Main Points
- A year-end, performance-only ranking of the top five pickleball paddles of 2025.
- Evaluation included durability, grit longevity, RPM retention, power, control, sweet spot size, and overall playability.
- Budget standout: Quanta Series—top value around $100 with strong all-around performance.
- Additional honorable mentions include Thrive Fury, LZ Pro Cannon, and LZ Inferno for offering excellent power, spin, or sweet spot size at their price points.
- Explanation for why the Pro 4 did not make the top five: weaker grit, lower spin, and a smaller sweet spot than newer 2025 competitors.
- #5: Enhance Duo—excellent spin, strong power, large sweet spot, great value, slightly smaller sweet spot and a bit less power than top contenders.
- #4: Bread & Butter Loco—elite spin, power, and sweet spot with a rigid feel and less-sticky surface for perimeter weights.
- #3: GX2 Power Series—massive power output, high sweet spot, solid spin via dwell time, but less grit and less control than top two.
- #2: Boomstick—elite spin durability, optimized twist weight and swing weight, excellent power, and high stability straight from stock setup.
- #1: Honolulu J6CR—full-foam Core Reactor tech with a pivoting inner core, exceptional linearity on off-center shots, elite spin, elite power, and the largest sweet spot among elongated shapes.
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Summary
This video delivers a definitive, year-end ranking of the top five pickleball paddles of 2025, built purely on performance metrics rather than price. The selection resulted from testing an extensive collection of paddles and analyzing factors such as grit longevity, RPM durability, power output, pop, control, and sweet spot stability. With 2025 marking a major leap forward in full-foam technology, this list captures the paddles that truly set themselves apart over the entire year.
Before revealing the top five, the video highlights several notable honorable mentions. The Quanta Series stands out as the best budget pick of the year thanks to strong all-around performance at a very low price point. The Thrive Fury impresses with elite grit levels and exceptional spin, offering a hybrid alternative to players who like the performance profile of a Pro 4. The LZ Pro Cannon also earns attention for delivering one of the best power-per-dollar values on the market, while the LZ Inferno brings a full-foam build with a large sweet spot and strong power, though it falls slightly short in spin and control compared to higher-ranking paddles. The video also explains why the Pro 4—despite being a strong performer—no longer competes with today’s higher-grit, larger-sweet-spot designs.
The countdown begins with the Enhance Duo at number five. This paddle delivers impressive spin, strong power, and a large sweet spot, making it a standout performer that offers tremendous on-court value. Slightly tighter sweet spot edges and a minor power gap keep it from climbing higher, but its overall performance is strong enough to secure a top-five placement. At number four, the Bread & Butter Loco earns its spot with top-tier spin, power, and a highly forgiving sweet spot. The only drawbacks are a firmer feel off the face and a matte edge guard that doesn’t hold added weighting as well.
Taking the number three position, the GX2 Power Series offers some of the most explosive power available in 2025. Its smooth face relies on dwell time rather than grit for spin, resulting in slight limitations on soft-touch spin generation, but for players who prioritize raw power and aggressive finishing ability, it stands unmatched. The number two paddle—Boomstick—delivers elite performance through a blend of durable grit, optimized weight distribution, high maneuverability, and outstanding stock twist weight. The paddle balances power, precision, and long-lasting spin better than nearly anything else on the market, earning its place near the top of the rankings.
Topping the list at #1 is the Honolulu J6CR. This paddle earns the crown because of its Core Reactor — a full-foam Gen-4 style core with a small internal pivot that subtly twists to improve linearity on off-center hits. The result is more consistent drives and serves when you miss the exact sweet spot, combined with elite-tier spin and power. The J6CR’s elongated sweet spot is among the largest in the field, and its overall control-to-power ratio is superb — making it the best pure-performance paddle of 2025 in this video’s testing.
This video’s final list reflects the best pure performers of the year, providing pickleball players with clarity during a competitive and innovation-packed season of paddle releases.
Source: STS Pickleball | YouTube
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Tags: Boomstick | Bread & Butter | Enhance Duo | Enhance Pickleball | GX2 | Honolulu Pickleball Company | J6CR | Loco | Pickleball Paddle Review | Selkirk | STS Pickleball