Gamma Pickleball has never been a brand that simply follows trends or copies what’s on the market. Gamma’s commitment to research, development, and the everyday player is what sets them apart from a packed paddle market. Plus, I love that they are a family owned company that develops and manufactures the majority of their paddles in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
Their most recent paddle release, the Hellbender, is infused with Gamma’s own paddle technology and is a great example to showcase their innovation. I was really impressed with this paddle as I played and reviewed it. I think it may be the most complete paddle that I’ve hit and I’m officially dubbing it the People’s Paddle.
After drilling and playing over 20 games with Gamma’s Hellbender, here is my review of its performance.
The Core and Paddle Design
Shape and Design
The Hellbender is 16-1/8 inches long, 7-5/8 inches wide and has a teardrop shape. This design is not as long as most elongated paddles but is longer than your standard widebody design. Its hybrid length and width gives you some extra reach but not at the sacrifice of a too small sweet spot.
The unique teardrop design is supposed to increase the size of the sweet spot and the playable surface area of the paddle. I found this this to be true. The Hellbender played very forgiving.
It has a short handle length of 4-1/2 inches. I play a two-handed backhand drive so it felt uncomfortable to me in that scenario. I don’t play any other two handed shots, so the handle length didn’t bother me outside of that. 60% of players only use one hand, so that shouldn’t be an issue for most players.
It weighs in at 7.6 oz, which is on the lighter side. This made the paddle really quick in your hands but lacked the weight needed to really crush high volleys. More on this in the Attacking section.
Materials
The Hellbender has a lightly textured graphite facing material. Graphite is also known as carbon fiber. Graphite is a very light and stiff material which will increase the size of the sweet spot, increase consistency across the face, and absorb more energy from the ball. Ultimately, it helps the paddle play a little softer though it feels stiff.
It has a thick 16 mm polymer core. Gamma has developed their own polymer core they call NeuCore. NeuCore is essentially just thicker honeycomb cells. I found that their core technology gave the paddle a little more pop when compared to other thicker core paddles I’ve played.
The graphite face combined with the thicker core is a good combination to give you great touch and feel.
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Quick Stats
Attacking
For a thick core paddle with a graphite face, which are two elements that soften the play of the paddle and decrease power, the Hellbender actually had some good pop and power. Much more than I expected. It was enough to enable you to speed up the ball without swinging out of your shoes. I wasn’t sure why it had that extra pop so I’m attributing it to Gamma’s NeuCore technology and the paddles large sweet spot.
The lightness of the paddle and the textured surface made it easy to produce topspin when you were driving or rolling the ball over the net. Giving you the confidence to turn it into a weapon when the chance arose. Because it’s a lighter paddle, it didn’t have the weight behind it to really smash high volleys, but it was enough power more often than not. You can always add some lead tape if you’d like a little more weight.
I was hitting effective drives with my forehand. The pop and spin enabled me to keep the ball low and put pressure on my opponents that way. The shorter handle made it uncomfortable to play any two-handed shots, though. I play a two-handed backhand drive so I didn’t like the shorter handle in that scenario, other than that, the shorter handle didn’t bother me. If you only play with one hand then that’s not an issue.
Soft Game and Defense
Gamma boasted that the Hellbender had a large sweet spot and, for once, the marketing wasn’t a lie. It played very forgivingly and mishits would often still stay in play, especially when I was dinking at the net. Its hybrid length and width gave you some additional reach to cover more ground but still felt big and wide when I wanted to reset the ball or was playing defensively.
I always felt like I was in complete control of the ball. The touch was there when I needed to play a defensive lift dink without popping it up and I could control the pace and trajectory well when I was being more aggressive with push dinks.
Hitting effective drop shots from the baseline and transition zone came quickly. If I did catch a drop shot off-center, the ball still came off the face well and would often stay in play.
Blocking drives and speed-ups at the net was easy with this paddle. Because the paddle was so forgiving I just had to get the paddle in the way and it did the rest.
The paddle is pretty light at 7.6 ounces. This made it very quick in your hands. However, the lighter weight did make the paddle feel a little less stable at times when I lightened my grip to hit a soft shot.
Other Player Comments
Who would like this paddle?
I think this paddle is the most complete paddle I’ve ever played, making it a great all-court paddle. Its hybrid shape gives you a little extra reach without shrinking the sweet spot. It’s very forgiving. Touch and soft shots come quickly. It has a very even response across the paddle face. It surprised me with how much pop it had. I could generate good spin.
If you aren’t looking for a specialty shaped paddle or a paddle that leans more towards control or power, then I think this is a great option for you. It can fit a large variety of playing styles and its forgiving nature makes it easy to play.
I’d highly recommend this to beginner and intermediate level players looking for a player friendly performance paddle. If you’re a more advanced player, you may be looking for something with a little more power. But the Hellbender has you covered in all other areas.
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