Selkirk Labs Project 005 & 006 Reviews

What’s up, guys? Today I’m covering the new Selkirk Labs releases. If you were planning to buy either, check out the notes below.

🚨 Selkirk Labs 005 and 006 Reviews

• Video review

• Discount code: ADV-PBSTUDIO for a $30 digital gift card toward your next order.

If you haven’t seen my reviews of the 005 & 006, they are officially out now. While I enjoyed the 006 quite a bit, the cheaper 005 was not good in my opinion.

If you want the summary notes, the 005 feels 70-80% like a Power Air, but with far less grit which means worse spin.

It has the same type of spring board feel and the sweet spot is not good. While I do think it has slightly more control than the Power Air, it isn’t significant enough to enjoy the paddle.

I’m sure some of you will find this as your ideal paddle, but for most people I think it’s a hard pass. For me personally, it was one of the least enjoyable paddles I’ve used this year.

• Video review

• Discount code: ADV-PBSTUDIO to receive a $40 digital gift card toward your next order

Now the 006 on the other hand was a much better paddle. It feels like an in between of gen 1 and gen 2 raw carbon fiber paddles. Not as powerful as gen 2, but not as soft as gen 1.

While it is in my top 5 favorite paddles right now, I can’t say that I recommend it unless money is zero concern. $333 is a LOT to drop on a single paddle and I think there are plenty of paddles that perform equally as well for half the price.

There are some pros to the 006 that are unique though. 2 year warranty, made in the USA, and that in between feel I described. However, if those things don’t matter to you, I think your money is better spent toward a Ronbus R3 Pulsar (Code PBSTUDIO for $20 off)

I will be sticking with my Six Zero Double Black Diamond for the foreseeable future. Not only do I think the paddle is just amazing, it just fits my game better than anything else I can find right now.

Every time I’m not reviewing a paddle, I’m reminded how good that paddle is. It’s going to take something really good to get me to drop this paddle.

😱 No reviews for the month of July

This is probably the craziest thing I’ve said since I started the channel, but I don’t plan to release any reviews in July.

This is for several reasons.

1. I’m caught up on most of the major releases that I want to cover (except for the Vatic Prism Flash which I will cover in August)

2. I just need a break. I’ve been churning out a review weekly or bi-weekly for a few months, and sometimes you just need a break.

3. This will allow me to focus on some other content I have been wanting to make.

There will still be content related to paddles in July, just not in-depth reviews. I’m looking forward to this small break, because there’s been ideas you have all been asking for that I want to produce, but there was no time when I was always testing paddles.

The other nice thing is that this month of July will hopefully allow me to build a back log of content so that I’m not trying to produce a new video every week. Getting ahead will be huge for letting me try new ideas and have a little more flexibility.

💰 Quick thoughts on the paddle market

I wanted to share some quick thoughts on the paddle market landscape right now.

We are officially in the “Copy cat” cycle. I haven’t been in Pickleball that long (2 years) but from what I can see, Pickleball has two cycles for the paddle market every year. 1-2 companies innovate something, and then everyone else plays catchup for the next 6+ months. That is definitely the cycle we are in right now with thermoforming. I anticipate almost every single startup and major brand will have their own versions.

I mention this, because whenever a new one gets released people ask me to review it. At this point, I can safely say that most thermoformed paddles coming out will not have any innovative features. It’ll be a slight design tweak without much else.

This is fine, I just want people to understand that if company X releases a thermoforming paddle next month, there’s a solid chance it is not anything special when you compare it to a Ronbus, Six Zero, Legacy, CRBN, Perseus, 006, Bread & Butter Filth, etc.

At best we will see very minor iterations that make the paddle a very small amount better.

My hunch is we probably won’t see something really exciting for another 2-3 months, unless someone is about to drop a new concept I haven’t heard of yet.

🎙️ Latest podcast

If you missed it, our annual “The State of Pickleball Paddles” podcast episode came out this week. We dive into everything that the companies are doing well, poorly, and our favorite paddles. This was one of our most popular episodes last year, and in 3 days it’s already gearing up to be one of our best in 2023.