Top Engage Pickleball Paddles
While there are many quality, inexpensive pickleball paddles, you shouldn’t overlook the most premium options. I remember the first time I invested in a premium racket. It was a bit of an eye-opener!
Engage pickleball paddles may be pricey, but they feature innovative tech that you just won’t get in a cheap paddle.
Are these paddles right for your game? If so, consider sticking around and reading our Engage pickleball paddle reviews to see what they offer.
Featured Products
- Engage Pursuit EX — Premium Pick
- Engage Encore MX 6.0 — Best Overall
- Engage Trident — Budget Choice
Why Choose Engage Over Other Brands?
As a result of the fast growth of the sport, many new brands are popping up, but most are just in it for a quick buck. They are not expert manufacturers and don’t have a broad range of products.
Engage is different.
They are pickleball specialists and invest more in research and development than any other pickleball company relative to turnover. They conduct all their internal testing through their engineers, and they conduct these tests on average every 7-10 days.
Read Next: Best Pickleball Paddles for Beginners
Engage Pickleball Paddles Reviews
Engage Encore MX 6.0 — Best Overall
Specifications
Face material: FiberTEK
Core material: Control Pro polymer
Shape: Slightly elongated
Paddle dimensions: 16 ½” x 7 ½”
Grip size: 4 ⅛” or 4 ⅜”
Grip Length: 6”
Weight: 7.5-8.3 oz
Pros
- USAPA approved
- Popular with pro players
- Core & Skin Dimensioning technology
- Quiet
- 30-day no-questions-asked return policy
- Limited lifetime warranty
Cons
- Expensive
Rating: 9.7
The Encore MX 6.0 is a premium pickleball paddle that features Engage’s revolutionary thicker core.
Other paddles with thick cores benefit from a soft feel and increased control, but this comes at the cost of reduced power and a smaller sweet spot. However, the Encore MX 6.0 reaps these benefits without the drawbacks. This is due to the “Core & Skin Dimensioning” technology.
The Encore MX 6.0 also has the benefit of being exceptionally quiet. It was designed to meet strict noise requirements so you can play in residential areas without issues.
The core of the paddle measure ½” thick and is polymer based. As for the face of the paddle, Engage chose a skin called FiberTEK. It increases spin and forgiveness.
As a final advertising aspect, the Encore MX 6.0 is very popular with pro players. Champions such as Jennifer Lucore, Brian Staub, and Gigi LeMaster all use the Encore MX 6.0. This speaks volumes about its quality and is just one of the reasons why it’s the best Engage pickleball paddle in our eyes.
Engage Trident — Budget Choice
Specifications
Face material: Proprietary 5-layer GripTEK
Core material: Control Pro 3 polymer
Shape: Wide-body
Paddle dimensions: 15 ½” x 8 ⅛”
Grip size: 4 ¼”
Grip Length: Not listed
Weight: 7.7-8.1 oz
Pros
- USAPA approved
- Great spin
- Quiet
- 30 days no questions asked return policy
- Limited lifetime warranty
Cons
- Expensive
Rating: 9.4
The Trident is currently the cheapest pickleball paddle Engage offers, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s a sub-par racket. The Trident is the first paddle to feature Engage’s new 5-layer GripTEK skin. It only just meets USAPA’s racket face roughness requirements.
By pushing roughness to the extreme, the Trident produces far more spin than the typical paddle allowing you to play a more varied game. The 5-layer GripTEK face with the Control Pro 3 polymer core gives the racket a soft feeling with a lot of dwell time.
This gives you plenty of control and makes your ball placement easier to be precise. Engage feels it excels in the close-to-net game due to its enhanced feeling.
Engage Encore Pro
Specifications
Face material: Proprietary fiberglass
Core material: Polypropylene
Shape: Wide-body
Paddle dimensions: 15 ½” x 8 ⅛”
Grip size: 4 ¼”
Grip Length: Not listed
Weight: 7.8-8.3 oz
Pros
- USAPA approved
- Great spin
- Quiet
- 30 days no questions asked return policy
- Limited lifetime warranty
Cons
- Expensive
Rating: 9.4
The Encore Pro is not different from the Trident. It focuses on surface roughness for spin production, high dwell time for precision, and increased spin. The Encore Pro uses a proprietary fiberglass face.
This gives it a speed edge over the Trident, but it is not quite as quick as the more expensive MX 6.0. It also doesn’t have the same level of control despite featuring Control Pro technology. This is because the MX 6.0’s uses more advanced Core & Skin Dimensioning tech. Of course, the benefit is the Encore Pro is far cheaper than the MX 6.0, but it is still pricey in its own right.
Engage Poach Infinity LX
Specifications
Face material: Proprietary 6-layer textured composite
Core material: Control Pro ‘Black’ polymer composite
Shape: Elongated
Paddle dimensions: 17” x 7”
Grip size: 4 ¼”
Grip Length: 5 ¼”
Weight: Lite: 7.5-7.85 oz, standard 7.9-8.3 oz
Pros
- USAPA approved
- Great spin
- Quiet
- Great reach
- Mitigates tennis elbow
- 30 days no questions asked return policy
- Limited lifetime warranty
Cons
- Expensive
- The shape can feel strange to some players
Rating: 9.7
The Poach Infinity LX is one of Engage’s most expensive racket offerings. What is immediately apparent about this racket is its elongated shape. It measures 17” in length, which gives you superior reach for short balls.
It’s also great for players who suffer from tennis elbow. The elongated paddle features counterweight technology to shift the center of balance close to your hand. The soft Control Pro ‘Black’ polymer composite core also dampens vibration. Mitigating vibrations through the racket to your arm helps prevent tennis elbow.
Another added benefit of the elongated shape is the topspin ability. The long racket face increases the head’s pace on your swing, which leads to more topspin rotation. What’s more, this racket, like the others, is high on the roughness scale, which makes producing topspin even easier. As such, it is no surprise that the Poach Infinity LX is among Engage’s five most powerful rackets.
Engage Pursuit EX — Premium Pick
Specifications
Face material: Proprietary graphite
Core material: Control Pro ‘Black’ ’Polymer composite
Shape: Wide-body
Paddle dimensions: 16” x 8”
Grip size: 4 ¼”
Grip Length: 5”
Weight: Featherweight: 7.1-7.4 oz, lite weight: 7.5-7.8 oz, standard: 7.9-8.3 oz
Pros
- USAPA approved
- Super control
- Very fast
- Great spin
- Quiet
- Lots of weights to choose from
- 30 days no questions asked return policy
- Limited lifetime warranty
Cons
- Expensive
Rating: 9.6
While the Engage Pursuit EX is the most expensive paddle on this list by some margin, it is also the top performer across the board. This is partly because it is a fairly new Engage pickleball paddle. Therefore it features their most recent tech.
This begins with the Control Pro ‘Black’ core which is identical to the core used in the Poach Infinity LX. Its core measures ½” thick but feels like a ⅝” core.
The face material, however, differs from the others we have seen thus far. It is a proprietary omni-directional friction-based graphite. This gives you a large sweet spot and unbeatable accuracy.
It is clear that this is one of Engage’s top rackets, ranking 4th for speed and 3rd for control among their paddles. It is both slightly quicker than the Infinity LX and has slightly more control than the Encore MX 6.0.
If you’re serious about pickleball, this is our pick of the bunch for you. However, it likely costs too much for the average consumer.
Conclusion
Having conducted 5 Engage pickleball paddle reviews, we hope you now understand their quality. Choosing our overall favorite Engage pickleball paddle is tough, but we feel we have to give it to the Engage Encore MX 6.0. It has more control than most other options, which we feel should appeal to various players.
That being said, don’t overlook the Engage Pursuit EX. We feel it is comfortably the best Engage pickleball paddle among all the rackets we looked at. However, because of its steep price tag, we had to put its rating down a few notches.
If none of the rackets in this post appeal to you, consider giving our best paddle write-up and our best graphite paddle post a read. There are plenty of options on there to choose from.
Buyer’s Guide
Engage Core Materials
Engage uses soft feel cores for most of their paddles. Known as Control Pro technology, its main focus is creating paddles with super control, feeling, and accuracy. Of course, power comes into the mix, but those three qualities are more fundamental.
With each successive batch of releases, Engage improves their Control Pro technology, so check which type of Control Pro material features in the racket you like. So far, the most advanced Control Pro technology is the ‘Black’ version. It is the softest core available and is tailored to better work with the face for improved responsiveness.
Engage Face Materials
As pickleball experts, it should be no surprise that Engages uses proprietary faces for their paddles. While each possesses differing qualities, a rough face seems to be consistent. They aim for their paddles to produce a lot of spin, so rough faces are essential.
This gives you more versatility when playing, which helps you to improve.
Price
There is no doubt that Engage is more on the premium end of pickleball paddles. They deliver very high-quality products, so it’s only natural for them to charge a pretty penny.
Almost all their paddles sit between the $100 to $200 price range. While even the lower end of this range can seem expensive, consider the benefits of owning such a high-quality paddle. The sum is well worth it if you are invested in the sport.
FAQs
Are Engage Pickleball Paddles Good?
Engage pickleball paddles are very high quality. They are the product of scrupulous testing conducted by Engage’s team of engineers. So while their paddles are somewhat pricey, their price tag is entirely justified.
Where Are Engage Pickleball Paddles Made?
Engage pickleball paddles are made in the United States. The company works very closely with suppliers to push the boundaries of existing tech to create new revolutionary paddles.
What Are Engage Pickleball Paddles Made Of?
Engage paddles almost always feature a soft polymer core. The blanket term for their core technology is known as Control Pro. As for their faces, they use a variety of materials such as graphite, fiberglass, and other composites.
How Long Do Engage Pickleball Paddles Last?
The rate you need to replace your paddle depends entirely on your preferences and how often you play. A good estimation is around 2 years. Reasons for wanting to replace your racket include damage to the edge guard and a worn-out grip.