A few updates on the $99 paddles with durable grit, because there is already quite a bit happening in the current pickleball market.
Enhance MPP Turbo ArmorGrit
The Enhance MPP Turbo is getting ArmorGrit on September 20 at the same $99 price with a SLICE20 code, and I will be receiving the MPP Turbo ArmorGrit Hybrid to test.
The paddle itself is not really changing underneath. It is still the same floating MPP foam construction, EVA perimeter ring, internal weighting, and CFC layup. The big update is the surface.
ArmorGrit is still based on a peel-ply textured carbon surface, but with a proprietary durability coating over it, somewhat similar to the Thrive Ignite. The idea is that the coating adds some extra abrasion while also helping protect and reinforce the peel-ply texture underneath.
So this is not something like HexGrit, where the abrasive material is integrated into the surface construction itself. It is still peel ply underneath, just with another layer being used to improve durability.
The interesting part is that Enhance has said its factory durability testing was designed to emulate John Kew's accelerated testing standard.
But John's first independent result on ArmorGrit did not look particularly good.
His sample started around 2,050 RPM and dropped to around 1,425 RPM after the 100-hit accelerated wear phase.
That is roughly a 30% loss in spin, which put that particular paddle into Tier 4 under his current durability classification.
There was also a pretty noticeable drop right at the beginning.
His first five measurements averaged around 2,187 RPM, while shots 6-10 averaged around 1,914 RPM, which is about a 12.5% drop before the main high-speed wear phase even started.
So despite Enhance's factory testing being intended to mimic that type of durability test, John's first sample obviously did not line up particularly well with the durability being claimed.
At the same time, that is still one paddle, and his testing is intentionally pretty brutal. You are repeatedly hitting the same concentrated area of the paddle face at very high speeds to accelerate wear.
That is very different from normal play, where you are hitting different parts of the face, different shots, and at very different speeds.
So I am still pretty interested in seeing how ArmorGrit actually behaves during real-time play and how it compares to the OG MPP Turbo and Pakle Fuse.
We will also see how Enhance reacts to this first independent result and whether the ArmorGrit paddles still release as planned on September 20.
Spartus Spitfire Standard/Widebody and Flat Top Hybrid
The Spartus Spitfire Standard/Widebody should be coming toward the end of this month, with a flat-top version coming after that.
The Standard looks pretty interesting on paper. It is 16" x 8", around 7.85 oz, with a listed 107 swingweight and 7.4 twistweight, while the PermaGritNano surface is rated at 2,100+ RPM.
I already like the Spitfire quite a bit after break-in. It has probably the softest and most dwell feel out of the $99 paddles, but the elongated version was a little more head-heavy than I personally prefer.
The Flat Top coming after that might actually be the shape I am more interested in, especially if it can bring the balance down a little more while giving you a bigger sweet spot than Elongated.
Vatic Pro V-SOL Tour Flat Top
The V-SOL Tour is getting a Flat Top Hybrid as well, and this is again my favorite shape, which is why I am really interested in it.
The current Tour Flash already has a really nice balance for me and plays very well stock with just an overgrip. Mine started firmer, denser, and pretty poppy, then after about 2–3 sessions of break-in, it softened up a little, became more connected, the sweet spot opened up, and the pop became easier to manage.
It still keeps plenty of offense after break-in too. The power delivery is pretty linear, so you get good pop on compact punches, but there is still more pace there when you actually accelerate through the ball.
Between this and the Spitfire Flat Top, those are probably the two upcoming shapes I am most curious to try.
Pakle Has a New Paddle and New Grit Coming
Pakle also has a completely new paddle on the way, featuring a new grit system with integrated abrasive materials, similar to Hex-Grit and Blue Endurance Grit. They haven’t announced the price yet, but based on Pakle’s pricing history, I suspect it’ll come in closer to $99.
And just to make this clear, the new grit is not being added to the current Fuse models, which will continue using the now-fixed DuraSpin grit (Similar to Permagrit-Nano).
This is for a new paddle.
What makes this one interesting is that the grit was developed together with the factory and requires specific factory equipment to produce it.
I am pretty curious to see what they are actually doing differently here.
Pakle already has DuraSpin on the Fuse, but if they are building an entirely new surface process around new factory equipment, I want to see where this lands in terms of both initial spin and long-term durability.
Durable Grit Is Basically Becoming the New Battleground
At this point, almost every company is claiming some version of durable grit.
We now have durable grits like ArmorGrit, EverGrit, PermaGritNano, DuraSpin, and now Pakle has another new surface coming as well.
There is a lot happening around the $99 durable-grit paddle space, and I think the next few months are going to tell us a lot more about which of these surfaces are actually durable and which ones are mostly just really good when they are brand new.