I have about 60-70 pickleball paddles, and one of the things I love to do is compete the Joola Perseus 4 against my other paddles.
A question I often is whether a more expensive $300 paddle is that much better than a $50 or even a $5 pickleball paddle.
My oldest daughter won a prize at church, so she picked the Five Below $5 paddle, and I knew that I had to compete these paddles against each other in games against my arch opponent.
So, I want to cover my first impressions of each paddle, and then share my game results. The game results may surprise you as much as it did me, so stick around for the game results, and I’ll mention what I believe is the best of these paddles at the end.
Let’s first talk about first impressions
Let’s start with the $5 paddle and move up.
$5 Disappointment
Firstly, the $5 paddle fell completely flat. The paddle has what I would consider a fiberglass finish, but take a look at the grip. It was clearly the worst part of the paddle.
In addition, this paddle weight 9.4 ounces, and the weight was not distributed correctly. I would argue that the person who created this paddle does not play pickleball.
$50 Paddle Felt Decent
The $50 budget pickleball paddle is the Doctor Pickleball Surgical T700 carbon fiber control paddle. I love that this paddle is inexpensive and has 20mm paddle thickness that gives you ample control to place the ball. Plus, I prefer elongated handle, and love that the paddle is carbon fiber, my favorite paddle material.
My Doctor Pickleball Surgical Control paddle weight 8.2 ounces, which was so much lighter than the $5 option.
$300 Paddle Had Best First Impressions
The Joola Pro IV definitely had the best first impressions. Here’s my full, comprehensive review. The paddle comes in a box with grip tape. I would argue that Joola should provide a paddle cover for a $300 paddle, similar to the new Selkirk Boomstick (which I will write about soon), but the overall paddle’s feel is just great.
The paddle has ample grit, a nice design, and who doesn’t want a paddle with Ben Johns name on it?
My paddle weight 8.3 ounches.
Now let’s talk about how well these paddles played as that’s most important.
How the $5 Pickleball Paddle Played
Immediately, I knew with my unnamed five dollar paddle that I will name the green dragon that it was probably the weakest dragon I’ve ever experienced. Firstly, I don’t find my hands especially sweaty, but I felt that I was losing grip on this paddle right away.
In addition, this paddle had the worst of all combinations. A normal return at the net would flop the ball high and out, but when you are trying to hit a solid forehand or backhand, you had to put a lot of force with the paddle, just to get the same response as a more expensive paddle.
My serves were okay, but much weaker than normal. Plus, this paddle would not know a spin if it hit it.
I’d argue that if this were my main paddle that I would get pickleball elbow.
The ending score was dispointing to say the least. I scored one amazon point, but that’s all I could muster up again my opponent.
How the $50 Pickleball Paddle Played
My $50 budget pickleball paddle started off a bit slow as I was adjusting for my miserable $5 pickleball paddle experience, but once I got into a groove, I started making my shots and I felt just 100% more control than the previous paddle.
On my backhand, I was able to accurately move it to my opponents backhand, and at the net, I was able to control the placement of the ball. In addition, I was able to get the normal power on my serves, and my drops were also decent.
I fought back and actually won the second game of my 3 game match. I was surprised.
How the $300 Pickleball Paddle Played
I would have argued that the Joola Pro IV Perseus was the best pickleball paddles you could buy 6 months ago, but that’s not the case anymore. I started the game with some strength. We were playing singles and my opponent kept feeding to my backhand, and I was able to cross the ball back to his backhand.
In addition, I was able to get some drops and dinks with control. The paddle has incredible power and spin, so I thought I had a really good shot to win the third game.
Unfortunately, there were just times where I could not control the ball. On one play, I was at the kitchen, and I returned the ball with around the same force as normal, but the ball flew out of bounds. I also felt that my serve’s in accuracy was around 70% vs around 95% normall.
I had chances in the 3rd game, but I ended up losing the third game.
So, which paddle should you choose?
My Conclusion
Ultimately, I would argue that the $300 Joola Perseus Pro IV paddle is the best of these 3 paddles, but I would argue that the $50 budget Doctor Pickleball paddle was a solid option, especially given the paddle is $250 cheaper.
Firstly, the Joola Pro IV is obviously an incredible paddle with likes such as Ben Johns and Fed Stakrud using, but I am obviously not to their level, so I wasn’t able to control the wild stallion power and spin that I should be doing.
The Doctor Pickleball paddle allowed me to control the ball better even though I didn’t have the power or spin of Joola.
And the $5 pickleball paddle was just a complete failure. I wouldn’t wish that paddle for anyone. Also, if you enjoyed this article, check out my new article covering Selkirk Boomstick vs Joola Pro IV pickleball paddle.
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