Franklin Carbon STK Review 

Get him a snickers. This man is hangry. 😂

“Even JW hates it” 😂😂😂

I’ve always thought of Franklin as a mass market brand, not a brand of high level equipment. I think we took them more seriously in pickleball because they had Ben signed for so long. Good review, it’s obvious they built a paddle that “looks” high quality for Dick’s, Walmart, Costco, etc. But, they cut corners to maintain high margins at a low(ish) price point.

This dude chris man! Most influential guy in pickleball. Guy knows paddles, I tell you that!

Excellent review, as always, Chris! What in the world are they doing with the texture? Adding grit paint over the top of carbon fiber weave? Whatever they've done has seriously reduced the texture, as your microscope shows clearly.

17mm version is a top 5 defense paddle so that's cool, thx for the review.

Thank you for being honest with your paddle reviews. 😁

Hayden Patriquin used it in the latest takeya ppa actually. I have liked the 14.5 so far, good spin and feel, decent pop and I like the grip, but I do have bigger hands.

My review. I got the 17 mm from Sierra Trading at a crazy price. My prior was a diff brand 16.5. I just enjoy the thicker. Biggest challenge is returning serves or slam shots from advanced level players. I am super happy w the racket. I am 6.2 with lager hands. I added an extra layer of handle rap. Plus a BIG difference is to play with grip gloves. Finally I took black electric wire tape and put it at the handle top to secure the structure and grip tape. All good. I find when I need fierce power I just swing harder. My control is great. I play around 6 hours a week. On a flip note, I surveyed other paddle owners w 250 plus rackets. They also had some edge issues. Could be the overall manufacturers. (Speculating). Thx

Chris, Thank you for taking the time to put together this in-depth review, I have the 17mm STK. I was really confused when I took off the replacement grip to see the handle was still exposed polymer!? The marketing said that it was a one-piece construction to improve stability (usually when I hear one-piece I assume like gearbox or selkirk where it goes straight from paddle face to the handle) making it much more stable. This almost seemed like false advertising for me? I wouldn't go as far to say that it's horrible or trying to compete with others (MX 6.0, Model E, Selkirks), but that should be expected at the price point. I do have a lot of respect for Franklin for being top tier when it comes to replacing paddles (I had three Ben John's replaced). I have a bigger issue with Joola's hyperfoam snapping in the paddle face with a few times of playing at the $219 price point. I think the lead placement of Johns and Johnson are indicative of the weaknesses of their paddle manufacturers. Lastly, I think the hype came more from JW using the paddle than the actual playing characteristics of the paddle itself.

the JW montage was gold

Damn. Was hoping to upgrade from the fiberglass version. Not buying the paddle now. Thank you for the review!

Have you done any reviews of the FRanklin Tour Pros? I notice a lot of the young top players at our area use those a lot. They are all super spinny and banger guys so who knows why they all gravitate towards these Franklins

Looks like 2 of you took advantage of the same holiday sale I did to get the Head Revolt Pro 4.0 for $75 🙂. Oh, and thanks for saving us from even bother looking at the Franklin Carbon STK. XSPAK did exactly what you are talking about; "raw" T700, 16mm, elongated shape for under $100. It was actually $55 the day they released it on AMZ. It has climbed to $90 but it is still the best deal on any paddle out there.

🔥 Feel the burn. 🔥 That’s right. No more free passes! No more mamby-pamby reviews! Chris isn’t doing milquetoast.

And he is already one of the top 5 in the PPA. Imagine how much better he would be if you gave him a DBD.

Will you be reviewing the four new Vulcan V900 paddles? Would love to hear your thoughts since there’s four paddles for people to decide from.

your highlight reel of JW pissed off is hilarious.

Was excited to play with my new 14.5mm STK. Felt okay around the net, and fair but not great power. Unfortunately the edge guard rattled like a snare drum after just two hours of play. I could have glued it, but shouldn’t need to do that with a brand new paddle!

THanks for the review. A little late but would this be not a bad option at the $50 price range?

Good thorough review. Was pretty excited about this when it debuted & was USAPA approved back in June. Took so long for them to get it out on the market & all for it to be a bust. Thanks Chris.

This is your best review yet. I demoed it at nationals and wasn’t impressed at all. The grip on one of them felt terrible too, like its an oval/rectangle. Love those JW clips too, I hope this crap paddle doesn’t hurt his results.

Could still be T700 with a coating on it. We have a premium entry level paddle (Sapphire) with Toray T700 carbon and with grit paint. Seeing a lot of off the shelf companies claiming Toray carbon - I have my doubts. I would guess some companies are jumping on the wagon and saying their generic raw carbon is Toray.

Wow, that’s the most expressions I’ve ever seen JW display ever. Usually he looks like every game’s just a walk in the park.

Would love to hear your thoughts on the Joola Vision 16 mm and how it compares to the other carbon fibers on the market 👀

The edge guard on my new Franklin stk was also beginning to shake loose and the paddle also sounded horrible when hit off center. Thankfully I was able to sell the paddle after our session.

Had to come back to this video after watching JW switch to the fiberglass franklin signature and showing similar frustration. Franklin PLEASE get the Johnsons, Gabe, Big H, and all other Franklin people new paddles.

Great review. I feel Franklin has always made mediocre sporting goods. Their volleyball/badminton sets are the lowest of the low, as are their hockey sticks and equipment. Even their wiffle ball sets were disappointing and cheap. They can't even seem to make the X40 pickleballs correctly! One out of every 3 seems to wobble. Again, great review, guys!!! Love your content.

Great review. I loved by Signature Paddle (for like 2 weeks). Now the “Max Grit” has worn off and Franklin customer service says it’s normal. I won’t be buying another Franklin paddle. So I’m not surprised at your impressions of the new carbon paddle.

What about Nitro infusion?

So, apart from that, it's an excellent paddle, right? LMAO! Awesome review as usual. You just say it like it is, and that what everyone loves about you.

Thanks as always to the unbiased opinions and information.

Hey Chris, I tried the ProDrive paddle today and thought it was amazing… but before committing to it I said “I’m gonna check the Pickleball Studio for a review “ Found none! 🙁 Lol Wonder if you’re thinking about reviewing it. Would love to see the specs on spin and swing weight!

Dannnnng the roast begins?!!

Was about to pull the trigger on a 14mm Hyperion Based on your videos but my local store directed me to a new ProDrive Drive paddle. It 19mm!!! and is Kevlar and some people seem to love it. Would love you to review it.

bringing some heat! like it. As consumers, we need honest opinions not endless hype

This is incredibly disappointing. I swear the prototype version of this paddle with the blue franklin logo had the same t700 face as crbn/electrum/joola. It’s a shame, the idea of a 17mm crbn1 really appealed to me but it’s clear this paddle isn’t it. I feel like the Johnsons got screwed for wanting to sign as a family. Franklin is clearly taking advantage of their names and it seems the Johnsons really don’t have a lot of say in the paddle design as advertised on their website.

Chris, hope you'll do a review of the new Vulcan V900 series paddles. Curious if they're worth the $230...they're advertising a "quadro-carbon fiber" face, whatever that means.

Solid work as alway Will... I mean Chris! 🤣😜

Those JW clips are a huge tell. (Off topic question, have you tried out the new ProKennex yet? Using a gearbox atm, thinking about trying the new one from them but 250 is steep)

🔥🔥🔥🔥 review

glad I waited...was looking for a thin paddle but I guess I will be waiting longer.....the Diadem Icon looks like my gamer for now

Perfect review...Thank you!!

The problem is that Franklin is a giant machine that has their hands in everything sports related… the decisions aren’t necessarily made by the engineers but the accountants… I’m sure they could come in swinging with another raw carbon paddle, but they want that proprietary stuff that they can put a fence around… too bad that’s a crap product… they don’t realize that some people will pay $150+ for a decent paddle now…

Tried this paddle (14.5) because it was much anticipated on what Franklin would do but gotta say I was extremely disappointed, played nothing like my other carbon face paddles. I used it for 1 game and it was making that loud noise also when I hit it high on the face, c'mon Franklin what are you doing.

I like it but I’m new to the game

Just got 14.5 at Marshals for $40.

Hi. What are the other advantages of carbon over fiberglass besides the extra spin? Have tried to switch to carbon paddles from CRBN/joola/engage/Selkirk/,etc, but always come back to ampd S2 (for double) that I feel works better for dink, block, and fast hand exchanges. Am I alone or there are actually other players prefer fiberglass too?

Has Zane signed with anyone yet? Didn’t know he chose not to resign with Franklin

Is there anything you’d recommend in the 100-150 range for someone who prefers an elongated face? My sister went from an elongated $50-ish gamma to a head extreme elite and then just went back to using the gamma because she relies on that reach. Her birthday’s coming up and I’ve been thinking of buying her a paddle but I’ve been having a hard time trying to pick one out

Is it basically the Centre paddle in the signature shape?

Hey Chris! Do you recommend the 14mm or 16mm Hyperion? i know the swift didn’t do well, my 16mm hyperion lacks too much power so it seems that the 14 so long as the quality is still there might be a better choice

Have to glue edge guards 17mm 3x now. It’s very disappointing to say the least. This is $50 or less cheap paddle!

What’s the swing weight for the original signature paddle?

Franklin developers just threw up in their mouths after this review

Think the halo 13mm is better than this?

Franklin is on the way out. I hope JW is out of that contract soon, hate to see a top tier player have to use a garbage paddle.

You are giving companies too much of a pass regarding the handle. Just placing plastic strips to cover the exposed core is really not any better than just leaving it exposed. I say this because the exposed core isn't something you actually feel/notice in use; only when you specifically feel for it. It's also something you can easily fix yourself if desired. The reality is that once paddles started costing over $100 they should have been using vacuum molded handles in multiple sizes similar to tennis rackets.

I think franklin just does not care to much about pickleball atm, they are such a big company and they will really hop in when they think they will be missing out.

Pls review Players Pickleball Rogue and Cheetah Pickleball paddles pls. Hybrid and E16 Raw Carbon respectively.

Chris you always seen to get "defects" lol.

JW played better with a joola paddle. Look at his performance from the first half to the second half of the year when he got sponsored by Franklin

Hi!

I owned the 17mm version.Terrible paddle. Build quality is 🗑 and started making glass shattering like noises on the 3rd day playing with this paddle. Really bad paddle. Not worth it.

JW deserves better than this.

After all this wait- this paddle is a big L.

The crbn handle is the same thing. Makes it feel like a cheap piece of crap. Franklins are over priced crap

JW's singles results have dropped off a lot recently. He's losing to players he used to beat easily and I know in a few app gold medal matches he's got there from the backdraw

Chunky

Lmao jw...

not surprised, sucks for jw

Franklin making junk again

Franklin is trash. Wasn't a fan of the Ben Johns paddle but this one is even worse. Don't buy these. Absolutely no power and very little spin.