Engage Pickleball Paddles: The X2 at $199.99 Is the One

Updated October 12, 2026

Engage is a top-five paddle brand by independent editorial coverage that most people never seriously consider, because it does not spend like Selkirk or JOOLA. Two things changed in the five weeks to 12 October 2026: the catalogue-wide discount we reported in September has ended on most of the range, and the paddle we told you to skip at the top of it has been measured — and now costs the same as the paddle we said to buy instead.

We have not played these paddles. What follows is built from Engage’s own store listings read on 12 October 2026, the measurements Matt’s Pickleball published on his own radar and camera rig (updated 12 September 2026), and market context sourced below. Where we could not source a figure, it is not here. Our methodology page explains how we handle gear we have not held.

What Engage sells now, and what it costs

Prices read from engagepickleball.com on 12 October 2026. Compare these against our 8 September read, because most of them moved up.

Three things fall out of that table.

The September sale was a sale, not a new price list. The Pursuit line is back at $129.99 and the Encore line is back at $59.99–$79.99. If you read our September version and waited, waiting cost you about $26 on a Pursuit. The X2 is the exception and now carries the deepest cut in the range.

We were right about the Encore Pro V3.0, which is the useful part. In September we told you to skip it — a 49% cut on a superseded model with a V4 above it is a line being cleared, not a bargain. It is no longer in the catalogue. That is what a clearance price means, and it is worth remembering next time the deepest discount on a page looks like the best value on it.

There is a new 16mm Pursuit. The Pursuit Pro2 Elongated and Widebody are 16mm at $129.99, which breaks Engage’s unusual 15.2mm/12.7mm pattern and brings the line into line with how every other brand quotes thickness. If the 12.7mm always looked too thin to you, this is the answer to that.

The X2 has been measured, and that changes the verdict

This is the finding worth the update. In September we said the X2 was hard to justify, because it was an unmeasured paddle priced within $8 of a Six Zero Coral that three benches had tested to death. Both halves of that have changed: the X2 is now measured and it is now $199.99.

Matt’s Pickleball includes the Engage X2 Widebody in his foam-core guide and published these figures, measured on his own radar gun and camera rig — not the USA Pickleball protocol, so they are valid for comparing paddles on that rig against each other and nothing else:

All figures Matt’s Pickleball’s own rig. Read it the way the numbers actually read: across that whole table serve speed spans one mile per hour while price spans 2.8x. Nobody is buying measured power at the top of this market. What money buys is swing weight, twist weight and tuning.

On that bench the X2 out-spins the Coral Hybrid by 30 RPM and carries half a point more twist weight, at the same $199.99 Engage now charges. Twist weight is resistance to rotation about the paddle’s long axis — the number that decides how much speed you keep on a ball struck off-centre. At 4.7 that is the figure I would spend the money on before raw power, because the mis-hit is the shot that actually loses points. So the September verdict flips: at $199.99 the X2 Widebody is the paddle in this range to buy.

One honest caveat about construction. Matt’s Pickleball files the X2 under foam cores; Engage’s own product listing does not describe the X2 as a foam-core paddle, and names only the ProFoam that way. We are not going to resolve that from the outside, and we are not going to pretend it is resolved. If the core material is the reason you are buying, ask Engage before you pay.

Check X2 pricing on Amazon · Engage direct

The ProFoam at $136 is still the cheap way into foam

Foam cores went from under 2% of USA Pickleball approvals before 2025 to roughly 70% of newly approved paddles by May 2026, and the premium market prices accordingly — the Coral is $200, the Selkirk Boomstik is $333. Engage’s ProFoam is a high-density foam core at $135.99, down from $169.99, and as far as we can find it is still the cheapest foam-core paddle sold by a top-five brand.

What we still cannot tell you is how it measures. None of the three benches we reconcile — Pickleball Studio, Pickleball Effect, Matt’s Pickleball — has published test data on the ProFoam that we could find, and that has not changed in five weeks. Treat it as a promising specification at an unusually low price, not as a proven paddle. If you want measured foam under $150, the Enhance Turbo MPP at $119.99 is the one with numbers attached to it.

The Pursuit line at $130 is the safe pick

The Pursuit Pro1, Pro MX and Pro EX all sit at $129.99 with a raw carbon face, and the new Pro2 joins them at the same price in 16mm. The choice is shape and thickness rather than quality:

• 16mm (Pro2) — conventional, forgiving, the default if you are unsure.
• 15.2mm — more dwell time, softer feel, good for resets. Doubles at the kitchen.
• 12.7mm — noticeably thinner than most paddles sold. Faster off the face, more pop, less forgiving. Choose it if you drive.
• Elongated gives reach and a longer handle for a two-handed backhand; Widebody is more forgiving and is where most people are happiest.

At 4.7 the 12.7mm is the one I would struggle to reset with — a thin core leaves very little margin on a soft ball — but at 3.0–3.5, where the drive is the shot you are trying to hit, the extra pop is worth more than the touch you give up. Our guide to swing weight and twist weight covers the measurements behind that trade, and how core thickness changes the feel is the longer version.

Check Pursuit pricing on Amazon

The one we would skip now

The Encore Pro at $79.99, which is $16 more than it was in September for the same paddle. It is not a bad paddle; it is simply the wrong $80 in this catalogue. The gap between it and a $129.99 Pursuit Pro2 with a raw carbon face is $50 for a materially better face, and the gap below it to the $59.99 Encore 16mm is $20 for most of the same idea. Paddles priced in the middle of their own range with nothing distinguishing them are the ones to walk past.

Certification, and the litigation status we got wrong

Engage’s paddles are USA Pickleball approved and the brand sits fourth in the 2026 paddle-brand ranking derived from 5W’s Pickleball AI Visibility Index, behind Selkirk, JOOLA and Paddletek. Verify your exact model and configuration on the approved list before a sanctioned event — approval is granted per model, and several 2026 flagships from other brands are UPA-A only, which is not the same thing. Our USAP versus UPA-A explainer covers which list you need, and we track removals on the banned paddles page.

A correction. Our September version said Engage was one of eight brands still contesting JOOLA’s patent case over its Propulsion Core technology. That is no longer true. The Dink reported on 16 September 2026 that eight of the eleven named brands had resolved with JOOLA, and that Engage was among them, having consented to judgment. The brands still unresolved are RPM Pickleball, which is contesting, Franklin Sports, which has neither settled nor consented, and Diadem Sports, which has not responded at all and against which JOOLA has sought a default judgment.

For a buyer that is good news rather than bad: a resolved respondent is one whose supply is no longer exposed to an import exclusion order. The settlements elsewhere have produced royalties, patent marking and sell-through windows rather than anything sudden — we tracked what that looked like in practice when Paddletek and ProXR phased out three paddles.

Two alternatives to price against

Vatic Pro Prism — $99.99. The direct comparison to the Pursuit line, and $30 cheaper than it is now. 14mm or 16mm polymer honeycomb with a raw Toray T700 carbon face, three shapes, a choice of handle length, cover included. Buy the Engage if you want the certification blanket and the 12.7mm option; buy the Vatic if you want conventional thicknesses and to keep the $30. Our Prism Flash review has the detail.

Six Zero Coral — $200. Still the comparison for the top of the Engage range, and now a close one rather than a clear win. The Coral is proven, measured and USA Pickleball approved; the X2 measures marginally better on the one bench that has tested both, at the same money. Our Coral versus Coral Pro comparison covers which Coral shape to take.

The verdict

Engage is the brand to look at when you want a current specification without a premium badge, and the September sale ending has sharpened rather than blunted that. The X2 Widebody at $199.99 is the buy: it is now measured, it is $60 off list, and on the only bench that has tested it alongside the Six Zero Coral it comes out marginally ahead on the two numbers that decide mis-hit behaviour. The Pursuit Pro2 16mm at $129.99 is the pick if $200 is too much. The ProFoam at $135.99 is the cheapest route into foam and still an unmeasured one. Skip the $79.99 Encore Pro, which sits in the middle of the range doing nothing the paddles either side of it do not do better. For the wider field, start with the best pickleball paddles guide, or the under-$100 roundup if the Pursuit is still more than you want to spend.

How we review gear — including how we get the paddles we test and what the money never touches — is documented in our review methodology.