A Different Kind of Power Paddle

If there's one company we always have to tip our hat to for making paddles that are relevant in the current landscape while still different to their competitors, it is Honolulu Pickleball. While many brands are happy to follow trends without taking risks, Honolulu is constantly trying to innovate.

The current trend has clearly gone toward powerful Gen 4s and Honolulu already dipped its toe into that concept with the NF and FC+ models, but those are a little more control oriented.

These new CRs crank power up much higher.

Honestly, when I first saw them, I thought, "here we go again," because I’ve reviewed so many powerful foam-core paddles lately. But after playing with them for quite some time, there are some very important nuances to their playability that I’m going to do my best to explain.

As I mentioned in my Pro V first impressions, there is a whole "feel spectrum" in pickleball now that is becoming arguably more important than power and spin numbers. Most flagship paddles nowadays push those numbers to the max because if they don’t, they’re going to be irrelevant. In this review, I’m going to talk about the pop, power, and spin, but I’ll tie that in with how they actually feel when hitting those shots, because that’s the key to the playability experience here.

The Lineup

I’m talking about both the J2CR and the J6CR today, though I won’t differentiate between them much during the playability section. The major difference between these two has more to do with swing path, swing speed, and manoeuvrability; how the ball actually interacts with the paddle is largely identical.

• Go for the J2 if you want a hybrid design with great hand speed, a big sweet spot, and slightly less leverage for power.
• Go for the J6 if you want an elongated paddle with the reach and leverage benefits that brings, and you are fine with slightly slower hand speed.

Personally, I spent more time with the J6, so most of what I say today is from my experience with that paddle. I also have a bit of a mea culpa to make regarding Honolulu’s J6 design. In my recent tier list, I said this was a questionable design because it’s different from other elongated paddles, and it’s not necessary to change a working formula, but this paddle changed my mind. My issue with the J6NF and FC+ was that they had very high swing weights, so I confused that for the shape being inherently clunky, and that’s not the case.

Thankfully, Honolulu lowered the swing weight on the J6CR compared to the NF and FC+. Our swing weight machine is on the way, but for now, I’m going off the specs on Honolulu’s website. This paddle has a swing weight between 112 and 116. That’s still not low, but it is manageable for an elongated paddle, and hand speed was not an issue for me.

The one thing I will say is that this is a little bit more square down in the neck of the paddle. It doesn't have as steep of a taper as something like the Perseus, so it doesn't feel quite as whippy, but it’s too reductive to say that it’s clunky.

The rest of the specs are pretty standard:

• The J6CR is 16.48 inches, it weighs between 8.0 - 8.2 ounces, it’s 16 millimetres thick and it has a 6.2 - 6.7 twist weight.
  
  
• The J2CR is 16.2 inches long, it weighs between 8.0 - 8.3 ounces with a swing weight between 110 - 114, a twist weight of 7.0 and it’s also 16 millimetres thick.

 

Technology: Core Reactor, Dynamic Power Flex, and Control Joint

These paddles have what Honolulu is calling Core Reactor, Dynamic Power Flex, and Control Joint technology. I’m not going to get into the details but essentially, these three technologies work in unison in what is an incredibly complex core design.

They wanted to create a full-foam paddle that had a deeper ball-pocketing feel, more feedback, and a trampoline effect for power, while remaining solid and consistent in the control game. I have to give it to Honolulu, core development is an area where they consistently outperform their competitors, at least in terms of innovation.

But how does it actually play on court?

Feel

The ball pocketing and feel are exactly what I’ve been waiting for out of a Gen 4 paddle, and I didn't think it was possible because no one had done it yet. Gen 4s are fantastic for many reasons, but they’ve never been able to replicate the hollow feel of a Gen 3 with good feedback and a progressive flex.

Something like a Selkirk Boomstik, for example, is hollow, but it’s very muted, so you don't have that feedback, and it’s also firm so it lacks a progressive flex. By "progressive flex," I mean you feel the ball the whole time it’s sinking into the paddle. The Genesis, on the other hand, has a very progressive flex but lacks that hollow feel and trampoline effect.

This CR combines the two. It has a super hollow feel (comparable to a broken-in Perseus) and a very deep, progressive flex. It’s really the first of its kind in the Gen 4 category.

This unique feel allows you to play with a ton of variety. It’s solid in the soft game, and then as you accelerate the paddle, the ball sinks deeper into the core which gives you the sensation that you can almost grab the ball and throw it. There is also a significant trampoline effect here that amplifies power much more than on the NF and FC+ paddles.

But as excited as I am about this feel, I do need to point out that it’s not perfect. First, a deep, springy pocketing sensation like this is not for everyone. If you weren’t a fan of Gen 3s, you probably won’t like this, although I will talk about how it may work better in the control section.

Second, I do find this feel to be a little more "artificial" than a Gen 3. If Gen 3s have a hollow, poppy, and raw feel, this is hollow, poppy, and metallic. That metallicness is what I perceive as muted and that takes away from some connection to the ball. I still think honeycomb paddles are more "raw," but this is about as nit-picky as I will ever be about a paddle; the feel profile is, overall, exceptional.

Control

Before getting into some potential issues with control, let me first explain why this paddle is so good for control. What you get with longer dwell time and better ball feel is more time to control the ball and "edit" your shot while it’s dwelling in the paddle face.

It’s that "grabby" sensation I mentioned earlier, where the paddle almost acts like a net. This is less prevalent on dinks because you’re not crushing into the paddle as hard, but on drops and resets, I consistently felt like I had more time to control the ball than with almost every other Gen 4 paddle.

I’ve mentioned that this is a similar sensation to Gen 3s, but one thing this has over Gen 3s is sweet spot size. Because of the more raw, brittle feel of honeycomb, the drop-off in playability outside of the sweet spot on a Gen 3 is significant.

The CR still feels like a Gen 4 in terms of sweet spot size and forgivingness. It’s more consistent on off-centre hits, and while it’s never going to be the most forgiving paddle because it’s so inherently powerful, that combination of Gen 3 dwell time with a Gen 4 sweet spot is fantastic, and it hasn't really existed up until now.

Power and Spin

I’m not going to spend too much time on power because, after all that I’ve said about dwell time and trampoline effect, you can probably imagine that this is a very powerful paddle. It's up there with the most powerful on the market, but the way it generates power is very important to understand.

As the ball sinks into the paddle face, you can use its spring effect to "slingshot" it over the net. It is an extremely satisfying power sensation — more satisfying than the Boomstik — because you feel the ball the whole way.

The CR is also a very poppy paddle because you don't need a ton of swing speed to tap into its trampoline effect. And because the sweet spot is so big, it’s super consistent in terms of power anywhere on the face. This makes it excellent for hand battles and a significant step up from Gen 3s because those have much smaller sweet spots. It’s still not quite on the level of the Boomstik in terms of pop and sweet spot, but it’s close, and that’s about as high praise as I can give it.

The other major benefit of that dwell time is spin. You can shape the ball more effectively and modulate your spin because of that progressive flex. The best way to hit different types of spin shots is to have a powerful paddle that also gives you the ability to "grab" the ball with slower swings, and the CR does exactly that.

Who are these made for?

I’m going to recommend this to players I haven’t really recommended this style of paddle to before. Some players have a fear that springy paddles are too powerful to control, and I understand why; Original Gen 3s were so powerful they were hard to control. But on the CRs, because the sweet spot is so much bigger, it is a less punishing experience overall. It’s a more refined take on a springy power paddle, and the sensation it provides comes with plenty of benefits that I urge a lot of players to experience.

Longer dwell time like this gives you such a heightened sensation of control; it essentially allows you to better manipulate the ball because it spends more time in the paddle face. Once you’re used to the bouncier pop, it allows you to play shots you simply can’t on firmer paddles.

I probably wouldn’t recommend the CRs to players who know they like firm paddles like the Boomstik or Gen 2s, or to players who prioritize control over everything else, no matter what it means for power.

 

Overall, I am so impressed by how well Honolulu executed this paddle. The complexity of this core is amazing, and it’s insane to me that they got all those pieces working as symbiotically as they did. They are really the first company to come out with a Gen 4 that has a very long dwell time and a progressive flex, which is something I have been waiting for for a while.

If you do want to try any of these new Honolulu CR paddles, come into the store and demo them, or you can check them out online.