I guess I’m about a 3.5 - 4.0 player playing rec PB for 5 years and have tried a bunch of paddles in the “affordable” price range- and hands down my Double Black Diamond paddle beats even some big named $300 paddles.
I bought mine and after letting my friends try it, just about everyone in our group is now playing with either the Double Black Diamond or the Black Diamond. (It’s funny during paddle up play to see a row of the same paddles)
I tended to be a blaster but this paddle gave me the confidence to get more into the softer and controlled style game… but there’s still plenty of power for driving serves and overhead slams.
You can see I have a little collection of paddles I’ve progressed through and even though I liked my Vatic Pro, even my wife switched over to 6.0 Double Black Diamond.
There are plenty of glowing reviews on YouTube so I won’t repeat those technical specs. For me the paddle’s light weight and balance make this a fast paddle at the net and the fat sweet spot gives lots of control and placement over other paddles I’ve used. Resets from blasters are pretty easy to take the heat off and put it in the kitchen or pop it back to them with some speed.
The company staff and service is great… which to me only adds to getting one of these paddles a no brainer.