Paddletek and ProXR Are Phasing Out Three Paddles

Updated October 12, 2026

If you went to buy a Paddletek HoneyFoam or a ProXR Signature Jolt this month and found the price odd — discounted everywhere, sold out in one place, higher than last month in another — the reason is a patent settlement, not a certification ruling. Three paddles are being withdrawn on a clock that runs out this fall, and as of 12 October that clock is most of the way down.

How we sourced this: we have not played any of the paddles named here. What follows synthesizes the settlement terms as published by JOOLA on PR Newswire and reported by The Dink and The Kitchen, plus prices read on 12 October 2026 from Paddletek’s own store, Pickleball Central and Tennis Warehouse. Every figure is attributed. Our methodology page explains how we handle gear we have not held.

What the settlement actually says

In April 2026 JOOLA filed a patent infringement complaint over its Propulsion Core technology at the International Trade Commission, with companion federal suits, naming eleven paddle brands. On 13 May 2026 Paddletek Group and ProXR Pickleball settled.

The terms are narrow and specific. JOOLA’s own release names three affected products: the Paddletek Reserve, the HoneyFoam and the ProXR Signature Jolt. Both companies agreed to add JOOLA’s propulsion core patent number to their relevant products and to pay royalties, and both “may continue to sell through and phase out the affected products through the fall.” Paddletek chief executive Ron Saslow’s quoted line was that “this matter involves a limited portion of our products,” which is accurate — Bantam, Tempest and Phoenix are untouched and between them are most of what Paddletek sells, as our Paddletek range guide lays out.

Two things in that wording get conflated and should not be. The royalty-and-patent-marking half applies going forward to relevant products. The phase-out half applies to those three models. Nothing in the settlement says the HoneyFoam name disappears, and Paddletek’s own materials describe HoneyFoam as its current mainline foam-core collection. What has a deadline is the specific inventory covered by the agreement.

Where the three paddles stand on 12 October

A month on from our last price read, the sell-through has moved in both directions. This is the table that matters if you are deciding this week.

Three readings, in order of how much they should change your decision.

The Reserve is gone. In September it was listed at $249.99 and in stock; today Paddletek’s page for it reads out of stock, and the listing describes it as built in limited quantities. A small-batch paddle in a phase-out window is the one item here with no second chance.

The Jolt got more expensive, which is what the end of a clearance looks like. In September it was $49.99 against a $119.99 list and sold out at ProXR’s own store. It is now $83.99 at Pickleball Central, in stock, with used examples offered alongside. The brand-store liquidation finished; what is left is third-party retail inventory priced at retail margins. If you were waiting for the price to fall further, that window has closed rather than widened.

The HoneyFoam models are the live decision. They have sat at $199.99 on Paddletek’s store for over a month without dropping further, and Tennis Warehouse is $10 under that at $189.99 with both 14mm and 16mm in six colourways. Two retailers holding stock in mid-October, with the settlement’s window described as “through the fall”, is the definition of a closing but not closed opportunity.

These paddles stay legal. This is not a certification problem.

This is the part that gets misread, so it is worth being blunt. A patent settlement is a commercial agreement between two companies. It has no bearing on whether a paddle is approved for sanctioned play. Nothing named here has been decertified, and nothing here is scheduled to be.

USA Pickleball’s actual removal list is short and unrelated: six models were removed from sanctioned play effective 1 July 2025 — two JOOLA Perseus Mod TA-15 variants, the Gearbox Pro Power Elongated, and three ProKennex Black Ace models. No Paddletek or ProXR product appears on it. We keep a running account in our guide to paddles that are actually banned, and the separate question of which list your paddle needs to be on is covered in our USAP versus UPA-A explainer.

So a HoneyFoam ESQ bought this month is legal in sanctioned play for as long as it survives, the same as one bought last year. What you lose is future supply, not present legality.

Should you buy one at the markdown?

For the HoneyFoam models, mostly yes, and the reasoning is unglamorous: you are buying a current-generation paddle from an established manufacturer at 20–24% off, and the reason for the discount has nothing to do with the paddle being worse than it was last month.

Paddletek describes HoneyFoam as three foam layers — a low-density EPP core, an EVA wrap through the four-to-eight o’clock arc, and a perimeter foam ring — and quotes the TKO-X at 8.0 oz with a 115 swing weight and the ESQ at 8.0 oz with a 108 swing weight. Those are the manufacturer’s figures, not an independent bench, and should be read as vendor claims; what is independently listed is Tennis Warehouse’s spec block, which gives the TKO-X at 8.0 oz, 16.5 by 7.5 inches, a 5.75-inch handle, a 4.125-inch grip and a PT-700 unidirectional raw carbon face in both 14mm and 16mm. If those two numbers mean nothing to you, our swing weight and twist weight explainer is the short version of why they predict feel better than static weight does.

At 4.7 the thing I notice from a foam-perimeter build is not raw power but where the paddle stays honest: contact two inches off centre comes back with less of a speed penalty than a plain honeycomb paddle gives you. That is worth more in a real game than a marketing number, and it is the property on discount here. It is also worth knowing that Paddletek’s own foam explainer concedes foam can “pack out” over time and that its long-term consistency is “still being evaluated” — an unusually honest line from a manufacturer selling the thing, and a reason not to treat a foam core as a durability guarantee.

Don’t buy one if

Three cases where the markdown is a trap rather than a bargain.

You want to replace it with the same paddle later. Players who have found their paddle often buy two or three of it over a few years. That option is closing. If you expect to still be playing this exact model in 2028, buy a spare now or buy something with a future.

You are equipping a club, a league or a family. Matching a set matters, and half a set is worse than none. Sell-through inventory will not support a repeat order, and the Reserve already proves how fast the last of it goes.

You have not held one and cannot demo it. A paddle leaving production is a poor candidate for a blind purchase, because the usual escape hatch — buy it, dislike it, sell it on — depends on a resale market that thins once a model is out of production. Several retailers run paid 30-day trial programmes; use one if you can. Vatic Pro now also lists a demo paddle from $60, which is a cheaper route to foam-core feel than guessing.

What to buy instead

Paddletek Bantam or Tempest, $149.99–$199.99. If what you liked was Paddletek specifically — the feel, the warranty, the shape language — the untouched lines are the obvious move. The settlement does not restrict them, they are cheaper than the HoneyFoam models at list, and they will still be in the catalogue next year.

Six Zero Coral, $200. If what you liked was the foam build rather than the badge, the Coral is the closest thing at the same money. Our Coral versus Coral Pro comparison covers which of the two shapes suits which game, and if control rather than price is the priority, start with our control paddle guide.

The case has moved since September

Our earlier version of this page listed eight brands as still fighting. That is now out of date and worth correcting plainly: most of them have settled.

The Dink reported on 16 September that eight brands had resolved with JOOLA — Paddletek and ProXR in May, Proton about a month later, then Facolos, Volair, Engage Pickleball and All Racquet Sports/All For Padel, with Friday agreeing on 17 September. The Kitchen’s report of the same announcement, published 14 September, says JOOLA claims resolution with nine of the eleven and notes that the Propulsion Core technology appears in JOOLA’s own 3S, Pro IV and Pro V paddles going back to 2024.

Three respondents are not settled. RPM Pickleball is contesting the case. Franklin Sports has neither settled nor consented. Diadem Sports has not responded at all, and JOOLA has asked the court for a default judgment, which had not been entered as of The Dink’s report.

The settlements are also producing more phase-outs. Friday’s deal, per The Dink, stops manufacturing of the affected products immediately and allows sales into the fall if they carry JOOLA’s Propulsion Core patent numbers: the named models are the Aura, the Fever 101 and the Fever 102, and the Aura Pro is explicitly not covered. The Friday Original, which we reviewed separately, is not on that list either — our Friday Original review stands. Proton’s settlement went further still, discontinuing manufacture of its affected products and selling the remainder with JOOLA’s patent numbers and a “Powered by JOOLA” label.

We are not going to predict the outcome for the three holdouts, and nobody who tells you they can is worth listening to. What is worth knowing as a buyer is the shape of the remedy so far: royalties, patent marking and a sell-through window, not anything sudden. If your shortlist includes a foam-core paddle from RPM, Franklin or Diadem, that is a reason to read the news before a big order, not a reason to panic-buy. A brand vanishing from shelves is not always about the product — we wrote about that from the other direction when Gamma Sports filed for Chapter 11.

Where to buy

Paddletek sells the HoneyFoam models direct, which is where the most accurate stock picture is, and Tennis Warehouse is currently $10 cheaper on the TKO-X. The Signature Jolt is no longer at ProXR; Pickleball Central has new and used stock. Broader retail listings for both brands:

• Paddletek HoneyFoam on Amazon
• ProXR paddles on Amazon

Check the model name against the table above before you buy. During a sell-through, listings for withdrawn models tend to outlive the stock behind them, and the Jolt’s September price is still quoted in places that cannot fill it.

The short version

Three paddles — the Paddletek Reserve, the HoneyFoam and the ProXR Signature Jolt — are being withdrawn this fall under a patent settlement, not a certification ruling, and they stay legal in sanctioned play for good. On 12 October the Reserve is sold out, the HoneyFoam ESQ and TKO-X are $199.99 at Paddletek and $189.99 at Tennis Warehouse against a $249.99 list, and the Jolt is $83.99 at Pickleball Central after its $49.99 brand clearance ended. Buy the HoneyFoam if you want a good paddle at a fifth off and do not need a second one later. Skip it if you need a matched set, a repeat purchase or a resale market to fall back on.

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