20 Best Ping Pong Paddle For Beginners (2023 Updated)

I didn’t know if a premium paddle could make a difference in my game, but I found it really does help to have a good paddle. The grip and weight in my hand felt better than my less-than-premium paddle, and the stickiness of the surface helped as I am learning to put a spin on the ball.

Good paddle for a player that wants to up their game.

This is the best ping pong paddle ever. It’s a little bit heavier than your average paddle, but the power it gets because of it will improve your game tenfold. Not regretting this at all.

Its a very smooth paddle for a beginner. You can create good spin on the ball and not a heavy paddle for me. So for a beginner that’s trying to get to the next level its good.

This paddle is definitely an upgrade over the standard paddles. We own the sand paper paddle, standard thin dimpled rubber paddles, and smooth padded paddles. Comparing this one to the other ones I can say this one affords more flexibility in your shot choice.

There will definitely be a learning curve to figure out how best to achieve maximum spin to help get some of those trickier shots in. The feel of the bounce off this paddle is firm and consistent throughout the paddle, doesn’t seem to have any dead spots.

My smooth padded paddle seems to have some dead spots, so that‚it’s a huge plus over that one. The pad on this paddle has some “grip” to it, with a slight amount of sticky-ness. The weight is nice and handle is comfy.

Overall, very happy with this purchase. Is it worth spending 3 to 4 times more than other paddles? Well, other sports equipment costs A LOT more than this paddle. So my justification is “why not?”. I wouldn’t by a whole set for occasional recreational use.

And there are many players who might abuse a paddle and this paddle is not for those kinds of folks. If you want a paddle to call your own and take care of it, go for this one and enjoy it.

These are high quality, solid paddles. It feels like I have better control with these. They’re fairly expensive for ping pong paddles, but at least they seem like they’ll last a long time. The only issues I have with these are that they are a little too heavy so I feel like it wears on my hand/wrist a bit, and the edges along where the handle connects to the main surface are kind of rough.

The roughness ends up being a problem for my thumb and/or forefinger depending on how I hold the paddle. This could probably be sanded down, but I haven’t tried that yet. Overall, these are high quality paddles that will last a long time.

I bought this racket (after not playing for years) to return to the sport. At first I really liked it but after only 4 or 5 weeks the tackiness on the rubber was gone and these rubbers have next to zero mechanical grip.

I had bought my wife a $20 Sanwei complete with 729 rubbers from aliexpress on advice from a table tennis forum and it is a much better racket. After 5 months of regular use the rubbers are still great! There are two big issues with this racket, the first is that carbon lacks feeling and that is no good for a developing player.

The other issue is that the rubbers that come on this racket are garbage. Let’s face it – you are a developing player if you are looking at a sporting goods store to buy a racket even if you have never lost a game at the office.

If you are even remotely interested in learning how to play the sport, do yourself a favor and DO NOT buy a pre-made racket. Check out ColesTT or zero pong and get a proper racket you will be much happier, for less money too!.

This is my second Stiga Raptor. I like the first so much that I bought a second one. Ebay routinely has prices 10-20 percent below places like Amazon. They are strong, durable, lightweight, and attractive paddles with excellent speed, power, and spin control.

I play daily at work for about 90 minutes, during breaks and over lunch. My competition is 8-9 co-workers of intermediate/advanced capabilities, all of whom are armed with Killerspin and Airblade paddles.

We have become VERY serious and competitive! I am the sole Stiga enthusiast. My Raptor and I hang with the best of them, winning more games than not. If you’re a serious, competitive player, or are somebody just looking to improve their game, I highly recommend this paddle!.

The Raptor is an excellent paddle. Noticeably more control than other paddles such as Butterfly and Stiga Flash for less money. I had initially purchased one to try and loved it so much I purchased 3 more, 2 as a gift to players in my ping pong group.

Though people with large hands might find the handle of this paddle to be slightly shorter. Highly recommend if you want to improve your game.

I am new to the game and have been playing daily for about 3 months now. In that time I have tried 4 different paddles, all of which were well known brands and some were pretty costly! Unfortunately, none of them worked for me.

I was beyond frustrated. Finally I found Counterstrike and they helped me to find the paddle that would work best for me. The paddle came quickly, was packaged beautifully and I was anxious to try it out.

I went to the local club where I have been playing and for the first time I was finally able to try out my new Karma paddle. This was the paddle for me! The control I got was amazing! So much better than any of the other paddles I had played with.

All I heard that day from the other club members were praises on how much better I was playing and how much my game had improved! One of the more experienced players that had never really wanted to play me as a beginner before actually asked me to play! The praises continued throughout the afternoon and I finally had to admit my improvement had a lot to do with my new paddle.

The Karma got passed around a lot that day and a few people even wanted to try it out! Amazing what choosing the correct paddle for your skill level can do for you. Thanks Counterstrike!.

Ive been using the Phantom Light paddle from CounterStrike for about 4 months now and let me just say, this is BY FAR the BEST table tennis paddle ive EVER used. Ecstatic is an understatement. Ive hit more winners than Joey Chestnut eats hotdogs and still counting!!! This paddle has virtually given me an unstoppable flick backhand, unbelievably controlled forehand and has completely reformed my game.

Im beyond pleased with this paddle and would reccomend it to absolutely everyone if youre trying to truly level up your game. CounterStrike completely knocked it out of the park on this one. -Garrett.

I’ve tried quite a few Killerspin racquets and I gotta say, they’re really blending together. It might be the fact that most of them come with their signature Nitrx-4z rubbers, as does this one, and I don’t like it.

The 7p blade is really stiff, which amounts to, (what feels to me) like quite a few uncontrollable shots when paired with The 4z rubbers. It could be my inexperience, but I also have a Ma Lin offensive paired with some DHS Hurricane 3 Neos and don’t have the same problem.

It’s fast, which is a plus, but very unforgiving when you’re trying to loop unless the ball already has a lot of topspin on it, which is the case most of the time. On the same note, I have a lot of success attacking chops with it, and my backhands, while maybe not the spinniest and really fast and mean with the 7p.

Eh, take this with a grain of salt. I could just be terrible at TT. I’m curious to see how the blade handles with a different rubber though. I get the feeling the results will be similar with Killerspin’s own Fortissimo, but there are plenty of fish in the rubber ocean.

I have the original Kido5A from 2005. I have had this as my go to offensive blade since 2005 and I have played with the Maza, Timo Boll, Nittaku Violin, and Avalon all around. I go back to the Kido5A as it is on the edge of being offensive, it is fast enough and small enough to feel offensive and for good top spin play.

The sweet spot is OK, not as big as carbon blades but not bad for precise play. The vibration is OK, not a lot, offensive control is good. Defensive blocking and looping is decent. Great all around offensive blade with the right rubber sheet.

I use it Vega Asia, the little bit dense sponge compared to Vega Europe with it and it is good. This is just as good as most other 5 ply blades in the $40 dollar range.

This paddle gives me more control and balance when I play with friends. Before, I was using any available paddles. Now I have consistency using one paddle. It’ll help me be a better player.

The paddles are high quality, lightweight, and have a comfortable hand grip. These look like they while last a while and have done great in a recent holiday party tournament with some avid players! The balls, however, are quite cheap in material and a couple are already bent from a few rounds of nonaggressive play.

My recommendation is have spare ping pong balls around!.

Just like 2 stars rating, play result isl based on player’s control. Will consider to buy another 4 stars paddle once knowing how to handle this paddle better.

Got this almost 6mo. Ago, so far we like them. I hope there’s no problems.

I’ve usually used your typical generic paddles when playing ping pong. When I saw these paddles for a couple dollars more than the basic ones I decided to give them a try. I am not disappointed. I would recommend these for recreational use or low level competitive play.

Over this past year, I have found myself playing ping pong more and more often to the point where I was playing it about three or more times a week some place or another and started to really love playing.

The only problem I found was that every time I played I’d have to get used to whatever paddles my friends had so I decided I’d get my own paddle but when I started seeing the prices of some paddles I got discouraged.

Then I found this paddle and it looked great so I purchased with no prior reviews. This paddle is great for it’s price and has upped my game so much. I am no pro but this paddle sure makes me feel like one.

The spin I get from this paddle, is quite crazy sometimes and the amount of control this paddle produces, was astonishing. Shots that I would never have gotten to hit the table are hitting exactly where I want them to go.

Just like when you shoot a basketball and already know whether or not it will go in, you can feel where the ball is going. Even when I put spin on it! I highly recommend this paddle to any recreational player who would consider themselves even average and would like to up their game and improve their style and technique.

I am always trying to find new ways to enhance my game and this paddle has been a real asset in doing so. I never leave home without my JOOLA Smash! And I mean never!.

I am someone who loves to play ping pong just never have the time to. I purchased this paddle based on the reviews being that it can improve your game. This paddle has a high amount of control which I was looking for.

I look forward to taking my game to the next level and this is the perfect paddle to do so. Our company building has a table so I will be back to playing more and more.

I wouldn’t waste my money on this racket, look over to the joola champ or joola cobra. The rubber is slow, not too spinny, the hollow handle makes it top-heavy it gives you a tendency to smash anything that pops up, i bought it and wasnt too thrilled, i replaced the rubber to a 729 high tension transcend rubber and it became TOO top heavy, i added some sand into the handle and it balanced out.

Only now its a good competitive racket.

this racket really surprised me. it is a lot better than its price would indicate. you can actually top spin and hit quite hard with it. if you have proper technique, you can get plenty of spin and speed.

the rubber is holding up quite well. now for the bad news: the packaging is not eco friendly and not having the option to replace the rubber is a total no no. so Butterfly, please get a grip (pun intended) and adopt proper environmental policies.

you’ll regret bitterly not doing it!.

Great combination of rubber and blade. The Pan Asia rubber is slow, soft, good control, good feel with adequate spin for beginners and higher level recreational players. It provides enough spin for you to learn proper strokes.

The rubber is also soft enough to allow you to learn how to smash and FH & BH drive hard while keeping the ball in. Basically is a softer version and less spinny version of the Butterfly Flextra. The blade is a carbon blade.

It goes well with the soft rubber as it provides power to a soft rubber. Much less vibration compared to regular wood blade. Has a nicer sound compared to regular wood. The blade is firm but not stiff.

Adds added control to a good control rubber. Overall build quality is good. Great all round bat from beginner to serious rec player. Next upgrade after this would be better rubber with more spin and speed but using the original carbon blade.

Part of the reason why I think its a good buy as you already have a decent carbon blade as standard and you have already learnt to use it and don’t have to waste money buying a carbon blade as a next upgrade.

Just get faster and spinnier soft rubbers. Then next upgrade would be even faster rubbers with hard sponge & more spin with the same blade.

This bat is amazing. Since I got it my game has improved a lot and in my job site I’ve been winning more as well. The short pips have made my back hand shots almost unstoppable and my friends are having a tougher time trying to keep the ball on the table, All in all an awesome product.

Macate.

good paddle for me. good spin and control and just the right amount of speed. I do not like a real fast paddle and had tried one that was to fast so it was good to find this one. same rubber on both sides which I like.

I would prefer a slightly bigger and squarer handle though.

This is my first penhold paddle after using a handshake paddle for 2 years. I’m a casual player with intermediate skills. I modified both handles too be more ergonomic and found little performance difference so far, 3 weeks of play, between my Stiga Ultralight paddle.

Top spins and back spins are the same, speed is the same if not slower with the Butterfly. I was hoping it would be night and day but it’s not the case. My control isn’t as accurate as with my Stiga.

The advantage of the Stiga is it’s weight. I can react slightly faster and feel like it’s more of an extension of my arm rather than “swinging” a paddle. Still a very nice paddle compared to any recreational paddle.

I recently bought this paddle as a means of making my game/play more consistent – by getting away from the “whatever paddle is laying around” situation i was frequently in. So, as a first timer to owning my own paddle, i can’t praise this paddle highly enough.

It’s super-consistent, ultra-responsive and hugely tacky. My game has very clearly gone to the next level. Most impressive to me is the control aspect – much of what i used to attempt from an “attack” stance is now almost guaranteed each time with this racket.

I can easily vary spin speed to my advantage. most of all i can count on MUCH more accuracy in ball placement on almost any shot. the paddle is well balanced for sure and is very, very predictable in it’s action i also love, love, love the.

“feel” of it? When I need to finesse a shot, the thickness of the rubber and the materials used in the handle etc. (wood and carbon fiber?), i can dial in what i need very precisely through the feedback from the paddle can’t say enough really but, for a $40 investment, I’m LOVING it.

A high-quality paddle that has stood the test of time–no fraying or disintegration of the rubber or handle. I’m not sure if it’s improved my game, but it sure is comfortable in the hand.

Its a heck of paddle for the price. The rubber has unexpectedly good spin and the paddle is really lightweight. The only issue I see with this is the grip(rather, the lack of it). Its not totally slippery of anything, but it gives you the feeling that it may slip from your hands any time during play.

Otherwise, its a very good paddle overall.

The paddle is comfortable to hold and plays well. The rubber is very tacky and has tremendous gripping power. A good intermediate racket with a balance of control spin, and speed. I even bought one for a friend of mine who tried it and likes it.

It is lighter than some other brands like Stiga. Butterfly is a major Japanese brand and a very good value for the price.

This paddle is not for beginners. An intermediate player can benefit it’s light weight and fast speed. The only things I do not like about it it’s the sound it makes when hitting the ball, it’s too loud because the rubber is a bit too thin.

Also, the protective tape does not cover the whole thickness of the paddle and leaves the edges vulnerable to damage if hit by accident against the table.

This is one of the best pre-assembled table tennis rackets out there, I upgraded from the Stiga Pro Carbon, there was a HUGE difference with power. It had the same amount if not MORE spin than the Stiga Pro Carbon.

This is PERFECT for a Topspin player. I highly recommend this racket to advanced topspin players.

The fastest blade that I have played with. The opponent does not even notices the ball when I smash one. A Good Offensive Racquet. Would recommend others to buy and try it out once. They will really love it.

Note: For Professional Players ONLY.

There are two Stiga Flow rackets: the basic Flow, and the Flow Spin. Both the photo of the packaging sleeve and the model number shown in the description are of the Flow Spin, yet the racket shipped is the basic Flow model.

That was a disappointment, as there is a difference in the speed, spin and control ratings of the two models. This one is rated 5, 5, and 9, respectively. Since I bought this on a lark, just to see what an outdoor racket was like and because I liked its look, I won’t go to the hassle of returning it, but I do think the information provided for this item is deceptive, describing as it does a different racket.

I have used it a few times now and am still getting used to it. It is heavier than my indoor rackets, and the extra weight seems to be in the handle. (A fellow player uses the Cornilleau outdoor racket, and his is significantly lighter.

) There is no sponge under the “rubber”, so contact with the ball produces a clicking sound — as if the ball were broken. This racket is not approved for tournament use, but it is fine for recreational play.

The high “control” rating would make it a possible choice for beginning players. There really is no reason to buy an outdoor racket, however, unless you are storing it outside, or using it in inclement weather.

Or you just happen to like the look of it, which is my reason for trying it. Overall it is average, but I rated it “poor’ in meeting expectations because it is not the racket identified in the photo/description.

I was expecting the Spin model described, and I didn’t get it.

Love the grip on it. Very different than a wooden paddle. Very solid. It feels like I’m hitting the sweet spot with every swing.

The grille looks perfect, I added an R/T emblem (painted pink for my wife’s car). Photo will be added soon

we use to buy the wooden paddles and they kept breaking and the rubber kept coming off every couple weeks, we decided to try these and got a set to try and decided to hold off before buying a second set, well.

we are still on the first set and had them a few months now! we have beginner players mostly and they stay outside, we haven’t had any complaints and they have withstood the abuse, creative uses (using them as ball bats) etc.

These paddles definitely will not break. They have outlasted the other paddles we have used. Other paddles have the covers peel off and the handles break regularly. They do wear down however and need replacing eventually.

Additionally I found the handles to be very short. Again, they do last longer than others, and the price is right.

I purchased the wooden rackets from S&S and they were 3 pieces and fell apart quickly. S&S sent me these and they are much better. one piece plastic design.

Great paddle for spinners that want lots of extra power, but the paddle control can be really off sometimes. I bought a $4 paddle with much less power but 10x more control, so overall, this paddle in my opinion is not worth the hype.

As my first pro paddle, it took a few matches getting used to it, but after I found it’s sweet spot, I saw the spins I was generating were giving my opponents difficulty keeping the ball on the table.

The only design I would alter is to increase the length of the handle by 5/8 of an inch. This review is not coming from a professional player, just a beginner who climbed up the club ladder rankings rapidly.