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Honolulu J6CR First Impressions
Pros
- A low swing weight elongated paddle, which isn't common
- Very strong sweet spot for how light it is
- A mid tier power paddle
Cons
- it doesn't currently offer a longer lasting texture like competitors at this same price
I'll be honest — I was very skeptical going into my first play session with the Honolulu J6CR. While I was gone in January, I really didn't watch a lot of pickleball content. When I started catching back up towards the end of the month, the J6CR was clearly one of the paddles getting a ton of attention. And to me, it felt like some of the praise was getting a little ridiculous.
Here's the thing: paddle technology is kind of at a point where people are almost overhyping everything. Yes, paddles are coming out and they're good, but not everything is this gigantic upgrade or some huge leap in technology that's going to change your game. I honestly think the days of going from Gen 1 to Gen 2 and feeling that massive performance jump — or even Gen 2 to Gen 3 — those days are mostly over.
Specs
Swing Weight and Maneuverability
Before we get into performance, there are two specs I want to focus on: swing weight and twist weight. The J6CR is an elongated paddle, but it has a swing weight of 112 and a twist weight of six.
Now, six isn't a blow away twist weight number. But for an elongated paddle with a swing weight this low, that's actually impressive. There are elongated paddles on the market with swing weights upwards of 120 that don't even have a twist weight above six. I don't really know how Honolulu managed to make that work, but I can tell you right now that this paddle feels very fast to swing in the hand.
Even when we looked at the balance point, it came in below most widebody paddles on the market. As far as elongated paddles go, this is probably one of the fastest swinging elongated paddles I've ever used. And as someone who doesn't really play elongated paddles as my main — I'm usually a widebody or hybrid guy — this is probably one of the first elongated paddles that really feels like it's in the realm of those shapes to me. I never felt sluggish or like the elongated shape was slowing me down, which is pretty impressive.
How the Honolulu J6CR Actually Plays
The best way to describe the J6CR is if you took the J2NF and just made it a little bit better.
One of the things that stood out right away when I was comparing the two is that the pop feels a lot more immediate on the J6CR. The J2NF feels a little bit stiffer, but the pop off of the J6CR is noticeably quicker. The two areas where I was having the most fun were hands battles — the pop at the net was really nice — and drives, which felt very satisfying.
Honestly, being at a swing weight of 112, I was surprised how well the paddle went through the ball. I'm not going to say it has the plow-through of a paddle sitting at 122 swing weight, but for 112, it went through the ball really well. Some paddles in that range start getting pushed around, and the J6CR didn't really have that problem.
Even comparing the J6CR stock against my weighted J2NF, the elongated felt better to me. That's saying a lot coming from someone who heavily prefers hybrid shapes.
Feel and Paddle Characteristics
I would place the Honolulu J6CR on the denser and more stiff side. Not all the way at the top of stiff, but creeping into that realm. And not all the way towards dense, but definitely moving into that territory.
If you're looking at paddles like the Bread and Butter Loco, the Ronbus Quanta, or stiff and hollow paddles like the Boomstick, the J6CR has a slightly different feel than those. So if you're not someone who's really liked the hollow and stiff feel, the J6CR tones that back a little bit.
Power
I'd put the J6CR in the mid-tier power category. It doesn't touch elite paddles like the GX2 Power, the Boomstick, the Loco, or the Luzz Inferno. But I don't think that's a bad thing.
One of the things Honolulu has always done really well is making paddles that perform exceptionally well for amateurs. Overall, I was very surprised at how much punch this paddle packed given how light it is, how low the balance point sits, and how the swing weight is closer to a hybrid. I wasn't expecting a lot of juice, but it was hitting plenty hard — in a very healthy space.
This also makes me feel like if you were to add some weight — Slice Sliders or some lead tape up at the top — you could probably juice up the power on drives and serves even more. It already plays well out of the box, so if you're someone who likes to tinker, you have options. More play testing with weight is needed, but early signs point to it playing really well with some added weight.
Sweet Spot and Stability
I'd say the sweet spot is pretty good. Honolulu has kind of always been known for solid sweet spots, and the way a lot of their shapes are designed is intentionally done to maximize it. That's why the elongated has those really fat corners at the bottom.
I didn't have any issues during play testing feeling like it needed weight to be more stable. But I'd almost certainly choose to add weight to make it feel even more stable, especially as someone who usually plays widebody paddles.
If you want a comparison: you can find elongated paddles that are lighter, like the Ronbus Quanta R3 or R1, but without weight, the sweet spot really suffers on those. The J6CR doesn't have that same issue.
Dwell Time
I wouldn't call this a super dwelly paddle. Especially at the net, it feels like the ball wants to get off pretty quick. Compared to the J2NF, the CR feels like the ball comes off faster — anything that's a short punch or compact swing, the ball just jumps off of it.
So this isn't going to compete with super dwelly paddles like the GX2 Power where the ball sits on the face for a long time. I'd put it middle of the road. It's more of a paddle where the ball wants to get off the face rather than sit there.
Where the Honolulu J6CR Misses
The area I think is a miss with the J6CR is that it doesn't have one of these longer-lasting textures that a lot of companies are starting to focus on.
You have paddles like the Spartis P1, which so far has been performing very well on texture longevity. And then the 11Six24 Vapor Power2 with their Hex Grit early signs are still pointing to that holding up pretty well too. Both of those are very reasonably priced at $210 and $220 before a code, while the J6CR sits at $195.
Those textures have been proven to hold up very well, which makes the J6CR in a similar power range and price range a tougher sell.
I don't think raw carbon fiber paddles are dead. There's still a preference in how you want a paddle to swing, feel, and the power profile you're looking for. Those textured paddles aren't going to be for everyone. But as more companies start focusing on texture durability, it's going to make paddles like this a tougher and tougher sell.
Final Thoughts on the Honolulu J6CR
Is the Honolulu J6CR game-changing? No, absolutely not. But does it need to be game-changing to be good? Also no.
If you really liked the J2NF and want to stay in that same family but turn the juice up, the J6CR is awesome. If you want a really light and fast elongated paddle with solid stability for the weight class, this is great.
Overall, I'm more impressed with the Honolulu J6CR than I thought I would be. But I also don't know that it completely lives up to the crazy hype it was getting. This is just early impressions though — we haven't even tried it with weight yet, and there may be a break-in period where it continues to get better. We'll figure all of that out as we play test more.
