The Jelly Bean 2 makes the cut — Pegasus and Ultré shapes are now in the demo bag
Three weeks ago I called the Jelly Bean 2 "extremely promising, but not a recommendation yet." It's a recommendation now. Both shapes I own — the Pegasus widebody and the Ultré hybrid — have joined the fleet at position 05, and they go out on loan like everything else in the backpack.
The short version: this is an amazing paddle for beginners, and for anyone who wants an all-court paddle that leans control. The softer EMA foam core gives you dwell — the ball sits on the face long enough to actually place it — and the HexGrit surface delivers elite spin that holds its bite in wear testing instead of fading like raw carbon. What it won't do is end points for you; the pace is yours to supply. For a developing game, that's a feature.
The Pegasus Jelly Bean 2 — the widebody, and the shape I hand a new player first.
Which shape
On 6 August my one worry was swing weight — the Ultré benches at a heavy 120. The answer turned out to be the other shape. Independent testers put the Pegasus at a swing weight of 108–112 with a twist weight around 7.1: the lightest swing and the biggest sweet spot in the line, which is exactly the combination a newer player needs at the kitchen. So — Pegasus if you're starting out or you win with hands; Ultré if you want the extra reach and already have the hands to swing a heavier paddle. Borrow both and let your own hands vote.
Code: ROCKET takes $10 off at 11SIX24 — $159.99 for either shape. Same rule as always: codes pay me in paddle discounts, never cash, and they fund the demo fleet.
Spartus goes widebody — a second Spitfire shape is coming, and mine is already ordered
Spartus has announced a second shape for the Spitfire: the Spitfire Standard/Widebody — 16" × 8", with the same Turbo Foam Gen 4 core, QuadFiber layup and PermaGritNano surface as the Elongated, in a wider, quicker package. General release is coming shortly; the first production batch is expected to ship the first week of September, and USAP approval is expected imminently.
The Spitfire Standard/Widebody — same build recipe as the Elongated, two inches shorter, half an inch wider.
Read those numbers against the Elongated in my bag and the pitch writes itself. Swing weight drops from the ~116 independent testers measure on the Elongated to a claimed 107 — that's the difference between a paddle you swing and a paddle that gets out of the way in hands battles. Twist weight climbs to 7.4, which on a 8"-wide face means a substantially bigger effective sweet spot. Spartus says power and pop run a touch higher than the Elongated too. The tradeoff is the honest widebody one: you give up reach. If you live at the kitchen line and win points with fast hands rather than wingspan, this shape is aimed squarely at you.
Usual honesty rules: those are the manufacturer's numbers until an independent bench measures one — and comparing Spartus's claimed twist weight against tester-measured figures for the Elongated is different rulers, same direction. Nothing here is an endorsement until it's been on a court in real hands, some of them yours.
Why the Spitfire line has a permanent slot in my bag
The Elongated is the reason this site's "budget" pick never comes with an apology. It's $109 list — $99 after my code — for an EPP floating-foam Gen 4 core and spin measured in the 98th percentile of everything Pickleball Effect has tested, with a surface that has held its bite well in wear testing. My honest take from its time in the bag: calling it one of the best budget paddles undersells it — it's a genuinely great paddle that happens to cost double digits. A second shape doesn't change that verdict; it widens who it fits. And from the sound of things, the Spitfire shape family isn't done growing.
Code: my ROCKET code is $10 off at Spartus — that's what puts the Elongated at $99, under the hundred-dollar line. As always: codes pay me in paddle discounts, never cash, and they fund the demo fleet.
11SIX24 announces the Jelly Bean 2 — four shapes, elite spin, and a heavier swing than the name suggests
11SIX24 has announced the second-generation Jelly Bean, and it lands 21 August 2026 at $169.99. It comes in the same four outlines as the Power 2 line — Pegasus widebody, Vapor hybrid, Ultré hybrid, Hurache-X elongated — so shape is a preference, not a compromise.
The Jelly Bean 2 line — Pegasus (widebody) → Vapor (hybrid) → Ultré (hybrid) → Hurache-X (elongated). Same four outlines as Power 2, opposite core philosophy.
Where the Power 2 chases power, this one is built the other way: a softer, denser full-foam core (EMA, EVA and an expanding foam) under a Toray carbon face with 11SIX24's HexGrit — the same durable grit surface as the Power 2. The brief is dwell and control rather than pace — and the independent numbers back that up.
Those spin numbers are genuinely elite — the Hurache-X at ≈2,418 RPM would slot second in my whole fleet, behind only the Coral Pro. Paired with HexGrit, which is the surface family that holds its bite longest in independent wear testing, that is a very strong combination for anyone buying a paddle with their own money.
The firepower figure is the honest counterweight. John Kew measured the Ultré Jelly Bean 2 at 58 against the Six Zero Coral Pro Hybrid's 78 — so this is a control paddle, not a Power 2 in different clothes. It keeps balls in the court instead of ending points with pace, and it costs roughly $38 less than the Coral Pro while doing it.
The one thing I'd want a beginner to check
The swing weight is heavy. 117.8 on the elongated and 120.1 on the Ultré sit in the heavy band on my telemetry scale — higher than every paddle currently in my fleet. That buys stability and plow-through, and the twist weights (up to 6.71) are genuinely forgiving. But heavy swinging paddles are demanding in hands battles at the kitchen, which is exactly where newer players spend most of their time. "Forgiving" and "easy to swing" are not the same thing, and on paper this looks like the first without the second. That's the thing I'm paying attention to on court.
On certification: it's UPA-A rather than USAP, same as the Ultre Power 2 and the J2CR — my top two picks. That only decides anything if you play USAP-sanctioned tournaments, which most rec players never do, and the PPA pros are out there on UPA-A paddles every week. Worth knowing, not worth worrying about.
Worth saying plainly: at $169.99 this isn't the budget paddle the original Jelly Bean was. It's a control-first paddle at a mid price with elite, durable spin.
Update, 26 August: verdict's in — it made the fleet. Read the entry.
Code: my ROCKET code works on it at launch, same as the rest of the 11SIX24 line.