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Joola Perseus Pro V Review
Chris OlsonQuick Summary
The Joola Pro V is a very minimal upgrade, and feels more like a lateral change. If you already own a Pro IV and are happy with it, we recommend you stick with it. For most people, buying a Pro IV for $229-250 will be the better option rather than considering the Pro V. With no longer lasting grit or full foam core, the Pro V feels like it lags behind the competition in 2026, unless you strictly wanted a softer feeling Pro IV as your upgrade. The Pro V plays well, but is overpriced.
Pros
- Softer feel for a gen 3 paddle
- More control than last years Pro IV
Cons
- Overpriced against the gen 3 competition
- It's a gen 3, and they are prone to core crushing
The Joola Pro V line is one of the smallest iterations I have ever seen a major brand do to their flagship lineup. This might be the first time that I recommend most people buy the older model over the new one.
For some the Pro V will be exactly what they hoped for, while others will find it to be a big let down with minimal changes for $20 more. Let’s talk about it.
Joola did give us two of our units for this review (Kosmos & Perseus), and then I purchased the Scorpeus 16mm & 14mm myself.
Joola Pro V Specs
If you’re looking for a specific grip size in the Pro V lineup, depending on which signature model you buy will impact the grip size.
- Ben Johns Perseus: 4.25" grip circumference
- Simone Jardim Perseus: 4.125" grip circumference
- Collin Johns Scorpeus: 4.25" grip circumference
- Anna Bright Scorpeus: 4.125" grip circumference
- Agassi: 4.25" grip circumference
- Graf: 4.125" grip circumference
- Kosmos: All 4.25"
- Hyperion: All 4.25"
So, if you want a smaller grip size for a specific shape, the Simone Jardim, Anna Bright, and Graf models are the ones with 4.125" grip sizes. Unfortunately the Kosmos and Hyperion are all 4.25".
One of the most notable changes was to the price this year. Last year the Pro IV was $279, and this year Joola has raised the price to $299.
New Shape, Joola Kosmos hybrid
This year they did decide to add in a new shape, the Kosmos, which is their first ever hybrid shape. I'm glad they decided to finally add a hybrid to their lineup. Many companies have added a hybrid as an option to their line up, and it’s something that Joola has been missing for a minute now. So, this is a welcome edition.
Hybrid paddles sit between the widebody and elongated shapes. They offer more forgiveness than elongated paddles, without sacrificing all the reach, and they are more maneuverable. Similarly, you get more reach than a widebody, but slightly less forgiveness.
So, for players who really want something that is between the two shapes, the Kosmos is what you would want.
They did also opt to remove the Magnus shape, so if you were someone who used that, you aren’t going to be able to find it in the Pro V line anymore. Their full line up consists of the three elongated paddles, which are the Perseus, Hyperion, and Agassi. The hybrid is the Kosmos, and the widebody is the Scorpeus.
What changed on the Joola Pro V?
So, let’s talk about what changed from the Joola Pro IV to the Pro V.
The new throat flex technology is called KineticFrame. Joola’s claim is that this now allows the paddle to flex in parallel when you make contact with the ball, rather than acting like a diving board. They are saying that this will lead to higher precision within your shots, because the launch angle is more precise. The second claim is that this type of flex, which was taken from golf clubs and hockey sticks, will allow you to generate more power the more you put into it.
Now if you recall, last year Joola also messed around with throat flex with their TechFlex Power technology which also made the same exact claim of improved precision as Kinetic Frame.
I also noticed that when Joola demo’d this technology in a video to show the difference in launch angle, they compared a 3S to a Pro V, instead of a Pro IV, to a Pro V. Which makes you wonder if the difference in that launch angle is even that different between the Pro IV and Pro V.
But we’ll come back to what I think about the throat flex later.
They did also add a small carbon fiber reinforcement at the head of the paddle which they hope improves the durability and helps prevent some core crushing, but again, we also heard the same claim last year, about making the Pro IV more durable, and we all know how that panned out.
But otherwise, those are the actual design changes of the Pro V from the Pro IV. There’s no longer lasting grit, no full foam, and no other major additions.
I think it’s very safe to say this is just an iteration of a Pro IV, which was also an iteration of the 3S, which was also an iteration of the original gen 3….huh, that’s a lot of iterations.
How long did I test these?
Now, I played these paddles longer than I usually would, because I wanted to make sure that my initial perception of these paddles was actually right. I got these paddles in the middle of February, and by the time you watch it now, it’s late March.
Given that Joola made minimal changes to the gen 3 design, and they even raised the price, my initial thought of this paddle was not going to be that awesome, so I played it longer to make sure that it was given a fair shot, I thought maybe with more time I would find things that were compelling or different.
In this review I tested the Kosmos 16mm, the Perseus 16mm, and then the Scorpeus 16mm & 14mm, with most of the time being put into the Perseus 16mm.
Which Joola shape should you buy?
In reviews like this, I often get asked which shape is the best, and there is no best shape, it just depends on what you want.
Elongated paddles like the Perseus give you the most reach and plow through, but they also have smaller sweet spots and are slower in the hand.
Widebody paddles like the Scorpeus have very large sweet spots, and are fast in the hand, but they have a lack of reach and plow through.
Now Joola also has a hybrid with the Kosmos, and a hybrid tries to blend the best of both worlds from an elongated and widebody.
Then the last two are other elongated options like the Hyperion and Agassi. The Hyperion has a rounded head which generally lowers the swing weight and makes it more maneuverable than flat tops like the Perseus, and then there is the Agassi which some people just like the general shape of, but it is just another elongated paddle.
So, if you’re wondering which Pro V shape you should choose, you need to decide which of those attributes is most important to you. For most of this review, my time was spent on the Perseus 16mm, followed by the Scorpeus variants.
Everything I say will apply pretty broadly to all the paddles, except for the obvious differences that I just mentioned.
The biggest change from the Pro IV to the Pro V
Let’s start with the feel of the paddle, because this is basically the biggest change to the paddle.
Out of the box it feels slightly softer than a Pro IV, but I would still consider it a stiffer paddle. Let me tell you, I did not get along with this paddle initially. I often play paddles in tournaments to test for these reviews, and in one tournament with the Pro V, I had to put it down and swap it out because I just couldn’t stand using it for the tournament. This was the Kosmos 16mm.
With enough play time, it eventually does soften even more, and in my opinion, gets rid of some of that stiffness and becomes more plush, which actually does feel pretty nice. So, do just know that the difference between pre and post and break in is pretty noticeable. If you’re coming from a Pro IV that is broken in and trying a brand new Pro V, you’re probably going to notice a much bigger difference in how they play. But once they are both broken in, I do think they are closer in comparison.
One of the biggest things I’ve noticed is that the Pro V just feels more muted and dampened in comparison to the Pro IV or some other gen 3s.
Which is either going to be something you like the idea of, or something you really dislike if you’ve loved the more connected feel that gen 3s typically offer.
Overall, the difference once both a Pro IV and Pro V are broken in, is that the Pro IV feels more connected, stiffer, and the ball wants to get off a little quicker. Whereas on the Pro V, it’s softer, more dampened in feel, and the face doesn’t feel like it springs back as quick as the Pro IV.
Every time I bounced back to the Pro IV for comparison, I never found myself going “Wow, there’s such a big difference between these”. It was more like “Hmm, I guess the Pro V is a little softer.” I kept swapping between them hoping that more play time would reveal a bigger difference in feel between the Pro V and Pro IV, but after the initial break in, it really didn’t.
To help visualize this, if this is a scale from stiff to soft, the Pro IV is here, and the Pro V is here. While the Pro V is a little bit softer, it’s not nearly as soft as other paddles like a Six Zero Coral, so don’t expect this massive leap from super stiff to ultra soft.
And that’s basically the biggest change to the Pro V. Things like sweet spot, or maneuverability haven’t changed at all.
How powerful is the Joola Pro V?
When it comes to the power level of the paddle, Joola a few years ago was top of the top. They literally defined the power category and had massive influence on the paddle market's direction after the original Joola Gen 3 launch.
That gen 3 was probably one of the most innovative pieces of technology in the history of the sport, because it has helped shape the vast majority of top performing paddles that we see on the market today, including full foam paddles.
But, as time has gone on, Joola has easily been eclipsed in the power department.
Paddles like the Boomstik, the Black Opal, GX2 Power, Loco, Inferno, and several others have all surpassed the various Joola models in overall pop and power.
Which, I don’t think that’s an inherently bad thing, I honestly believe that more players are better suited with that level of power than they are maxing it out.
But with that being said, if you were hoping that the Pro V was going to be an upgrade in power, that isn’t the case. I would say the Pro V feels like it has slightly less pop but realistically they are very, very similar. None of the people I drilled with or played against ever made comments that any type of shot was significantly hotter or slower when bouncing between the Pro IV and Pro V. I think the softer feel just gives the perception that it isn’t hitting quite as hard, but I would still say it’s around the mid tier power level.
However, depending on how long you’ve used a Pro IV and if it’s close to core crushing or is core crushed, then yes, you would notice a big difference in power levels, so just be aware that if your paddle is almost, or is broken, there will be a larger gap. But neither of mine are in that spot, and they feel very similar power and pop wise.
Should you buy the 14mm or 16mm?
If you’re trying to decide between the 16mm and 14mm, here is how I would describe it.
The 16mm is going to be more forgiving on off center shots, and the face feels softer and pockets the ball more. In general, I would recommend if you’re going to buy a Pro V, that you go with the 16mm model unless you really know you’re someone who prefers 14mm models.
The 14mm is quite stiff in comparison. The ball doesn’t feel like it dwells as long, and to me the trajectory of how the ball comes off the face is a little bit more predictable on the 14mm, but the drop in sweet spot size without weight is pretty noticeable and out towards the edges feels pretty rough. I do think some of this issue is mitigated once you add some weight to the 14mm though. I also think if you like the feeling of fast pop or the ball getting off the face quicker, you’re going to find that in the 14mm rather than the 16mm.
Overall, it’s similar to the differences that you find with most 14mm and 16mm paddles. This year I actually gravitated more toward the 16mm models than I did the 14mm. I think that was primarily due to the 16mm being more forgiving.
In 2026, 14mm paddles don’t tend to have the same advantages over 16mm as they used to in the past. Oftentimes 16mm can be just as powerful, and a lot more forgiving than 14mm.
14mm paddles usually require more customizing out of the box to reach full performance.
Does the KineticFrame throat flex do anything?
Now let’s come back to the KineticFrame Joola claims that this leads to better precision, right?
In practice, I just don’t know that this is actually happening. Maybe at the highest level that Joola’s pros are playing at, they can genuinely feel that they are more accurate with the Pro V, but as someone who has been reviewing paddles for 4 years there was no point in time where I hit a Pro V and felt “Wow, I’m way more accurate with this than a Pro IV”. Session after session I would hit all types of shots ranging from dinks, drops, drives, serves, counters, and there wasn’t any shot where I started to think “Man, if I wasn’t using this Pro IV, I would have nailed that shot”.
Most of the time I was just scratching my head trying to find a meaningful difference from the Pro IV to the Pro V that wasn’t just about the feel at ball contact.
So, if you ask me, no, I don’t think the new flexing technology is doing anything that made my game specifically better or more accurate than the Pro IV. Again, maybe at the highest level where the tiniest bit of margins matter, maybe they can feel the difference, but as an amateur player, I didn’t find it benefiting my game. The only argument I could see for higher precision, is with the Pro V feeling softer and feeling like the pop is toned down, you might pop the ball up less.
But to me, I don’t think KineticFrame made a big difference compared to last year's TechFlex Power.
Warranty
Now, one thing I see frequently brought up is that Joola allows up to 3 replacements if you core crush them, so surely that makes the $300 price worth it, right? If you use all three replacements, that means you get 4 paddles for the price of $300 which would be $75 per paddle
Now, I will say, I do appreciate that Joola offers 3 replacements. No one else that sells a gen 3 offers that many replacements, to my knowledge. Most of the time companies who sell a gen 3 are 1 or 2 replacements. I’m pretty sure Joola was also the first one to clearly define how many replacements you get for a warranty, which I think is helpful for the industry.
But, I think when you run the math on the other direct competitors to Joola who offer a 1 year warranty on a gen 3, you’ll see it ends up pretty similar.
If you take Luzz Cannon for example, you get a 1 year warranty and 1 replacement. So, if you bought 3 Luzz Cannons, you’d get 1 replacement on each, so for the same $300 you got 6 paddles at $50 a piece.
This is of course assuming you use all the warranties on each paddle.
RPM sells their Friction Pro V2 for $212 after a discount code, and you get two replacements and a 1 year warranty. So, this would be 3 paddles for $70 each. So yes, Joola does beat RPM in amount of paddles, but the difference isn’t substantial.
So, yes, I am glad Joola offers at least 3 replacements, I think it’s the least they could do at $300 dollars. But it’s not so much better that it smokes the competition.
Not to mention, Joola’s customer service has been known for being very slow to deal with.
Who should buy the Joola Pro V?
So, to wrap all of this up, after extensive play on the Pro V, I think this is the smallest update to a major brands paddle line that I have ever seen, and it ignores many of the things the market wants fixes for such as better durability with a foam core, and a longer lasting grit.
Joola hasn’t produced a major innovation since the original gen 3, and since then they’ve just done minor iterations to tweak it.
But I suppose to Joola’s credit, if they believe they already have a winning formula that the mass market loves, are they really that incentivized to change it drastically?
I mean really, think about it if people have continually bought paddles that core crush, have high prices, and the slow customer service hasn’t been enough to make sales stop, and all your top pros like the gen 3 design, why would you make a big change?
Especially when Joola’s pros are one of their biggest marketing assets.
Changing for the sake of change probably isn’t a good idea. But, if you’re going to make this small of a change, why charge more for it? In my mind, if Joola thinks they truly already had the best paddle and didn’t want to make a major change, that’s fine I guess, but to charge more for it with its known flaws, that’s crazy.
So, at the end of the day, I think that if you aren’t someone who wanted a softer feeling gen 3, then you would genuinely be better off buying last years Pro IV for $229 or $250 depending on the model that you buy, and if you already own one, I don’t think there is a reason to upgrade.
I really think that the differences are subtle enough that paying an extra $50 to $100 dollars really just doesn’t make sense for most people. The key word there is most, people. Some of you will think the Pro V is the best thing since sliced bread, but I don’t think the majority are going to notice, or really even care about those subtle changes.
If we were looking at paddles only in a vacuum, yes, the Pro V is a great high performing paddle. I don’t think anyone is trying to say it’s bad. In fact, I slightly prefer it to the Pro IV, but I also wouldn’t willingly spend my own money on the Pro V. If I had to buy one, I would just buy a Pro IV. And the thing is, we aren’t in vacuum, so when you stack it up to the competition outside of Joola, I don’t think there is anything that Joola is doing that is substantially better than other paddles on the market.
So, who is this for?
I really think the two types of people I can think to recommend the Pro V to, are:
1. If you wanted a Joola in a hybrid shape
2. If you loved the Pro IV, but just wished it was softer and more plush. Then the Pro V might be what you want.
But outside of that, my recommendation to my friends so far has been either buy another Pro IV, or if you’re tired of the price, consider an RPM Friction Pro V2 which is what I would consider to be the softest feeling gen 3, or a Luzz Cannon which is on the stiffer side. With how small of a change the Pro V is and the new price, I just don’t think it’s the better choice for most people.
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Chris Olson is an independent pickleball equipment reviewer with a 4.70 DUPR rating, he has tested over 400 paddles since 2021, each with a minimum 10 hours of on-court play time. Companies are never able to pay for or influence a review. Follow his reviews on YouTube and the Pickleball Studio Podcast.
