GearBox GX6 vs Niupipo Explorer

I am currently playing with a Gearbox and love it. It will feel a lot more like a hardbat ping pong paddle (the ones with no foam and the short pips out). This normally throws off the classic pickleball players because they are used to the extremely soft dinking paddles, but coming from tennis or other racquet sports, I feel like it will bother you less. The GX6 is at the $150 mark and is a great paddle still heavily used by good players in rec play

The paddle just doesn't return a ball with much force unless you grip the heck out of it and hit the ball in the dead center of the paddle. My wife bought this for me as a birthday gift, as an upgrade to the wooden paddles we started with. Those cheap paddles honestly have better energy return than this one does. If you hit the ball outside of the paddle's center, it just goes dead and rarely clears the net

There is no edging on the GX6 so I eliminated the cracking problem. These paddles are very durable. Once I got used to the Gearbox paddles I enjoy playing with them. Both give me plenty of power but the control paddle is better for net play

It looks like it will hold up much longer to the scrapes that can happen to the leading edge. This is a keeper - try one today - you won’t be disappointed!

I'm an older lady and enjoy pickleball. For me this paddle is the lighter and the correct weight, 7.8oz. The paddle grip is also smaller, 3 5/8", and works out great for my small hands

I used to have a lightweight Selkirk Epic that I replaced because I was getting elbow pain. This paddle plays as well if not better than the Epic but is a better weight for me being in the midweight range. I still added some lead tape to bring it to an even 8oz from the 7.8oz it came stock

got this because I was tired of the honeycomb interior racquets delaminating after a few months. Hopefully this solid carbon fiber racquet will do better. It plays well and feels solid. It is narrower than my previous racquets so that will take some getting used to

The Graphite face of this Pro model improves the control, but not enough. There are many shots that bounce off erratically because the Explorer Pro is simply too rigid. The manufacturer claims the Explorer Pro is "Carbon Fiber," but that's misleading since this paddle DOES NOT have a carbon fiber weave face. Graphite is often referred to erroneously as carbon fiber, and paddle-makers use the term knowing most people are ignorant of the differences

This is my wife’s paddle. It has a smaller grip and that helps her since she is petite. It also lighter weight and has a longer strike board. Great product

So it remains to be seen how durable the Niupipo Explorer will be (looking at you polypro core) However out of the (glorious) box, the Nuipipo Explorer feels every bit as well-built as my Selkirk Amped Invicta. Nuipipo gave it a VERY fat grip with a good feel. Personally I prefer a thinner grip for my brachydactyly-challenged hands. But this is definitely the paddle for you big hand types