Pickleball Apes' Zen S+ is a light foam hybrid, and it hits harder than any paddle I've tested, with a perfect 100 for power. If you take full swings and like to end points, this is the one I'd get. You get all that power, and it still swings lighter than every hybrid but one, so it feels quick in your hands at the kitchen. And no hybrid I've tested has a bigger sweet spot, so a ball you catch off center still goes over with pace. It's $170 with my code STSPICKLEBALL, and it's approved for USA Pickleball tournaments.
The catch is the grit. I haven't run it through my wear test yet, owners are split on the spin, and Pickleball Apes has said the current surface isn't the final one. So if you need spin that's still there months from now, the Zen is more of a gamble than a paddle whose grit I've already tested.
Pros and cons
Pros
- It has more power than any paddle I've tested, and it's still one of the lightest swinging hybrids, so your hands stay quick at the kitchen.
- Even your mishits come off with pace, and it's one of the most stable hybrids, so the face doesn't twist much when you miss the center.
- Control comes in right at the hybrid average, which is rare at this power level, so your soft game holds up.
- Spin is a good bit higher than the average hybrid.
Cons
- If spin that lasts for months matters to you, the grit is the big unknown until it's been through my wear test.
- Nothing jumps off the face on slow shots, so if you like to just block your resets, you'll have to learn to swing through them.
- Pickleball Apes' return policy is strict, which matters if you're not sure you'll keep it.
Quick answers
Is the Zen S+ too powerful to control?
No. It's right around the average hybrid for control, which is rare for a paddle that hits this hard. What it won't do is put pace on a soft block for you, so if you mostly block your resets, give yourself some time to adjust.
Will the Zen S+ grit last?
I don't know yet, because I haven't put it through my wear test. Owners are split on it, and I go through what they've said in the spin section below.
Is the Zen S+ USA Pickleball approved?
Yes. USA Pickleball approved it in June 2026, so you can play it in any USA Pickleball sanctioned tournament. It isn't UPA-A approved, though, and that's the approval PPA and MLP pro events use.
Is there an elongated or widebody Zen?
Not yet. The S+ hybrid is the only Zen shape on Pickleball Apes' store.
How I tested
Every number here comes from tests I run myself. My Stalker Pro 3S radar picks up the ball speed off full swings for power and off short punches at the kitchen for pop, and it gives me spin, in RPM, on my serves. Swing weight is how quick a paddle feels when you move it, and twist weight tells you how steady the face stays on off-center hits. I get both off my Briffidi SW1. Sweet spot and control are my ratings from soft shots off my ball machine, the resets, drops and dinks. That's 254 paddles so far, and when I compare the Zen with other paddles, I only count the 186 that are on the market today.
What I haven't done yet is run the Zen through my wear test. That's where I play 75 games on a paddle and track how rough the face stays with my Starrett SR160 roughness tester. So on how long the grit lasts, all I've got right now is what owners are saying.
The most power I've tested, and it still swings light
When you take a full swing on a drive or a serve, the ball really jumps off the Zen. It scored 100 out of 100 for power, and nothing else has done that. The closest hybrid is 11SIX24's Ultré Power 2, and it scored 94, a bit behind.
What makes all that power easy to use is how light it swings. Only one other hybrid has a lighter swing weight, and that one has a lot less power, while every other hybrid that scores in the 90s for power swings heavier. So when the ball comes at you fast at the kitchen, the Zen moves fast enough to meet it, and you don't give up any hand speed to get the power.
The harder you hit it, the more it gives you, and that's true even on short swings. On a quick punch at the kitchen, the ball comes off faster than it does off any other hybrid. That's pop, and it scored 92, so your counters and speedups get on people fast. But on a slow dink or a soft block, the face gives you almost nothing extra. That's great when you want the ball to die, and it's a little more work when you want a soft shot to carry.
How it feels in your hand next to other hybrids you can buy
Quick in your hands, and steadier than most when you miss the middle
How heavy the paddle feels when you swing it. Lower means faster hands.
Only one hybrid you can buy swings lighter.
How well the paddle resists turning in your hand when you hit off center. Higher means steadier.
Only four hybrids you can buy are steadier.
How its sweet spot stacks up against other hybrids you can buy
The biggest sweet spot of any hybrid you can buy
Both rings are sized to their score.
A sweet spot no other hybrid beats
The sweet spot scored 85 out of 100, and no other hybrid tops it, which means a ball you catch toward the edge or down near the throat still clears the net with real pace. It's also really stable for how light it is. Its twist weight is higher than all but four hybrids, so the face holds steady when you block one off center.
You don't need to add weight to it. Four of the owners who reviewed it on Pickleball Apes' site added some anyway, and since it swings so light, there's room for that. Just try it stock first, because Pickleball Apes won't take a paddle back once it has lead tape on it.
Control right at the hybrid average
For control, the Zen scored 71 out of 100, right at the average for a hybrid. That doesn't sound like much until you look at what usually comes with this much power. Most paddles with power in the 90s score under 50 for control, and none of them has more control than the Zen. Even the Ultré has less.
On the court, that means your drops and resets stay low for a paddle this powerful, because the ball doesn't spring off the face when you hit it soft. The trade is that you have to swing through those shots instead of just holding the paddle out and letting the ball come off it. If that's how you hit most of your resets now, it takes some getting used to, and that's the main reason it sits at No. 7 on my Best of 2026 list instead of higher. It's still No. 1 on my list of the best power paddles.
Spin is good, but the grit is the big question
How its spin stacks up against other hybrids you can buy
More spin than most hybrids, 72 RPM above the average
The top three for spin
- 1Honolulu J2CR Long Handle Crystal Blue2,467
- 211SIX24 Vapor Jelly Bean 22,40364 RPM behind
- 311SIX24 Ultré Jelly Bean 22,39770 RPM behind
- 11Pickleball Apes Zen S+2,344123 RPM behind
Spin comes from the face grabbing the ball, so once the texture wears smooth, you lose spin. On my serve test the Zen put 2,344 RPM on the ball, more than most hybrids, so there's real spin there for your serves and topspin drives.
How long it stays that way, I can't tell you yet, and it's hard to even pin down what this grit is. Pickleball Apes' product page doesn't name the surface, while USA Pickleball's listing calls it a carbon fiber face with a durable resin finish and some shops that carry it call it SilverBack Grit. The brand has also talked about reworking the surface, so with no name on the listing, there's no way to tell when a new one starts shipping. As of November 7, 2026, there's no new version on its store or on USA Pickleball's list.
Owners don't settle it either. In the reviews on Pickleball Apes' site, six said the spin or the grit let them down, one of them after more than 45 hours of play. About eight were happy with the spin, but mostly after only a few hours, and only two of them said anything about wear. The two grits I hold everything up against, 11SIX24's HexGrit and Honolulu's Crystal Blue, each dropped only about 1% in spin over 75 games of my wear test, and that's the bar the Zen still has to clear. If you want spin that holds up for months, that's the biggest reason to look at the alternatives below.
How it feels and sounds
The Zen is full foam inside, so there's no honeycomb at all. USA Pickleball lists the core as MPP foam with an EVA ring around it. It leans soft for a power paddle, and on drives the ball seems to sit on the face for a beat before it takes off.
What you'll notice more is the sound. It has a big, hollow thonk on drives, and some players find it too loud.
Before you order
USA Pickleball approved the Zen in June 2026, before its new spin test started on October 1, and that test doesn't apply to paddles that were already approved, so the Zen stays legal for USA Pickleball sanctioned play. UPA-A hasn't approved it, so it's out for PPA and MLP pro events, but most leagues and clubs accept either approval.
The Zen has been selling in pre-order batches. When I checked on November 7, 2026, Pickleball Apes' home page said the Zen was back in stock, but the product page still had a sold out note next to the S+. So check the product page before you count on it showing up in time for a tournament. That page had it at $189, marked down from $200, and with my code it's $170.
Be careful with returns, too. Pickleball Apes gives you 30 days, but only if the paddle barely looks used and has no lead tape or overgrip on it. Its policy also says it can't take returns on sale items, and the Zen is marked down right now, so if there's any chance you'll send it back, ask the store before you order. The warranty is 12 months for defects only, and it doesn't cover the face texture wearing down.
What owners are saying
I went through the owner reviews on Pickleball Apes' own site on November 7, 2026, and nearly all of them give it four or five stars. What comes up most, in about 15 of them, is that owners get big power when they swing and a soft game they can still control. Two of them came over from Honolulu's J2CR, one of them from a J2CR Long Handle.
The complaints line up with the catches above. Besides the grit and spin complaints, four owners had a hard time controlling it. And two one-star reviews from early November stood out. In one, the face came apart within the first few uses, and the replacement still hadn't shipped four weeks later. In the other, a pre-order never got picked up by the shipper.
If the Zen isn't quite right
Two paddles you might pick instead
How it stacks up against the Ultré Power 2 and the J2CR Long Handle Crystal Blue
A paddle only wins a score when it leads by 5 points or more.
Zen S+Hybrid · $169.99
Ultré Power 2Hybrid · $199.99The Zen S+ hits harder, has a bigger sweet spot and is more controllable. The Ultré Power 2 spins more. Pop is about the same. The Ultré Power 2 costs about $30 more.
Zen S+Hybrid · $169.99
J2CR Long Handle Crystal BlueHybrid · $175.50The Zen S+ hits harder. The J2CR Long Handle spins more. Pop, sweet spot and control are about the same. The J2CR Long Handle costs about $5 more.
I checked the stores for all three on November 6 and 7, 2026.
11SIX24 Ultré Power 2: power with a grit I've tested
If you want spin you know will last on a paddle that still hits hard, the Ultré is the one I'd take. It's one of 11SIX24's power hybrids and my No. 1 paddle overall, and its HexGrit barely lost any spin through my wear test. In my serve test, the two spin about the same. The real cost is control, a good bit less of it, so it's easier to pop up a drop if you rush it. It's also a little behind the Zen on power and sweet spot, and heavier to swing. It's only UPA-A approved, which means you can't use it in USA Pickleball sanctioned tournaments, though most leagues accept it. At $200 with code STSPICKLEBALL, you're paying $30 more for that tested grit, and 11SIX24 had it in stock.
Honolulu J2CR Long Handle Crystal Blue: the most spin I've tested
The J2CR Long Handle Crystal Blue is Honolulu's foam hybrid with a 6 inch handle, and it's my spin pick here. It puts more spin on the ball than any other paddle, a good bit more than the Zen, and its Crystal Blue grit held up just as well as HexGrit in my wear test. What it costs you is power. It has a good bit less than the Zen and swings a bit heavier, and it's less stable than most hybrids when you miss the center. Like the Ultré, it's UPA-A only. It's $176 with code STS10 on Honolulu's own site, just $6 more than the Zen. That page showed it sold out on November 6, though, while some other stores had it in stock at the full $195.
Enhance MPP Turbo ArmorGrit Hybrid: a durable grit for $70 less
If you'd rather keep it around $100, Enhance's ArmorGrit hybrid is where I'd look. It's a foam hybrid with a durable coating over its carbon face, and at $99.99 with code STSPICKLEBALL, it gives you about the same spin and control as the Zen. The main thing you give up is power. It's also slightly heavier to swing, and pop and sweet spot are a little behind. The catch is the coating. In mid October, about 20 to 25 games into my wear test, ArmorGrit was wearing down a little faster than HexGrit and Crystal Blue, though not as fast as Selkirk's InfiniGrit, another durable grit. And unlike the other two, it's USA Pickleball approved, and Enhance had it in stock.
My call
If power is what you want most, I'd get the Zen S+. Nothing hits harder, it still swings light enough for fast hands, and the sweet spot is huge, so you're not giving up forgiveness for that pace. Just swing through your resets instead of blocking them, and try it stock before you add any tape.
If spin that lasts is what you care about most, I'd get a paddle with a grit that's been through my wear test, as long as UPA-A approval works for the events you play. For power, that's the Ultré Power 2, and for the most spin, it's the J2CR Long Handle Crystal Blue.
And if you'd rather spend about $100, I'd go with the ArmorGrit hybrid, which spins and controls about like the Zen for $70 less.
Testing details
- Tested
- July 26, 2026
- Power and pop
- 20 full serves for power and 20 punch volleys for pop, every ball speed read on a Stalker radar gun.
- Spin
- 20 more serves on the radar. I drop the outliers and average the rest, which gave this paddle 2,344 RPM.
- Swing and twist weight
- Measured on a Briffidi SW1 swing weight machine.
- Sweet spot and control
- The same dinks, drops, resets and drives off a Titan ONE ball machine, for every paddle.
- The scores
- Out of 100, with the same tests for every paddle. The top paddles I've tested score 100.
- Published
- Updated
- Scores from
- My database, updated November 8, 2026. How I test
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