I have tested over 130 Pickleball rackets. Here are the 2 I would recommend in 2026

The fourth wave pickleball paddles are here, and she finds the sport’s technology at an interesting crossroads.

On the one hand, the flagship offers from the major paddle brands have never been so similar. This is because most pickleball paddle manufacturers have adopted foam cores which have a more uniform feel than carbon fiber honeycomb cores. While there are recalcitrants who prefer the old cores were open, and always will be, I think it’s safe to proclaim that foam cores are superior technology and are here to stay. Paddle shapes also look similar: When I started testing pickleball paddles for WIRED in 2023, many brands still had a few oval offerings, which have gone the way of the buffalo. Extended paddles are now preferred by almost everyone I play with.

On the other hand, pickleball is still a relatively new sport and paddle board manufacturers continue to innovate with very creative offerings. I have tested over 130 pickleball paddles over the past three years while playing games with friends and my daughter, and using a Slinger ball machine.

Here are the paddles I’d currently recommend to beginners and more advanced players, as well as a look at some of the weirder paddles I’ve tested recently.

Best Pickleball Paddle for Beginners Right Now: SLK Dauntless

The wide body version of the SLK Intrepid ($150) has the largest, butteriest sweet spot I’ve ever encountered on a paddle. At $150, it might seem a little expensive for most newcomers to the game, and you can get something serviceable for half the price, but if you’re thinking of investing in a starter paddle, the Dauntless is what I’d recommend. If you like wide body paddles or are new to racquet sports, I would go for the wide body version. If you’re a little more advanced or plan to progress quickly to banger status, the extension should give you more power and reach.

The Dauntless is a foam core paddle, which means it uses the latest technology. Foam-infused cores allow for racquets with a more consistent and forgiving strike thanks to a larger sweet spot. They also have game-changing durability. Unlike honeycomb cores which slowly crush after many hard hits, a foam core palette should last a long time, as long as it retains its grain (this topic will be covered a bit with the Reload palette below).

He also uses the ME tuning system that made the Selkirk Boomstik last year’s escape paddle. The two small clips on the side of the paddle are weights that move the balance toward the center of the paddle, increasing the size of the sweet spot. I’m rarely the most athletic player on the court and play a finesse game that uses a lot of offset dinks on balls I can barely reach. This paddle is ideal for that, which means it’s also great for beginners who may be slow to follow incoming rides.

This is a versatile control paddle, and while it’s certainly capable of a lot of power, it’s best suited to someone who wants to improve the consistency of their game.

A cheaper option: The SLK Valkérie ($80) is about half the price of the Dauntless and doesn’t have any of the new technology, but is a very solid option for someone looking to buy a paddle to play with once a month or on vacation. You get a fiberglass face and a polymer core, so you won’t have as much grain to create a lot of topspin, and it won’t last as long, but Selkirk makes nice paddles with comfortable handles and well-distributed weight. This paddle is very similar to the SLK Evo, which was the first serious paddle I bought with my own money and have always enjoyed (you get a carbon fiber face for more spin with the current edition of the Evo).

More power: A beginning player who wants more power should consult the Jojolemon Shark 002 ($100). (This paddle is also classified as a control paddle, but I’m not a masher and rarely like paddles designed for that style of play.) It has a face that uses carbon fiber and Kevlar for excellent spin. Although it is a traditional third-generation thermoformed paddle and does not have an all-foam core, it does have foam injection around its perimeter that helps dampen vibrations and balance the striking surface while still providing what I consider to be a lot of power.

The best expert paddle around: Paddletek Honeyfoam TKO-X

The new Paddletek Honeyfoam TKO-X ($250) is my favorite paddle after testing this year’s offerings from a dozen new brands. Paddletek paddles are known for being pop, and past generations have been among my picks for power players. The Honeyfoam series, which is a complete version of the Reserve I tested last year, it’s a Goldilocks paddle precisely because it strikes a balance between what Paddletek has always done well and the benefits of foam cores. It’s a paddle that lets you swing with confidence: it offers power and precision in equal parts. I have not tested another paddle that has as much pop as this one without sacrificing any control.

The TKO-X uses three different types of foam. The center is a low density foam. The bottom half of the paddle features denser closed-cell EVA foam that aids in energy return and shock absorption. On the outside of the paddle is a third type of foam that helps create a sweet spot. The face is raw carbon, which provides excellent spin.

A cheaper option: The Onix Hype ($90) doesn’t have a wide, forgiving sweet spot like I would like as a beginner, but its thermoformed honeycomb core has plenty of pop while playing very consistently. This is a popular budget choice for advanced players for a reason, as it costs less than $100 but has a carbon fiber face and weight distribution to favor harder attackers.

Other interesting new paddles

Here are some other innovative paddles I tested this year.

Reload: If you’re serious about spin, you know that the first thing that fails on any pickleball paddle is the textured carbon fiber face. The gritty texture that spins the ball at wonky angles fades in just 50 games with a single paddle, in which case you’re at a disadvantage until you reactivate your paddle. Reload solves this problem. For $200, you essentially get three paddles and the option to purchase new ones for $22 to $25. The palette refills very easily, and I had no problem putting on new paper or peeling off the sticky sheet.

SXY PKL: Another way to make paddles more eco-friendly is to make them from natural materials (if you were playing pickleball a few days before its popularity exploded, you probably played with a wooden paddle). The SXY PKL nods in this direction with its bamboo face (the core is carbon). This paddle is unlike anything else on the field and grabs the attention of spectators. The bamboo face is surprisingly grainy and feels like fine-grit sandpaper to me. It’s a solid paddle, but for $200 you can get better performance, or even a more striking look.

Scorpion Pioneer Plus LED: Do you want to avoid the summer sun while playing in the evening, or simply attract attention on the field? The Scorpion LED Palette ($100 for a two-pack) charges via a USB-C port located at the base of the handle and lights up in two dozen colors. It costs $50 per paddle and is more like a $30 paddle, but I’ve used worse. It has a honeycomb core and a fiberglass face, so don’t expect much spin. There are balls included, or pair them with Franklin’s glow-in-the-dark ball.