Speedup Tide Review: Gen 4 Power at $144 in All Three Shapes

The Speedup Tide is a Gen 4 power paddle that reviewers consider very similar to the Inferno.

That being said, this paddle is only $144 with a code, and it has all 3 typical shapes.

Let's see how the Speedup Tide holds up to the Inferno and other popular power paddles.

Intro

My name is Pickle Li. I'm a 5.0 pickleball player and I've reviewed over 45 paddles on this channel. I created MyPickleList, which does community-driven paddle ratings, and there are currently over 840 ratings.

Caveats & Disclosures

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

I played with this for a few days, so I can't speak on long-term durability.

I'll be rating this paddle on my website MyPickleList at the end, so stay tuned for that.

If you do decide to get one, use code PICKLELI for 10% off.

Shout out to Speedup for sending this over!

Quick Specs Overview

The Speedup Tide is a Gen 4 power paddle that comes in the 3 typical shapes—with more interesting names and shapes.

The elongated, the 14L, has a more flared top which is pretty unique.

The 14H is their hybrid and looks like a pretty standard curved-top hybrid shape.

And the 14S is the one I have—a curved-top widebody.

The paddles are $144 with code PICKLELI if you are interested.

They also market a special face that supposedly has better spin and longer durability.

My paddle weighed in at 8.2 oz, which is slightly heavier than average. I did try it with 3-gram strips at 3 and 9, which I'll go more into later.

On-Court First Impressions

Pop

So this is going to be one of your more hollow, poppier Gen 4 power paddles. Lots of pop here and on par with most mid- to high-tier power paddles.

Control & Feel

Compared to the Inferno, off the face—like bouncing the ball and/or dinking—it's very similar, almost the exact same sound and feel.

I don't think it's as crisp as the Inferno. There feels like there's a bit more going on through the shot—more vibrations, or at least not as clean a feeling through the hits sometimes. With some lead tape, I think this feeling is a bit less.

Given that it's 14mm, I didn't really notice a big difference in feel compared to the Inferno. If what CRBN typically says is true, the density of the foam etc. is more important than the thickness for Gen 4 paddles.

Compared to the Q2 14mm, it's a bit more muted—but I wouldn't call the paddle muted in general.

Right off the bat, this paddle is very gritty feeling. I saw a short from John Kew and he measured it in the high 2100's, which may be borderline illegal. I think the spin is definitely good on this paddle. It seemed to hold up ok from the games I played with it but I'm not sure how durable it is. They have a claim that it should last longer, kind of like what RPM said with the Q2. Only time will tell, but I will say both feel grittier after use than other paddles.

I will say this paddle has a lot of pop on the drops, so I noticed myself having to reduce my power just a bit—then all my shots were pretty good and dippy. Wasn't too big of an issue, but I would probably prefer the Inferno's feel a bit more. Just felt a bit more predictable on contact.

After adding the weight, I would say everything felt a bit more predictable, but just a bit poppy on some shots like resets, which is normal for more powerful power paddles.

Overall, this paddle has a solid sweetspot, especially after adding the bit of weight.

I felt like in comparison to the Inferno's feel and other more hollow, poppy power paddles, the Tide was very slightly less stable and didn't feel as crisp on contact. This is a very minor and nitpicky difference, so I wouldn't say it is necessarily a dealbreaker.

I think the intuitiveness is good—just a bit poppy on some drops so you may need to dial it in. The good part is that the spin is there and it's more so just dialing back power a bit vs. trying to mess with power and trajectory.

Power

I would say this paddle is probably high-tier power.

Serves hit hard and I found myself hitting just out a bit more than normal. All the power shots—putaways, serves, returns, and drives—hit hard and probably on par with high-tier power paddles.

Early Verdict

Now let me rate this on MyPickleList.

MPL is a website I built that does community-driven paddle ratings—a quick and easy way to see how good a paddle is without having to watch YouTube videos like this one. We currently have over 200 members and over 840 ratings, and it's only going to get better with more ratings, so please join!

If you're in the Atlanta area, you're in luck—we're currently giving $20 gift cards to Premier Racquet Sports if you rate and comment on 5 paddles. Link in bio.

Back to the review.

Overall I think this is definitely very similar to the Inferno, which I thought was a very good paddle. Same general pop and power, and a very similar feel as well. I just thought the Tide felt slightly less solid/crisp, but it is a very nitpicky difference.

I'm going to give the Speedup Tide a 9/10.

I think it plays very well and is basically just a slight feel difference from the Inferno and Loco of the world. The sweetspot is good, the grit and spin is above average, and you have more than enough firepower. Plus you get the added benefit of it coming in all 3 shapes, rather than the Inferno which only comes elongated.

I think this paddle is for you if you want a poppier, more hollow Gen 4 power paddle like the Inferno and Loco of the world. The Speedup Tide is at a slightly cheaper price point and it also comes in all 3 shapes, which is a big plus at least for me. The Inferno and Loco both have more solid feels in my opinion with less vibrations, but I think it is a minimal difference and up to you if the lower price point is worth it.

Also I think if you like spin, this does come pretty gritty—more than most other paddles.

For what it's worth, my brother decided he wanted to main this after trying it out.

For $144 with code PICKLELI, I think it is definitely a high performer for the price, especially if you want that hollow, poppy Gen 4 feeling and want to save 40–50 bucks.

Thank you guys for watching.

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See ya next time!