PaddleTek ESQ-C Review: Widebody POWER PADDLES

[@TennisObsessed]

Great review, so interesting to see the putty inside the 14.3! Thank you for investigating.

[@PickleballMedicine]

Thank you, I am glad it was helpful! Always hard on my heart to cut open a paddle, but makes it a little more comforting when the finding is interesting!

[@NPD2024]

Great review. Thank you. I just ordered my 2nd ESQ-C 12.7mm. It’s dope!

[@Pickleballetc]

Another good one, Dustin! Great investigation work. That putty is the same that is in the TKO-CX, but in the TKO, the metal ball bearings were buried in that putty. I'm surprised to see the lack of the ball bearing in this paddle.

[@PickleballMedicine]

Hey thanks, man! Always hurts to destroy a paddle, but for the good of the people I'll survive, haha. Yeah I did think I would find the metal bearings in there, but didnt.. I think that may add one more contributing factor to the drastically different swing weight and twist weight numbers from the TKOS and the ESQs, aside from overall shape differences, obviously.

[@feederchua]

Informative review as always! Love that wide bodies are becoming more powerful now. Appreciate you doing the investigation and transparency so customers can go in with more information and decide if the brand is engaging in somewhat misleading marketing.

[@PickleballMedicine]

I agree, it's nice to have a power paddle that has a great sweet spot , haha. And you are welcome! Hopefully is just an oversight and will be corrected soon, but we will see!

[@feederchua]

@@PickleballMedicine On a side note: what's the best non gen 3 paddle in terms of power when serving and driving the ball for you? Minus this PaddleTek of course.

[@jetjaguar5198]

U review so many paddles would like to see a tier list that compares all of them.

[@amaransari6228]

kudos on opening it up and finding out the truth :)

[@PickleballMedicine]

Thank you! It was a heart breaker to sacrifice the paddle, but I'm hopeful it can eventually be fixed, haha

[@cardinals5516]

Great review! I would get the 12.7 if I played at a high enough level to justify the price. I'll probably wait for the Neonic Flare Prime X instead.

[@jhors7777]

Thank you for posting this helpful video

[@justanothernicedude]

Coming from a Black Diamond, will I notice the power increase? And is the ESQ-C 14 easier to control than the Black Diamond?

[@MrSupasonics]

Do you have table for your maneuverability rating for other paddles? I hope to compare maneuverability rating value with my experience with some paddles, so that I can get a sense of it.

[@MonohanMedia]

Where would you put tungsten tape on the 12.7 ESQ-C?

[@ryan72371234]

Wow, that's pretty misleading of Paddletek about the weights. Their product page specifically states and shows a picture of a steel bar type weight. Wondering if they use putty for all the lighter weight options. Literally was ready to check out until I saw this. Thanks for checking.

[@PickleballMedicine]

You are very welcome.. I was super curious, and knew others would probably like to know, too. I was pretty surprised.. I don't really think people would care a ton if they just updated the graphic on the website to be a bit more accurate.

[@ryan72371234]

@@PickleballMedicine True, in the end I guess the performance really doesn't change. Only thing is whether it was just an oversight or was intentionally misleading, now it just makes me question Paddletek as a company. Considering what they charge for a gen 1 paddle you would think they would do better.

[@duanehensley8835]

Where can we see the "Manuverability Index"? I'd like to check that out.

[@TCW1977]

Great review.

[@PickleballMedicine]

Thank you, I hope it was helpful!

[@TCW1977]

Super helpful. The 12.7mm is now in my sights for a Christmas present to myself. ​@PickleballMedicine

[@hruntingson]

Was the putty heavy? Tungsten putty maybe?

[@PickleballMedicine]

I'm not quite sure what it was.. it was dense, but nothing out of the ordinary for a regular putty or clay or something. Seems constant in texture to something you may see at a craft or pottery store or something

[@65atBestPB]

omg … this one hurt me. 😂😝🤑 Selling gen 1 sandwich tech for $250 because of magic balls, and no magic balls. Just the magic ball housing putty. Judge … they got me with “ball and switch” btw … can someone tell me why lead fishing line split shot weights inside the edge guard in dabs of putty is $250 magic, and any different than lead/tungsten strips on outside of edge guard? 😂 At least Pro Kennex tennis racquet “micro-spheres” moved. 🤣😛 This pickleball thing is the best reality tv series ever.

[@kevolutionpb]

Gonna have to agree with this take. It's kinda misleading with the word soup tech infographic and then all it is is just putty stuffed into 2 of the side edge cells.... do better paddletek.

[@nsj2kx]

3:56 kitchen foul 😉

[@PickleballMedicine]

Haha I dunno, it's close, but I feel like I reestablish before hitting the next shot! 😅 I do think I've got a kitchen violation or two in A LOT of my videos, though... 😂

[@robedwards6926]

So your 12.7mm was 7.9 ounces, correct? Did you see the need for any lead? Do you like it over the Ripple?

[@PickleballMedicine]

That's correct, sorry for the word mixup! I'm just glad I was at least able to catch it at the last second before publishing,, haha. As of right now, I do think i like both the ESQs better than the R2.14, but I have really begun to like the R1.14 quite a bit.. not sure they would overtake that one for me right now, but if I were to play it safe, these certainly get the nod for most likely to have lasting durability, haha

[@robedwards6926]

​@PickleballMedicine Yea, I'm interested in the Ripple but Ronbus doesn't let you return. Only if something is wrong. Paddletek let's you have 30 days to try out and return which makes me lean towards them.

[@tylerhilgers8196]

First like & comment!

[@PickleballMedicine]

Yeees! You are the man, thank you for the support! 👊

[@juansantiago1441]

I don’t understand your comparison to the newly updated ALW. The paddles are identical in shape and materials. Why would the sweet spot be bigger on the ESQ when they are built the same and dimensions are identical. Power should be almost identical besides slight leverage increase.

[@PickleballMedicine]

I do have a typo in the video that I mentioned in the description details, and that's my bad, sorry for the confusion there! But the dimensions are a touch different. Not huge, but the ESQs are slightly more wide. The handle is also longer and pushes the bottom of the face up a bit.

[@juansantiago1441]

@@PickleballMedicine the updated ALW is slightly longer and Paddletek says it has more power than the esq. The esq is slighly wider to accommodate the longer handle, but based on what they explained to me, the new ALW is more of an offensive paddle and Esq more of a defensive paddle.

[@PickleballMedicine]

I think it may be helpful to specify "power" as either drive speed or pop to avoid some confusion, but unless people get a chance to hit them side by side, in real time and under the same conditions, it may be hard to really sort out some of the differences, especially since both of these paddles are strong in pop and power, so I would just reccomend giving them a try for yourself to see what you think! I always take them out and hit them side by side with buckets of balls, in addition to gameplay, and I would definitely say they are both more aggressive paddles. Certainly everything here is just my take, too! I'll be interested to hear your thoughts if you end up trying them out!

[@SukieNau-r1t]

Are both the 12.7 and 14.3 easier to control compared to the r2 ripple? Just got a ripple and its hard to control at the moment. Im primarily using a monarch all court, any benefit to pwr and pop by switching to the 14.3 esq?

[@JaxxCrash]

I'm using a monarch all court too. Can you compare the ripple to it for me?

[@SukieNau-r1t]

The monarch feels right at home bc I've been using it as my main. Im confident with most shots and it performs very well all around. Still dialing in r2, but out of the box, it's more powerful, poppy and has better spin. You can shape the ball pretty well with the ripple. I have an easier time controlling the monarch, but that might also be a function of me being more familiar with it.

[@zeruth467]

2:24 I think that info is wrong haha, maybe you copy and pasted and forgot?

[@PickleballMedicine]

Yes, you are right... ugh! So frustrating.. I'll make sure and mention it in the description details!

[@masteringr6714]

Paddle face will wear out well before that lifetime warranty will provide any extra value than the standard warranties. Just a marketing ploy.

[@PickleballMedicine]

Man, I have to respectfully disagree... even as someone who changes paddles quite frequently, I've used the warranties from companies like Engage, Hudef, etc and they are SUPER helpful... if anything, I think warranties like that are far undervalued. Granted, "Lifetime Warranty" doesn't necessarily mean the same thing company to company, but if you take Engage, for Example, they are renowned for replacing just about everything, including replacing their Pursuit Ultras with newer Pursuit Pros when the grit wore off and they stopped making Ultras. I haven't personally returned a paddle to PaddleTek at this point to see how their process works, but if it's anything like the other warranties I've had to claim, it's probabaly worth more than the paddle itself.

[@masteringr6714]

@@PickleballMedicine if Engage has done that, that’s against their written policy and they are just going above and beyond. Likely because they are a smaller company. Their policy specifically says the warranty does not include normal wear and tear (grit wearing off). A lifetime warranty on a product that is designed to wear out from “normal wear and tear” in a few months at most is nothing more than a marketing ploy. Agree to disagree I suppose. 👍🏼

[@PickleballMedicine]

Fair enough! I'm always open to hearing other perspectives.. thanks for sharing and hope you're getting some good pickleball out there! (:

[@65atBestPB]

Yeah, lifetime warranty doesn’t mean anything to me either. Between tech changing so much, and trying different shapes, my record paddle Lifetime in last two years was 5 months, many two. 😂

[@PickleballMedicine]

@65atBestPB haha that's a valid point under those circumstances! 😂

[@gwjohnson04]

I've never seen method so empty 😂

[@PickleballMedicine]

Haha, a fellow triangle member, I see! 😂 We've figured out that the lights will turn on at exactly 5:20, which is waaaay earlier than anyone else will show up! The whole place is ours for hours😂

[@thegoldenrooster8376]

250 is not justifiable.

[@zeruth467]

You should weigh the putty!!!

[@PickleballMedicine]

Not a bad idea...I could weigh it and figure out the volume to calculate exact density, then maybe we could figure out exactly what it is based on that! Might be fun