Pickleball paddle walls are getting crowded, and JOOLA is the brand customers now ask us about by name. Part of that is Ben Johns — the world number one plays a JOOLA Perseus Pro V, and the same build he uses on tour hangs on our wall in Edison — and part of it is that the range is unusually easy to understand once somebody lays it out properly. That is what this guide is for. We stock the full JOOLA ladder at TopCricketStore, from the $49.95 Dash to the $299.95 Pro V family, along with JOOLA court shoes, bags, balls and the small accessories that keep an expensive paddle alive. Every price, spec and stock note below comes from our live inventory on the day of writing, not from a catalog.
The JOOLA paddle ladder at a glance
The range makes sense as four rungs. Each step up buys a better face material, a more serious construction, and — from $119.95 upward — tournament certification. Here is everything currently in stock, cheapest first.
| Paddle | Face | Shape / thickness | Certification | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dash | Sandblasted fiberglass | Standard, 10mm | Recreational | $49.95 |
| Astral | Sandblasted carbon fiber | Elongated (Perseus outline) | Recreational | $79.95 |
| Perseus Double Vision | Aramid | Elongated, 16mm | USAP PBCoR.43 | $119.95 |
| Perseus Pro 3S Dual | Pro 3S build | Elongated, 16mm | USAP PBCoR.43 + UPA-A | $199.95 |
| Scorpeus Pro 3S Dual | Pro 3S build | Widebody, 14mm | USAP PBCoR.43 + UPA-A | $199.95 |
| Perseus Pro V (Ben Johns) | Pro V carbon | Elongated 16.5 x 7.5 in, 14mm or 16mm | Tour-played | $299.95 |
| Scorpeus Pro V (Anna Bright / Collin Johns) | Pro V carbon | Widebody, 14mm or 16mm | Tour-played | $299.95 |
| Hyperion Pro V (Ben Johns) | Pro V carbon | Elongated aero-curve, 14mm | Tour-played | $299.95 |
| Kosmos Pro V (Federico Staksrud) | Pro V carbon | Hybrid 16.3 x 7.7 in, 16mm | Tour-played | $299.95 |
| Agassi Pro V (Andre Agassi) | Pro V carbon | Tapered throat, 14mm or 16mm | Tour-played | $299.95 |
Where to start: the Dash and the two-player packs
The JOOLA Dash at $49.95 exists to solve the big-box problem. Most first paddles are the cheap half of a discount two-pack, and they hold players back because a smooth, dead face gives no feedback about what the ball is doing. The Dash uses a sandblasted fiberglass face over a 10mm core with JOOLA's Cool Press layered construction. The texture is the point: a new player can feel topspin bite for the first time instead of flat-hitting everything, and fiberglass is more forgiving on off-center hits than carbon, which is the correct trade in a first season. We have it in Bolt Blue, Crash Aqua and Blossom Pink right now, and in our Edison store it is the paddle we hand to parents who tell us their kid got hooked at summer camp.
Buying for two people at once
If you are starting from zero — no paddles, no balls, no bag — the Dash Pickleball Pack at $99.95 is the tidier purchase: a matched pair of 12mm JOOLA Essential paddles, four Primo balls and a sling bag, so both players learn on the same feel. The Onset Pack, also $99.95, is the same idea in the Coastal colorway. These are the two boxes we gift-wrap most often.
The $79.95 sleeper: Astral
The JOOLA Astral is the paddle we point at when someone says they are past the beginner stage but cannot justify three hundred dollars. Under $100, almost everything on the market is fiberglass. The Astral has a genuine sandblasted carbon fiber face on the elongated Perseus outline, and the difference shows up exactly where players want it: serves and third-shot drives that dip inside the baseline instead of sailing long, and dinks with enough bite to angle off the court. There is also a practical upgrade path — because it shares the Perseus shape, moving up to a Double Vision or Pro V later does not mean relearning your reach. Spirit Gray and Seaside Green are both in stock at $79.95.
Perseus Double Vision: tournament-legal at $119.95
The gap between a starter paddle and a pro paddle is where most club players get stuck, and the Perseus Double Vision 16mm is JOOLA's answer to it. It is a properly thermoformed, USAP PBCoR.43 certified paddle at $119.95. Instead of the Pro V's carbon skin it uses an Aramid face, which produces heavy spin on drives and rolls and shrugs off the edge scrapes and net-post clips that destroy thin carbon faces — a real consideration for a paddle that will live in a bag with four others. An SK Film layer inside the build damps vibration at contact, which cheaper paddles at this price transmit straight into the elbow. Bolt Blue, Surge Green and Blaze Red are all on the wall.
Pro 3S Dual: one paddle for both rulebooks
Here is a problem that did not exist a few years ago: competitive pickleball currently runs two certification bodies, and a paddle that is legal under USAP rules is not automatically legal under UPA-A rules. Players usually find out at the table, minutes before a match. The Pro 3S Dual line carries USAP PBCoR.43 and UPA-A certification simultaneously, so one paddle covers every sanctioned draw you are likely to enter — and it hedges you against either body tightening its standard. We stock both shapes at $199.95: the Perseus Pro 3S Dual 16mm in the Ben Johns teal-and-purple, and the Scorpeus Pro 3S Dual 14mm in Anna Bright's orange-and-yellow, which is the forgiving widebody of the pair. If you play a mix of local USAP events and tour-affiliated ones, this is the most practical $199.95 in the shop.
The Pro V family: five shapes, one engine
Everything at the $299.95 tier shares the same core technology — JOOLA's Propulsion Core, which stores and returns more energy at contact than the previous Pro IV generation, managed by a patent-pending KineticFrame throat that keeps all that stored energy from turning into vibration. So the buying decision inside the Pro V family is not about power. It is entirely about shape, and shape is about what kind of player you are.
Perseus Pro V — the reference point
The Perseus Pro V is the paddle Ben Johns actually competes with, sold in the same build. It is JOOLA's elongated shape at 16.5 x 7.5 in with a 5.5 in grip — reach at the kitchen line, leverage on the drive, and enough handle for a two-handed backhand. We carry the Ben Johns Blaze Red in both 14mm and 16mm, plus the 16mm Simone Jardim Breeze Blue. This is our best-selling $299.95 paddle by a distance.
Scorpeus Pro V — the widebody
The Scorpeus Pro V trades a little of the Perseus reach for the widest usable sweet spot JOOLA makes. Fewer mishits in fast hands battles, more stability when you are late — the honest choice for players who would rather win the point than admire the swing. Anna Bright's 14mm yellow is in stock; the Collin Johns 16mm Club Green is down to our last one as I write this.
Hyperion Pro V — for swing speed
The Hyperion Pro V keeps the elongated footprint but adds an aero-curve edge profile that cuts drag through the stroke. Same effort, more head speed — which cashes out as pace, spin, and a paddle that gets back to ready position sooner in a firefight. We stock the 14mm Ben Johns Bolt Blue.
Kosmos Pro V — the hybrid
The Kosmos Pro V (Federico Staksrud's Surge Green, 16mm) splits the difference: 16.3 x 7.7 in with a 5.25 in grip, deliberately between the Perseus and Scorpeus. If you have bounced between elongated and widebody paddles without settling, this shape ends the argument.
Agassi Pro V — for tennis converts
The Agassi Pro V uses a tapered throat that pushes usable hitting area up and across the face, so balls struck slightly high or off-center still come off with pace. For a player arriving from tennis and used to a big racquet head, it is the least frustrating first month JOOLA sells. Royal Blue, in 14mm and 16mm.
14mm or 16mm?
The question we hear most at the counter. The thinner 14mm core is livelier — more pop on drives and put-aways, a firmer, faster response. The 16mm core plays softer with a longer dwell time, which makes resets, drops and blocks more forgiving and takes some shock out of the arm. Our rule of thumb after a season of selling both: singles players and bangers gravitate to 14mm, doubles players who live at the kitchen line are usually happier at 16mm, and anyone with a history of tennis elbow should choose 16mm without a second thought. If you are genuinely torn, come throw both against our wall in Edison.
JOOLA court shoes: the upgrade nobody budgets for
Running shoes are built to move you forward; pickleball moves you sideways, and a soft running midsole rolls exactly when you plant to change direction. The JOOLA FUNKSH1n_PB: R4LLy at $179.95 is a purpose-built court shoe with a carbon fiber shank through the midfoot for torsional stiffness and a Qubit super-critical foam midsole that cushions without the tall, unstable stack. Players who switch out of trainers tell us this changed more than their paddle did. We have White/Gum and White/Black-Green on the shelf in US 9.5 through 11.
Bags: sling, backpack or tournament
Three tiers, honestly differentiated. The Everyday Sling ($44.95) carries two paddles, balls and a bottle for open-play nights and nothing more — that is its virtue. The Vision II Backpack ($59.95) adds a padded laptop sleeve and a ventilated shoe partition, which makes it the office-to-league-night bag. The Tour Elite ($109.95) is the tournament option: 45 liters at 21.25 x 11.75 x 11 in — still carry-on sized — with two insulated, wipeable paddle compartments, a hidden valuables pocket and an internal shoe bag. Those thermal compartments matter more than they sound: leaving a thermoformed paddle in a car trunk through a New Jersey July genuinely shortens its life, and we have seen the delaminated evidence brought back to our counter.
Balls, grips and the ten-dollar insurance policy
The JOOLA HC-40 ($29.95 for 12) is USAP approved and the official ball of PPA Asia and the NCPA. Its patent-pending design places all 40 holes at equal spacing, which is why it flies true where cheaper balls curve unpredictably on drives; the polymer blend is tuned for outdoor hard courts with a slightly softer feel. For the paddle itself, two cheap habits pay off. Clear edge guard tape ($9.95, 28mm x 850mm — enough for a full perimeter wrap with spare) takes the scrape that would otherwise chip a $300 paddle edge, and because it is transparent it does not hide the paddle underneath. The Premium Overgrip 4-pack ($11.95, with finishing tape) fixes the slick-handle problem that loses more points in August humidity than any spec on a paddle sheet. Round it out with the $34.95 performance caps and visor — 97% polyester, 3% spandex, moisture-wicking rather than cotton — and, for coaches and clubs, the 100-ball caddy ($149.95) with four locking casters, which converts ball-collecting minutes back into drilling minutes.
Not just pickleball: the JOOLA table tennis corner
JOOLA built its name in table tennis long before pickleball existed, and we keep three of its pre-assembled bats in stock. The Match Pro ($24.99) carries ITTF-approved VIZON rubbers — competition-legal grip at garage-table money. The Rosskopf Classic ($29.95) is the attacker's bat, rated Speed 99 and Spin 98 against Control 77 on JOOLA's own scale, on a five-ply blade. The Carbon X Pro ($39.95) puts carbon layers in the blade for a stiffer build and wider sweet spot with ITTF-approved MICRON rubbers. If your household plays both sports, one brand now covers the basement and the driveway.
JOOLA or Selkirk?
We stock both ranges, and the honest answer from our floor is that neither is better — they are different ladders. Selkirk's strength is breadth at the entry and mid tiers; JOOLA's is that its $299.95 tier is the literal tour equipment of the current world number one, with certification story (the Dual line) that Selkirk buyers have to think harder about. Feel-wise, players describe the Pro V line as more energetic off the face. Our advice has not changed since we wrote our Selkirk guide: shape and thickness matter more than the logo, and ten minutes hitting with both in our store settles it faster than ten hours of reviews. Browse the full range — both brands — in our pickleball collection.
Frequently asked questions
Is JOOLA a good pickleball paddle brand?
Yes — it is the brand behind the current men's world number one. The honest caveat is that a good brand does not make every paddle right for you: the $49.95 Dash and the $299.95 Perseus Pro V are built for completely different players, which is exactly why the range is a ladder rather than one paddle in five prices.
What pickleball paddle does Ben Johns use?
Ben Johns plays the JOOLA Perseus Pro V, and the retail version is the same build — elongated 16.5 x 7.5 in shape, 5.5 in grip, Propulsion Core, available in 14mm and 16mm. His signature Blaze Red colorway is the one we sell most.
What is the difference between 14mm and 16mm pickleball paddles?
Core thickness. The 14mm build is firmer and livelier with more immediate pop; the 16mm build is softer with longer dwell on the face, which favors control, resets and arm comfort. Same paddle, two personalities — see the sizing section above for who suits which.
Are JOOLA paddles legal for tournaments?
The Perseus Double Vision is USAP PBCoR.43 certified, and the Pro 3S Dual line is certified under both USAP PBCoR.43 and UPA-A at the same time — the safest single purchase if you enter events under both bodies. The Dash and Astral are recreational paddles; check any event's approved list before you enter.
Which JOOLA paddle is best for a beginner?
The Dash at $49.95 for one player, or the Dash Pack at $99.95 for two. Skip the no-name two-packs: a textured face that lets you feel spin from day one is the single biggest thing a first paddle can teach you.
How do I make a JOOLA paddle last longer?
Three habits: wrap the perimeter in clear edge guard tape, keep it out of hot cars (or in an insulated bag compartment like the Tour Elite's), and replace overgrips before they go glassy. The most common paddle death we see at the counter is one scrape on a hard court going for a low ball — a $9.95 roll of tape takes that hit instead.
Try them in your hand before you decide
Specs narrow the list; feel picks the paddle. Visit TopCricketStore at 37 Meridian Rd, Edison, NJ — open Monday to Saturday 11 AM to 9 PM and Sunday 11 AM to 8 PM — and hit with the Dash, the Astral, the Double Vision and the Pro V shapes side by side. Buying online? Everything above ships free anywhere in the US on orders over $100, with 7-day returns, and most of the JOOLA wall clears that threshold on its own. If a colorway shows out of stock, call the store — this range moves quickly and we restock continuously.