Paddle Comparison Lab

Cannon-Tested Spin Durability×

What it measures. A ball cannon fires LT Pro 48 balls at 60 MPH and a high-speed camera reads the spin (RPM) off the ball. The paddle then takes 100 impacts at 70 MPH to simulate wear, and the same 10-shot test is repeated. The label on each paddle is the Cannon Spin Retention: the percent change in cannon spin from New to After 100 Impacts.

The four results. These words describe what happened. They are not a ranking.

• ✓ Holds Spin dropped less than 12%.
• ▾ Moderate loss Spin dropped from 12% up to 20%.
• ▾▾ Heavy loss Spin dropped 20% or more.
• ▴ Measurable gain Spin increased, and the 95% confidence interval sits entirely above zero. Some textures gain spin as they are roughed up with use.

Confidence. Each result also carries a confidence level (high, medium or low) that shows how firmly the paddle sits inside its result. High means the whole 95% interval falls inside one result, medium means it spans two, and low means it spans all three. It describes the measurement, not paddle quality.

Read it carefully.

• This is a controlled lab comparison. It does not convert into games, hours or months of play.
• Cannon spin is not comparable to spin a human swing produces. That is why the Spin Rating filter above is labeled “Human-Generated.”
• Where a model was tested in one shape and carried to its other shapes, the paddle label says which shape was actually tested.
• Paddles without a cannon result simply have no label yet. Hover a label to see the exact percentage.

See the full Cannon-Tested Spin Durability list →

KewCOR Paddle Surface Map×

The KewCOR Curve maps paddle power along the centerline of the face, typically from 3–6 inches below the tip. It shows how consistently the paddle returns energy across the hitting surface.

A flat, smooth curve indicates a more uniform response and a longer sweet spot, while a steep curve suggests a concentrated hot spot with a sharper drop-off in power away from the optimal contact zone.

Higher values indicate greater energy return at that location on the paddle face.

Ball Speed in Play×

Ball speed in play converts the measured face response (KewCOR) into the ball speed a swung paddle would produce, using the collision-efficiency relation from a baseball study (Nathan, A. M., American Journal of Physics 71, 134 (2003)).

A paddle's measured rebound isn't a fixed number. It depends on how fast the ball and paddle are closing on each other, which is different at every point on the face and at every combination of head speed and incoming ball speed.

Paddle head speed categories are approximate ranges. Every player is different, and outbound speed is affected by swing mechanics and inbound ball speed.

Firepower×

Firepower is a 0–100 score, a scaled z-score on KewCOR. It saturates: any paddle at or above KewCOR 0.4694 reads 100, so a few of the hottest paddles in the fleet show the same Firepower number while sitting at different points on the bar below. The bar carries that detail; the number alone does not.

KewCOR measures power at the paddle's sweet spot on a 0.340–0.550 scale: Control 0.340–0.366, All-Court 0.366–0.400, Power 0.400–0.445 (subdividing into Low, Mid and High), Very High Power 0.445–0.550. A narrow zone around each interior cut (0.010 wide) reads as a boundary rather than either neighboring band, since the measurement error is close to that width. The top of the scale is compressed: 0.340–0.445 is linear, and the remaining range above 0.445 is squeezed into the last tenth of the bar so the crowded middle of the fleet stays readable.

Positions below 0.340 sit at the left edge of the bar. A KewCOR above 0.550 pins the pointer at the right edge, and the bar marks it with an outward chevron and the words "above dial range" rather than relying on color alone.

KewCOR×

Controlled laboratory data capturing efficiency of paddle-ball collision using a ball cannon and clamped paddle. Bands (Control, All-Court, Power, Very High Power) describe measured power only and are not a statement about USAP certification or any other standard.

The scale from 0.340 to 0.445 is linear. Above 0.445, the scale compresses the remaining range so the crowded middle of the fleet stays readable: the top band is not drawn to the same scale as the rest.