Have you ever wanted to dislike a paddle, but just couldn’t? That is my first thought of the Selkirk Luxx. I have a few gripes and complaints, but overall, I liked playing with them, mainly the Luxx Invikta.
It is no surprise that The Luxx Invikta is Jack Sock’s go-to paddle. He obviously has no trouble generating his own power, so that extra control helps to reign him in when necessary.
I played with all three shapes (Invikta, Epic, and S2) and was really drawn to the Invikta the most. This is interesting because I have been drawn to wider paddles recently.
The plushness of the Luxx paddles makes playing with them almost addictive, so it is easy to see why they have exploded in popularity.
My full assessment of each shape to come to help you figure out which best suits you!
Selkirk Luxx Control Air Specs
Luxx Invikta
Luxx Epic
Luxx S2
Other Features:
- Unibody construction for better control and feel
- 360° Proto Molding
- Foam-injected edges for increased sweet spot
My Personal Thoughts
The first time I tried the Luxx’s out, I was not a fan at all. This is because I convinced myself that they were overhyped and not good paddles at all.
I realized that I needed to reset this notion, so I set them down and came back to them later on. This time, I picked them up as if they were a brand-new paddle I had never heard of and began my testing. I did various drills to see how they would perform on serves, transition zone, dinks, and then hand battles.
I said earlier that my favorite of the three shapes was the Invikta, and that is because, honestly, it was the most powerful and poppiest. I say this with the intent of emphasizing that if you are wanting power from a paddle, these are not the ones to look for. They have thick cores and not thermoformed which breaks down to say that these are very soft and plush paddles.
I was testing a poppy thermoformed paddle before these and really had to reset myself in hand battles. With most, a simple block would suffice to send the ball back when countering a speedup, but I really had to punch volley with all three shaped of the Luxx.
Now, on the same side of that coin, when I found myself having to dig balls up that I left a little high, the Luxx felt great on resets, dropping the ball just over the net where other paddles may have given the opponent an even easier putaway.
I would recommend the Invikta shape to just about everyone that is wanting a Luxx because it is the best blend of hand speed, power, and control.
Selkirk Luxx Control Air Paddle Review
Spin
Honestly, this was my favorite feature of the Luxx paddles. It seems to curve and hook a lot more than other paddles, but with the reduction in power, the ball has more time to curve and this can make a huge difference in a game where that extra inch is the difference between clearly in and barely out.
Coupling the spin and softness of the Luxx gives the ball more time in the air to be manipulated by the effects of the spin. One of my favorite hits with the Luxx, in particular, is the serve.
Using the spin and softness of the Luxx, I serve it deep, with a little pace, but as much top spin as I can generate. What this produces is a serve that dives hard and then bounces up fast, causing most players to hit above their waist.
The majority of players will have a hard time returning this serve with pace, giving my partner and I ample time to set up our third shot strategy; either a shake and bake or an easy third shot drop to get to the net.
Serves and drives drop hard with top spin, slice shots stay low after bouncing, and side spin shots really hook making them hard to predict. Overall, the spin generated from the Luxx paddles really helps to shape the ball and construct the points in your favor.
Control/Feel
One of the features that the Luxx paddles are known for is their exceptional control. I can easily see why these paddles are considered control paddles, even the Invikta model which is longer and more powerful than the Epic and S2.
20mm thick, a core designed to be soft, foam edges, and NOT thermoformed all combined into one paddle results in a very plush paddle. Because of this, I have a very hard time dialing in the Epic or the S2 shapes; whereas with the Invikta, I found that if I put more power and support behind the paddle than I expected to have to use, the drops and dinks were well placed.
With the make-up of the paddle, it does grant a considerable window for error on drops and dinks and as mentioned before, if a drop is left a little too high, you can still slowly advance with patience, persistence, and having a soft, plush paddle that can leave the next reset just a little lower and a little less attachable.
The only negative I found in terms of control and feel is that, with edgeless paddles comes one downside of a reduced sweetspot. To further that point, with the addition of the throat hole, that shortens the length of the sweet spot even further.
The lack of the added weight from an edge guard makes any hits near the edge feel almost dead, this includes the area near the throat hole.
I found this to be a steep learning curve, personally as I had only used paddles with throat holes a limited number of times. For those that are used to playing with Selkirk paddles or ones with throat holes, this should not be an issue to you as it was for me.
Power
When using a paddle known for its control, you have to imagine that it won’t be packing a big punch. However, hard drives felt like they had some pace behind them, even for a softer paddle.
Nothing extraordinary, but still effective on baseline drives. One habit I got into when making forehand drives, is using my wrist to flick during the follow-through, this adds more pace behind the ball.
With the added aerodynamics of being edgeless and having the throat hole, adding that extra flick is pretty easy with the Luxx paddles, allowing you to really whip through the ball. It is easy to see how the Pros like Jack Sock can still get some heat on the ball with such a soft paddle.
Durability
Probably my biggest complaint about the Luxx paddles is that they are not meant to last an avid pickleball player a long time. The application of the surface coating wears off faster than a raw carbon fiber paddle would lose its grittiness.
Granted, the spin generated by the Luxx’s may be higher initially, you will soon find it does not spin that ball as much as it did when you first purchased the Luxx.
Along with this though, Selkirk does offer a very generous warranty period, and borderline “no questions asked” on replacement paddles. This makes me want to think of it as getting two paddles for that steep price of $250, causing that hit to your wallet to be a little lighter.
The paddle does have foam edges, adding more rigidity so the core itself does not break down as fast. Plus, not being thermoformed, you do not have to worry about delamination. All of these factors combined grants the Luxx paddles an 8/10 for Durability (Focusing on their lifetime warranty).
Selkirk Luxx Vs Spartus Ballista
Power
The Ballista gets the upper hand in this category. It’s a soft paddle but has noticeably more pop and power. However, I did find myself adding a little weight at the throat of the Ballista to get more power out of it. Even after doing the same to the Luxx, the slower hand speed was not desirable for the power tradeoff.
Control/Feel
The Ballista has a bigger sweet spot in its stock state due to a bead of lead that runs in the perimeter, but this also causes the paddle to have a little more pop. So the sweet spot is in favor of the Ballista, but the softness goes to the Luxx.
Spin
It is very easy to see that the Luxx has more spin right out of the box, but the texture of the Ballista will stay for longer. Some say they see a reduction in the texture of the Luxx after 2-3 months, where I have had the Ballista for about 7 months and can barely notice the middle of the paddle having reduced texture. So both paddles earn points here.
Why We Like Selkirk Luxx Pickleball Paddle (Pros)
- Incredible spin
- Plush touch
- Fast in the hands
- One of the best warranty programs
Why We Dislike Selkirk Luxx Pickleball Paddle (Cons)
- Grit wears down moderately fast
- Low power
- Small Sweet spot
Final Thoughts: Who Is The Selkirk Luxx For?
One thing I would like to note is that when I first received all three paddles, I immediately weighed them and then measured swingweight and twistweight of all three paddles.
The Invikta and S2 came in at the same static weight, swing weight, and twist weight as other reviewers had noted. But, when I tested the Epic, which I was looking forward to the most for its shape, it came in above the advertised weight range, leading to the swingweight to be higher than preferred.
It felt as if all that extra weight was in the top of the paddle making it more powerful than the Invikta, along with slower in the hands. It frustrated me a little bit because I have never had so many serves and serve returns go deep in a game before, it felt like the Epic was incredibly difficult to dial in because of this.
Thankfully, a friend of mine is a Selkirk rep and let me use their Epic for testing as the paddle I received is an outlier. I will also note that Selkirk had no issues with me returning the paddle for being outside of the listed weight range.
Who would I recommend these paddles for? Well, if you generate plenty of power on your own and tend to counter speedups and leave them too high or deep, I would look into the Selkirk Luxx paddles.
They are very soft so they are not very powerful, along with having very little pop. When you make a full swing with the Luxx, the paddle feels very controlled as you are making contact, allowing you to shape and place the ball accurately.
The biggest hurdle that I would have when purchasing these paddles is the price tag, but you have to know that the value of customer service is worth something. When making your decision, if you value high end products with high end customer service, then the Selkirk Luxx paddles will be a great fit for you!
