Pickleball Apes - Pro Line Energy

Hello friends this is the proline energy paddle from pickleball Apes it's currently the only paddle on the market featuring a hybrid carbon fiber Kevlar surface which is left some of us asking if Kevlar will be the new carbon fiber for paddle surfacing and spoiler alert I really like this paddle so let's dive in and see what makes this pedal so good [Music] the proline energy costs 150 dollars and you can knock 15 off this with the code John Q in terms of overall dimensions the first thing that stands out about this pedal is its long slender design it's 17 inches long by seven inches wide to put this in perspective most elongated pedals on the market such as the carbon 1X are 16.5 inches long by 7.25 inches wide so with the Pro-Line energy you're gaining half an inch in length and losing a quarter inch in width here's a direct comparison with The 6-0 Double Black Diamond the proline energy is seven tenths of an inch longer and seven tenths of an inch narrower than the 6-0 paddle the handle length is 6.25 inches compared to 5.5 inches for most elongated paddles Which is great for two-handed shots I still put a finger on the back of the paddle for two-handed backhands but the extra real estate in the handle is much appreciated also the neck is tapered instead of flaring out wide which extends the usable area of the handle so actually the usable area measures 6.5 inches thickness comes in at 16.5 millimeters which is slightly thicker than the standard 16 millimeters they're also using a narrow cell polypropylene core which provides higher density than the standard cell width providing more responsiveness and Power although the website lists the paddle weight between 8.2 and 8.4 ounces both paddles they sent me weighed a 7.8 ounces before any additions so that's static weight for swing weight this pedal measures 121 which puts it in the same range as the Legacy Pro cell kirk005 and the Yola so layer 14 millimeter swing weight is how light or heavy the paddle feels when you're actually playing with it which varies according to where the balance point is the classic example is that if you swing a hammer with this handle it feels much heavier than if you flip it around with the hammer head in your hand and then swing it and honestly the swing weight of the Pro Line energy feels low compared to what you would expect with such an elongated paddle in fact the swing weight of this paddle is about middle of the pack for elongated paddles is going to feel heavier than most Square paddles and heavier than an extremely low swing weight varieties such as Pro kinix and some of the gearbox pedals and it'll feel lighter than many of the popular paddles such as the Yola Hyperion diadem Warrior and engage Pursuit [Music] the main selling point of this paddle is what they're calling a dynamic Kevlar surface which the website goes on to describe as a blend of Kevlar and carbon fiber after looking closely at the surface it seems that what they're doing is using a twill cloth composed of carbon fiber toes interlaced with Kevlar then there's a raw texture placed over the top of the fabric zooming in under a microscope you can see the texture over the top of the Twill weave and zooming in further you can see the standard peel ply embossing that's used on most raw carbon fiber paddle faces for example it's very similar to the texture on a carbon 1X and even more similar to the pro Kinex black Ace surface I was able to confirm with the founder of pickleball Apes that they used a peel ply process to apply the texture very similar to what is done for raw carbon fiber paddles but they're applying the peel ply texture on top of the Kevlar carbon fiber fabric instead of on top of a uni-directional pre-preg carbon fiber sheet which is how all the raw carbon fiber paddles are doing it so what's so special about this hybrid Kevlar carbon fiber surface Kevlar has been used in paddles for a while now but only within the core of the paddle as far as I know this is the first use of it on the paddle surface Kevlar has some special properties that make it very tough and impact resistant and the idea is that by combining it with carbon fiber you combine the toughness of Kevlar together with the tensile strength of carbon fiber Kevlar is more impact resistant than carbon fiber which makes sense because it's used in all of our bulletproof clothing part of the reason it's so tough is that it's more flexible than carbon fiber but carbon fiber has more tensile strength than Kevlar meaning it's less likely to break under tension so think about pulling the fabric until it rips apart so hypothetically by combining Kevlar and carbon fiber you're increasing the overall durability of the paddle Surface by making it more resistant to impact damage from a hard plastic ball while also resisting any damage from tension as the surface layers compress and rebound the ball I've communicated with the founder of pickleball apes and he also thinks that the peel ply texture placed over the fabric will be more durable and hold its spend potential longer than the same texture is applied over carbon only surfaces he admitted there is not enough data to say for sure but said that his team has not noticed any significant spin loss and pedals that have been used for three to four months he also said that the surface texture on the Pro-Line energy is more durable than their raw carbon fiber entry level paddle all right so what else about the technology behind this paddle I'm sure a lot of you have already been wondering if it's thermoformed and yes indeed it is taking off the grip you can see the unibody design with a carbon seam extending along the perimeter down into the handle and the owner confirmed that the paddles are created in a hot press with a unibody design infused with Edge foam so this brings all of the benefits of thermoforming a larger Sweet Spot more power and responsiveness and better overall paddle durability [Music] so how does this paddle actually perform the first things I tested were its Spin and Power with its raw texture spin is definitely top tier my spin tests came in at over 2000 RPM placing it within the top 10 paddles that I've tested I also tested its power by recording average serve speed with a radar gun my method is that a serve a ball as hard as I can 10 times and then take the average speed 56 miles per hour but the serve has to be legal in terms of how the ball is struck so underhanded in a way that the highest point of the paddlehead is below the wrist joint where it bends the Pro-Line energy is tied for first in terms of power for usap Approved paddles together with the 6-0 black diamond their power version this paddle averaged 55.3 miles per hour on serves and by the way all five pedals at the very top of this chart are EVA foam paddles and are not legal for tournament play because they're too powerful and don't pass deflection tests another metric I've been testing on paddles is pop what's the difference between pop and power pop is how fast the ball comes off the pedal with short Strokes without a full swing so think about hand exchanges and punch volleys of the kitchen on the other hand power is how much velocity the paddle imparts on a ball with a fuller swing so think about driving hard from the baseline or taking a full swing and putting the ball away at the kitchen the way I've been testing pop is to stand at the kitchen Hold My Paddle on my chest hold the ball in my other hand with my arm extended drop the ball and then hit a punch volley in front of a radar gun to measure ball speed 36 miles per hour by holding the paddle on my chest I'm preventing any backswing and forcing a half stroke and by dropping the ball within an extended arm the distance between the paddle and the ball before the swing is held constant so the paddle is only able to travel the length of your arm before hitting the ball for me that distance is 28 inches or 71 centimeters it turns out that there is not a strong linear relationship between power and pop in other words a paddle can have a lot of power and not much pop or vice versa or a good amount of both or not much of either for example comparing these charts for serve and punch volley speed all of the EVA foam paddles top the chart for power but they're all just middle of the pack for pop also the pro kinik's black Ace and Selkirk Power air are in the middle of the pack for power but they're number one and two for pop you also get paddles that score high for both power and pop like the bread and butter filth and there are paddles on the bottom of both lists such as the Franklin carbon STK and gearbox cx11 okay so where does the Pro-Line energy perform for pop for punch volley speed the paddle averaged 34.9 miles per hour which is well above average it ranks number seven for pop and the 25 paddles I've tested so overall the Pro Line energy has excellent power and above average pop [Music] so now that we know all of the numbers and stats let's take a look at how everything comes together during game play the first thing I noticed about this pedal is how plush it feels it seems that the use of kevlar in the surface cloth gives this paddle a softer feel which makes sense because Kevlar is more flexible than carbon fiber and what this translates to during play is better drop stinking and resets Kevlar also absorbs vibrations better than carbon fiber and fiberglass I can definitely notice this paddle is less jarring when hitting the ball and it feels much more forgiving than stiffer paddles such as the Protonix line and most thermoform pedals and more similar to the plush feel of the Yola Hyperion at the same time this paddle is very responsive when it comes to speed ups and power shots power is top tier which allows you to put the ball away when there's an opportunity and to add some speed to your serves and drives pop is good on this paddle too so speed ups at the kitchen are no problem also the paddle gets top tier spin to me this combination of great Spin and power good pop and a plush feel is about the best combination of power and control that I have experienced in the paddle The Sweet Spot on this paddle is also good as expected for a thermoformed paddle with Edge foam The Sweet Spot does follow the overall dimensions of the pedal so it's longer and more narrow than what you see on Square paddles to me The Sweet Spot feels very similar to other elongated thermoformed paddles such as the carbon 1X rhombus R3 and bread and butter filth [Music] judging a paddle's looks is always subjective but personally I think that this is one of the best looking pedals on the market not to get to woo-woo but the overall shape and dimensions are nicely balanced they just seem to land on the ideal proportions for my taste I prefer an elongated look over the box of your Square shapes and the slightly rounded top is a nice touch also the thicker core balances out the overall length and narrowness of the paddle lastly the pedal surface has this twill weave that combines gray carbon fiber and dark red Kevlar I mean what else is there to say it just looks cool when I got this paddle I plan to test it for a couple of weeks and then go back to my primary paddle which was at the time the rhombus R3 Pulsar but I haven't put it down yet for the past month and now it's my number one and it's Peak tournament season so I've played with this pedal for the last three tournaments like I said I'm really enjoying the unique combination of a plush feel together with great Spin and Power I also like the elongated shape having that extra half an inch of length does make a difference I've noticed a few times that I'm less likely to shank the ball when I'm really reaching for it I found the extra handle length to be better for two-handed shots but still manageable for maneuverability I was worried that the longer handle would make the pedal more sluggish but it's actually very well balanced so that I don't notice any loss in hand speed that being said I do want to emphasize that this shape is not for everyone if your favorite paddle shape is square with a short handle then this pedal is probably not for you it's better suited for players who prefer elongated paddles and who use two-handed backhands here are the unknowns about this paddle I still don't know how resistant it is to the whole issues of delamination this bonding and core crushing thermoform pedals have been more prone to these issues than traditional paddles using a cold technology I've played a lot with this paddle for the past four weeks and there are no signs of any of these issues but that's not long enough to know for sure we've seen good progress over the past few months with companies addressing delamination and core corruption and I suspect that pickleball leaps is well aware of the issue and is taking precautions to prevent it also I don't know how durable the surface texture is on this paddle it's created with a peel ply like most raw carbon fiber paddles but the proline energy is somewhat unique in that the peel ply is placed over 3K woven cloth rather than over unidirectional pre-preg fiber sheets what this means in terms of overall durability of the texture and how long the paddle retains its spin potential is still unknown to me as I said the owners did tell me that they've noticed more durability on this paddle surface than their raw carbon fiber paddles but I haven't personally had enough time with the pedal to say for sure lastly I've read that Kevlar is prone to UV damage that results in a weakening of the tensile strength of the fibers after digging into this a little deeper I found a study that exposed Kevlar fibrous to ultraviolet radiation and they found that it does in fact damage the strength of the fibers but it takes a lot of UV exposure the first damage they were able to detect resulted after exposing the Kevlar to the equivalent of two years of direct sunlight for eight hours a day at mid-latitudes so for all practical purposes we don't really need to worry about sunlight damaging a Kevlar paddle unless it's left in direct sunlight for years overall I highly recommend this paddle it takes all of the boxes for me great feel and control great Spin and plenty of power and pop it also looks great and I appreciate the Innovative use of new technology if you want to purchase this one you can take 15 off your order using the code John Q bringing the total including shipping to 135 dollars pickleball Apes also has a generous return policy and warranty they have a 30-day demo program where you can try out the paddle and return it anytime within 30 days for a full refund and they also have a one year warranty against manufacturing defects as always thank you for watching and stay tuned for more content on paddle and gear technology see you in the next video

Channel: Johnkew Pickleball

Views: 16,317

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Id: 4BPcAtJbfqE

Length: 15min 27sec (927 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 31 2023