The best ping pong paddles

The Pro Carbon is the paddle that gets recommended more than any other for a reason: it sits exactly where a home player's needs are. A carbon layer in the blade adds speed and stiffness, and the rubber has enough grip to put real spin on the ball without being so fast that a developing player cannot control it.

The jump from a bundled paddle is dramatic and immediate. Bundled rackets have hard, low-friction rubber that the ball skids off; a proper paddle grips the ball, which is what makes spin and control possible at all. Most people describe it as the table suddenly playing better.

It is more paddle than a purely casual player needs, and that is the only caveat. If someone plays weekly, this is the one to buy.

The paddles bundled with a table are the weakest part of the package, and this is the least you can spend to leave them behind. STIGA rate it Control 82, Spin 77, Speed 80 — control-leaning rather than fast, which is the right balance while a stroke is still forming.

The blade is five-ply balsa and unusually light, so it is easy to move and easy for a smaller player to swing properly rather than drag through the ball. The rubber is ITTF-approved and inverted, which means it grips enough to feel what spin does — the thing a bundled paddle cannot teach you.

It is also the paddle we would buy for a teenager who is getting interested. STIGA position it as the step between a beginner paddle and a competition one, and that is exactly the job it does.

Once someone is attacking rather than rallying, the rubber becomes the limiting factor. Tacky, high-grip rubber on a stiff blade is what lets a player brush the ball and generate the heavy topspin that makes an attacking game work.

This is a step past a family paddle and it behaves like it — it is unforgiving if your technique is loose. For the right player it is exactly the right upgrade.

Bear in mind that competition-grade rubber wears faster than the harder rubber on casual paddles, and loses grip as it does. That is a normal cost of the category rather than a fault.

A table needs enough paddles for doubles and for guests. Four matched rackets at once is far better value than four individual paddles, and it means nobody ends up with the warped one from the box.

These are family paddles, not performance rackets — the point is that everyone has something decent in their hand. Pair the set with one good paddle for the person who actually plays and the table is properly equipped.

Killerspin rate this one Spin 9, Speed 8, Control 7 out of ten, and that ordering is the whole point: it is built for a player who has learned to brush the ball and now wants the rubber to reward it. The Nitrx-4Z rubber on a five-ply wood blade is a noticeable step past any entry paddle.

The trade is forgiveness. A grippier, faster racket punishes a loose stroke more than a control paddle does, so it is the wrong first paddle and the right second one. It arrives in Killerspin's hard memory-book case, which is a real thing rather than a gimmick — a bare paddle left on a table tennis table does not stay flat for long.