If you’re a fan of the Engage Pursuit MX 6.0 paddle, read on to see if you should upgrade to the latest Engage Ultra pickleball paddle.
Should You Upgrade to the Engage Pursuit Ultra?
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Tell me which is best now →If you already have the Engage Pursuit MX 6.0 Thick Core pickleball paddle like I do, you may have asked yourself whether it is worth it to upgrade to the latest Engage Pursuit Ultra MX Ultra 6.0 paddle. I’ve played with the new paddle, and my thoughts are below. But first, here are some of the new changes.
- The new Pursuit Ultra has an R210 Carbon Fiber face. The Carbon Fiber has been chemically bonded to the face. It gives the paddle face a coarser feeling texture vs. the smooth uniform texture of the standard Engage Pursuit paddle.
- It has material injected into the outer cells of the paddle which helps with creating a better sweet spot and minimizing vibrations.
- It adds weight to the handle to provide counter balance to the weight of the head.
- The edge guard seems to be more durable than the previous model.
- It costs more – the new Pursuit Ultra currently costs more than the Engage Pursuit, a fairly significant difference
When played head to head it was very easy to adjust to the newer paddle. You won’t have any adjustment period as the control, and resets are similar. I felt that I was getting similar power on my forehand and backhand drives as well.
The main difference however, comes from the spin. The spin generated by the carbon fiber face was noticeably better than the previous model. Topspin drives and lobs had a little more bite. Whether the carbon fiber face wears down over time (as with other carbon fiber paddles) remains to be seen.
The Engage Pursuit Ultra MX is the better paddle mainly due to the increased spin generated by the carbon fiber face. Whether this is worth the extra 40 dollars is up to you.