Quick answer: T700 pickleball paddles, and their close cousins labeled Toray carbon fiber, look like the spin bargain of the whole catalog. The 139 paddles in our database carrying either label average about 6.87 spin, against 6.17 for raw carbon fiber, and cost roughly $20 less. But most of that gap comes from which paddles were rated and by whom. Compare like with like, meaning only paddles with a full John Kew rating, and T700 scores 6.59, Toray 6.64 and raw carbon 6.57. The face label barely moves the number. The core underneath it does.
The 30-second version
- T700 is a Toray product. TORAYCA T700S is a carbon fiber grade in Toray’s line, per Toray’s own data sheet, so a T700 label and a Toray label usually point at the same supplier.
- 139 of our 781 paddles carry one of the two labels: 68 say T700 and 71 say Toray.
- The headline looks great: 6.87 spin for T700 and 6.86 for Toray, versus 6.17 for raw carbon and 5.44 for faces labeled only Carbon Fiber.
- On a like-for-like basis it nearly vanishes: 6.59, 6.64 and 6.57 among paddles with a full Kew rating.
- The core matters far more. Within those 139 paddles, full-foam cores average 7.35 spin and honeycomb cores 6.31. That gap is more than ten times the face-label gap.
- The real edge is price. Like for like, T700 averages $177 and Toray $178, versus $187 for raw carbon.
- No trend line is possible. 137 of the 139 have no release year in our data, so we cannot say whether the label is growing.
T700 is one of those words that shows up on a paddle box as if it settles the argument. Players at open play repeat it the same way: this one is T700, so it grips. I maintain a database of 781 paddles with independent power and spin ratings attached, so instead of repeating the claim I split the whole catalog by face label and looked. The first cut backed the marketing up. The second cut, the fair one, mostly did not, and the reason why is the most useful thing in this article for anyone shopping a paddle.
What does T700 mean on a pickleball paddle?
T700 refers to a carbon fiber grade. Toray’s North American composites arm publishes the TORAYCA T700S data sheet, which lists the fiber in 6K, 12K and 24K tow sizes. The K is thousands of filaments bundled into each strand, the same shorthand behind the 3K, 12K and 18K weaves you see in paddle marketing.
What the label cannot tell you is almost everything else that shapes how a face plays: how many plies were used, the resin, how the face was pressed, whether a grit or texture was added, and what core sits beneath it. Our catalog stores the face material exactly as the brand reports it, so treat every T700 or Toray entry as a claim about the raw material, not a measured property. Labels are not even consistent: one entry, the Rokne Republic 2.16 Standard, is listed as Mitsubishi T700.
What do T700 pickleball paddles actually measure?
Here is the first cut: every paddle in the catalog, grouped by face label. Power and spin are on a 0 to 10 scale, aggregated from independent testing published by Pickleball Studio and John Kew. We did not test these paddles ourselves.
| Face label | Paddles | Avg spin | Avg power | Avg MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T700 | 68 | 6.87 | 5.79 | $181 |
| Toray | 71 | 6.86 | 6.05 | $176 |
| Raw carbon fiber | 375 | 6.17 | 5.69 | $200 |
| Carbon Fiber (generic label) | 76 | 5.44 | 5.40 | $203 |
Coverage note: spin is recorded for 67 of the T700 paddles, all 71 Toray, 239 of the 375 raw carbon and 73 of the generic group. Taken at face value, that table says T700 buys you seven-tenths of a point of spin and saves you $20. I would have written that headline happily. It does not survive the next question.
Why does the T700 spin advantage mostly disappear?
Two things are hiding in that first table.
- Different yardsticks. Every one of the 139 T700 and Toray entries is rated from John Kew’s data. The 375 raw carbon entries come from Pickleball Studio’s data (250) or from both sources (125); none are rated from Kew alone. Comparing them directly means comparing two different testing programs, not two face materials.
- A batch of new foam paddles. The 34 newest T700 and Toray entries, added in our latest catalog update, average 7.61 spin, and 20 of those 34 use full-foam cores. They pull the label average up, but the lift comes from when they were built and what is inside them.
So here is the fair cut: only paddles that carry a full John Kew rating, which puts every label on the same yardstick.
| Face label (Kew-rated only) | Paddles | Avg spin | Avg power | Avg MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T700 | 43 | 6.59 | 6.12 | $177 |
| Toray | 61 | 6.64 | 6.17 | $178 |
| Raw carbon fiber | 128 | 6.57 | 5.88 | $187 |
| Carbon Fiber (generic label) | 31 | 6.21 | 6.25 | $198 |
On the same yardstick, T700, Toray and raw carbon are separated by seven-hundredths of a point of spin. That is a tie. T700 and Toray do carry about a quarter-point more power than raw carbon, which is real but small, and they still come in around $10 cheaper. The faces labeled only Carbon Fiber trail on spin in both cuts, which fits their profile: roughly two-thirds of them are honeycomb-core builds.
Does the core matter more than a T700 face?
By a wide margin. Within the 139 T700 and Toray paddles:
- Full-foam cores: 7.35 average spin (51 paddles)
- Foam-filled or foam-bordered honeycomb: 7.47 (20 paddles, a small sample)
- Standard honeycomb cores: 6.31 (67 paddles)
Strip out the newest batch and the pattern holds: older foam builds average 7.03 spin against 6.33 for honeycomb. The core gap is roughly a full point; the face-label gap on a fair comparison is a few hundredths. This is the same story our catalog told about Kevlar faces and fiberglass faces: the material named on the face gets the marketing, and the build underneath does the work. If spin is your priority, start with our foam-core picks, and note that even JOOLA is moving that way with the Power FX, its first full-foam paddle.
One more caution for spin shoppers: these scores are 0 to 10 ratings derived from third-party testing, not the RPM measurements USA Pickleball uses for its 2,100 RPM spin cap. There is no public conversion between the two.
Who makes T700 and Toray paddles?
Both labels are concentrated in a handful of brands:
- T700 (68 paddles): led by Selkirk with 6, Franklin with 5, then Volair, ProXR and Enhance with 4 each.
- Toray (71 paddles): led by Ronbus and Honolulu with 13 each, then PaddleTek with 7, all of PaddleTek’s being Toray and fiberglass blends.
- Shapes: elongated is the most common shape in both groups, 37 of 68 for T700 and 32 of 71 for Toray.
Because 137 of the 139 entries have no release year recorded, we cannot tell you whether T700 is gaining or fading as a label. That is a gap in our data, stated rather than guessed.
Which T700 and Toray paddles are worth a look?
These are picks from the data, not from hands-on testing, and every one carries a full Kew rating so the numbers are comparable:
- Vatic Pro Bloom Prism (Toray) — $89.99, spin 7.0, power 5.5, Kew overall 6.4, widebody, 226.8g. The cheapest well-rated paddle in either group.
- Speedup Tide 14S (Toray) — $143.99, spin 7.6, power 4.5, Kew overall 6.5, widebody full-foam. A soft-game paddle with the best overall score on this list.
- Mark OneXR2 (T700) — $157.49, spin 7.5, power 6.4, Kew overall 6.1, hybrid shape. Balanced on both columns.
- Honolulu J6NF (Toray) — $175.50, spin 7.5, power 6.7, Kew overall 6.3, elongated full-foam, 232.5g. The pick for players who want reach and pop.
- PaddleTek Bantam TKO-CX (Toray and fiberglass) — $206.99, spin 7.6, power 7.2, Kew overall 6.0, elongated. The most powerful of the five.
And the counterexamples, because the label guarantees nothing: the Rokne Republic 2.16 Standard (Mitsubishi T700) rates 2.0 for spin, the OM Aero (T700) 4.0, and the PROLITE K2 Power (Toray) 4.2.
So is a T700 paddle worth paying for?
- Do not pay extra for the word. On a fair comparison, T700 and Toray faces spin the same as raw carbon.
- Do enjoy the price. Like for like, both labels run about $10 cheaper than raw carbon with slightly more power.
- Shop the core, shape and weight first. Those move the numbers far more. Our paddle buying guide walks through the order.
- Use the label as a tiebreaker at most, and check the individual paddle’s ratings in our paddle database, or put two side by side with the compare tool.
If you would rather not wade through 781 paddles, the Paddle Finder ranks them against how you actually play, and our best paddles for spin page is the shortcut if spin is the whole point.
Frequently asked questions
What is T700 carbon fiber on a pickleball paddle?
T700 refers to a carbon fiber grade. TORAYCA T700S is part of Toray’s carbon fiber line and comes in 6K, 12K and 24K tow sizes, according to Toray’s data sheet. On a paddle it is a label for the face material as reported by the brand, not a measured performance rating.
Do T700 pickleball paddles have more spin than raw carbon?
Not on a fair comparison. Across our whole catalog T700 paddles average 6.87 spin versus 6.17 for raw carbon, but among paddles rated on the same John Kew yardstick the figures are 6.59 for T700 and 6.57 for raw carbon, effectively a tie.
Is Toray the same as T700?
T700S is a Toray fiber grade, so the two labels usually point to the same supplier. Brands simply describe it differently. In our catalog 68 paddles say T700 and 71 say Toray, and on like-for-like ratings they spin almost identically, 6.59 versus 6.64.
Are T700 pickleball paddles cheaper?
Somewhat. Among paddles with a full Kew rating, T700 paddles average $177 and Toray paddles $178, compared with $187 for raw carbon fiber and $198 for faces labeled only Carbon Fiber.
What matters more than face material for spin?
The core. Among the 139 T700 and Toray paddles in our catalog, full-foam cores average 7.35 spin and standard honeycomb cores 6.31, a gap of about one point. The difference between face labels on a fair comparison is only a few hundredths.
Data note: figures come from our own catalog of 781 paddles. T700 includes every face label containing T700 (68); Toray includes every label containing Toray without T700 (71), including Toray and fiberglass blends. Power and spin ratings are aggregated from independent testing published by Pickleball Studio and John Kew; we did not test these paddles ourselves. The like-for-like table uses only paddles with an overall Kew rating. Face materials are as reported by each brand. Fiber details are from Toray’s T700S data sheet. Prices are manufacturer MSRP and change often — check before you buy.
Disclosure: Jason is a Selkirk Advocate and receives discounted product. He is also a retail customer of Franklin Sports with an ordinary rewards account and no ambassador, affiliate or discount-code relationship. Neither brand had any input into the ratings quoted here, which come from independent third-party testing.
Written by Jason Regan, who runs Regan Family Pickleball out of Leominster, Massachusetts, and maintains the 781-paddle database behind these numbers.
Related reading: Kevlar paddles · fiberglass paddles · foam-core picks · how to choose a paddle · gear and discount codes