Pickleball Studio Updates & Franklin Aurelius

What’s up, guys? Hope you’re doing well! I had some updates I wanted to share with you guys and get your opinions.

Big updates to my website

My website has been in pretty rough shape for….longer than I would like to admit.

For the last few weeks I finally took time to sit down and do a massive overhaul and added tools that I think a lot of you would really enjoy and make the website more experience more enjoyable.

Paddle database

As I’m sure many of you know, I’ve had a paddle database for years, but it was essentially a Google Sheet that was really hard to read, really hard to navigate, and honestly just not that useful for most people.

The first feature I overhauled was creating a database with information that is much more visually appealing and easier to use.

First, the database automatically shows you the most recent paddles that have been added to the database. This will make it easier to know what has recently been added. You can also see a visual card layout of all the paddles and categorized in the corner by what type of paddle they are (control, power, all court).

Second, the filter system is MUCH better and easier to use now and it happens in real time. You can select from the most common types of filters people use to find paddles and you can find paddles that perfectly match that criteria.

Third, when you click on a paddle it brings up a paddle card with detailed information about that specific paddle along with a list of related paddles at the bottom of the page, which makes it easier to browse similar paddles. If there is any video or written content about the paddle, it will also populate on this page.

The paddle quiz

This is a feature I have wanted for YEARS. I’ve always found the quizzes that paddle retailers have are too generic and don’t give that great of a recommendation. Along with that, it’s limited to the paddles that they carry. You can see the paddle quiz here

I worked really hard to make sure that the quiz spits out good recommendations based on the criteria the user selected.

If you try the paddle quiz, I HIGHLY recommend you answer the questions as specifically as possible and avoid answering with “no preference”. The better you can answer the questions, the better results you will get at the end.

Currently I have the quiz cap at 8 results total, because I think offering more is too overwhelming and makes it difficult to know what paddle you should actually consider researching. I’m working on some possible ways to show more than this, but haven’t come up with a solution I enjoy yet.

The quiz will tell you what matched your criteria, what didn’t, and at the end you can add the paddles to the comparison tool and see them all side by side.

There’s also a dedicated page on the website that lets you compare paddles if you want to do it outside of the quiz.

Summary

There’s a lot I still want to add to the website, so I anticipate features will continue to roll out over the coming months, especially as I get feedback from all of you.

Overall, I’m really happy with the new website and I think it should make it much more enjoyable for a paddle enthusiast to browse new paddles and find their next paddle.

If you have any suggestions, feel free to shoot me an email here.

Franklin Aurelius

• Watch video here

We got the Franklin Aurelius in the mail this week which was supposed to be Anna Leigh Waters new signature paddle, but she has mostly been using the C45 Hybrid and the C45 Dynasty as of recently.

Regardless of whether she uses it or not, I think there are a few standout things about this paddle that some of you might enjoy.

If you want a light paddle, this is for you.

• Aurelius

  • Swing weight:

    • 12.7mm: 92

    • 14mm: 97

    • 16mm: 98

  • Twist weight:

    • 12.7mm: 5.41

    • 14mm: 5.96

    • 16mm: 6.01

  • Grip size:

    • 12.7mm: 4.0”

    • 14mm: 4.125”

    • 16mm: 4.125”

  • Handle length: 5.1”

Under 100 is REALLY light. Like, it’s so light that no one should ever have trouble swinging a paddle with this swing weight. In fact, I’d argue it’s too light for most people, and paddles this light typically come with some drawbacks.

Unfortunately for the Aurelius isn’t immune to these drawbacks.

On court performance

I played some games with the 12.7mm and 16mm yesterday, and as you would expect, the ball just pushes the paddle around so much, and just like the original C45, it really needs weight to reach full potential. While hand speed is excellent, the stability and plow through of the paddle suffer a lot.

Even though these are gen 3 paddles and one of them is 12.7mm, it really played like an all-court paddle rather than a pure power paddle out of the box. Overall, the stock performance was a bit of a let down unless you really need a light paddle, thin handle (4.125” or lower) and a short handle (5.1”).

So, in stock form, I wasn’t particularly impressed. But, I’m also not necessarily the target demographic. You might be willing to sacrifice some of those traits if it means you get an ultra light paddle, but I don’t need one that light.

Weight setup

Okay, did I really wrap the entire paddle with weight when the whole selling point is that the paddle is supposed to be LIGHT?

Yes, yes I did. 😂

This took the stock swing weight from 92 all the way up to 118. Which, absolutely defeats the purpose of the biggest selling point. However, I will say, all my issues went away with this setup. The plow through was fantastic, the power was drastically increased, and the sweet spot was much better. It felt like a true power paddle with this weight. Drives and serves felt awesome. In fact, I don’t know if I dropped another ball after I added the weight haha.

Now, I wouldn’t recommend this setup for most of you (obviously). If you’re buying this, you’re probably buying it because you want it to remain light weight. So, if you’re curious how much adding weight to the head impacts swing weight, here is your answer.

By removing the weight from the head of the paddle, the swing weight dropped from 118 all the way to 104. Yes, removing 12 grams from the head dropped the swing weight 14 points. Which means that 24 grams (12 grams on each side) only increased the swing weight from 92 to 104.

104 is still really light and I anticipate that this will fix most of the issues just as well as the 36 gram setup did. I haven’t gotten to play test it yet, but I should get some games tonight with it.

So, I do still think it’s possible to improve this paddle considerably and keep it’s main selling point intact. More testing will give us an answer though.

If you buy one now, I would plan on picking up some weight and slapping it on the sides to get full potential from it.

The Aurelius has competition

While I think the Aurelius will fill a good void for some who want a really lightweight paddle, in my opinion, the current king of light weight paddles is the Pickle Poppers Pink N Pop.

The Pink N Pop specs are:

• Price: $169

• Swing weight: 95

• Twist weight: 6.2

• Handle length: 5.25”

• Grip size: 4”

So, it falls into the same exact category as the Aurelius, but in my opinion doesn’t suffer some of the same drawbacks.

I don’t know if it’s because it’s a full foam core, but it feels like the ball doesn’t push it around as much as the Aurelius, and the pop and power are substantially higher. So, if you want a power paddle that is really light, the Pink N Pop does a much better job, even without nearly as much weight as what I did with the Aurelius.

One of my 5.0 friends has switched to the Pink N Pop and he can’t put it down. He loves it, and is hitting rockets with it.

Realistically I think the Aurelius and the Pink N Pop fit two different categories. Aurelius is gen 3, Pink N Pop is gen 4.

Aurelius is more all court / control (depending on thickness) Pink N Pop stock starts closer to the power category.

So, you’ll have good options either way, but I would probably push people toward the Pink N Pop as the better option out of the box.

Anyways, those are some of the updates. If you have any thoughts on the website or recommendations, feel free to shoot me a response.