JOOLA Perseus Pro IV Review

The 16mm also holds the ball a beat longer than the 14mm does. It has a sharp crack and a hollow sound off the face, but it sounds more solid than the Perseus 3S 16mm.

The 14mm is quick in your hands for an elongated, and my swing weight numbers back that up. On short strokes at the net, the 14mm is really poppy, and the ball jumps right off the face.

Every so often the 16mm jumps hot off the face, and a ball you meant to keep in sails.

The 14mm is just okay on drives. You have to swing harder for pace, and its power is clearly below the typical elongated.

The two thicknesses spin about the same, and spin is low on both. Only five paddles I've tested spin less than the 14mm, and only 12 spin less than the 16mm. I also haven't tested a paddle with as much power as the 16mm that spins less. So if you shape your serves and drives with spin, the Pro IV is going to work against you.

Speed-ups, counters and put-aways

At the kitchen line, the 14mm is the one you want, because it's poppier than the 16mm and easier to be aggressive with on speed-ups and counters. It scored 93 out of 100 for pop, and only one honeycomb elongated with perimeter foam I've tested has more, the Perseus 3S 14mm. Here the thinner core has the extra pop, and pop plus a light swing makes the 14mm great in hands battles.

The 16mm isn't a hands paddle, though. Its pop is clearly below the typical elongated, so it doesn't give you much extra pace on short swings.

Both can put a ball away: the 16mm with power on a full swing, the 14mm with pop on a short, fast one.

Dinks and resets

Both thicknesses scored clearly lower for control than the typical elongated, and they're about the same as each other. So dinks and resets need a careful touch with either one. On the 16mm, the face gives pace back on resets, so you need a compact stroke, because a loose one sends the ball long or pops it up.

With either one, shorten up on resets and loosen your grip to take pace off. If resets are already your weak spot, look at the more controllable paddles below.

Off-center hits

Twist weight is how well the face holds steady in your hand on an off-center hit, and the 16mm's twist weight is above the typical elongated's. So the 16mm is the steadier of the two on mishits, and it's forgiving for an elongated power paddle. Its sweet spot is about the same as the typical elongated's, so it isn't oversized.

The 14mm goes the other way. Its twist weight is below the typical elongated's, and its sweet spot is clearly smaller. Only 15 elongated paddles I've tested score lower for sweet spot. Thinner 14mm paddles tend to play their best with some added weight, so if you get the 14mm, try lead tape at 3 and 9 o'clock. That raises the twist weight, but it also adds swing weight, so you give up a little hand speed.

The 14mm is for kitchen-line players who want pop and fast hands. It has far more pop than the 16mm, and it swings slightly lighter. In exchange, it has clearly less power and a clearly smaller sweet spot.

The 16mm is for players who drive from the baseline and want the bigger sweet spot. It has clearly more power and a clearly bigger sweet spot than the 14mm. What it costs you is pop, because the 16mm has far less of it.

The grip is 4.125 inches on the 14mm and 4.25 inches on the 16mm. The 14mm weighs 7.7 to 8.1 ounces, and the 16mm weighs 7.9 to 8.3 ounces.

If you can't decide, take the 14mm. Its pop is the one real standout on this paddle, and it's also the harder thickness to replace for less money. Only one cheaper elongated matches the 14mm on both pop and power, which is the Vatic Pro V-Sol Pro V7, whereas seven cheaper elongated paddles match the 16mm.

Next to the typical honeycomb elongated with perimeter foam, the 14mm's power is about the same, and it has far more pop. Its sweet spot is clearly smaller, though, and it has far less control and far less spin. Next to 16mm paddles with that same build, the 16mm has clearly more power and about the same pop, and its sweet spot is a little smaller. Control is clearly lower on the 16mm, and spin is far lower.

JOOLA's warranty runs 12 months when you register the paddle through the handle's NFC chip.

Owners praise the feel most. Several say they play their best with it and keep going back to it, and when they name a thickness, it's the 16mm. A couple like how easy the power comes.

The most common complaint was the price back when it was $249.95, with owners saying it was overpriced for what it is, and some saying they don't trust JOOLA. A couple of owners also say it plays almost the same as the Perseus 3S.

Durability comes up a lot with the Pro IV, and core crush is the only problem owners report. Over time the honeycomb inside breaks down, and the paddle plays hotter, like a trampoline. It's mostly a manufacturing thing. Full foam has no honeycomb to crush, so it holds up better.

As of October 2026, I found core crush reports on the Pro IV from July 2025 to May 2026. Two of them name the 16mm. None name the 14mm.

That's a small number of reports, so it tells you core crush is a real risk on the Pro IV, but it can't tell you how often it happens. At launch in March 2025, the guys over at JOOLA said they'd added quality control, core and mold checks, and more destructive testing to fight core crush. JOOLA hasn't announced a fix since, as far as I've seen. Some owners went through up to three replacements in the 12 month warranty, and a couple had slow replacements or trouble with the NFC registration.

In the 14mm, the two are close. The Pro IV 14mm has a little less power than the 3S 14mm, with about the same pop and control, and its sweet spot is clearly smaller. The 3S 14mm also spins more.

The 16mm is where they really split. The Pro IV 16mm has clearly more power than the 3S 16mm but far less pop, and its sweet spot is a little smaller. Control is the same, and the 3S 16mm spins more here too. Both Pro IV thicknesses also swing a little lighter than the 3S.

If you liked the 3S, the Pro IV gives you the same family feel for less money. But if the pop was what you loved about the 3S 16mm, the Pro IV 16mm isn't going to give you that, because it trades that pop for power.