Pro XR Protohype 2 Paddle: My In-Depth Thoughts

Kip Lacey

Hey guys, it’s Kip. I’ve got a brand new paddle to review: the new Pro XR Protohype 2. This is the 2025 version. This is Pro XR’s Gen 3 thermoformed entry into the market. It has a 13 mm core and a T700 carbon fiber face. I’ve liked a lot of what Pro XR has done in the past. They’ve really been kind of creative with even their grips along the way, and they’ve always kind of had a smaller face and longer grip.

See ProXR paddles at JustPaddles.

Specifications 

On their website, it says that this paddle is for upper-level players. You can kind of see that because this paddle is 16 1/2 inches long and 7 3/8 inches wide. So the face is a little compact. It has a 6-inch-long grip with a 4 1/4-inch circumference. The face is pretty compact, but with Gen 3 it should open that up a little bit and have a larger sweet spot.

Testing and Review 

Just spent the last few weeks getting to know the brand new Pro XR Protohype 2. Again this is the 2025 version. Very excited to get out and hit this and enjoyed it the entire time. I’m going to bounce through all the attributes and then just a couple of things that you kind of have to work around a little bit with this paddle.

Let me start out with power, because I always start out with power. My average serve numbers—I’ve said before—are probably 48 to 50 miles an hour. That’s really good for me. This, and you would expect this from Gen 3 thermoform, the Protohype averaged in at 51.8 mph. That is really, really good. And the ball just jumps. Once again, that’s something we’ve come to kind of enjoy about the Gen 3 thermoform paddles.

Kip Lacey using the Pro XR Protohype 2

The accuracy, control, and consistency is very good with this paddle as well. I always say power and accuracy go hand in hand. If you have a lot of power, you’re not going to have a lot of accuracy. This paddle had pretty good accuracy, pretty good control, pretty good consistency. It does all that very well. But all of this, all of what I’ve said so far, even going back to power, comes with a caveat. I’ll kind of get to that in just a moment.

Spin and Control 

Spin is really nice off this paddle. The face really grabs it well. You’ve got nice dwell time. You can spin this—topspin it, you know, slice it—whatever you like to do, this paddle will do it. You can expect really positive outcomes and nice performance. This does have really, really good spin.

Feedback and Feel 

Feedback and feel are really pretty nice. It is a Gen 3 paddle. It’s not perfectly smooth like butter, but the feedback and feel is pretty good.

Maneuverability and Balance 

Good defense to offense—anything you put this paddle in front of, it is going to go back once again. The ball’s going to jump because it trampolines a little bit. The Protohype does get the ball back, so good defense to offense. Really quick at the net. Even though this paddle is 8.4 oz, it doesn’t feel heavy in your hand—you don’t notice it right out. In fact, I was shocked. I weighed it multiple times. It really doesn’t feel like that. It’s very evenly balanced, so it’s very quick at the net. You can maneuver this paddle very easily, get to the ball, and the ball just shoots off , which you will really like. So you don’t have to really jump on anything—just block it back and the ball will go.

Sweet Spot and Playing Style

I like this paddle a lot. But now I’m going to discuss the two things that this paddle does or has just kind of built in that you’re going to notice right away if you get your hands on a Pro XR Protohype 2. You have to hit this paddle dead-red. You wander out of this sweet spot, and the performance goes directly downhill. Now, to be fair, the Pro XR site—if you go to the website—says upper-level paddle, even almost pro-level paddle. So they really point that out in their advertising right away that you better have game to do this. With the face—I think I said in the opener—the surface is going to be kind of smallish, but then you kind of shrink that down to where you have to hit the ball. You really have to hit it perfectly or the performance really drops off. But once again, going back to power and consistency and accuracy and all those—the spin—if you hit this paddle dead-red, you are rewarded. You hit that ball right there, you are going to get power, control, consistency, spin—everything comes off of that spot.

Sound and Hype 

The other thing you’re going to notice immediately—and all Gen 3 thermoform paddles have this kind of a hollow sound—we’ve all heard it. We all know what it is—kind of sounds hollow. The Pro XR Protohype 2—you’re going to hear this thing. It’s really not borderline obnoxious. It is obnoxious. It really is loud outdoors. I mean, it’s loud. You put this thing inside and you can hear it across the court. It makes a lot of noise. Once again, if you have the performance and have the game, is that going to bother you? No—that’s not going to bother you at all. In fact, if it’s troublesome to the other team, who cares? If you got the game to play with this paddle, the sound doesn’t bother you.

Final Thoughts and Takeaways 

This paddle does a lot of cool things. I got to play with it quite a bit and spend a lot of time with it as I do all paddles. The more I did, the more I appreciated it and the more I had fun with it. But it demands you have a little game. You can’t just wander around the space—you’ve got to stay in one spot. My forehand’s a little looser than the backhand—my backhand is tight. Even back to tennis days, it always was. So as long as I stayed tight and hit backhands, I was rewarded and had a lot of fun with this paddle.

I’m anxious to hear if you guys have tried this. It’s kind of rare out there. Pro XR is kind of—it’s almost like a beta version. They’re pushing this out, letting people try it. I suspect they’re going to try something different in the future, which is cool. Companies like Selkirk and Body Helix do that with their flick paddles. I like companies that are experimenting and letting people test what works, what doesn’t, and then coming back with something even cooler. This paddle, if you’re in the right hands, is a lot of fun to hit. I think a couple of pros are using it right now, and once again Pro XR kind of warns you about that—you better have game. But if you do, this is a lot of fun to hit. Very curious to hear if it made it in your bag.

As always, leave me a comment. I’m going to come back with a bunch of new content soon. I got a whole bunch of paddles in—working through those a bit. Alright guys, get out and play the game we love. I’ll be back.

For in-depth video reviews, check out my Youtube Channel.

Related Articles: 

How to Choose a Pickleball Paddle 

How to Play Pickleball: Easy-to-Follow Guide