Softee Summit Perla Padel Racket

3K is the most common carbon weave at this level: three thousand carbon filaments to each strand of the weave. Compared with fibreglass it's stiffer, so the face flexes less and sends the ball back more directly. You give up a little of the free depth a soft fibreglass racket hands you, and in return you get shots that go where you aim them rather than where the face happens to spring.

Decathlon's marketplace listing adds a one-piece construction (frame and throat moulded as one part rather than joined) and a 38mm profile, the standard thickness for adult rackets. Both sellers mention a rough finish on the face, there to help the ball grip for slice and topspin.

This is where the Summit Perla gets awkward. Decathlon's marketplace listing, which calls it a 2026 model, says the core is EVA Soft and the balance medium-high. Tienda Padel Point lists a "Summit Perla Blanco 2027" with a hard Black EVA core and a medium balance. Our own listing carries no year, and our catalogue tags it medium.

A soft core and a hard core make genuinely different rackets: the soft one is more comfortable and lively at slow speeds, the hard one more controlled and more rewarding when you swing fast. We can't tell you which this is from the paperwork alone. If the core matters to your choice, ask us before you order rather than guessing from the listing.

Within Softee's range the clearest comparison is the Softee Phantom, the brand's fibreglass starter. The Phantom has a fibreglass face and frame over an EVA Soft core and scored a 9.5 for sweet spot in Padelful's test, but only 6.5 for power. The Summit Perla moves both face and frame to carbon, which trades some of that easy forgiveness for a firmer, more precise response.

The rough rule: if you're still learning to find the middle of the racket, the Phantom will be kinder. If you are finding it and want your good shots to count for more, the Summit Perla is the next step. Somewhere in between sits the Trionic Fiber, still fibreglass but with a little more power than the Phantom in Padelful's test.

Improvers and intermediate club players who want a carbon face without going all the way to a stiff, head-heavy attacking frame. The teardrop shape keeps the sweet spot reasonably generous, and both sellers pitch it as a versatile racket rather than a specialist one. You'll find it alongside other teardrop padel rackets and the wider padel racket range.

Carbon faces chip if they meet the glass edge-first, so fit a padel racket protector along the top of the frame. Put one overgrip from our padel grip range on before your first session; the rough face and a tacky grip together make spin much easier to find.

Pair it with a fresh tube of padel balls, a padel bag that keeps it out of a hot car, and proper padel shoes. The guide on how to choose a padel racket explains how core hardness changes feel, if the soft-or-hard question has you curious.