These Paddles Caught My Attention

What’s up, guys? This week we are taking a look at the Electrum Stealth series, The Volair Forza Mach 2, and the ALW-C 12.7mm. After collecting the stats on these paddles they caught my eye and I thought I would share some extended thoughts about them.

Electrum Stealth Series

Another paddle that came too late in the year for me to review is the Electrum Stealth Series.

This is Electrum’s take on a raw carbon fiber edgeless paddle. I’m extremely skeptical of most edgeless paddles on the market and this one is no exception.

However, they do have swing weight stats that caught my eye and might make them interesting.

Swing weight:

Model E Stealth: 104
Pro Stealth: 89
Pro II Stealth: 94

If you know anything about swing weights, these are some of the lowest numbers I’ve ever seen. In fact, the Pro Stealth is tied for the lowest paddle I have ever tested.

Twist weight:

Model E Stealth: 4.79
Pro Stealth: 5.65
Pro II Stealth: 4.88

These numbers are REALLY bad except for the Pro Stealth. That one is mediocre, but not awful.

They are probably going to be very hard to use without lead tape. The stability of these is going to be very poor out of the box. A select group of players who really want light paddles might be fine with this, but I suspect that most won’t be.

The bright side is, the swing weights are SO low that you can add quite a bit of lead tape to bump up the twist weight without drastically slowing the paddle down.

At $219 I’m very skeptical that these will be popular, but I time will tell.

Will this be the most slept on paddle?

I’ve mentioned it a few times here and there, but I really think the PaddleTek Bantam ALW-C 12.7mm is going to be a paddle people miss out on purely because PaddleTek has thrown the name in their gutter by taking so long to release a new paddle.

On paper it appears to just be a generic gen 1 raw carbon fiber paddle for $230. Which, if that’s all it was, I would agree.

But, it does not play like that at all. It’s one of the poppiest paddles I have hit in recent times and has elite spin.

The RPMs came in at 2098 for the 12.7mm.

For some reason when using the paddle, the spin feels even higher. The first few times I brought it out, several people commented that the balls were dipping harder than they were used to seeing.

It also has a very low swing weight of 104 and a twist weight of 6.71. The weight is selectable between 7.5-7.8oz which is great for those that don’t like heavy paddles.

I let one of our pros use the paddle and he comes from a Pro Kennex Black Ace and he really likes the ALW-C. He said it might be a hair less poppy than the Black Ace, but he gets significantly more spin.

The combination of low swing weight, high pop, and tons of spin is deadly at the kitchen line.

If PaddleTek made this paddle in a 5.5” handle, I think people would go nuts.

Do I think it’s a complete game changer? No, probably not. However, it’s a paddle that I think a lot of people would enjoy, but they will probably never try it due to PaddleTek having such a mediocre name in the paddle game these days.

If you get the chance to try one, I highly recommend it.

Volair Mach 2 Forza Stats

Unfortunately the Volair Mach 2 Forza came too late in the year for me to get a review out before my break, but I do think this is a paddle people should keep on their radar until reviews come out.

The Volair Mach 1 Forza was a fantastic paddle and the Mach 2 Forza has really interesting base stats that you don’t see very often.

Volair Forza Mach 2 16mm:

• Shape: Standard

• Handle: 5.5”

• Grip: 4.125”

• Swing weight: 110 (Quite low)

• Twist weight: 7.22 (Very high)

• Core: Polymer

• Face: Raw carbon fiber

Volair Forza Mach 2 14mm:

• Shape: Standard

• Handle: 5.5”

• Grip: 4.125”

• Swing weight: 106 (Quite low)

• Twist weight: 6.82 (Quite high for 14mm)

• Core: Polymer

• Face: Raw carbon fiber

If you look at the base stats for twist weight and swing weight, you have a low swing weight with very high twist weights. There haven’t been that many thermoformed standard shaped paddles on the market, and if they do exist, they usually have a very short handle.

The Mach 2 Forza has a very similar shape to the old Joola Solaire. Not identical, but very close.

This is a paddle I’m very eager to hit because I think it could be really popular.

If you order and use discount code PBSTUDIO it’ll bring the price to $162

You can purchase here

🎙️ Latest podcast

If you missed it, This week I recap my tournament experience in San Clemente where he had a double blind date with Ed Ju from Davis Pickleball and a local SoCal player named Tiffany. It was a great time.