I was super excited to immediately get my hands on a demo of the Diadem Warrior V2 recently and had the chance to play a ton with it to form an opinion of it against some of the top paddles on the market.
This Diadem Warrior V2 Pickleball Paddle Review is entirely my opinion and this is not a paid sponsorship or altered in any way.
That said, I do want to make mention to some of the other paddles I personally prefer playing with, as you'll notice a trend.
My first ever paddle was the Joola Hyperion CFS 16MM (which I loved and played with for a very long time) and from there I have played tons of paddles, but my preferences have been the Vatic Pro Flash and V7, the Six Zero Double Black Diamond, the CRBN Power Series, the Legacy Pro and I'm still waiting to test the Ronbus line and a couple others.
So clearly I like thermoformed paddles with some awesome carbon fiber faces and good pop - and tend to like elongated or hybrid designs (though I did play with the CRBN Control 2X).
The Diadem Warrior V2 is being compared against these paddles and many many more that I have played with, and before you get into it I will say that in my opinion it plays fairly well, but just came in a bit short because of the tough competition at incredible price points (especially with this one coming in at $230).
I don't necessarily gravitate towards power paddles, with my CRBN Power Series actually being my singles paddle and the more control feel being what I like for doubles, so this one did fit that bill in terms of obviously leaning towards more of a control feel.
That said, you'll learn all about the specifics below, and I'd love to know what you think. Have you tried the Diadem Warrior V2? Do you like it?
Diadem Warrior V2 Review -
Full Paddle Technical Specifications
PRICE: $229
AMAZON: Yes - Click Here
MATERIALS: Etched Carbon Fiber Face + Polymer and Nomex Core
THERMOFORMED: Yes
SHAPE: Elongated
THICKNESS: 19mm
WEIGHT: 8.25 oz
LENGTH: 16.4 in
WIDTH: 7.4 in
GRIP LENGTH: 5.3 in
GRIP CIRCUMFERENCE: 4.125 in
WARRANTY: 6 MONTHS
Diadem Warrior V2 Review -
Brief Introduction and Discussion (Plus Pros and Cons)
The Diadem Warrior V2 is an elongated paddle that comes in at 8.25 that has a fairly quick swing weight and decent spin rating.
It has a raw carbon fiber face, being an upgrade from the Warrior paddle and they use what they're calling a "core molding system" that seems to be similar to thermoforming, but this one comes in completely edgeless.
At 19MM this one is thicker than all the paddles I'm used to playing with, and definitely leans towards a control paddle, but still has a good amount of power behind it and spin to match.
The Hyperion comes in with a bit more of a rounded head to the paddle, where-as the new Perseus has a bit less of a curve to it, but outside of that the aesthetic and overall feel of the two paddles are not that far off from each other in terms of specs.
The grip length is a bit longer at the 5.3 inch length which is a size I'm slowly getting used to and beginning to enjoy playing with, coming from originally strictly using 5.5.
The Pros
Good Spin for Most Players
Good Control Paddle
Good Power for a 19MM Paddle
Light Swing Weight Leads to Quick Hands
The Cons
High Price Point for What You Get
Feels a bit stiff but lacks the pop and power that many thermoformed paddles have at a much better price range.
The paint is essentially chipping around the edge right out of the box.
Diadem Warrior V2 Review -
Control and Feel Review: 8.5/10
At 19MM the Diadem Warrior V2 is more of a control paddle, so it should be getting a high score in this column - and technically it is the highest ranking category across the board, but I still wouldn't say it was anything exceptional.
You have some good control, but there are weaknesses that bring it down from where I would have originally expected it.
There is a big soft spot and the paddle feels long with good reach in your hand, but being that the paddle is edgeless it does make for some unforgiving hits that come off a bit dead near the edges or a bit off the center. You can describe this as a bit clunky around the sides, but you could expect that coming from a completely edgeless paddle like this one, unfortunately.
In terms of overall feel with the paddle I personally wasn't the biggest fan, but this isn't my personal take (that's later), and keeping my own preferences aside I would say that it just feels a bit "hard".
Chris Olson of Pickleball Studio described it as firm, and I would say I agree with that and might go as far as hard or stiff.
Though, some might argue that is a good thing considering this is a 19MM paddle, and you do get some pop off of this (which will be discussed in the next section), but the overall feel of the paddle was just a bit off for me.
Diadem Warrior V2 Review -
Power Review: 7.5/10
If we were strictly basing this score off of the fact that this paddle is 19MM the power rating for this one would be higher, but unfortunately this is being ranked up against all the rest of the incredible paddles that exist on the market today, and it was a tad bit underwhelming for me.
While it doesn't feel overly soft considering the thickness, and does have some pop to it, I didn't get anywhere near as much power as I'm used to getting from my preferred paddles like the Vatic Pro line, CRBN Power Series, Double Black Diamond and others.
They're calling their process "core molding system" which I believe is their version of thermoforming, which does help the power on this one, but it doesn't come anywhere near the other thermoformed paddles I mentioned above.
That said, I think this one is plenty of power for most players, and might be the sweet spot for some people who don't prefer an overly powerful/poppy paddle, but for those of you who are used to hitting with something poppy like Vatic, Legacy Pro and others, you will likely be disappointed by this one.
Diadem Warrior V2 Review -
Spin Potential Review: 8/10
Let me start off by saying that the spin on this paddle will likely be more than enough for the vast majority of players.
That said, I was surprised that it just didn't really grip the paddle the way I was expecting it to with the new carbon fiber face that differs from Diadems original Warrior paddle.
Again, this one just falls a bit below some of the top paddles on the market right now that are thermoformed with carbon fiber faces. Unfortunately for the Warrior V2, the paddle market competition is just getting tougher and tougher.
But, that doesn't mean this isn't a good paddle for spin. It is still great and 8/10 shows that in comparison to the rest of the market, it's just not the very best when compared to other options [with many also at a lower price point].
Diadem Warrior V2 Review -
Aesthetic and Personal Opinion: 7/10
By now you guys know that I'm a big fan of fairly plain and minimalistic paddle designs.
The Diadem Warrior V2 isn't necessarily minimalistic, but it's still not bad, and I would go as far as saying it's a nice looking paddle.
I personally prefer the Diadem Warrior Edge paddle design over the Warrior V2, but that's my own personal preference for the aesthetic rating on this portion of it.
In terms of my own personal opinion of the paddle, it's just not my favorite due to the competition.
If there weren't so many other better paddles on the market for far less money than maybe this would be a good option for me - but right now even if the price dropped a hundred dollars I would still be deciding between a few paddles before I even picked this one up.
Diadem Warrior V2 Review -
Everything Else: 7/10
This section for the review is going to be covering anything I haven't already covered within the other sections to make a very fair and honest overall review.
The first thing I want to say is that the biggest downfalls of this paddle are the price point and stiff competition.
Unfortunately, that's what all the paddles that I review are going to have to deal with, so there's not much that can be done in that regard.
The Diadem Warrior V2 is a great paddle, and I think people who are big fans of Diadem in general may pick this one up and love it.
I know the guys over at Pickleball Pirates liked it a lot more than I do, so you'll have to form your own opinion.
Unfortunately, without beating a dead horse, we now have thermoformed paddles on the market with carbon fiber faces that are going for as little as $120, coming as low as $100 with ambassador codes, so for this one to be basically double that price point without doing anything exceptionally better (and in most categories being way behind, in my opinion), makes this one a hard first choice.
If you're in the market for a good control paddle that can generate some spin and has some good power without being as poppy as some other super popular paddles, this might be the one for you.
Diadem Warrior V2 Review -
Closing Thoughts: 38/50
My closing thoughts for our Diadem Warrior V2 paddle are pretty uninteresting considering I feel like I've covered most of what we needed to discuss here.
If I had to offer one piece of advice for anyone looking to purchase the Diadem Warrior V2 that is on the fence and maybe considering a different paddle: do a demo and test it out and get the feel for it yourself.
If you love it and don't mind the price point, then that's incredible and you just found yourself a new paddle.
If you don't feel like it competes against other thermoformed carbon fiber paddles on the market for less money right now, then you can send it back and go with one of those without needing to worry - but at least you'll have formed your own opinion!
