The $4 pickleball paddle from Goodwill beat my $80 one and I'm still annoyed
I grabbed a beat up wooden paddle at the Goodwill on 5th for $4 just to have a spare, and my buddy and I played 6 games with it last Saturday. I swear the thing had better control than the $80 carbon paddle I saved up for, mostly because the wood is so dead the ball just drops where you want it. I've been playing with that cheap thing for 3 weeks now and my dinks have never been better. Does anyone else think the cheap gear sometimes just works better, or am I kidding myself?
You think 3 weeks is enough time to really know though? That dead wood feel might just be covering up bad habits that a real paddle would punish you for. Give it a few months against players who actually put pace on the ball and tell me if that $4 special still holds up.