How to Test a Padel Racket Before Buying It
”Which padel racket should I buy?” is one of the most common questions we receive from customers. Choosing the right padel racket can profoundly impact your game, especially for intermediate to advanced players. In this guide, we'll explain why we recommend testing out a padel racket before making a purchase, tips for testing out a padel racket, and how our demo program can help you find your new favorite racket! Our goal is to equip you with practical insights and tips that will empower you to find the best padel racket for your needs, which will enhance your padel experience and performance on the court.
Why test a padel racket?
At Total Padel, we’ve been helping players find their perfect padel racket. One of the most popular questions we receive from players is, “What if I buy a padel racket and don’t like it? Testing the racket is one of the most convincing answers!
Every padel racket has its own characteristics in terms of shape, weight, balance, and materials, giving players a huge selection of rackets to choose from, depending on what they're searching for. Because of that, it might take you a while to find “The One” that is suitable to your level and game style, and that will make you achieve your full game potential.
Be sure to take your time testing a new padel racket. You don't want to try the racket for two or three random shots, get fascinated by it, you buy it, and then you discover after some games that it's too heavy or too soft for you. Don’t rush it, there’s more to feeling out a new racket and how it performs than you may realize. We’ll cover some insights and tips for what to look for in a new racket next.
How to test a padel racket?
There’s a wide variety of performance features to consider when choosing a new padel racket. These performance features cater to different styles of play, player preferences, and physical needs. If you are not familiar with the fundamentals of padel racket features and how they affect performance, we highly recommend checking out our article on How to Choose a Padel Racket. This guide will cover just about everything you need to know when it comes to padel racket performance features and things to consider before purchasing.
The tips that we are about to cover in the video and section below will help you understand the best way to test a racket once you have it in your hands!
Here are our tips for testing a padel racket and get a better feel for racket performance:
- Consider getting two rackets with similar features which meet your personal preferences. With more options, comes a greater chance that you’ll walk away with a racket that you love. It's important to notice that trying out more than two rackets can get a bit confusing when it comes to tracking your evaluation of them, so too many options can also be a bad thing!
- Check the weight of the rackets you’re testing, as there’s always a margin of 10 grams that might affect your opinion of the racket.
- Try the racket in four different phases:
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- Defensive phase
- Volleys
- Bandejas/viboras
- Kick smash
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- Don’t "overplay" or play differently than you normally would. Stay focused on the racket. Testing is important to see if you’re comfortable with the racket, how maneuverable it is, and what feeling/sensation you’re getting while using it. Hit the ball normally as you would do during a match and don’t try new styles or techniques. Testing is not the time for trying new techniques!
- Be sure to try all kinds of shots, not just the ones that you are good at. Try a variety of shots such as before the glass, after the glass, some lobs, etc., mix it up.
- Play a 1 vs. 1 cross-court match. This is our recommendation over a normal match as this will allow you to get more shots in a shorter amount of time. This extra contact with the ball will help you understand how the racket feels during your normal in-game movements and decisions.
- Don’t get fooled by super shots. During warm-ups or tests, you can often execute shots better than you normally would in the game, so we recommend not putting too much value in your warmup shots.
- Be neutral, don’t necessarily let the comments of your friends or opponent influence how you feel about the racket.
- Take your time and try the racket as much as you can.
As you can see there is more to properly testing out a padel racket than there may seem! Be patient, and attentive to the feel of the racket, and how the new racket translates to success with your shots. If you’re ready to test out a racket, be sure to learn more about our demo program below.
Total Padel Demo Program
Ready to get testing? Our padel racket demo program was made for you!
As it is complicated to find the racket you want to test in your club or among your friends, Total Padel has the solution for you.
How it works
- Total Padel allows you to test a maximum of 2 padel rackets for 7 days
- Rackets can be from any brand if they are included in our demo program
- You will only pay for shipping when placing your demo order
- Once you decide which racket you want to buy, send back the demo rackets, and complete the purchase. You will then be refunded your initial shipping cost.
We are proud to have helped thousands of customers find their perfect racket using our demo program, which is the largest in the EU as we currently deliver demo rackets to 21 countries!
We hope this guide helped you feeling confident to test out a padel racket and leads to more success on the court!
Total Padel is proud to provide products from different brands with all the possible characteristics to be sure that your next preferred padel product is here, with us!
If you are still not sure which padel product to choose, our experts will be more than happy to help! Please send an email to info.en@totalpadel.com or contact us via +44 (0) 204 525 3604.