Staff Reviews of the PROLITE Cypher Pro Black Diamond Core Pickleball Paddle:
"I recently play tested the Cypher Pro paddle and have to admit that it completely blew away my expectations. Due to it’s pronounced teardrop shape, I expected it to feel very top heavy with a sweet spot concentrated at the upper third or so of the paddle’s head. I’d assumed that it would probably be too much of a strictly power oriented paddle for me, aimed primarily at singles players who need maximum reach and power, for whom touch and control at the net is less of a priority. (A singles player I am not…unless it’s skinny singles!) Boy was I wrong! It just goes to show you can’t tell how a paddle plays until you try it. I played a few games of doubles with this paddle and didn’t want to put it down. I was amazed at how well it played for me while dinking. I could finesse soft shots and loved the ball feel this paddle provides. Another surprise for me was how easily I could put spin on my shots. Though the face of the Cypher Pro and PROLITE’s other paddles in the Black Diamond series, the Titan and Super Nova, has a highly smooth appearance that is quite different than other paddles with a more noticeably textured surface, PROLITE’s proprietary gel coat outer layer over the carbon fiber gives players the ability to add some pretty wicked spin to their shots. (Have you ever seen Brian Ashworth play? He plays with the Black Diamond Titan…talk about some wicked spin!).
I played with a 7.6 oz. Cypher Pro and that weight gave me the perfect balance of maneuverability and power. Even with the extended length and head-dominant teardrop shape, I could quickly switch from forehand to backhand when blocking at the net and easily get the paddle where it needed to be.
For serves, overheads and driving shots from the baseline, the Cypher Pro easily provides more power than just about any other paddle I’ve tried. As a former tennis player I have what some call a “traditional” style of pickleball play. (That probably means I have some bad pickleball habits I need to break, but it also means that I like to drive the ball hard.) With a 7.6 oz. Cypher Pro I could effortlessly drive my power shots. As my pickleball game has gradually evolved more away from tennis I’ve shifted to liking shorter handles on my pickleball paddles. The 4-3/4” length of the Cypher Pro’s handle was perfect for me to forcefully “swat” the ball with my ground strokes and overheads, while also nimbly react at the net. My accuracy with this paddle was also much better than I expected. I loved this paddle so much that I’m planning to add one to my own paddle bag." Karen, Marketing (4.0 Player)
"I had a chance to demo this paddle before the US Open this year, and I played around an hour of singles play with it and totally fell in love. I normally prefer a traditionally shaped (wide body) soft playing graphite paddle, and have struggled with shaping shots using blade and elongated shape paddles - especially fiberglass faced ones. The Cypher totally changed my mind about using an elongated paddle. In singles play, I found this paddle great for three reasons. First, the extra reach was appreciated getting to passing shots. Second, the extra power I could generate with the head heavy longer shape gave me enough power to execute putaways and generate pace to get balls past my opponent. Finally, this Black Diamond Core which is used in the incredibly successful Titan and SuperNova paddles gives me a very soft touch when playing softer shots (like dinks or drop shots). I had a blast playing with this paddle, and have had several customers tell me very similar things during their demo experiences. This paddle is fun to play with, and very confidence inspiring.
I spent some time on the phone with the paddle designer (PROLITE President, Neil Friedenberg) and learned what he thinks makes this paddle so good. The first thing he shared was his philosophy about the engineering of the shape. He believes the shape gives players extra torque and a flexible snap at impact with the ball helping generate enormous power. The physics of a head weighted design with a longer shape creates faster head speed which translates into velocity. The shaping puts the sweet spot up in the wide head area of the paddle, which gives a super wide sweet spot at a distance further away from your hands. This becomes a fantastic weapon! The other really unique aspect of this paddle is its Black Diamond carbon fiber face with proprietary gel coat outer layer. This enables the paddle to create friction against the ball even at slow swing speeds, giving you the ability to generate a lot of spin. Spin control is not purely about how rough a paddle face is - in fact, if you think about race car tires, they don't use treads - they use slicks. This paddle face enables you to create a high coefficient of friction with the ball, giving you great ability to work the ball with top spin, under spin, and especially slice control on ground strokes.
What I have always loved about PROLITE's Black Diamond series paddles (eg Titan and SuperNova) is how incredibly soft they play when you need defensive control on dinks, or defending volleys by blocking back into the kitchen. This characteristic is still very much apparent on this Cypher, making it easy to block and play drops - but the extra reach and power is also there." Edward, Marketing (3.5 Player)
"Surprisingly good. I mis-hit a couple balls off the mid-paddle edge early but adapted quickly to the paddle. I think because of the shape I focused more on fundamentals and built from there. The feel is great, it’s a soft playing paddle and I think the sweet spot is less pronounced meaning the paddle as a whole feels more even, controlled and predictable. Even though it’s a soft playing paddle because of the shape you can put plenty of power behind shots when you want. I tend to stay away from narrow/elongated paddles because I am an intermediate player, and tend to sometimes hit the ball outside of the sweet spot with regularity. On elongated paddles I usually worry about sweet spot size and I do tend to hit a lot of balls at the handle but I really like this paddle and did not seem to have these issues. After an hour or so, after I adjusted my swing mechanics to the sweet spot being further out, I really started to feel comfortable with this paddle. I played both doubles and singles, and enjoyed the paddle thoroughly. It has a more squared up handle shape which I like and I am a fan of that PROLITE diamond grip."Jimmy, Paddle Product Manager (3.5 Player)
