Big shoutout to Ethos for this awesome paddle (Arete). I was definitely skeptical at first but wanted to try something different so decided on this one and wow what an underrated paddle and far exceeded my expectations. I chose the Arete paddle and the owner did something completely unexpected; he shipped me both the Arete and Scoria.
This review will only focus on the Ethos Arete pickleball paddle as I like it so much that I haven’t really given the Scoria any court time. However, I’ll drop some thoughts for you in this article.
3 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲
The Arete is a Thermoformed, Carbon-fiber paddle that is designed to increase maneuverability and leverage… I found it very fun to play with. The entire face of the paddle is one big sweet spot. The power generated was so unexpected and definitely impressive. This paddle is lightning fast in hand and makes the play around the kitchen so fun.
Some paddle history over the past year and a half for perspective. Joola Hyperion, XSPAK tournament Edition, Vatic Pro V7 (way too powerful for me), Ronbus R1 Pulsar (a little too stiff), Ronbus R1 Nova (really liked), Hisk Ultimate (best bargain ever). I’ve hit most other popular paddles out there; just haven’t owned them. I have no issues generating my own power and prefer control-oriented paddles over power paddles.
Ethos Scoria Review
I only played one game with it. It’s a firmer/crisper feeling than the Arete but not by a lot. It came in at 8.00 oz (0.02 oz lighter) and they are within 1/16th of an inch of one another on the balance point. It has the same 6″ handle as the Arete but the handle feels slightly shorter due to the shape of the throat area.
Ethos Arete Pickleball Paddle Review
Published specs for the Arete paddle can be found here ethospickleball.com Mine came in at 8.02 ounces; with one OG Tourna Grip and the supplied head protection tape running from 10-2 the final weight is 8.24 oz. I’ve played it this way for all sessions and have no reason to experiment with lead tape.
Appearance
Obviously, the most unique thing about the Arete is its shape. While having standard overall dimensions for an elongated paddle at 7.5” x 16.5” the head shape is very different with the lower corners almost completely removed. That combined with a 6” handle and rounded top makes for what is probably the smallest head in PB.
The Head Size
I’ve been gaming this paddle for 2 months now. It’s my favorite paddle to date. IMO it leans towards the control side for a fully thermoformed paddle. Despite the small head size, the paddle doesn’t play small. I feel it has a very generous and effective sweet spot. I can’t recall the head size being an issue at any single point in the 10 or so hours I’ve used it. Any concerns one might have regarding the truncated lower corners should be dismissed much like the concerns people had about hitting a ball in the open throat area on Selkirk Air paddles; it just doesn’t happen. Take a look at your existing paddle and you probably won’t see a single ball mark in the bottom 1/4 of the faces (maybe even the bottom 1/3).
So overall As for the shape itself, I haven’t found that there are any negatives with it. It might just be in my mind, but there is a sense of more lag/release with the paddle’s head when hitting groundstrokes.
Even though I’m primarily a one-hander, the 6” handle along with the paddle shape was quite nice for those times I do use a two-hander. I’ve found myself using two hands more and more often at the NVZ for crosscourt roll dinks and speedups. Hitting a Selkirk Luxx Invicta immediately afterward made me realize just how much I liked the extra handle length. With the Luxx, my left index finger was falling inside the throat.
The Review Summary
The Ethos Arete paddle is definitely more of a control paddle than a power paddle with it being one of the plushest 360 banded thermoformed paddles I’ve hit. As someone who experienced the onset of TE with some of the stiffer thermoformed paddles, I’m a bit gun-shy but have no concerns with the Arete. Spin is what one would expect with an RCF paddle. Being a control-oriented paddle, blocks, resets, and drops are easy to execute. While not a power paddle, it has plenty of power for my game. I come from a tennis background so my groundstrokes have a pretty long swing.
The Arete is now one of my primary paddles as it simply fits my playing style. I think it will suit those coming from a tennis background very well; two-handers especially. If you want something different, a solid paddle that has power, good spin, and fast (low swing weight) then I’d say consider the Ethos Arete for sure.
A Critical Look at Published Specifications and Real-world Testing
How things can get lost in translation? Food for thought on that. I will be the first to admit the cons of any paddle I play with, including the Arete or any other, but I think it’s important to look at a thing like swing weight with some context.
For example, almost always when I look at a company’s website and they have a swing weight published, it’s very much lower than the paddles I actually test from them are, haha. Depending on the design of the paddle and where the weight is distributed, the swing weight can either be very great or very little depending on the overall weight of the paddle you were given… the Pursuit MX 6.0 is a great example of a paddle that jumps huge numbers in swing weight as the overall weight of the paddle goes up, and with the numbers, I see reported on websites vs what I actually see interesting, most certainly these companies are testing some of their absolute lowest weighted paddles for reported numbers, giving a published swing weight of 110 and customers getting a paddle that is very likely to have a much higher swing weight but thinking the number associated with the feel to be that 110 if that makes sense.
I am the one who actually tested and reported the swing Weight of the Arete, though I can’t remember the exact weight of the one I measured, but I know the swing Weight of 116 is at least reported with reasonable accuracy (not implying people are in any way deliberately inaccurate, btw).
I have also noticed a decent discrepancy from various paddle reviewers when reporting swing and twist weights, so there seems to be a decent amount of appreciable variation out there for the same paddle… so like any piece of info, it should be treated as a piece of the overall gestalt, as opposed to diagnostic criteria, you know what I mean?
The Etho Arete pickleball paddle is also 16mm with an elongated shape, so for comparative purposes, it’s also important to look at other 16mm elongated paddles.
So there will be variances in swing weight, twist weight, etc., but it should not be drastically different. I think the key here is that the swing weight for this paddle is low…for an elongated paddle. Overall, it’s not low(not a dealbreaker). So it seems a little disingenuous when I see reviews saying how fast in the hands it feels. It won’t be faster than a standard or hybrid-shaped paddle with a lower swing weight.
