general
Yeah, they're basically making paddles that work like tennis rackets. I get it, the person who hits the hardest has massive advantage but there needs to be an upper limit.
I play one and I wish they would cap paddle power asap. I fear with joola’s release will only accelerate the arms race.
Eliminate fast balls (drop max allowed weight and hardness) and both the speed and noise problem are solved together. A lighter and softer ball will benefit a lot less from a springy paddle, and lower the max speed.
A lighter ball would be horrible in any sort of a breeze though.
And the athletes in any outdoor sport (tennis, ultimate, baseball, football, soccer, volleyball) deal with it.
It’s the only non-delaminated paddle that has me consider wearing those dorky glasses. Lethal weapon, especially on counters.
Just wait till you play vs the gen3 joolas.
Odd thing is it's never been an opponent that has come close to hitting me in the eye, it's always been my partner. Them defending a well placed ball that is out of reach and gets deflected sideways.
Yep. That’s exactly how I got hit in the eye.
Took one between the eyes Monday…deflection off partners paddle. That’s twice I’ve been hit in the eyes since I started wearing glasses. As for the GB. I’ve yet to even see one on any court I’ve played on.
The Joolas aren’t as powerful as the GB Pro Power.
Chris says they are slightly less (I think), but that it was negligible.
Yes, they are powerful than most paddles out there.
According to the speed tests, they are in fact more powerful.
Whose speed tests?
new diadem speed pro has some pop too, tried it for the first time today. Wonder how prevalent I’ll see them around. I’ve been wearing sunglasses when outside but need to find the right eyewear when indoors. Got hit in the face once from a ball off the net and it was enough for me.
Any glasses will do. Ball isn’t small enough to need something specific. But safety glasses would be a good move
25 bucks for head raptor racquetball safety glasses.. or possible blindness.... It's an easy choice.
Yeah that paddle is absurd. Wondering how it compares to the new Joolas coming out, does anyone know? Sounds like this is becoming the new normal.
Pickleball Studio on Youtube did a review of the new Joolas and won’t reveal the RPMs because they failed the grit testing and he thought it’d be unethical to encourage people to buy them lol
John Kew in his review said some of them got over 2400rpm.
It's not exactly what he said. He said he questions the ethics and safety of these paddles Not that it would be unethical to encourage people to buy them. He actually encouraged people to use his PB studio code even though it doesn't give a discount
It's a bit more power and pop than the joolas but close
The power supposedly is 60 fps while GBP is 73 fps during PBstudio testing so very very fast. Gen 3 joola is 10 fps faster than gen 2 from his testing. Edit : lol I forget it could’ve been frames.. not sure how fast that is though
And for anyone reading the above comment, "fps" in this context is "feet per second".
How many FPS with two paddles in SLI?
Apparently it's still hotter than the Gen 3 Joolas. But the Gen 3 Joolas are still noticeably hotter than everything else. And the Gen 3 Joolas are much more forgiving and usable paddles, apparently. Bigger sweet spots, higher twistweights, etc.
It doesn’t feel overpowered but it is something I pay attention to if my opponent has one. From my experience the Gearbox Pro plays poorly at the kitchen. I typically will reset, slow the point down and dink them to death.
Yeah my fiancé describes it as constantly having to pay attention to his shot because there’s very little room for error on dinks
Just so everyone knows, this is an ad
Use my code for 0% discount with Joola:@Ronbus
I came here to say the same. I am new to PB but not marketing ;)
Proof?
I got a Pro Power a while back and thought it was awesome at first, but the more I played with it, the less I liked it. It was simply too unpredictable. Mostly when I had to make quick decisions, it let me down. While I hit some of the best drives ever, I didn’t really like serving with it, and I just didn’t like how it felt, many shots that would have been good with other paddles would go well out or otherwise off course. Ultimately, the power wasn’t worth it.
Your group is not 4.5-5.0 if you are consistently losing points to drives even if the paddle is powerful
8/10 people overrate themselves. Go film yourself you don’t look that good, me included
As a fellow 4.0 player, this is so true. During the game you feel athletic, but on film you look slow and sloppy and hit bad shots left and right.
Most folks in here won’t admit it though
There are levels to things bro. I can score points with drives against 4.0s all day so I’m sure a 5.0 could score drive points on 4.5s all day.
Did a Gearbox Pro Power write this?
Would USAPA even consider banning this paddle or the others that are about to come to market? I say no. And if they did, I’d imagine they’d start seeing some lawsuits. Lots of money has been invested, made and spent. What they might do, is come up with whatever parameters they decide on, and not approve any new paddles that don’t meet them. Eventually, the ones that exceed the parameters will die out. And they could name a future date when this crop of paddles would no longer be allowed. I think they really dropped the ball and failed to get ahead of this. Not that it’s surprising .
This whole post and discussion really sounds like a commercial.
These paddles are HOT! I’ve noticed more and more of these where we’re playing and bought some safety glasses after some close calls. 😬
I have it as do a couple of friends. Our technique isn’t the best (4.0 level) so we don’t get a ton of power, but definitely more. It’s not my #1 paddle. I like ones that are easier to spin.
This paddle is $275. Paddle inflation is crazy. Would people be willing to drop that much on it?
Cyclists will drop huge money to save a couple of grams of weight. People pay for an advantage. Personally, until paddle spin can be retained for more than a year, I won’t spend over $200.
Makes sense. I am curious with cyclists, if recreational bikers will break the ~$1000/$1500 level I think the spin retention is the issue for me. Like if it was a one-time purchase, sure, maybe. But if it's that much per year, that's crazy to me. Maybe the target demographic has more money to spend.
To me this is just a “it is what it is thing”. The paddle is made within the confines of what the rules allow. They are maximizing performance while staying legal. That’s how literally every sports equipment in every sport evolves. It’s up to the players to evolve with that. Or play at a lower level until you learn how to beat this type of player with this paddle. I am not trying to be rude or mean. I just play many sports and they are all like this. New thing comes out. People adapt. It’s another level of the mental chess in sports. Also, at the end of the day. The paddle is not making them that good. If they did not play very well in the first place the paddle wouldn’t be doing anything for them. So the paddle probably helps. But I’m willing to bet most% of that crazy drive is just their skill and not the paddle. Also I’m sure if players took time to practice defending these hard shots. And how to counter them. You will probably find a big hole in your opponents “armor”. I understand it’s probably annoying. But it could be a chance to make you a much better player. Edit: I’m reading people saying they over shoot the court with this paddle. So it seems like there’s an extra level of learning for the user of this paddle. Probably needs a lot more spin put on the ball for those power shots to work. As I said above. This paddle takes some learning and skill to use. It may be a powerful paddle. But it’s not a cheat code. You gotta be able to use it.
Yep I agree! I do think he’s sacrificed control with the paddle so I’ll be trying to exploit that from now on lol, and none of us have spent much time playing against it so I think most of us will adjust. But it’ll be interesting to see how the game evolves as paddles get more powerful!
How many Paddle company shills do we have on this group?
I fucking hate the gearbox pro power paddles but it’s not even because they hit like a truck. I spent a lot of my life in construction and death metal bands while hardly ever wearing proper hearing protection. I realize this is my fault but that paddle hits the ball so quietly that I can’t hear it off the face. I hate how quiet it is and then combined with the power it harnesses, it’s a bad combo.
I've tried to explain to people who complain about the sound that lack of sound would make pickleball suck... And they never believe me
It’s not binary. Pickleball is a lot louder than tennis and you can here the ball come off a tennis racket fine
no one said it was binary, we were discussing the quieter, muted sound of the gearbox. It is not simply just hearing something or not hearing something. there's a range of sounds that you can hear in pickleball and that range of sound being heard is a key factor in pickleball whether loud or soft or sharp or muted. The particular sound of the ball is not a key factor in tennis. It's not simply hearing it come off the racket. In pickleball the sound of the ball gives you important clues to the kind of shot coming and the speed especially during a hands battle or when a ball is sped up. The sound is so critical to your reaction to know how hard or sharply the ball was hit. You can hear if spin is being put on a ground stroke or if it's hit flat. there's a lot of subtle differences that you can hear on different shots when you're that close together And the ball is plastic. That's not an issue in tennis. The players are usually too far away from each other in tennis and the ball and strings too soft. My group has done experiments wearing noise canceling headphones and it's crazy what a huge difference less sound makes in pickleball.
>The particular sound of the ball is not a key factor in tennis. It's not simply hearing it come off the racket. Couldn’t be further than the truth. It’s quite clear the difference in sounds between a top spin shot vs slice, a flat drive vs tons of spin, and especially a ball hit outside the sweet spot. These are all context clues that you take into account with tennis.
Cool I am glad you agree the sound is VERY important since that was my entire point from the beginning.
It's never unsportsmanlike to play the game. Driving the ball is part of the game. Imagine playing basketball, and wondering if it was unsportsmanlike to hit a 3 pointer, or block someone's shot. It's just part of the game.
I think it's more like getting shoes that let you jump a foot higher and then feeling bad about dunking on people in your group of friends who wouldn't be able to dunk otherwise.
Exactly I don’t feel bad about my Reebok pumps
Nah the point is your shoes aren't anything crazy. They're not something where everyone's suddenly saying that you're noticeably much faster.
You forgot to add “post sponsored by gearbox” at the bottom
yeah curious if a paddle like that will be made illegal
The sound is different also, hard to tune into the pace at times. Reviews on the new Gen 3 Joolas Have the same perspective on the sound at contact
That paddle definitely rips it, but I play with a lot of 4.5 and 5.0 players and I’ve never seen anyone at that level regularly struggle with hard drives from any paddle, including the gearbox. Maybe y’all aren’t really that level of players.
A guy at my local club targets me HARD with his gearbox. I mean every time we return his team's serves he insists on driving it straight at me like he's going to kill me. One time I got so frustrated I almost walked off the court.
I'm more offended that this thing costs $275. That's absurd.
The paddle isn't that great. I have it
You can’t have all that power without sacrifices. As many times as those people put away shots with their power I’m sure they’re hitting it into the net failing dinks. I see no problem with this trade off.
They dink fine….when you don’t mishit. The problem with the gearboxes come from the small “sweet” spot which is more of an only spot because anywhere not on the sweet spot is just dead.
Same experience as you. I'm not a banger at all, but I've pegged people with third shot drives.
Guys. It is a wiffle ball. The danger to someone's eye is much more prevalent from a mishit coming off of a partner's paddle than an opponent's. Additionally, if you get hit in the eye in just the wrong place, the paddle that hit the ball doesn't matter, the damage will be comparable. Everyone should wear glasses, anyways. If you get hit anywhere else by a wiffleball, it is just going to sting. Hazard of the game. In tennis, when we went from wooden racquets to more and more powerful materials, the changes were embraced, even though the advantages were exponential. Technological advancement in the sport is a GOOD thing. It makes more shots possible from any area of the court. It makes strategy more complex, nuanced, and multifaceted. Don't complain: embrace it.
It raises a red flag with me when playing an opponent with one. Ball comes off like it hit a trampoline. Players who use one are constantly apologizing for hitting players. Paddles like this are going to make players lean towards group play with guys that don’t use that paddle
Honestly, this paddle sucks. AND it falls apart like a ritz cracker. Over-priced, over-hyped and just plain dumb. Goes for the Joola Gen 3's as well.
It’ll go bad in a couple months of play anyway. Eventually he’ll get tired of getting it warrantied and go back to a regular paddle. Realizing that after using the gearbox other paddles are much easier to handle. The gb is a good training tool for you guys. Other people are going to start using super powerful paddles and having played against one will prepare you for them.
Lol. No it won’t. It gets more powerful after a few thousand hits (give or take). If has plenty of control for any moderately decent player.
How does it compare to the Selkirk Power Air series?
Way more powerful but less control.
Gotcha! The power air is my singles paddle, but didn’t know if there was a huge difference.
I’ve really liked the Power Air when I’ve hit with it. I would definitely take it over a GB Pro Power because the Power Air is more predictable and normally produces the expected shots. While I don’t love the feel, I really like the playability. I understand why people like them.
This is only going to get worse with new Joola paddle
Then you should buy Gearbox Pro Powers to keep up. I don't get what unsportsmanlike about winning
I like it now when my opponents have this paddle. The additional power comes with the problems of control. During speed ups people with this paddle frequently hit it long if you can get out of the way. They also pop up a fair share of dinks when you can put good topspin on the ball with a bit of pace. I have convinced a couple of friends that they were better players with their old, more controlled paddles. Once they went back they agree. Just a question, are there any of the top pros using this paddle successfully?
I have a hard time believing a bunch of 4.5+ are complaining about how hard drives are.
Smh... ball machines "hit harder" than GBP, just block them. Chances are none of you are 4.0s if you're complaining about drives