Luzz Pro 4 Inferno Review

I've owned two Infernos, and I played about 20 games rotating one with Enhance's MPP Turbo, another power paddle, switching halfway through each game. I ranked it No. 5 in my Top 5 Paddles of 2026 in April, and you can see how it stacked up against five other paddles in my head-to-head video from February 16, 2026.

Pop is a different story. On short punches at the kitchen, it's right at the average elongated, so if you win points with speed-ups and counters, most of this year's power paddles will give you more.

You're not paying for all that pace with a slow paddle, either. Its swing weight is right around the average elongated's.

If your soft game is still coming along, it's going to cost you points at the kitchen. This is a paddle for players who already have soft hands and a controlled swing, and who want this feel and this pace badly enough to live with the odd drive sailing long.

The good news is that it forgives mishits about as well as the average elongated. Its sweet spot scored 50, right around the average elongated's 52, and its twist weight is about average too. So mishits aren't really the problem with this paddle. Touch is.

The bigger question is how long that lasts. Luzz left the carbon bare on this one, so the spin comes from the peel ply texture, the rough pattern left in raw carbon when the face is made, and that texture smooths out as you play. As it goes, so does your spin.

I haven't wear tested the Inferno itself. The raw carbon faces in my wear test dropped 14 to 20% of their spin, though. Over 75 games, 11SIX24's HexGrit and Honolulu's Crystal Blue each gave up only about 1%. So if you want spin that lasts, a durable grit is the safer buy. Control is what you'll notice your first day with the Inferno, but the grit is what catches up with you later.

So you'd be paying for more pace and a grit that's part of the face. I haven't wear tested the Inferno2 yet, so I can't say how much longer that grit lasts. When I checked, Luzz had the Pro 4 on sale for $189 and the Inferno2 at $239, so the newer paddle costs $50 more.

Approval is where it gets tricky. Luzz says the Inferno2 has both approvals, but the version it's selling right now is the UPA-A one, and the version with both is still in production. So I wouldn't count on it for USA Pickleball sanctioned tournaments yet, though most local leagues and clubs take UPA-A paddles.

If you don't play USA Pickleball sanctioned tournaments and you want the most pace you can get in an elongated, get the Inferno2. And if you already have a Pro 4 Inferno you love, a bit more power isn't enough reason to replace it.

Two of the complaints line up with the trade-offs above. On Trustpilot, one owner wrote that the "Pro 4 Inferno by far is the best paddle," but that the carbon surface "lost lots of grit quite fast." On Luzz's site, another said push shots and dead drops took time to dial in. One more owner on Trustpilot had the foam under the grip come up when they pulled the overgrip off, and Luzz handled it under warranty.

When I picked my best paddles for November, the unMARKed and the Boomstik were two power elongateds I said I'd buy right now, and I said the unMARKed "hits just about as hard as the Boomstik, but it's quicker in the hands." The open question is the grit. It's only been out since August 2026, so I can't tell you yet how well it holds up long term.

There are a few catches. The unMARKed is a firmer, crisper paddle than the Inferno, so it won't give you that plush feel. Its control is only average for an elongated, so you still want a solid soft game with it. It's USA Pickleball approved only, so it's out for PPA and MLP pro events, which is where the Inferno's dual approval still matters. And MARK is selling it on pre-order, with the next batch due to ship November 13, 2026, and you pay half up front. If none of that bothers you, the unMARKed is the better paddle, and it's what I'd buy.