Overview

Speak Pickleball: The Waves offers unique tennis racquet-like ball shaping and excellent spin through its innovative wave cutout design, but the severely limited sweet spot and dead zones around the edges make it feel flimsy outside the center. While advanced players who consistently hit the sweet spot can unlock impressive shotmaking ability, the price point is difficult to justify when comparable or better-performing foam paddles are available for less. CRBN rarely misses, but the timing and messaging weren't on their side with this one.

Pickleball Studio: The CRBN Waves represents a disappointing follow-up to the Genesis line, hampered by a severely limited sweet spot that creates inconsistent performance across the paddle face. While it offers modest improvements in power and dwell time, the steep price tag of $280 combined with poor forgiveness outside the center makes it extremely difficult to recommend over numerous better-performing competitors at similar or lower prices.

Pickleball Effect: The Waves delivers a small bump in drive power and shotmaking ability over the Genesis with improved control, but maintains the same sweet spot limitations that hold the line back. The updated core design and face layup eliminate some unpredictability, though dead zones near the top of the paddle remain problematic. Best suited for higher-level players who can consistently find the sweet spot and prefer an aggressive all-court paddle over a true power option.

Pickleball Medicine: The Waves offers objectively good and unique paddle characteristics with excellent spin generation and pleasant feel, but the $250+ price point represents a serious misstep in today's competitive foam market. While the paddle performs well in its sweet spot with low pop and good control, the value proposition simply doesn't justify the premium pricing when substantially more affordable foam options deliver comparable or better performance.

Specifications

Manufacturer: CRBN Pickleball
Model: TruFoam Waves (TFW)
Technology: TruFoam core with wave pattern cutouts
Designed for: Players seeking all-court performance with softer feel
Handle material: Solid handle insert
Price: $279.99 before discount

Available Shapes:

• Waves 1: Elongated with long handle
• Waves 2: Widebody/Standard shape
• Waves 3: Elongated with short handle
• Waves 4: Hybrid shape

Trial & Warranty:

• 30-day risk-free trial with free return shipping
• 1-year warranty
• NFC chip for authenticity verification

Core Material & Design

• 14mm expanded foam core
• Asymmetrical wave pattern cutouts throughout core
• Five-layer face construction:
  
  • Two carbon fiber layers (bottom)
  • Full fiberglass sheet (middle)
  • Two carbon fiber layers (top)
• Wave cutouts designed to maximize dwell time
• Core segments compress and move with ball contact

Speak Pickleball Review

⚖️ Rating: Mixed Feelings
💰 Discount Code: SPEAK for 10% off (drops to ~$252)

The TruFoam Genesis was the first approved full foam paddle for professional play. It's undoubtedly one of the most influential paddles released this year, and arguably of all time. It's a foam party right now, or as Bread & Butter says very eloquently, "everyone has a foam boner."

Any paddle that came out after it had to be earth-shatteringly innovative to build on that momentum. It's like being the second band to go on after a legendary headliner. So any paddle after Genesis was destined to be somewhat of a disappointment.

What's different about the waves?

Objectively, this is an innovative paddle. While everyone else is gravitating towards cutouts (Vatic Pro Powers) or floating cores (B&B Loco, Ronbus Quanta, Vatic Vsol Pro), CRBN decided to remove the fiberglass patch from the Genesis and replace it with symmetrical wave cutouts throughout the core. They also upgraded to a full fiberglass sheet spanning the entire face between four layers of carbon fiber, compared to Genesis's small square patch covering just the sweet spot.

The wave cutouts allow each core segment to compress and move independently when you strike the ball. According to CRBN, this design maxes out the PBCoR test and was supposed to deliver maximum legal power. But here's where things get interesting (and where CRBN messed up their messaging).

CRBN positioned the Waves all wrong

When we were given the details of the paddle, the main selling point was to be top-of-the-line power because it maxed out the PBCoR test. I think this set us all up for failure and disappointment, because there's not a noticeable boost in power.

The numbers tell a different story than the marketing. The softer, more dead-ish feel compared to stiffer foam paddles like the Boomstik, Loco, or Quanta gives the perception of less power, even when the ball speed is comparable. Sound and feel play a huge role in how powerful we think a paddle hits, and the Waves just doesn't have that immediate, satisfying popping or thudding sound like the Boomstik or Loco.

The pop is almost equal to the Genesis: very low and very controlled. If you tried Genesis and felt it didn't have enough pop, the Waves won’t help. All in all, this is a spinny paddle, not a power paddle.

And if CRBN really believed the Waves were a straight-up improvement, they almost certainly would have priced them higher or dropped Genesis down. The fact that they didn’t tells you they knew the Waves weren’t going to be universally embraced as an upgrade.

The Waves feel like a dense and narrow tennis racket

I've been told that I'm crazy for making this claim. And this being one of my first reviews, I need some sort of hot take here. Most full foam paddles right now feel like one giant slab. It's hard to understand what part of the paddle you're hitting, but in return, you get a much bigger sweet spot.

The Waves feel very different to other foam paddles right now. It feels like a very dense tennis racket. There's a springiness (not plush) off the face, and it almost feels like you're hitting a paddle with very thick strings. It’s not plushy-springy as the Joola Pro IVs. You’ll feel a tight-springiness across the entire face when you hit the ball.

The wavy core segments retract on contact, creating a ball pocketing effect with higher dwell time than the Genesis. This allows the ball to be compressed and shaped like hitting a string bed.

When you find the sweet spot, you can generate really drippy and precise shots that not every paddle can produce. In my opinion, the spin is what sets this paddle apart, and the shotmaking ability is legitimately unique in today's market. But here's the catch.

The sweet spot problem

The paddle feels "dead" and flimsy outside the center. The lack of stability and structure around the edges kills the ball entirely. This is easily the biggest issue with the paddle and as a very average 4.0 player, this is pretty demoralizing when it happens. I’m so often tempted to just reach for another easier paddle, which means the paddle will take time to tame and dial in.

In theory the wavy pattern is excellent, but only really works when you really strike the center. The waves are particularly weak near the top of the paddle where dead zones are most noticeable.

Weight adjustments

The way this paddle is constructed makes it slightly on the heavier side, stock. And with the dead spots, you'll need to add some perimeter weighting, as other reviewers have recommended. As a widebody player, I personally loved the TruFoam Genesis 2 but felt like the Waves 4 (true hybrid shape) was the winner.

The problem is that weight doesn't make nearly as large of a difference on this construction compared to other paddles. And since the Waves is heavier out of the box, you don't have the same margin to add weight that you do on paddles like the Ronbus Quanta, Vatic  VSols, or even the Locos.

Weight customization is more practical on the TFW 2 (widebody) and TFW 4 (hybrid) since they have lower swing weights. The elongated shapes get too heavy for my personal preference with weight. So that's the trade-off. If you're an advanced player who can hit the sweet spot consistently, this paddle can be unlocked on big drives.

Control and feel

They “fixed” the biggest criticism of the Genesis paddles, where some shots were erratic because of the center square patch of fiberglass. Instead of shots being erratic where the ball just shoots off the face randomly with the Genesis, it dies off the face more easily instead.

Other reviewers found (as you’ll read below) the Genesis more consistent across the face despite having that fiberglass patch everyone complained about. Which is pretty ironic, considering the full fiberglass sheet should theoretically make the Waves more consistent, but the wave cutouts seem to create the opposite effect.

The inconsistency outside the sweet spot makes it difficult to play with. But you’re rewarded with super drippy shots when you do hit that strike zone consistently. Truthfully, my odds aren’t very good.

Price to performance

Now we have to consider price to performance, especially in this economy, right? 

The closest alternative right now is the Vatic Pro Powers, which also feel springy like the Waves but come in a little lighter stock. Adding weight made a much bigger impact on the Powers, and the sweet spot opened up immediately. But the Powers didn't give the ball shaping ability that the Waves offered.

Is elite spin worth paying $99 vs $252? That's up to you – and I'm assuming most people say no it's not.

The Honolulu J2NFs perform better overall at $176 (better value with more forgiveness near the tip), the Selkirk Boomstik and Bread and Butter Loco both offer more power with better sweet spots, and the Ronbus Quanta delivers more power at just $99.

The question is if the Waves' ball shaping ability is worth the price point and trade-off versus other paddles on the market that are much cheaper, offer 70% the spin, bigger sweet spots, more power, and definitely more pop.

Free to try?

The biggest pro about CRBN is that you get a 30-day risk free trial where they cover shipping. All CRBN paddles come with a 1-year warranty against manufacturing defects. They also include an NFC chip for authenticity verification and solid handle inserts (no more squishy handles). Durability should be excellent based on their track record, and CRBN's quality control is generally better than many competitors in today's market.

This is for bougie, high level, ex-tennis players

This paddle is ideal for high-level, ex-tennis players who don't mind a smaller sweet spot and swing big on drives. Players who can consistently hit the sweet spot will unlock the paddle's shotmaking prowess, particularly on the hybrid TFW4.

If you're a diehard CRBN Genesis fan who wants slightly more power and better control, the Waves delivers that very specific upgrade. 

CRBN is also a premium brand with a strong reputation, excellent build quality, and fantastic customer service. 

And if CRBN branding matters to you, it's worth a shot. I'm certainly a "look good, feel good" type of player who doesn't like playing with ugly paddles, but I understand that's not everyone's priority (especially at this price point). For what it's worth, the Waves look excellent.

Final Verdict

The Waves is a decent paddle with unique characteristics. The amazing spin and ball shaping ability are genuinely special. But in today's competitive foam market, the limited sweet spot and high price point make it a hard sell for most players.

CRBN enjoyed a first-mover advantage with the Genesis and could charge premium prices. But now that the market has caught up with substantially more affordable and often more forgiving options, the Waves arrive too little, too late. If they were priced under $200, this would be a different conversation.

The 30-day trial makes it risk-free to test for yourself, which is honestly the best way to decide if the unique feel and ball shaping justify the compromises.

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