Niupipo is a well established pickleball company that has been around since 2012. They have built their brand around helping new players get into the game by providing affordable paddles and equipment. If you haven’t already heard of them, I bet you’ve seen one of their paddles on your local courts without realizing it.
Niupipo has found a lot of success designing paddles for beginner and intermediate players. In fact, they are the number one seller of pickleball paddles on Amazon. That’s no easy feat. Now that they’ve established themselves in the entry level market, they have decided to start designing performance level paddles.
That’s where the Niupipo Explorer comes in. The Explorer is their first performance paddle in what they are calling their Pioneer series. If you’ve been watching any professional pickleball, then you’ve seen their ads for this paddle. They are really pushing this paddle hard and hoping to make a big splash in the market.
After drilling and playing with Niupipo’s Explorer, here is my review on its performance.
The Core and Paddle Design
The Explorer is 16 inches long and 8 inches wide. It’s not an elongated paddle, but it’s not a widebody paddle either. It falls in the middle, which is going to give you some additional reach without sacrificing a smaller sweet spot.
The handle length is 5 inches long, which has become the most common length on the market. If you play a two handed backhand, you’ll have to overlap your second hand a little.
The head is a classic shape to give you the max amount of surface area to play with. Its core is about 13 mm thick which will help generate more power, but still maintains a softer side.
Quick Stats
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Attacking the ball with the Explorer was definitely the highlight of this paddle. It had great pop and power. I could be aggressive serving the ball, driving it, and putting away high balls. It was fun to play with for that reason.
The extra power made it easier to return serves deep in the court without too much effort. Which was really nice when their was some wind in your face or when you were returning a good serve.
Its textured face helped impart spin on the ball which made my attacks even more effective. I’ve played other paddles that could produce more spin than the Explorer, but it had enough to make you comfortable attacking the ball.
The paddle had a pleasing loud pop sound to it when you hit the sweet spot. When you hit the paddle in the heart of its sweet spot, there was noticeably more power than when you were a little off center. This made the paddle face inconsistent at times.
The speed off the face was inconsistent at times. It gave you more power when you hit dead center on the sweet spot and was a little softer anywhere else on the paddle. This made precision attacks less effective.
Soft Game and Defense
The Explorer was easy to dink with. Because of its nice pop off the face you could shorten your swing a little and quickly get dinks back over the net to put pressure on your opponents. The little longer design of the paddle gave you good reach at the net too, making it easier to pick up dink volleys.
It took some time to adjust to its unique feel and extra pop before I was consistently hitting good drops from the baseline and transition zone. But I was able to get a good feel for it after a while. However, even after I got a good feel for the paddle, the ball would sometimes pop off the face more than expected which made controlling the pace of the ball more difficult.
The inconsistency of the paddle face made it tricky to effectively block and reset speed ups at the net. Because the ball would inconsistently pop off the face a little quicker at times, it occasionally set up the other team for an easy smash.
Who would like this paddle?
If you’re an aggressive player that relies on power to win games, then this is a great option for you. You’ll love the power and spin you can generate with this paddle.
Though it adds to your power game, you can still develop a good feel for the paddle to be effective with the soft game. The face of the paddle can be inconsistent, so your soft game will be negatively affected by that at times.
If you have been playing Niupipo’s entry level paddles, then this paddle is a good transition for you. You’ll feel an immediate improvement in performance with the Explorer compared to their beginner to intermediate level paddles.
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