I spent 2 hours this past Friday breaking in the 1st of my 4 Onix paddles. I was a bit nervous since this was a new group of people, even though they were my old RB players. I hadn't played since the first week of January in FL, this was the first time playing inside and this would officially be only the 5th time I played PB.
It didn't take long to get back into the swing of things, ha, see how I played that word. After a warm up we were ready to play. My first notice was how quiet this paddle was. That seams to be an ongoing issue with a lot of new communities. Some of them even going as far as banning certain brands or paddles because they are too loud. I can understand hearing the players in FL literally a 100 yards away. This will be a featured comment on all of my paddle reviews because no one mentions things like this on any site that I have found. Now I don't measure db ratings on dinks, or bangs but it's clearly where the noise comes from for most of the play. What I will comment on are two things, the density sounds of the paddle you here by tapping the core with your fore finger and the overall sound heard when playing. Every paddle has a distinct echo and what I am starting to notice is the more hollow the core the more "echoey" the paddle. The only other paddle I have played with is on older model UpStreet paddle the center in FL had available. That paddle also featuring a honeycomb core was noticeably more quiet like the Outbreak. I have yet to understand if the graphite face on paddles contributes to that echo more so than fiberglass. I'll continue to make note on how each of the paddles rates in this category.
Back to the play. The Outbreak is no slouch, it has great control a beautiful sweet spot and it's responsive to light dinks and accurate placement. All of which Onix mentions on their website. Now if I was a seasoned player I think I would have appreciated how this paddle handles itself on the court. The sweet spot is where you want to be and I am just not consistent enough to do that on every shot, yet. When I connected both on hard shots and softer the paddle was deadly consistent. I could generate good spin and feel confident in my shots for most of the play. I personally am still struggling with ball control, finesse and power. Keeping the ball low is paramount or your opponent is returning the ball with blazing speed directly at your body.
What about that octagonal handle...Well it felt a little large to me. I found myself spinning the paddle in my hand more than normal. Not sure if this is 100% related to the handle or me sweating or just a nervous twitch but I am mentioning it because I was doing it. I'll see if that happens again on the next paddle. Either way the handle for me felt a little fat. I am 6' 1" and have normal sized hands for someone that tall. I am not aware of a smaller diameter handle option for the Outbreak and I don't see anything telling me otherwise on their website. I will confirm. Feeling like the traditional rounder handle is going to be a more comfortable or familiar grip for me and I hope the other paddles offer up as many benefits as the Outbreak with a round handle. A handle that is too large makes me feel like I am over gripping which causes fatigue in my forearm. It's an important part of the paddle and I suggest you figure out what diameter feels right. If you aren't sure, get the smallest you can, you can always build up the handle with wrap but you can't make one too big smaller.
I did confirm that the face material on this paddle provides as much response to ball movement as I suspected. I can spin the crap out of the ball, providing it stays in and that in itself makes for a harder return. Under normal softer or dink returns the paddle did well and when I hit the center of the paddle "sweet spot" everything just felt right like a perfect drive off the tee box. Experience is key here for ball control and the Outbreak is more than capable if the driver is in control.
As play continued I became more comfortable with how the paddle responded. Now 2 hours isn't enough time for me to break in a paddle but for purposes of my reviews switching out every week with the next paddle will give me quick perspective on how paddles differ. In my opinion the things you look for as a newbie will be obvious from one paddle to the next. Weight and ball response become very obvious to me. I should mention that I don't think it is a good idea to switch out paddles multiple times in a shorter window, especially 2 hours. You will spend more time learning a different paddle every other game which I think makes it hard to understand the dynamics of how that paddle plays. Give it some time, don't be in a rush these aren't cheap paddles and they deserve a proper test drive.
My body is not conditioned at this point for what will become weekly play. I was not only well exercised at the end of a pretty constant two hours but I was fatigued especially my legs. They are not used to this kind of required endurance and that will just take a little time. What I am getting at is Pickleball is good exercise for anyone that thinks it is not. My other note, intentional as part of the review was how my right arm felt. Was this paddle 2 heavy and when you're talking ounces how much of a difference can 1 ounce in weight make when you are swinging around for 2 hours. In RB it can be the difference between over swinging to get more power or under swinging and not getting enough power. It's actually the opposite of what you think would occur. A heavy paddle swung harder should make the ball move faster? That is true but you are making a mess of your elbow and the point is to swing softer and have the ball do more. All of my initial research said if you aren't sure go in the middle weight class until you have time to figure out whats feels best on your own. That much is probably true and why some of the try before you buy programs are worth it. I have to say my elbow was tender but I can't tell if that is from not being conditioned to play after 4 years of not playing. Usually i'll spend 24-48 hours feeling my workout which is ideal, means those muscles were used and the pain is good not an injury. My glutes still hurt, best feeling in the world but more importantly my elbow does not. I was middle of the road to lighter on my RB racquets and suspect will be the same for the paddle I ultimately choose.
Overall I have nothing but good things to say about how this paddle plays. Great, control, responsive sweet spot, substantial design, plenty of power when you need it, enough finesse when you don't and it's just cool looking. The only thing that immediately stands out for me is the handle design. If it were smaller in diameter my opinion might be different. This setups handle size was just a little to large for me and I think that may have made me work just a bit more than I expected in the 2 hours of play I had. I am reserving the right to change my opinion here, why, well because I can but really because I have nothing to compare that handle to. I am on the fence at the moment as to whether this is a good newbie paddle. I don't want cost to be a deterrent for the right paddle and in a perfect world would test out paddles for "playability" with no regard for cost. In the end I would choose the paddle that plays best with me and figure out the cost later. This one may just be "too" much paddle. What I mean is this paddle may deserve a seasoned driver to really get everything out of it. Doesn't mean an in-experienced play can't play with it, but I would hate for initial impressions to take away from all the Outbreak is because the end user didn't know how to handle it.
I hope this next Friday gives me another paddle perspective where I can compare it to something with a little less subjective content and more hardware to hardware content.
Thanks for reading,
Adam
Comments