Legacy Pro Review

Legacy is a new Pickleball company that launched back in September of 2022. I had heard a lot of rumblings on Facebook about this company but I mostly disregarded them because they did not indicate that their paddle differed from the sea of raw carbon fiber paddles on the market, so I assumed it was a clone of everything else.

I suppose this is why they say, "Don't judge a book by its cover." because I was wrong. The Legacy is anything but a regular raw carbon fiber paddle.

Specs:

Price: $144.99 (at the time of writing this. The price will go back to $150 after they get their next shipment in. Code PBSTUDIO will save you 10%)
Thickness: 16mm
Weight range: 7.7-8.3oz
Shape: Elongated
Handle length: 5.30"
Grip circumference: 4.125"
Face: Multiple layers of Toray T700 Carbon Fiber
Core: Polymer
Swing weight: 120
Additional:

Injected foam
Thermoforming
Unibody design

Okay, so the specs are where you can learn why this paddle is so unique. They were one of the first companies on the market to have a paddle with thermoforming.

According to Google, thermoforming is "the process of heating a thermoplastic material and shaping it in a mold."

What this means for a Pickleball paddle that is thermoformed, is that you could take the edge guard off of the paddle, and it would still be sealed off. AKA an edgeless Pickleball paddle. Usually, when you take an edge guard off, you can see the exposed polymer

Now you might be asking, if the paddle is technically edgeless before applying the edge guard, why do they apply one?

Many believe that edgeless paddles are better because they would have fewer mishits on the paddle's edge by not hitting the edge guard. The thought behind that seems reasonable, but in reality, it isn't how it works. Most of the time, paddles with edge guards have better edge performance than paddles that don't. This is because the edge guard provides more than just protection for your paddle.

Edge guards add perimeter weighting to your paddle, which can act similarly to adding lead tape to your paddle. If I'm going to be completely honest, the physics behind how all of this combines together to make a great paddle is going to go over my head, so I won't try to pretend to explain it to you. All you need to know is that edge guards provide more than just protection.

You may have noticed that some edgeless paddles, such as the Selkirk Labs Project 003 and Selkirk Vanguard Power Air, advertise foam injected into the perimeter of the paddle. In the case of an edgeless paddle, this is very helpful for making outer edge shots feel more solid. Instead of using an edge guard on the outside, they are just putting the weight on the inside of the paddle.

Injected foam

The Legacy Pro also features injected foam, but instead of between the thermoforming and the edge guard, it's inside the thermoforming seal. So if you took the edge guard off the Legacy, you wouldn't be able to see it because it's on the inside of the paddle.

Legacy and I made videos trying to snap a thermoformed paddle over our knees, and we couldn't do it. My video example was with a CRBN1X. The owner of SixZero has also sent me a video privately of him attempting the same, and the paddle wouldn't budge. Thermoforming makes paddles very strong.

This is important because everyone in Pickleball has been asking for more durable paddles, and companies are finally starting to deliver. Big props to these companies for implementing this.

The carbon fiber pattern

Next, we have the Toray T700 face. It's great to see Toray being used because, as we've learned over the last year, it is the most reliable raw carbon fiber material for Pickleball. On their website, they also mention something about layering sheets of carbon fiber to create a new feel. I took my microscope to look at the surface, and it appeared quite different from other Toray T700 paddles I have seen in the past.

In those pictures, the weaving pattern is nearly 2-4x tighter on the Legacy Pro than the CRBN1X 16mm. The pattern of the CRBN1X is how almost all other raw carbon fiber surfaces look. Even to the touch, you can tell the difference if you are familiar with how raw carbon fiber usually feels.

Handle length

The handle length is 5.3". I was worried this would make two-handed backhands difficult. I didn't have an issue. When you compare it to a 5.5" handle, you can feel the difference, but for my average hand size, I didn't find that the 5.3" was problematic. There is a noticeable difference between 5.5" and 5.3", but not enough for me to complain. If you have larger hands, 5.3" may not be sufficient for you. The way the neck tapers is MUCH better than a Selkirk Vanguard Power Air which has a 5.25” handle but feels very difficult to put two hands on. So, despite being advertised as 5.3”, I believe that in reality it acts much closer to 5.5”.

*Left: Selkirk Vanguard Power Air 5.25” handle.*
*Middle: Legacy Pro 5.3” handle (The Legacy is wrapped higher with an overgrip)*
*Right: CRBN1X 16mm 5.5” handle*

Spin:

There's a new king of spin in town, and it's the Legacy Pro. In my testing, it achieved a result of 1903 RPM. This puts it past the former king, the Selkirk Vanguard Power Air. Now I want to be clear before people go crazy, the Power Air is 1851 RPM. The difference between 1851 and 1903 is negligible and will never be noticeable in actual gameplay. Regardless, the Legacy Pro is the highest paddle in my paddle stats spreadsheet and it feels insane when you play with it on the court.

I promise I won't mention this in every review, but I thought it was worth stating that I did a Starrett grit test on my Legacy Pro, which passed with flying colors. The paddle still had margin to spare. This leads me to believe that their new weaving pattern is incredibly effective.

Power:

This paddle is going to be a bangers dream. The ball flies off the face of this paddle. This is most noticeable at the net when you are in a fast-hand exchange. Many times I would sail the ball past the baseline, and I didn't even think I was swinging that hard. The Legacy has a unique feel compared to other power paddles. It's soft and plush like a Hyperion, but the ball comes off the face way faster.

The best comparison I can draw is that the softness and speed of this paddle reminds me of EVA foam paddles like the Diadem Vice. They feel soft when you hit gently, but when you speed up even slightly, the ball flies off the face. I'm not saying that this feels like EVA foam, just that the sensation of how fast the ball comes off the paddle is similar to that of the Vice. I cannot think of any other paddle on the market with such a high dwell time that also launches the ball off the paddle this fast.

The feel for volleys, drives, and blocks is simply satisfying. It's the polar opposite feel of something like the Pro Kennex Black Ace, which achieves its power through a very stiff and rigid face. The Legacy Pro is soft and plush, but the ball acts like it is leaving a trampoline when it comes off the face.

Frequently I found myself wanting to murder the ball in a hands battle, short serve returns, or overheads because of the power I had at my fingertips. Like the Power Air, the problem is that just because you have the power available does not mean you need to use it all the time. I frequently sailed easy balls long because I knew I had the power to crush it. You really need to loosen your grip and compact your swing with this paddle because you don't have to swing hard to make the ball move.

Most of the time, I could swing at 50% of my max power, and the ball would still move as fast as when I swung 80% or more with my Selkirk Labs Project 003.

The power on this paddle is effortless and feels incredibly satisfying. Going back to paddles like the 002, Power Air, or Electrum Pro II feels very clunky in comparison. They feel like hard rocks while the Legacy feels like a pillow that launches the ball.

This is the most powerful 16mm paddle on the market right now and I would wager that it’s in the top 3 most powerful paddles period. It's incredible that so much power can be packed into a body this thick.

Control:

The unique thing about this paddle is that despite having a lot of power, its plush feel makes it seem like you also have good control. Initially, when I started playing with the paddle, I noticed I was popping up easy dinks, thirds, and blocks, and I thought I would be able to get that under control, but throughout my time play testing, I never really got it to a spot I was happy with. It did improve as I used the paddle more, but when I played games that mattered, I found myself missing routine shots.

I tried so many different things to get it under control, such as: loosening my grip, slowing my body movement, or brushing the ball more. Unfortunately, none of this helped me get it under control the way I expected. I also needed to be mindful of my paddle angle, where I didn't have to do that as much on my 003 or CRBN1X.

Now, I want to be clear because several people have received the wrong impression when I talk about the paddle like this. The paddle is not entirely uncontrollable. Many people have claimed that the transition from a Hyperion or other raw carbon fiber paddle was not an issue for them. Players in my Discord server were baffled about my opinion of the paddle because they don't feel they have any of the problems I am describing. This could be more of an issue with myself than it is with the paddle.

The conclusion I have come to is that you need to be the type of player who has soft hands and likes to let the paddle do all the work in your stroke. Unfortunately, that's not the type of player I am right now. I need to work on loosening my grip, and I'm used to paddles where I have to swing quite a bit. If you don’t think that’s the type of player you are as well, proceed with some caution.

This isn't like your usual power paddle. Because of the soft plush feel that it offers, I do think for many people, it will be easier to control than paddles like the Black Ace or 002. I realize that by me saying I can’t dink with it many of you are going to interpret it as having no control. That isn’t the case. I think it has more control than the usual power paddle, but for my specific body mechanics something wasn’t working.

Sweet spot:

The Legacy Pro has risen to the top in terms of sweet spots. In my opinion, the Joola Hyperion CFS 16mm has the biggest sweet spot on the market, and I think the Legacy gives it a run for its money. I never noticed a point where the sweet spot didn't feel great. So I would place the Legacy Pro above average regarding the sweet spot. Of course, getting out to the edges will be worse than the sweet spot, but there's much more energy return even on the outer edges than your average paddle.

Durability:

I don't have any issues to report with durability, but I know most of you will be curious about how the spin holds up. Unfortunately, without a month+ of hard use on the paddle, it's hard to say how it will hold up. This surface will likely wear out, similar to CRBN and Electrum. The only brand I have noticed much faster degradation on is Joola. After my roughly 25-30 hours on the paddle, under a microscope, I can see small tears in the carbon fiber, but there are only a few very small instances of this, and the majority of the paddle face looks pristine.

*Small damage on my Legacy Pro after 25-30 hours*

For each person, how long it takes to wear down the surface is going to vary heavily. If you play five days a week at a high level and drill, you'll wear it out quicker than someone who plays a few times a week casually. The simple fact of Pickleball paddles right now is that we are smacking a plastic ball thousands of times in a month and that’s bound to cause wear and tear on any surface. With enough use, any surface is going to break down.

I want to mention two other small things. One, this paddle grabs a lot of ball dust. In fact, it grabs so much ball dust that after a play session, people think you can see the core through the face because the ball leaves imprints of the whole on the face. You can't actually see through the face; it's just a ridiculous amount of ball dust imprints.

The second thing is that it seems like you can "scratch" the paddle face. Several people have noted white marks on their faces that the CRBN eraser or other similar tools couldn't deal with. I have a few small ones, but this appears to be mostly cosmetic and does not impact performance. Under a microscope I see no damage, so it might just be the carbon fiber getting marked?

*Small “scratch” marks on the Legacy Pro face*

Closing thoughts:

This is one of the most fun paddles I have played with in recent times, but as much as I love this paddle, I won't be switching to it for doubles, at least not for now. I tried extremely hard to adjust my game to make this paddle work; no matter how hard I tried, it just wasn't working. My resets, drops, and defense game could have been better by my standards. I never felt confident and was always afraid of hitting the ball too softly and going into the net or pushing it just a little too hard and giving my opponents an easy ball to crush. I'm a bit disappointed I haven't been able to adjust quickly because there are so many elements about it that are awesome. You don't have to swing hard to generate great power, great build quality, and amazing spin with a plush soft feel. It's nearly everything I want in a paddle, except my soft game isn't where I need it to be.

On the other hand, this paddle is AMAZING for my singles game. I don't want people to believe it's only a singles paddle because it isn't by any means. That's just where I saw my game excel the most with the Legacy Pro. You can rip drives with little effort and have absurd amounts of spin, which is always helpful in singles. So while I couldn't make it work in doubles, I can't say enough great things about it for singles. Several times on the court, I found myself hitting a winner that I had no business hitting and then standing there in disbelief.

Since I will be using this paddle for singles, there is a good chance I will continue to dabble with it and see how it fits my play style for doubles. I'm very interested in making it work, but for the time being, the CRBN 1X 16mm is my paddle of choice for doubles.

Regardless of my experience, this is one of the best paddles on the market in every regard. It's in the top 3 most competitive paddles you can buy right now, and it will become one of my go-to recommendations for all players. If any big-name companies were selling this same paddle, it would easily be sold for $230 or higher. The fact that you can purchase this paddle for $150 is absolutely mind-boggling. There isn't a better performance-to-price ratio paddle on the market. Before hitting the Legacy Pro, my best value recommendation for raw carbon fiber was the SLK Halo. Its primary problems were that it was a bit on the softer side, and the spin could have been more competitive with higher-priced raw carbon fiber paddles.

Now, you have the Legacy Pro, which is only $10 more and does everything better than a Halo (Except for control). While the Legacy Pro won’t be for everyone, it is an easy paddle to recommend all around.

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