Vatic Pro Prism Review | Why Spend $200+?
When Vatic came to market, their claim to fame was producing high performance paddles at a much cheaper price than the market was used to.
With the new Vatic Pro Prism, they have continued this tradition by creating a $100 paddle that competes with paddles well over $200.
Editor note:
This review focuses on the 16mm variants of the paddle. The 14mm became available when this review was finished.
Background
Let’s boil it down simply for what Vatic was going for with the Prism. It’s meant to be an improved version of the JoolaHyperion CFS, for a very cheaper price. I say this, because the paddle has the edge foam but isn’t “thermoformed”, or whatever that even means these days, because it seems like most people in Pickleball don’t even use the term right. The simple way to put it, is that this has edge foam just like the Hyperion did, but it’s not done the same way as these gen 2 raw carbon fiber paddles where they are much stiffer and much more powerful.
So the claim to fame for the Prism is going to be that it’s similar to a Hyperion, but for less than half the cost and that’s why this is worth looking into.
Specs
Price: $100
Discount code PBSTUDIO will save you $10
Thickness: 16mm & 14mm
Weight range:
V7: 8.1-8.5oz
Flash: 7.9-8.2oz
Shape:
V7: Elongated
Flash: Hybrid
Handle length: 5.3”
Grip circumference: 4.25”
Face: Raw carbon fiber
Core: Polymer
Swing weight:
V7: 128 (VERY high)
Flash 114
Twist weight:
V7: 6.87
Flash: 6.47
Spin RPM: 1900
Okay, the first thing we obviously need to address is the difference in swing weight because it’s massive. The Prism is in a really good spot at 114. In fact, that’s around my ideal range for a paddle. However, the V7 at 128 is going to be really heavy for most people and it’s not going to be the one I would recommend. If you know you don’t mind higher swing weights, then go for it. But for the vast majority of the market, the Flash is going to be the better choice. Especially if Tennis elbow is something you struggle with, I wouldn’t advise considering the V7.
One of the things that Vatic did address from the Hyperion is that the handle is all one piece. So, hopefully it won’t have the same fatal flaw that the Hyperion did where it snapped at the handle all the time.
Control
As we start talking about control, I’ll be talking about the Flash first because that’s the one I spent the most time with. These are absolutely both control paddles. Dinking feels very easy because the sweet spot is forgiving, you can generate a lot of spin, and it isn’t overly poppy.
Resets are also really easy, but I actually had to make an adjustment to my game. I’ve gotten so used to thermoformed paddles and how poppy they are, that I’m used to holding my paddle completely still for a reset, but I found on the Flash I actually had to put a little bit into my resets to get the ball to go over the net. After I made that adjustment, I had absolutely no issues with it.
As you can imagine, third shot drops also feel really easy when you are talking about such high tier spin paddle. I would say 95% of the time that I used this paddle, I opted to drop the ball because it was so consistent and since it gravitates toward a control paddle, I didn’t find that my drive was anything special with it.
For the V7, all of those statements still hold true, the paddle is just heavier and feels more substantial. I would say resets feel even better because the ball has such a hard time moving the paddle. I think if you can handle the weight, the control is even better with a paddle that has such a high swing weight because the ball can’t move it around much.
Power
Now, power is the one area that I wouldn’t get your hopes up for. I would put this in the same ball park as a gen 1 paddle, but maybe a tiny bit more. Especially for the V7 since it has so much plow through with the high swing weight.
I didn’t end up being bothered by this as much as I thought I would. The only area that I found it to be very noticeable coming from my Double Black Diamond was in hand battles. I found I had to work harder to get the pace I needed to get ahead or finish the point. It was great if I wanted to reset the ball, but if I wanted to counter attack, it just didn’t have that extra oomph that I’ve gotten used to.
As mentioned previously, I also found myself using a third shot drop 95% of the time, because driving just didn’t feel that effective with this paddle. I don’t think it means you can’t get power, but my drops were so nice that it was just easier to get to the kitchen line with it.
I noticed a similar thing for my serves. They weren’t that powerful and would land slightly shorter than I’m used to. This lead to me trying to maximize spin as much as I could with a very loopy serve to make the ball bounce a little higher than my opponents strike zone. I wouldn’t say it was better than my regular serve, but it did seem to work pretty well.
So when comparing the Prism to Vatics other paddles, this is going to be the most control oriented paddle in the line up. I wouldn’t buy this expecting to have the crazy power of thermoformed paddles.
Sweet spot
Both versions of the Prisms have fantastic sweet spots. There was no point in my testing where I found it to be something I was aware of. It just felt good.
Make sure to check out the video at the top of the article, because in the sweet spot section I talk about a new measurement for sweet spot that some might find interesting, but it’s a bit wordy for an article.
Conclusion:
I can only say good things about the Vatic Prism. I think for $90 dollars with a discount code, this paddle is the best value that you can purchase right now. Heck, a year and a half ago one of the best paddles you could buy for $100 was the old crappy Franklin Signature paddle. Now we have a paddle that’s giving performance of $200+ dollar paddles for $90.
Personally, I don’t think it’s an exact Hyperion clone like people were saying at first. I hit the Hyperion and there’s still a really satisfying feel that I enjoy about it that the Vatic doesn’t have. But for less than half the price, I can easily get over that. Especially when the Vatic shouldn’t be snapping at the handle like the Hyperion does, or at a bare minimum, far less.
For the time being, this will be my default recommendation for $100. The Vatic Prism Flash gives you everything you need in a competitive paddle at an unbelievable price.
In fact, I enjoyed this paddle so much that I went and played a doubles and mixed tournament with it and got first in mixed and second in mens. This might be one of the only times that I’ve used a paddle I was testing in a tournament. So that should tell you how confident I was playing with it.
For the vast majority of you watching this video, I would say pick up the Prism. The v7 is going to be too heavy for most people. If you’re someone who can handle that swing weight, you probably already know you’ll be fine. However, if you’re someone who isn’t sure if that swing weight is too high or not, I’d recommend just going with the Flash.