u/kabob21

I picked up an Aura Pro from Friday’s demo paddle microsite since it was only $96 shipped ($79 + tax/shipping) and snagged one in excellent condition. Just two very minor blemishes on the lower corners and a lot of ball dust that’s easily cleaned off. Grit is on the medium side and the spin is high though not top tier. Power and pop are excellent and just a hair away from my 11six24 Ultré.

Here’s the problem, I’ve heard at least one reviewer (Austin of Pickleball Playbook) say that it’s a high dwell, forgiving paddle. Mine feels the opposite: pretty stiff and not very forgiving. Sweet spot is good but it’s difficult to cup the ball for drops and resets and I was getting some popups and mishits because it’s slightly muted like a lot of EPP foam core paddles. I did get used to it the more games I played, and I do quite enjoy the good pop/power/spin. I just wish the control was a bit better.

Have y’all had the same experience? I figured a demo would be broken-in more.

Edit: Oops, should have added Playbook’s review for reference about his opinion of the dwell:

https://youtube.com/shorts/CL60_2mii9w?is=4UDQwMDK71w30eqx

I’ve been on the hunt for a paddle to replace my RPM V2 14mm (tired of core crushing) and Aireo Cyclone Nanograph (grit is all but gone) as a do-everything main for drilling, doubles and singles. I was reluctant to buy yet another $150+ paddle for obvious reasons. I’d also had and sold a Vapor Power 2 because it just didn’t resonate with an elongated shape player like me. But initial reviews of the Ultré were pretty glowing so I reluctantly plonked down the $189 for one.

Disclaimer: I’m not affiliated with 11six24 though now I’m thinking I should go ahead and become an ambassador. The Ultré has turned me into a simp for them.

David Groechel, the founder of 11six24, should be put in pickleball jail for paddle malfeasance. This shape should have been introduced forever ago. The Ultré is the most balanced power paddle I’ve ever had the pleasure of hitting with. It’s not too stiff or hollow or soft or overly muted like 90% of other paddles out there, especially foam core. The spin, power, pop and stability are all better than the Vapor and the control and sweet spot are better than the Hurache-X. It is not over-the-top crazy power like the Boomstik or Cyclone nor is it lacking in any way in that department. The sweet spot is exactly where I want it at the upper half of the paddle face though it’s so huge you can practically hit it anywhere. You can play it stock (mine came in at 7.9 oz) or with some weight and it’s great either way. I have just under 2g at each corner and another 1g at 10 and 2 (total 8.2 oz static weight). It was ready to go with zero break-in, too.

As you can probably tell, I’m pretty sure I’ve found my Goldilocks. Makes me glad I canceled my Pakle Fuse order because I have no regrets spending an extra $94 on this instead.

Just a heads up for any PPA pro/qualifier tourney players. I finally got my warranty replacement V2 yesterday and noticed a discrepancy when I was overgripping it; no UPA-A stamp 🤔 Looked it up and the 14mm V2 elongated is no longer listed in the UPA-A approval list but there’s now a 14mm V2 widebody
on it. Which makes sense what with the popularity of the Joola Scorpeus 14mm (Anna Bright).

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with 6.0, don’t have an affiliate link or code nor do I know final pricing. I’m assuming it’ll be the same $250 before discount code that the current Black Opal hybrid sells for.

I noticed that a new version of the Opal got UPA-A approval on 5/29 and reached out to them for details. In a nutshell, it’s the long awaited elongated shape and it’ll be dual USAP and UPA-A certified. Unfortunately that means unlike the Coral Pro, it’ll have the same relatively smooth grit as the hybrid Black Opal and regular Coral. But it’ll be the only 14mm elongated foam core power paddle with durable grit, if that’s exactly what you’re looking for.

SixZero said they’re aiming for a release around the end of the month or early July.

For some background, my paddle core crushed in ~5 weeks and somewhere between 30 and 40 hrs. I’m screenshotting the whole email exchange from start to finish. Entire process took from 5/07 to 6/02 when my replacement is scheduled to arrive. Shout out to Selyne at RPM, she was super nice and friendly throughout.

At least, I’m pretty sure that’s gotta be it. Just approved by UPA-A on 05/04/26

Only thing I know about it is that Alshon’s already been playing with it the last few tournaments 🤷 I’m assuming it’s an iteration on the Reserve Honeyfoam? Hopefully there isn’t an embargo on prerelease info.

I bet r/10s would have a meltdown if they knew their beloved sport was borrowing from pickleball 😆

So surprise surprise my RPM V2 14mm has started core crushing after less than 6 weeks 😮‍💨 Paddle is dead everywhere but a small hot spot in the middle. I’ll be hitting drives against a wall for a couple of days to make sure it’s fully crushed then sending it off for warranty. Meanwhile, I’m going back to foam.

Full disclosure, while I’m not affiliated with Aireo in any way and I paid regular discount code price ($179), I am a CRBN ambassador and got the TFB3 at ambassador pricing. That said, the Trufoam Barrage 3 ain’t perfect so I’m still giving my unfiltered thoughts on it.

First off, Nanograph is Aireo’s durable grit tech on the revised Cyclone 2.0 paddle. One of my biggest issues with the original Cyclone is that they are stiff and hollow with little dwell to compensate for the rather smooth face texture. It was hard to tame the pop with spin and sometimes the ball would slide a little on spin-heavy shots. Nanograph is more like a high friction vertically oriented textured peel ply similar to 6.0 diamond tough rather than a granular/sandpaper-like Infinigrit or RPM grit. But hey, it works; the spin on the Cyclone 2.0 is much better and while the 2.0 remains a pretty stiff, high power/pop paddle, there is a little more forgiveness for control. Because of the higher launch angle of the new grit, I do find myself having to hit at a lower contact point for serves and drives. The 2.0 only weighs 7.7 oz stock so I added ~2.25 g of tungsten from the lower corners up to 9 & 3. Still only 8.0 oz with overgrip but it plays very stable. All-in-all, the performance is right up there with the Boomstik but lighter, more maneuverable and a little better control. Impressive, to say the least 👏

On to the TFB3. This is a rather heavy paddle (8.1 oz stock) with a shorter than advertised handle. It’s nearly identical in shape to the Proton Flamingo and I’ve noticed with long faced paddles, especially 14mm or thinner, is they have a lot of throat flex. It gives the paddle some dwell and more control for drops and dinks but putaways are harder. As for the feedback/feel, it’s better than the Waves along with a broader sweet spot with less of a sudden drop off near the perimeter. Although the overall dwell and pop are less than the Waves. I’d consider the TFB3 in the power category but more on the low to mid end. It plays well stock but I recommend adding some weight to at least the lower corners to stiffen up the face and give the paddle some needed stability. Break-in with either the Cyclone or the Barrage is minimal so they’re pretty much ready to go out of the box. I’m really enjoying both and recommend either though the Barrage is more intermediate player friendly. Then too, everybody and their grandma plays with Boomstiks so I guess anybody can play with the Cyclone.