Selkirk Boomstik Review: Most Powerful Paddle Out Right Now?

For those who don't know, I am one of the biggest Selkirk haters in the world.

But recently, I reviewed the SLK Era and had to admit it was a good paddle.

Now Selkirk just came out with their Boomstik, which is their most powerful paddle to date.

Is this a competitor to all the other paddles, or will I continue my hate for Selkirk? Let's find out.

Image via Selkirk

Caveats & Disclosures

As a reminder, this is a first impressions review, not a full review.

I played with the paddle for a couple days, and don't have much insight on long-term durability.

I'll be rating this paddle on MyPickleList at the end, so stay tuned!

Shout out to Premier Racquet Sports in Atlanta for letting me borrow this paddle. Check them out if you're in the area.

Selkirk Boomstik Specs & Price

The Boomstik comes in two shapes, elongated and widebody, just like the SLK Era.

I prefer widebodies and hybrids, but my friend only had the elongated, so that's what I tried.

The Boomstik features a new full foam core, and will be one of the hardest hitting full foam cores on the market.

This should improve its durability in comparison to the gen3 power paddles out there.

The Boomstik also features an adjustable weight on the side, which apparently, according to others, is not supposed to be taken off.

My paddle came in at 8.4 oz, which is a little heavy but that's because of the weight they pre-added.

Each weight is 7.5g so in total it's about 0.5 oz.

So essentially without the weight, it is a typical paddle around 7.9 oz but they pre-weighted it to improve performance.

I didn't have a chance to play with any lead tape modifications this time. What they use is not typically what I go for, but if I were to modify the paddle, I probably would add weight on the bottom to somewhat emulate the setup I usually play with.

Image via Selkirk

Selkirk Boomstik Performance: Power, Control & Feel

Pop & Feel

I would say this is near the top in terms of pop.

It has more pop than the Joola Pro 4's.

On resets, you definitely don't want to put in any extra force and just sticking your paddle out will get the ball over.

In the beginning when I first played with it, a lot of my resets went really high. Especially out of the air.

But towards the end of the session, it got better. I wouldn't say it is easy to reset with, but you can dial in the grip pressure and paddle angle to get by.

The feel of the paddle is light and poppy.

It has a hollow feel and doesn't have much dwell time in my opinion.

It is pretty responsive, but the ball just pops off fast, so it's more so getting used to how far when blocking x amount of pace.

I personally prefer a more forgiving paddle that does some of the work for you, but if you like poppier paddles, this is that.

Control & Spin

The spin is good on this paddle, it is just on the poppier side, so to get dipping shots, you probably just need to adjust the amount of force you put in.

For me the sweetspot was decent, but I feel like it could benefit with some more weight personally. Also, it could just be the elongated shape.

Power

The power is probably very similar to the Pro 4's.

It probably is slightly more, but I would consider them close enough.

That being said, I think I hit one of my best overheads in terms of power with the Boomstik.

Serves, returns, and drives all are easier to hit hard and deep, and with the spin, I don't hit too many of them out.

Image via Selkirk

Selkirk Boomstik Rating & Verdict

Now let me rate this on MyPickleList.

MyPickleList is the website I built where you can keep track of all your paddles and in the meantime help others determine which paddles to get. This ideally makes it really easy to see if a paddle is good or not without having to watch a bunch of YouTube videos or blogs like this one!

I'm giving the Selkirk Boomstik Elongated a 7/10.

I think it is very fun, but just doesn't have that control I get with even other power paddles. Maybe the widebody would have better control, but for the elongated I will have to stick with a 7.

As a certified Selkirk hater, I will say that the last two Selkirk drops were pretty good and if they keep it up, they may redeem their reputation in my eyes.

This paddle is near the top in pop and power, which Selkirk hasn't really been near for a while.

This was all in stock form as well, albeit the stock form is heavier than most stock paddles, but basically so it could have better performance with a different setup.

I think this is a great move for them, because so many people just want the poppiest and most powerful thing out there.

And assuming their Infinigrit and full foam core work as expected, it could be one of the more durable top tier power paddles.

I personally think this is a fun paddle, because who doesn't like hitting the ball hard, but I did notice it did come at the expense of my reset ability in terms of resets and out of the air dinks.

That being said, if you are a power player, or just like that style in general, this is right up your alley.

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This is a first impressions review based on a few days of play testing. Long-term durability and performance may vary. Shout out to Premier Racquet Sports for providing the demo paddle.