I received the CFS16 yesterday. I've only been able to hit against a wall at home yesterday and again this morning. I hit with it in stock form.
My initial impression before hitting with it is that even though the grip length is above average at 5.5", the grip length seemed noticeably shorter than the Engage Encore 6" grip I'm used to.
I also really noticed the grip length difference in my first wall hit yesterday, but not much at all today. I think this will be a fairly easy transition to the shorter 5.5" grip length. I occasionally hit two-hand backhands and didn't have any problem with this grip length.
Unfortunately, I don't have a scale to weigh it. In stock form, it feels slightly heavier and a bit more head heavy than my Encore, which has a built-up grip size which I believe makes it more head light.
After hitting against the wall, I found the CFS16 to have a very solid, slightly muted feel to it, which I like. My Encore, which I like a lot, has a more hollow feel and sound to it. I don't have enough experience with different paddles to know if that's the difference between a fiberglass face and a carbon fiber face. I also felt the CFS16 has a nice, quieter sound to it relative to the Encore.
After hitting against the wall for only 2 sessions of about 20 minutes each, I noticed some light checking in the area of the paddle face that is the equivalent of the bullseye area on my Engage Encore MX 6.0 paddle, which tells me I'm hitting the ball in pretty much the same area I was with the Encore paddle. I really don't know if this means the paddle face will wear quickly or not. I understand that carbon fiber is supposed to be fairly durable.
I'll be playing tomorrow, so I should have a much greater feel for its playing characteristics after that. As I previously mentioned, my wall hitting was in stock form. I'm just going to add an overgrip before I play tomorrow. Depending on how that goes, I may build up the grip size to be similar to my Encore paddle.
As a little background, I've been a tennis player for a long time, mostly at a computer-rated 4.5 level. I'm now an older guy 4.5, but a 4.0 with the younger folks. Injuries caused me to look at PB. I mostly play rec PB with former 4.0-4.5 tennis players. A number of them play PB tournaments at a PB level anywhere from a sandbagging 3.0-3.5 level to a self-overrated 4.5 level.
