The Dwell Myth Is Busted + RPM Punches Back at JOOLA

The lab data that kills dwell time as a spin factor, RPM's aggressive answer to the JOOLA patent suit, and whether durable grit really changes how a paddle feels.

By John Kew. Independent, lab-tested, no pay-to-play.

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Gear news and lab data, before it hits the site.

Pickleball News

Fresh Reviews and Matchups Are Live

A quick housekeeping note before the news: I have added a batch of new paddle reviews and head-to-head matchups to the site, so if you are shopping, start there.

Chris Haworth's Luzz Glider 2026 Stumbles on Durability

The Glider 2026 is Chris Haworth's new signature paddle for Luzz, and it came up short where it counts: in my spin durability testing it did not hold its grit the way a paddle at this level should. It is a good reminder that a big name on the label does not guarantee a durable surface, which is exactly why I run the wear protocol on everything.

Luzz Glider 2026, 15% off with code JOHNKEW →

Kaitlyn Christian Is Reportedly Suing Proton

Pro player Kaitlyn Christian has reportedly filed suit against Proton for roughly 400,000 dollars, alleging a breach of contract over unpaid salary and a tournament prize-matching agreement. It is an allegation at this stage, and there are two sides to every contract dispute, but it is worth watching as one more sign of how quickly the business side of this sport is maturing.

RPM Answers the JOOLA Patent Suit, and Does Not Blink

Rather than settle the way ProXR, Paddletek, and Volair did, RPM filed an aggressive response that goes after the validity of the JOOLA patent itself instead of just its own liability. That is a very different posture from the settlements, and it could force the core question, whether the claimed invention was really novel, out into the open. If you want the background on what JOOLA is actually claiming, I broke it down in my earlier issue on the patent filings.

Disclosure: I designed the RPM Q2 paddle, which is not part of this lawsuit. I took no payment for it and donated the proceeds. I stay neutral on RPM's role in the case and care only about where the patent line ends up getting drawn for the sport.

At the Movies

The Dink: Worth a Watch?

Eddie and I watched The Dink. It is a buddy movie with a little romcom in it and some pickleball on the side, and on that level it works. Jake Johnson is genuinely good in it. The one thing that made us wince was the on-court pickleball itself, which does not hold up if you actually play. Eddie gave it a 5 out of 10, I went 6 out of 10. Fun, not essential.

Tales From the Ball Cannon

The Dwell Myth Is Busted

This is the one I am most excited about. I ran 12 paddles through a controlled test to settle whether pocketing, the amount a face deflects on contact, drives spin the way the dwell-time crowd claims. It does not. Deflection showed essentially no relationship with spin, an R-squared of 0.02. Launch angle, on the other hand, explained about 90 percent of the spin variance, an R-squared of 0.89. In plain terms, how the ball leaves the face matters enormously, and how much the face pockets barely matters at all. This is the follow-through on the issue where I argued for measuring pocketing instead of dwell time.

The cleanest illustration is the Diadem Vice against the Diadem Hush. They pocket almost the same, 15.25 versus 18.23 pounds of deflection, yet their spin could not be more different: 1,238 RPM for the Vice and 3,322 RPM for the Hush. Same pocketing, nearly triple the spin. Friction and launch angle are doing the work, not dwell.

The Diadem Hush, one of the two paddles in the dwell test.

Kew & A

Honolulu J6CR vs J2CR Long Handle: Does Durable Grit Change the Feel?

A reader asked whether Honolulu's durable grit coating changes the feel between the J6CR and the J2CR Long Handle. The short answer is that the durable grit adds very little weight and very little feel difference on its own. What actually moves performance between two paddles like these is the surface area of the face, not the durability coating on top of it. So choose by shape and hitting area first, and treat the durable grit as a longevity bonus rather than a feel change. Full lab data on the Widebody sits in my Honolulu J6CR review.

Honolulu J6CR, 10% off with code JOHNKEW →

Partner Codes

Every partner code from this issue, Luzz, Diadem, RPM, Honolulu, Six Zero, Spartus, and 11SIX24, lives on the discount codes page with the rest of my brand codes.

Thanks for reading, and for the questions, which are consistently better than the ones I would think to ask myself. See you in the next one. Cheers. John

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Explore the data behind these verdicts in the paddle database and the Comparison Lab. This issue was originally sent to subscribers on August 3, 2026.

I test every paddle independently, with no payment and no editorial input. The buy links above are affiliate links, and if you use them I earn a commission that helps support the website. It never changes how a paddle is tested or where it lands in the data. Read more about how I test.