Engage Pursuit Pro Review
Earlier this year Engage released this Pursuit Ultra, and in my opinion it was one of the biggest flopped releases I’ve ever seen. In fact, it flopped so hard that Engage had to discontinue it and release the Pursuit Pro in less than 6 months after the Ultra.
Well, I think Engage just went from zero to hero, because the Pursuit Pro, is really, really good.
Specs:
Price: $260
Discount code PBSTUDIO brings it down to $208
Thickness:
16mm (6.0)
13mm (Non 6.0)
Core:
Polymer
Face:
Raw carbon fiber
Shape:
Elongated (MX)
Standard (EX)
Handle:
MX 6.0: 5.75”
MX: 5.75”
EX 6.0: 5.0”
EX: 5.0”
Grip:
MX 6.0: 4.4”
MX: 4.25”
EX 6.0: 4.4”
EX: 4.25”
Weight:
Selectable from 7.7oz up to 8.9oz
Swing weight:
MX 6.0: 123
MX: 121
EX 6.0: 114
EX: 107
Twist weight:
MX 6.0: 6.64
MX: 6.15
EX 6.0: 7.19
EX: 6.64
Spin RPM:
2000~ across all models
Warranty:
Lifetime
Build quality:
Engage paddles still have relatively cheap feeling handles in my opinion. While they are technically “covering” the exposed polymer with a piece of material now, the face material sticks out slightly higher than the core which creates a sharp edge that doesn’t feel comfortable, and you can still squish the core in especially on the 6.0 models since they have a 4.4” grip circumference which means there’s more core that you can feel with your hand.
“Covering” the exposed polymer
Sharp piece of the face sticks out and creates a less comfortable handle
I was able to get over it, I just wish Engage could create a really solid feeling handle out of the box. The handle is also still oval ish? It kind of has bevels that you can feel, but they aren’t nearly as pronounced as regular octagon handles.
So, while they made improvements to the handle, I still think they are lagging behind the other big competitors. I really wish they could figure out how to slim down their handles on their thicker models as well, because I think by having the grip so large you isolate a segment of players.
There have been no changes that I’m aware of made to the edge guard, so it’s still this glossy plastic that seems more brittle and I would advise not leaving it in extreme temps.
Oval wood shaping pieces
Engage edge guard
A different core?
Pursuit Ultra (left) Pursuit Pro (right)
In the picture above, you’ll notice the core is slightly different. It’s more deformed (this isn’t necessarily uncommon) and is very squishy. Regular polymer cores are NOT this easy to squish. You can watch the video review to see that the left core doesn’t collapse when pressed.
Engage didn’t mention any differences with the core, but at least from this breakdown that was sent to me, it appears to be a much softer material which is likely what contributes to the new Pursuit Pros hitting so hard.
Spin:
Engage made substantial improvements by finally using a raw carbon fiber face. Their prior paddles never ranked very highly for spin, but these new Engage Pros are absolutely nuts. In my testing they all achieved a result over 2000 RPM and it felt absolutely insane. When me and my siblings first started testing these, the first thing we all noticed was how hard you could make the ball dip while hitting incredibly hard drives. So, this is a massive upgrade for Engage in terms of spin because the Ultra was somewhere in the 1300 RPM range.
Power:
If you guys saw my Ultra review, you know that I mentioned being a bit disappointed that the Engages got softer than the original Pursuit line. Well, Engage must have heard that and took it seriously because these new Pursuit Pros are absolute rockets.
Interestingly enough, during my play testing I found that the 6.0 models hit harder than the thinner 13mm variants. This has been a common trend as of lately with thermoformed paddles, but the Engages aren’t thermoformed, so I was really surprised that this was the case.
Don’t get me wrong, both of them still hit really hard, but I had a much easier time with my soft game on the thinner core models than I did the thicker ones. When I went for huge drives on the 6.0 models, the power felt effortless and the paddle went straight through the ball. On the thinner models, they didn’t feel as stable or have that effortless power I felt on the 6.0 models.
With the MX 6.0 it feels like the paddle pockets the ball so much and then launches the ball off the face.
These are up there with thermoformed paddles. In fact, I think this might be one of the only non thermoformed paddles I can think of that hits as hard as a thermoformed paddle.
Control:
When it came to control, I did feel that it suffered slightly on the 6.0 models. I know it’s really bizarre to say that about the thicker paddle, but every single time I took out the thick and thin variants, the thin one was always easier on my soft game. I didn’t have to think as hard on blocks and I felt more connected to the ball on dinks. I think this has to do with the thinner models feeling more firm and the thicker models feeling much more bouncy. It’s almost like a trampoline on the 6.0 models where the ball sinks really deep and then gets launched off the face.
The thinner models felt more predictable with how the ball would come off where with the 6.0 models it felt like it was more of a gamble. I think when you really nail the sweet spot of the 6.0 you get a lot of power, where on the non 6.0 it’s just more consistent in what you get.
The bright side is, most of these models have generous sweet spots and insane spin which are both factors that should be considered when talking about control. As long as you can hone in the pop, I think you’ll be fine.
I would classify the 6.0 models as power paddles, and then the non 6.0 fall somewhere between the low to mid side of power paddles.
Feel:
Engage paddles have always had a very satisfying feel off the face and it’s no different with the Pursuit Pro.
The biggest difference is that the 6.0 models feel much more bouncy and cushioned when you hit the ball and the non 6.0 models feel more stiff and firm. Both of them have a nice feel, but I did enjoy how the 6.0s felt more.
It’s really refreshing to have a paddle that has this bouncy cushioned feel and gets such high power. As of recently, the thermoformed paddles have dominated the power charts and those usually comes with a very stiff face. The Engage hits just as hard but with a much more cushioned feel.
Hand speed:
The new Pursuit Pros fall right in line with most elongated and standard shaped paddles by todays measure.
The MX 6.0 was 123, the MX 121, and the EX 6.0 was 114 while the EX was 107. Keep in mind that most of my models fall into the lite category, so if you opt for a heavier weight, your swing weight is probably going to go up.
Despite the MX 6.0 having a 123 swing weight which is usually higher than I prefer, I never had any complaints. It makes me think of when I used to use the Hyperion and I enjoyed the paddle so much that I was able to get over the swing weight to play with it. Perhaps something similar is going on here, or maybe your boy just isn’t as weak as he used to be.
As far as the EX models go, those did feel considerably faster to swing, so if hand speed is of high importance, I would recommend you go with the EX. Additionally, something I’ve found really appealing about standard shaped paddles is that I feel more connected to the ball and the ball. Whenever I go back to an elongated long handle paddle, dinks feel harder to manipulate as precisely. So, I’ve really come to appreciate some of the shorter paddles on the market.
Lead tape:
When it came to adding lead, I really didn’t think the 6.0 models needed it, but I decided to experiment anyways just to see if there were any interesting results.
On the MX 6.0 I added about 6.5” of 1 gram per inch lead from the throat up the sides of the paddle. I chose this spot because I didn’t want to impact swing weight much, but I did want to bump up the overall static weight.
Let me tell you guys, this paddle already hit hard, but holy crap after this lead setup it was like hitting with a mac truck. The ball seriously felt like it was exploding off the face of my paddle.
MX 6.0 lead setup
I think if I was going to keep this setup, I would probably go down to 4.5-5 inches of lead tape because the swing weight did go up to 127 which was starting to feel more sluggish than I would prefer. I think I could still retain most of the same impact the lead had but by using less of it.
For the EX 6.0, my friend placed about 4.5-5.0” of lead tape and the swing weight only went up to 115 which is not even a discernible difference from the stock swing weight. This had nearly the same exact impact as the setup on the MX 6.0, but without making the swing weight un reasonable. I really liked how this felt. The EX didn’t hit as hard as the MX, but what I gained instead was faster hands and better ball control which is more important for me than maximum power.
Realistically, I would probably be fully content with both 6.0 models in stock form.
Lastly, I did place lead on the non 6.0 MX and I used my 3 grams per inch strips and placed it right above the bottom corners. For the non 6.0 models they do feel less stable than their thicker counterparts and the lead helped clean up that stability issue. If I was to use the non 6.0 models, I would have to add lead tape. They aren’t bad in stock form, but I think lead is a necessary improvement for those.
Closing thoughts:
The Pursuit Pros are what the Ultra should have been. Had Engage released these, I think people would have been absolutely obsessed. These are no question in my mind a top 5 or even top 3 paddle on the market right now.
Despite the higher price tag, I think you get two really big benefits that are worth considering with the new Engage.
First is that they aren’t thermoformed so you shouldn’t have to worry about core crushing. I have not personally seen a non thermoformed paddle have a core get crushed before. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I haven’t personally seen it yet.
Second, even if something like that could happen, you have a life time warranty with Engage and as far as I can tell, they are quite lenient about it. My friend has had old Engage warrantied multiple times.
So, at $208 after a discount code to have a paddle that shouldn’t have one of the biggest design flaws that we’ve seen from some of the best paddles on the market this year, plus a life time warranty, I think that is extremely reasonable with how well this paddle performs.
If you’re trying to decide which one you should choose, here’s how I would break it down:
What I will say is that I think the least appealing model of all the Engages is the MX non 6.0. It’s not a bad paddle, but the swing weight is still high and you aren’t getting any of the benefits that the 6.0 models offer with their slightly higher swing weight.
I highly enjoyed my time with the EX 6.0 and MX 6.0, if I had to choose, I think I would ultimately go with the EX 6.0 for the better hand speed and ball control.
A lot of the market wrote off the American brands because they’ve been falling behind this year, but I think this paddle puts Engage back competing with the best of the best on the market.