Padel Racket Review - Bullpadel Vertex 04 2024

What the reviewers say

The reviewers agree on what this racket does well and split on what to call it.

Paul at PDH Sports put it in the stiffer half of the Bullpadel range and still found it comfortable: "It is one of the stiffer rackets in the range, but the good thing with the Vertex is that it is not too stiff, so with a short stroke I still got a lot of power and control out of it." He plays at intermediate level and said the net game was the most fun he had had with a racket.

Peter Consuegra, the professional player who wrote up the racket for Padel Market, had used the Vertex 02 and 03 before it and named the trade-off directly: "From the back it is very manageable and the sweet spot is wide, but against a fast víbora it comes up a little short on the block compared with the Vertex 03." He still called it the more versatile of the two. On his own channel he hit flat smashes with both rackets back to back and the older model still edged it: "On the flat smash the Vertex 03 sends the ball a little further than the 04. The difference is not big, but the 03 wins."

PádelReview tested a unit at 364g and read the firmness as the reason it stays controllable: "We found it a little harder than the previous version, and that is what lets a high-balance diamond hold the ball this well in defence." They also noted the roughness is strongly sandy, the kind players lean on deliberately for spin.

Carlo Angulo Martini at Zona de Pádel supplied the clearest criticism: "Among power rackets it can fall a bit short for players with a very hard, precise hitting style, because it does not offer a very hard touch and the ball output can be limited."

Padel Underground, comparing it with the Vertex 05 that replaced it, described the 04 as feeling "firmer and more compact on contact", with a double-bridge core and five weight positions against the 05's four.

The Padel School put the standard 04 up against the Hybrid and the Comfort from the same line and picked the plain one to compete with: "It had a great combination of power as well as control." Their tester, an attacking right-side player, called it the most advanced of the three and liked what the gritty face did on sliced volleys.

So the consensus is solid: big sweet spot for the shape, genuine spin from the surface, easy to move. The disagreement is whether this is a power racket at all. Retailers sell it as one. The people who hit hardest say it runs out of ball output before they run out of swing.

Our take: Bowe's summary

The story here is grip, not brute force. The sandy Top Spin face turns a committed swing into real spin, the medium-hard touch sends back clean feedback instead of a mushy thud, and the frame stays quick enough to redirect at the net. The honest limit is defensive: against a hard flat ball it blocks less confidently than the Vertex 03, so anyone who spends long spells absorbing pace should weigh that against what the surface gives back.

From the back of the court it is easier to handle than a 370g diamond has any right to be. Lobs and balls off the glass come comfortably, and the wide sweet spot means a contact slightly off centre still goes where you aimed. The gap is the hard block. When a fast flat ball or a heavy víbora arrives, the Vertex 04 gives a little where the Vertex 03 held firm, and you need quicker hands to compensate.

The diamond mould and high balance put the weight where you want it on an overhead, and the surface does the rest. Spin-heavy finishes are where this racket earns its money: kick smashes and topspin drives grip and drop. On medium and low tempo attacks the control is excellent. Flat, flat-out hitting is the weaker case, because the touch is not hard enough to keep giving more the harder you swing.

This is the best part of the racket. It moves fast in short exchanges, the roughness keeps a sliced volley low after it comes off the glass, and the bandeja and víbora are where the Top Spin finish is most obvious. Weight transfer through a medium-paced volley feels solid rather than heavy. Touch volleys land where you put them because the face holds the ball a fraction longer instead of firing it back.

How it compares

Bullpadel Vertex 04 Comfort 2024. Same season, softer answer. It swaps the 12K face for Fibrix and lands a touch higher on balance, which reviewers at Probando Palas found more forgiving and more stable at the net. Pick the Comfort if you want the spin and the sweet spot but a gentler feel; pick the standard 04 if you want the firmer, more direct contact.

Bullpadel Vertex 05. The generation that replaced it. A wider, more open 12K weave and a bigger frame twist make it livelier and easier to swing fast, at a higher price. Pick the 05 for the newest, most attacking feel. Pick the 04 if you prefer compact, solid feedback and the extra weight-tuning positions, and you would rather spend the difference elsewhere.