Equipment review - Babolat RBEL Touch pickleball paddle

Having a few friends who are sponsored pickleball athletes, I've been blessed to be able to receive some pickleball-related gifts from them ... from bags of pickleballs themselves, to paddles and most recently a DrillPickle soft practice ball.

However I've not come across a given-away paddle quite like this one before ...

I'm told that my friend Brian once tried to take a Babolat RBEL Touch paddle and customize it using a bit of black spray paint - however what was intended for just colouring the edge bumper turned out to bleed over onto the paddle face, thereby rendering it ineligible for competition play.  As such I believe that it got relegated to the bottom of the equipment bag, but still Brian was gracious enough to pass it along to me.

What did I do with it?  Well I took some paintbrush cleaning solvent to it to try to restore it back to as close to its original condition as I could.  It's still not usable in competition, but it's more than sufficient for taking to work on drills and recreational play - and it's still a very solid paddle!

 

Here's my full video review!

Equipment review - Babolat RBEL Touch pickleball paddle

Equipment review - a11n C7 Carry pickleball paddle

Does it merit the review of being preferable over the Joola Ben Johns Perseus?!?

Well, for my part I was willing to take the C7 Carry (16mm) into my first big prize-money tournament ... and while it did not disappoint, I did (although my partner would graciously say otherwise).

This pickleball paddle from a11n (which I think is actually meant to be pronounced as "all-in") is the second one that I have from the company, and so far both of these sticks are pretty impressive.  I purchased it during Amazon Prime Days, and certainly believe that I got exceedingly great value for the money.

Here's my video review - hope you enjoy (and find it helpful)!

Equipment review - a11n C7 Carry pickleball paddle

Equipment review - PCKL Pro Series pickleball paddle

 As my friend Brian has said, "it's like Christmas all over again!".

Well, for people like me who like to geek out about sports gear it definitely is!  And since we are still trying to fill out our complement of pickleball paddles (so that we have at least enough to play doubles with) I've been able to give a go with my third paddle in just over a month.  The bonus is that I was able to purchase this PCKL Pro Series paddle at 40% off on Amazon (even before Prime Days arrived), so the smile on my face is just that little bit wider.

Here are some of my preliminary (far-from-pro) thoughts on this "Pro" paddle!

Equipment review - PCKL Pro Series pickleball paddle

Equipment review - A11N Zenith C8 pickleball paddle

I couldn't be the only one in the house with a pickleball paddle available for use - I want to be able to share this newfound-love with at least some of the other members of my family!

So here's my take on the Zenith C8 paddle from A11N Sports:

Equipment review - A11N Zenith C8 pickleball paddle

Now I'm in a pickle(ball) ... plus a review of the NXTGen Atlas paddle

As a long-time tennis player it's taken me a while to 'join the dark side' and give pickleball a try.  Not that I've had any real misgivings about it, but just that I didn't feel like I needed to add one more thing to what already seemed like a busy extracurricular schedule.

That was until I won a social media giveaway hosted by my friend (and professional pickleball player) Brian Donghui Rim.

Brian was kind enough to also provide me with a free on-court lesson when he met up with me to hand over the prize paddle - and man, did I have a lot to learn!  But I'll happily admit now that I'm hooked and am looking forward to not only connecting with the local pickleball community, but also hopefully get into some competitions in the very near future.

So don't be surprised to find some more posts popping up here related to all things pickleball ... and why don't we start with an equipment review video?!?

 

Now I'm in a pickle(ball) ... plus a review of the NXTGen Atlas paddle