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HEAD
A conservative, durable standard-shape paddle. Spin 72 is well behind raw carbon, but forgiveness 86 and a 105 swing weight make it one of the easier paddles here to play well immediately.
From HEAD
First designed for tennis rebels in the nineties, this racquet likes to disrupt the world of tennis. Now upgraded with innovative Auxetic 2.0, RADICAL is an ultra-modern blend of control and spin. Made for versatile, all-court players who love to mix it up.
Official HEAD product page →Cross-shopping? Most buyers weigh the Radical Tour Ultra 16 against the GAMMA Obsidian 16 — see them side by side, or browse every HEAD paddle.
AI verdict — generated from measured specs
Last updated: July 2026
The HEAD Radical Tour Ultra 16 scores 79.8/100 on our IQ index, built from all 15 Paddle DNA traits. Its signature is maneuverability (82/100, 68th percentile of the database), backed by forgiveness at 86 and sweet spot at 86. The 16 mm Polypropylene honeycomb core and Textured fiberglass composite face at 7.8 oz put it in the placement-first — you win points by out-positioning people bracket.
Where it gives ground is spin (72) and pop (70). With a 105 kg·cm² swing weight and a 5 in handle it suits beginner/intermediate players, one-handed backhands, hands battles at the kitchen. Skip it if you rely on raw put-away pace.
Closest paddles by DNA: GAMMA Obsidian 16 ($150), Ronbus R1 Pulsar ($120), Wilson Blaze Pro 16 ($170). If budget matters, the Selkirk SLK Halo XL Control lands within 4 IQ points for $60 less. Overall: a reasonable pick in its price band rather than a category leader — buy it for the specific trait it wins on.
In depth
The Radical Tour Ultra 16 is a conservative standard-shape composite paddle: forgiveness 86 and a 105 swing weight make it immediately playable, while spin 72 caps what it can do at higher levels.
The sections below are analysis of measured specifications and Paddle DNA™ values, not a play-test write-up. Where we have hit with a paddle, those notes appear separately and are attributed.
At 15.9 x 8.0 in, this is one of the widest faces in the database. Width raises sweet spot (86) and forgiveness (86) directly — there is simply more surface producing near-peak output. That is why players switching from tennis get on with it quickly: the ball goes where they aim even on imperfect contact.
A textured fiberglass face cannot grip the ball the way raw carbon does. Spin 72 is well behind the 84-90 range of the carbon paddles here. If your game plan involves heavy topspin drives or a spinny third-shot drop, this is the wrong tool and no technique change closes that gap.
Power 74 and pop 70 mean the paddle stops adding anything once you can generate your own pace. Most players hit that point somewhere in the 3.5 range. Treat it as a very good second paddle, not a paddle you keep for five years.
Community consensus
Verbatim excerpts from public discussion and independent reviews, plus the themes they add up to. These are other people's opinions, not ours, and every quote links back to where it was written.
No sourced community excerpts are published for this paddle yet. We only quote text we can link back to.
AI paddle match
Each pick is the database's best answer to one specific question, ranked by how far it moves the needle versus the Radical Tour Ultra 16.
The matchups people actually cross-shop, each with a full 15-trait breakdown.
Other head-to-heads shoppers read alongside the Radical Tour Ultra 16.
Every trait normalised 0-100 against the full database, so these numbers mean the same thing on any paddle page. How we measure →
Key attributes
Our similarity engine ranks the whole database by average DNA deviation. Tighten or widen the band to see how far you have to travel to save money or gain a trait.
Paddle DNA™ match
HEAD Radical Tour Ultra 16
IQ 79.8 · $160
Ranked by DNA deviation
+4 touch · -4 swing weight · Higher IQ score (80.3 vs 79.8)
Saves $40 versus the Radical Tour Ultra 16 · +16 spin · -4 swing weight · Higher IQ score (83.5 vs 79.8)
+6 spin · -8 softness · Higher IQ score (80.2 vs 79.8)
Saves $50 versus the Radical Tour Ultra 16 · +15 launch angle · -12 swing weight
+10 launch angle · -10 swing weight · Higher IQ score (82.9 vs 79.8)
Saves $61 versus the Radical Tour Ultra 16 · +17 spin · -4 maneuverability · Higher IQ score (82.9 vs 79.8)
Saves $80 versus the Radical Tour Ultra 16 · +16 launch angle · -14 swing weight
Saves $60 versus the Radical Tour Ultra 16 · +17 spin · -4 maneuverability · Higher IQ score (83.8 vs 79.8)
Each pick beats the Radical Tour Ultra 16 on one specific thing — price, power, control or forgiveness.
Closest matches by player level, hand weight and price — the paddles most players cross-shop against the HEAD Radical Tour Ultra 16.
GAMMA Obsidian 1616 mm · standard · 7.7 oz · SW 102$15080
Ronbus R1 Pulsar16 mm · elongated · 7.9 oz · SW 104$12084
Wilson Blaze Pro 1616 mm · elongated · 8 oz · SW 110$17080
Franklin Signature Carbon STR16 mm · standard · 8 oz · SW 110$11080Want a different matchup? Compare any two paddles or browse the full paddle database.
Reviewed by
Alex built the Paddle DNA™ database behind PickleballLookup — 15 normalized traits measured against every paddle in the catalog. Every page on this site is generated from that data and editorially reviewed before publication.
Last updated July 2026 · How we score paddles