Joola Pro V Full-Line Paddle Review | Biggest Pickleball Release Of 2026!

Yola's 2026 paddle release is finally here. The new technology that they added, in my opinion, is genius. And throughout this video, I'm gonna explain to you why, and why it matters for you, especially from the perspective of myself as a 5.0 plus player. Of course, we have the paddles from previous years that you all know and love. The Perseus, Scorpius, Hyperion, and the Agassi Slash Graf. But this year, they added the all new Cosmos to the lineup, which is a hybrid shape. So we're gonna get into the shapes a little bit later. I'm gonna tell you guys what's new about this paddle and how it differs from the ones that are already in the lineup. There was a lot of speculation this year about whether Yola would jump into the full foam paddle trend, a paddle where the core is entirely made out of foam. They didn't this year. And they said that they just don't think full foam is all that innovative. So this is a gen three construction. You have your polypropylene honeycomb core and the foam on the edge, just like you've had the previous two years. But the new technology that they added, in my opinion, is way more impactful than anything they could have done in the core. I'm gonna explain to you how that's gonna help your game. And I'm gonna explain some of the aspects of it that a lot of the other reviewers out there aren't quite talking about. So a lot of this paddle is the same as what we saw last year in the Pro 4. You have your polypropylene honeycomb core in the middle. You have your foam ring on the end. And you have the Techflex Power foam inserts in the throat that you can see through right here, through the edge guard. That's all the stuff that we saw last year with the Pro 4, similar to what we saw with the 3S. This is the industry standard in pickleball these days. And what the gen three polypropylene honeycomb core and outer foam ring construction allows for is maximum power and spin because the ball sinks into it. So when the ball hits the core in the sweet spot of the paddle, it's gonna sink in because this is gonna flex a little bit due to the foam on the outside. So the ball sits on the paddle for longer, increasing your spin because you have more dwell time, which is how long the ball stays on the paddle. And it increases your power because you get a little bit of a trampoline effect. Just because the core construction isn't different from last year doesn't mean that it's necessarily not the best thing for your game. The new technology that they added is called the kinetic frame. So what this allows for is for the frame to flex in a different way than previous models. So if you take a Pro 4, for example, the frame is gonna flex like a diving board. So when you hit the ball, let's say the ball's coming from up here, when I hit it, the handle's gonna stay in relatively the same position and the head of the paddle is gonna go this way. So it's gonna come down. With the kinetic frame technology, when the ball hits, the paddle frame is gonna flex downward with the grip staying in the same place. It's kind of like a platform moving down, right? Think of like an elevator. This whole frame, instead of turning like this, is just gonna come straight down a little bit. EULA claims, and a lot of the other reviewers that you've heard talking about this paddle back this up and they're all mirroring the same sentiment, is that you get more controllable power. So you have more control over how much output you get on your shot. So if I'm going for more of a soft shot, like a dink or a drop, it's gonna be a little more of a predictable, soft response. Or if I'm going for a bigger swing, a drive, a speed up, I'm taking that bigger crack at the ball, you're gonna get more power and it's gonna be overall a more predictable outcome. So whatever you put in is what you get out. That's what we've been hearing about this paddle. And I also agree with that. I found that on the softer shots, I was able to get a little bit less on it. So I was, for example, a defensive dink, I needed to put a reset right back in the kitchen. I was able to easily do so in a way that I almost didn't expect coming from the Pro 4 where the ball might pop a little bit. There's a lot more absorption here. But on the bigger shots, I didn't feel any sacrifice in power at all. If anything, I felt like I got a little more spin. It felt a little bit heavier, which would make sense because if the paddle's coming back this way, rather than flexing this way, the ball is gonna sit on the frame for a little bit longer. So you're gonna get a little more dwell time. But the one thing that not everyone's talking about is what this means for your directional control. And I think this is the most important thing, right? It's not about controlling your power. It's not about controlling your spin. It's not about controlling whether you get the ball in the kitchen or past the kitchen. It's about controlling the direction of the shot, which of course is very important in pickleball because that's what allows you to build points and work your opponent, play the chess game, right? If you hit the ball in the same spot every time, or if you can't control your spot, so you're not playing chess out there, everyone wants to play chess on the pickleball court. This allows you to do that much better than any of the other paddles that I've seen. And that's the innovation this year. So I'm gonna explain to you why that works. So when you have your traditional diving board, what happens when the ball comes straight down, for example, and you'll have found this in the published videos online showing the difference in the angles. When you have the ball come straight down at the paddle, with the diving board flex that comes down this way on an angle, the ball is gonna go off on an angle too. So the way that it comes down is not the way that it's gonna come off the paddle. Like if you were to throw a ball against the ground, or just a perfectly flat surface with no flex, it's gonna come right back up with the same angle you threw it at. But with a paddle that flexes, when you throw it down, the flex is gonna cause it to go off at a different angle. That angle is much sharper with the Pro 4 with the diving board effect versus the Pro 5 with the platform effect. Because the whole frame comes down straight, the ball is gonna come up on a much less severe angle. There will be a little bit of an angle, it can't be perfect, but it's not gonna be as sharp as the Pro 4. So what that means is you have a lot better control over the direction that you're hitting in, which is important because pickleball is all about angles. So let's take, for example, if the ball is coming at me diagonally, let's say my opponent sped up at me and I'm countering, you've heard of the triangle pattern, which is where the ball is gonna follow in the same direction that it comes. If I hit the ball with that diving board effect, the angle is gonna be much more pronounced off my paddle. And even if I'm able to turn the paddle and get right behind the ball to redirect it and break out of the triangle, I still might have the ball bleed in that more predictable direction for my opponent because the angle the ball is coming at is gonna be pronounced by the diving board. But when I have the paddle come straight back, I'm able to swing a lot more predictably. The paddle is gonna move more in the direction of my swing path, right? So if I swing straight, the ball is gonna go more straight and my opponent's not gonna be able to work as sharp of an angle against me. This is true if you're changing the direction of any ball. So if I'm dinking cross court, I wanna change the direction down the line or I wanna speed up down the line. With that diving board flex, the ball is gonna bleed a little bit. It's gonna go off to the side more. When I have that platform flex, the ball is gonna go a little bit more straight. So I'm gonna have the ability to control my angles a little bit better. If I'm playing singles and I'm pulled off the court and I'm looking to hit a desperation winner down the line, I want that platform effect because it's gonna make the ball go straighter. Let's say I'm at the baseline hitting a third shot drive and I see the open hole in the court. I need to be able to hit that precisely. If I have the paddle changing angles, I'm not gonna be able to get it exactly where I want it because it's gonna bleed in one direction or the other based on the flex of the paddle. So what does that mean for you? It means better overall control. When we talk about control, we're usually talking about power and spin and you definitely have more of that with these paddles than you did in the past, right? The Pro 4 was very poppy sometimes and these are gonna be a little more predictable on the power side, but it also is more predictable and more controllable on the directional side, which is equally as important as the power, right? Power, spin, that's all you ever really hear about in pickleball these days, but we don't really talk about how easy it is to control the ball side to side and that's where these paddles really hit the mark. Is this paddle right for you? Well, if you've liked the Gen 3 constructed paddle in the past, like your Pro 4, your 3S, you're gonna love this paddle and it's really not too different in terms of the feel. You just get a little bit more out of it. It's like the Pro 4, but better in my opinion because you have that additional technology that's just gonna allow you to hit a more precise shot. So it has the same power that you liked, has the same spin that you liked. Now you get a little bit of an enhancement on the control. So do I see this paddle as something that's wildly brand new, right? Like when the Gen 3 technology first came out and changed the entire paddle market, that was brand new and crazy. It's not the same kind of brand new, but it is something additional to just enhance an already great paddle. As technology evolves, we can't be constantly adding new ways to make paddles that are gonna completely change the market, right? That's something that of course sounds fun, but at a certain point there's limitations and not every new technology is a good new technology. Full foam paddles can be good for your game, but the general consensus is that some players like them, some players don't. So some players still prefer Gen 3, some players prefer full foam. It wasn't like the mass adoption that we saw when Gen 3 first came out. So I personally am gonna be playing with these paddles. I'm gonna be playing with the Perseus Pro 5. That's gonna be my paddle of choice. I love the Pro 4. Now I'm gonna be playing with the Pro 5. So now I'll get into the one brand new thing about this paddle line, which is the new Cosmos shape. So previously we had the two most popular shapes were the Perseus, which is your elongated, and the Scorpius, which is your standard. The Cosmos is right in between. So it's gonna be literally a hybrid shape and it's gonna give you the best of both worlds. The Scorpius is your best paddle for your control. The Perseus is gonna be your best paddle for power and spin. The Cosmos is gonna be right in between. And frankly, that's what I found. My favorite for resets and soft game was the Scorpius. My favorite for power was the Perseus and the Cosmos honestly fell right in the middle. So cliche, but honestly, that's how I felt it did. If I had to pick one paddle to play with, I would pick the Perseus. That's the shape that I've just been used to. I've played my whole career with an elongated shape, but the Cosmos is a great option if you can't really decide between the two. Or if you've played with the Scorpius, but you're looking for something that has a little bit more reach or maybe a little bit more spin and power, but the Perseus feels a little bit overwhelming, the Cosmos is a good option for you. So this is gonna be the new Tyson McGuffin and the new Federico Staxford Signature. They got rid of the Magnus this year, which I thought was a great choice. I personally did not like the Magnus at all. I wanted to like it, but because of the balance with the short handle and the long head, I couldn't really control it too well. So this is a really nice compromise where you're not getting this super wide, short paddle, but you're getting a little bit of a shorter grip. Let's say if you have a one-handed backhand, you might like this. So the Cosmos is a great paddle. Again, it's right in the middle.