Gherkin Draco Widebody vs Elongated Review — Which Is Better?

A couple months ago I reviewed the original Gherkin Draco hybrid and really enjoyed it. Gherkin recently added elongated and widebody shapes.

Let's see if they're any different — and if they're still really good.

Intro

My name is Pickle Li. I'm a 5.0 pickleball player and I've reviewed over 50 paddles on this channel. I created MyPickleList, which does community-driven paddle ratings, and there are currently over 1,000 ratings.

Caveats & Disclosures

Reminder: This is a first impressions review, not a full review.

I played with these for a few days, so I can't speak to long-term durability. That said, Dracos are gen 4, so they shouldn't core crush.

I'll be rating these paddles on MyPickleList at the end of this write-up, so stay tuned for that.

Shout out to Gherkin for sending these over.

Use code PICKLELI for 10% off at gherkinusa.com.

Quick Specs Overview

The Gherkin Draco line is gen 4 power with a unique face shape — trimmed corners for maneuverability by removing areas you realistically don't hit on a typical rectangle paddle.

• Original hybrid: Light blue (see hybrid review)
• Elongated: Light green
• Widebody: Light purple

All are 16mm. The widebody and elongated both weighed 7.7 oz — on the light side. Everyone who picked one up commented on how light it felt swinging.

On-Court First Impressions

Pop

Both have above-average pop and pack plenty of power.

• Widebody: More sinky and poppy — probably poppier than the original hybrid, which makes sense for the shape
• Elongated: A little less poppy off the face — pops off quicker vs the widebody's plush dwell

Great for counters, but poppy enough that you may pop it up occasionally.

Control & Feel

Light, solid, and poppy — more solid and dense than Infernos and Boomstiks, yet the ball pops off pretty quickly compared to soft, plush paddles.

Unlike Boomstiks and RPM Q2s where the ball pops off instantly, this sinks in slightly more then pops off. Not super soft/plush — a touch softer than Boomstik/RPM Q2, more solid than Infernos.

Pretty intuitive like the original Draco — maybe a bit poppier than I remember.

Widebody: More plush with more dwell time (probably helped by the sweet spot). Sweet spot is really good — close to ideal where everything goes back over with minimal edge hits. I enjoyed it slightly less than expected on control — drops popped up a bit more; I'd consider adding weight to get shots to dip more if I mained it.

Elongated: A bit less dwell, pops off the face faster. Sweet spot still really good for an elongated. Felt more intuitive on third shots with better dip.

All testing was stock form.

Main complaint overall: balls sometimes pop up more than expected.

Grit: Slightly above average out of the box. Kind of similar design to RPM Q2 grit (normal feel, claims more durability) — so far feels more durable from a feel perspective vs my worn hybrid my mom mains. New shapes still feel gritty after sessions; hybrid is smooth by comparison. Inconclusive if they officially upgraded grit — hopefully yes.

Spin: Good on both — could dip drives and drops where I wanted easily.

Power

Mid-to-high tier power — enough for most people; you can hit out if you're not careful. No issues on power shots. Serves hit really hard if you put in effort.

Verdict & MyPickleList

MyPickleList is a site I built for community-driven paddle ratings — a quick way to see how a paddle stacks up without watching a full review. We have 300+ members and 1,000+ ratings; more ratings make it better, so please join if you haven't.

If you're in the Atlanta area, Premier Racquet Sports in Dunwoody is running $20 gift cards when you rate and comment on 5 paddles on the site.

Back to the review.

They didn't mess up the Draco DNA with new shapes — great pop and power with an intuitive feel that controls better than a lot of power paddles. Grit very possibly upgraded from the hybrid — plus.

I thought I'd like the widebody a lot more; it was closer than expected. Would add weight on the widebody for more dip. Elongated played better than I expected overall.

Widebody: 9/10

Elongated: 9/10

Same as my hybrid score. A bit more spin and pop on these shapes vs what I remember, but I still like the hybrid shape best personally.

Nice to see Gherkin offer options — a lot of paddle choice is preference.

Good fit if you want a gen 4 power paddle slightly softer than a Boomstik, performs well stock at 7.7 oz, and you like lighter paddles (or want to add weight yourself). If you appreciate gen 4 paddles, hard to see why you wouldn't like this line.

Thanks for reading. Join the MyPickleList community on site and Discord — we talk paddles, gear, and pickleball tips daily. If you caught this as a video too, like and subscribe there; it helps a lot. See you next time.

Shop Gherkin Draco → (code PICKLELI, 10% off)