Dialing Performance: Enhancing the P-1 Paddle with SmartWeight

How the SmartWeight Edge Shapes the P-1 Experience

We spent the last paddle weight post explaining why static weight is a liar - that swing weight, balance point, and twist weight matter more than the number on your kitchen scale. Good. You're still here, which means you're the kind of player who cares about how a paddle actually behaves, not just what the spec sheet promises.

Now let's talk about what we do with that knowledge.

The P-1 frame is the foundation: thermoformed for rigidity, lightweight by design, built to be the most responsive platform we know how to engineer. But "responsive" means different things to different types of players. Some players want pure speed. Others want stability with their speed. Some want to hit through the ball like they're angry at it.

That's where the SALT SmartWeight Edge comes in - or doesn't (if you're going Ultra-Light).

The P-1 Frame: What Everything Starts With

Every P-1 begins the same way: a heat-pressed engineering marvel. It's frame is a thermoformed T-700 carbon fiber shell wrapped around a dual-wall "floating" polymer core that's hugged by a sweet-spot-reinforcing alloy mesh - engineered for maximum structural integrity and minimum weight. It's agile, precise, and unapologetically light. Think of it as the blank canvas, and the starting point for the P-1's customization process.

From there, you've got three directions:

1. P-1 Ultra-Light : P-1 frame + lightweight edge protection. That's it. Lightest possible configuration.

2. P-1 SmartWeight Control : P-1 frame + SmartWeight distributed to enhance control (weight embedded in the neck/face region) + edge protection.

3. P-1 SmartWeight Power : P-1 frame + SmartWeight distributed to maximize power (weight embedded in the head) + edge protection.

Truth is, no two top-level players win the same way. One lives at the kitchen line, another grinds points from the baseline, and both call it high-level play. So instead of pretending there’s one blueprint, we built the P-1 as a refined starting point - then left room for players to tune it to their own game.

What SmartWeight Actually Does

Here's what happens when we embed mass in specific zones of the P-1 frame:

• Twist weight increases. Off-center hits stay square instead of twisting the paddle face. Your mishits feel less... miserable.

• Sweet spot expands. More forgiveness across the hitting surface. You don't need to be perfect every time.

• Balance point shifts. Weight toward the head gives you drive. Weight toward the handle gives you control. It's physics, not magic - but it feels a little like magic when you're redirecting a 50mph drive at the net.

• Swing weight changes deliberately. You trade a bit of reaction speed for stability, or vice versa, depending on which configuration you choose.

The SmartWeight system isn't just some focus-group tested superficial accessory. It's an integrated engineering decision: strategically placed mass embedded within the P-1's edge layer.

The Three Variants: What You're Actually Choosing

P-1 Ultra-Light

The purist option. No additional weight - just the perfectly balanced P-1 platform with our lightest edge protection to keep things intact. Static weight around 7.5 oz with a balance point of 54.5%. Lowest swing weight in our lineup.

What it feels like: Instant. Reactive. A scalpel. If you live at the net and your game depends on fast hands, this is probably your paddle.

The tradeoff: Less forgiveness on drives. Mishits feel thinner. You're playing with less margin for error, which is fine if your hands are quick enough to not need it.

---

P-1 SmartWeight Control

The SmartWeight system with mass concentrated toward the neck and lower face. Edge protection plus embedded weight positioned for precision and finesse, not power. The P-1 Control's weight distribution lands it directly in the "equilibrium zone."

What it feels like: Grounded. Stable. Well-balanced (BP=57.5%). You can reset hard drives without your paddle twisting. Dinking feels controlled. Third-shot drops land where you aim them.

The tradeoff: You give up a small amount of raw pop compared to the Power variant. Not much - just enough that players who live on the baseline might notice.

Best for: All-court players who value consistency, touch, and the ability to dictate tempo without overhitting.

---

P-1 SmartWeight Power

This is our "Head-Heavy" version of the P-1. The Power configuration has mass moved toward the paddle head. More weight up top means more drive potential and more twist resistance on hard swings.

What it feels like: Confident. Explosive. You can load up on drives without worrying about whether the paddle will hold square. Topspin feels easier. Finishing shots feel...final.

The tradeoff: Slightly slower in rapid-fire exchanges. Not by much, but if you're defending at the kitchen line against two aggressive opponents, you might feel it.

Best for: Baseline players, attackers, anyone who wants their paddle to help them hit through the ball instead of just meeting it.

How to Think About This

If you want the lightest, fastest thing we make: Ultra-Light. If you want stability and precision without sacrificing agility: Control. If you want power and forgiveness with a head-heavy bias: Power.

None of these are wrong. They're just tuned for different games. The P-1 frame is always the same - thermoformed, rigid, responsive. What changes is where we put the mass and how much of it we use.

We covered the science behind balance points, swing weight, and twist weight in our article about paddle weight. SmartWeight is how we convert that knowledge into three distinct paddles - each one built for a specific style of play, none of them trying to be everything to everyone.

Pick the one that matches how you actually play. Not how you think you should play. Not how some pro on YouTube plays. How you play, on a Tuesday night, when your hands are tired, and your third-shot drop needs to land soft.

We'll build it. You swing it. The rest sorts itself out.

---

Ready to pick your flavor? → Shop the P-1 lineup