Cyclotron Maks 001: First J6 clone?

The shape here is interesting, it’s the first Sword & Shield J6 Clone we’ve seen! I’m actually surprised there haven’t been as many clones of the J2 and J6 shapes considering how popular they’ve been with the good metrics they provide for paddles but here we are with our first one.

The Maks 001 is a floating core paddle that’s 14mm but it surprisingly has very solid numbers for a thinner paddle. From what I see on their website: https://www.cyclotronpickleball.com/products/maks-001 they use a heavier edge foam on the bottom of the paddle compared to the upper parts which I bet is why we’re seeing higher TW numbers. 116 and 6.75 is a SW/TW ratio that is well above average for an elongated though it also helps that the J6 shape itself is more stable and bottom heavy than the traditional Crbn 1 shape most companies use.

In terms of how it plays, I personally wasn’t the biggest fan for initial impressions. I enjoyed hitting the J6NF more in comparison. But I do want to preface that this is personal preference coming in to play here because typically I’m not a fan of thinner paddles. I found the J6NF to have a better overall feel that was more solid/fuller while the Maks 001 was lighter with a sharper pitch. The firepower wasn’t as high as the J6NF and overall it was a decent paddle but I just didn’t connect with the feel that much. I will continue to hit this though and plan on adding some weight a bit higher on the paddle to bump up the balance point and to see if it gives it a denser feel