SLK Dauntless, Enhance Turbo EPP, Speedup 14s, and more
Link to video: https://youtu.be/sOP8R7yGiF8
Hey guys, welcome to another live gameplay playtest. This is going to be my first play session back from vacation and since I'm going in a bit rusty, I'll be hitting widebody paddles to get back into the groove of things. The main paddles we want to try out are going to be the SLK Dauntless, Warping Point Sophon Widebody, Speedup Tide 14s, and the Enhance Turbo Widebody. We'll also be taking an updated look at the Volair Shift widebody now that I've added weight, and the benchmark paddle of the session will be the Selkirk Boomstik. Let's get into it.
All right, the first paddle we'll be testing out is going to be the SLK Dauntless. Construction wise it's a full foam slab in the core instead of the popular floating foam cores we see and it also has these new versions of MOI weights they've attached to the sides. Let's get into some gameplay
All right for some closing thoughts, this isn't a bad paddle, in fact this is the paddle I played best with according to the people I played with, but you need to temper your expectations. At a glance you might be hoping for a $180 budget Boomstik without the Infinigrit but it's actually a budget 008 with the addition of MOI weights. Like I mentioned during gameplay, this is a very soft paddle, especially compared to the other widebodies I brought out for the session. The feel is similar to the 008 and for metrics, the MOI weights give this a swingweight of 108 and a twistweight of 7.60. Now the issue is that at $180 it's hard to justify the cost of a plush control paddle in 2026 when there are many more affordable options right now. All the Dauntless really has going for it is that it's a control paddle with a durable foam core and while the MOI weights do make it so the paddle is usable stock, they also come in thinner than the old MO1 weights on the Boomstik so it's easier to tinker around and add weights over them.
It's not a bad paddle option for people looking for a foam control paddle from Selkirk, especially considering it's almost half the price of a 008 and if you are not expecting a budget Boomstik, you may enjoy this one. But again, this doesn't have the durable Infinigrit and you may be better off with the several sub $100 control paddles that already exist.
Next paddle is going to be the Enhance Turbo EPP widebody so this is a floating EPP foam core with a CFC surface that on paper sounds like a Bread & Butter Loco but let's take a look.
For the metrics we got 7.20 for the twistweight and 110 for the swingweight. Basically it's very similar in play to the Loco. I wouldn't necessarily say it's a budget version of it though. I do think performance wise they are in a similar realm, they just play slightly differently. The Loco has more power to it and a denser feel that pockets the ball a bit more while the Turbo is slightly lighter on contact but the difference is pretty small. The big change though is the shape, the Loco has more of a curved top with a slightly longer handle while the Turbo has a square top and a shorter 5 inch handle. The handle difference is going to be the biggest differentiator here rather than the feel. The Turbo is a bit more forgiving and stable because it's got more paddle surface area and lower balance compared to the Loco. Personally I prefer the latter because I do like having a higher balance and longer handles to give me a bit more leverage on flicks and rolls but this is more of a personal preference. At $100 after a code the Turbo really is a steal as it plays very close to the Loco while also coming in different shapes than it so it’s not an exact 1 to 1 clone.
All right moving on we have the Sophon from Warping Point. I'm not too familiar with the construction here but my understanding is that it's a new foam paddle from Warping Point and it's actually a UPA-A approved paddle.
So the widebody Sophon has a swingweight 109 of and a twistweight of 7.35. This one I thought was solid and didn't really have much to say about it since its play profile is basically like a Vatic V-Sol Pro Bloom. It's a slight step down-in firepower and the feedback isn't quite as hollow for my first impressions but overall it plays in a similar realm. The shape on the widebody is like the Enhance Turbo so it's got that shorter 5 inch handle with the squared off shape so it is an option if you want more forgiveness compared to the Bloom and prefer shorter handles.
Next up let's take a look at the Tide 14s from Speedup. This is a 14mm MPP foam core paddle and we've taken a look at their elongated 14L before but let's see how the 14S competes.
All right for metrics we got a 108 swingweight and a twistweight of 7.35. I quite like the feel of these Tide paddles, they don't have that deep sound and hollow feedback of 16mm MPP paddles and I do enjoy the slightly stiffer feedback the thinner 14mm cores give. Now I didn't think the 14s surprised me with its firepower like the 14L did. When I hit the 14L, in comparison to other elongated paddles I thought it was a heavy hitter but with the 14S, I still see it as a power paddle for widebodies but not top tier among them and instead more mid tier. Also for the metrics, the 14L came a heavier in swingweight for an elongated while the 14S has metrics that are more in line with its shape. But overall, solid first impressions, it’s a great performance power paddle that uses a unique 14mm MPP core that no one else currently uses
The last paddle is going to be an updated look at the Volair Shift widebody. It's been a while since I've been able to whip this paddle out since I haven't done widebody testing recently but for this session, I decided to add weight in a 4 corner setup so I bumped the static weight from 8.0 to 8.4 so let's take a look at how it goes.
I do think with weight the paddle did perform better than I last remember. It’s got a nice feel to it where it pockets the ball a bit on contact but still has high pop to it. The weight helped in giving it more of a dense ball feel and adding plow through on my drives though I did add too much as it did feel heavier than I liked. I’ll look to cut the added weight in half for the next session but still, some positive impressions overall with the Shift. This and the 14mm Speedup Tide were the paddles I enjoyed the most which is surprising since I typically prefer 16mms but what they’re doing with the construction here gives the 14s a good feel.
