11SIX24 Jelly Bean 2 Vapor 16mm

The original Jelly Bean earned a following by doing one thing well: playing soft for under $100. It was a honeycomb polymer paddle with a forgiving face and a cheap price, and plenty of rec players had one in their bag. For the sequel, which came out in late August 2026, 11SIX24 replaced nearly everything. The core is now foam, the face uses the brand’s HexGrit, and the price went up to $169.99. Some of those changes help a lot and some cost you something.

Build & Feel

The Jelly Bean 2 comes in four shapes: Pegasus (widebody), Vapor (hybrid), Ultré (hybrid), and Hurache-X (elongated). We focused on the Vapor. At 16.25 x 7.75 inches it sits in the middle of the lineup, and it’s the one most players should start with.

The biggest change is the core. The polymer honeycomb is gone, and in its place is an EMA foam core, the same move that most of the premium market made during 2025. The result is a face that feels dense and muted. When you hit the ball it doesn’t ping. It thuds, and the ball stays on the face a little longer than you expect. If you liked the original Jelly Bean’s softness, this one is softer and more consistent from shot to shot.

The face is HexGrit, 11SIX24’s textured carbon surface. It’s the same grit used on the Power 2, and it’s built to last. Reviewers who have played it a lot expect it to hold its texture for a year or more of heavy use, which is much longer than raw carbon usually lasts before your rolls start to flatten out.

The Vapor came in at 8.24 oz with a 116 swing weight and a 6.73 twist weight in independent testing. Those numbers are above average for a hybrid in both cases, and the paddle feels stable on blocks without being slow to swing. The 5.75-inch handle has enough room for two-handed backhands, and the 4.125-inch circumference fits medium hands. The stock grip is fine until you sweat, so plan on adding an overgrip for summer play.

Performance

Spin is the reason to buy it. Lab testing measured the Vapor at 2,152 RPM, which is 98th percentile and the highest in the Jelly Bean 2 lineup. Low power and an aggressive grit work well together here: because the ball isn’t rushing off the face, the grit has time to grab it. Topspin drives dip sharply, and dropped balls land short and stay low. Pickleheads compared its topspin to Crystal Blue Grit paddles that cost a lot more.

Control is the other reason. In the soft game this paddle is very easy to trust. Dinks go where you aim them and resets come off the face dead. Because power builds gradually and predictably, you can take a full swing on a baseline drive and the ball stays in. That helps if you tend to tense up on your third shot.

You pay for it in power. Testing put drive speed at the 27th percentile and pop at the 26th. On court, a speed-up you’d put away with a power paddle can come back to you. Put-aways need full commitment, and quick flicks at the kitchen don’t have much on them. Its sweet spot is also only medium-sized: hit it near the edge and the ball tends to fall short of the net instead of floating up.

If you like the feel but want more offense, you have a couple of options. Adding lead tape at 10 and 2 o’clock helps a lot, and testers found the elongated Hurache-X needs less extra weight to produce usable pace. Or you can buy the Power 2, which uses the same HexGrit with a livelier face.

The price matters too. Foam core and durable grit usually cost $200 or more, and the Jelly Bean 2 does it for $169.99. The original Jelly Bean is still sold for under $100 if you just want a soft paddle on a budget. For a dedicated control paddle with near-top spin and a long-lasting face, though, the Jelly Bean 2 is one of the best values available this fall.