Expert review: New Friday Aura and Aura Pro paddles have distinct characteristics

Alex Lantz

Director of Content

Last Edited

Mar 06 2026

Aura details

Rubber inserts (shown in yellow below) and "Artificial Cartilage Foam" in the throat area makes the paddle play and feel much softer than many other full-foam paddles on the market. It still has decent plow-through power on big swings (drives, serves and overheads), but overall a much more plush feel.

Aura Elongated

Weight: 8.0 ounces
Swing weight: 118
Twist weight: 5.7
Paddle length: 16.5 inches
Paddle width: 7.5 inches
Handle length: 5.5 inches
Surface: Carbon fiber
Core: 16mm

Aura Pro details

The Aura Pro is much more similar to other popular foam paddles on the market in that it has a fully floating EPP foam core surrounded entirely by EVA foam. It offers the high pop and high power than foam has become known for, but a rubber ring (shown in yellow) between the EVA perimeter foam and the EPP core is meant to soften it up slightly and make the paddle feel less stiff than many other foam paddles.

Aura Pro Elongated

Weight: 8.0 ounces
Swing weight: 116
Twist weight: 6.0
Paddle length: 16.5 inches
Paddle width: 7.5 inches
Handle length: 5.5 inches
Surface: Carbon fiber
Core: 16mm

Friday Aura -- How it plays

The Aura is probably the softest feeling foam paddle I have played with to this point, which fills a need in a market dominated by stiff and overly powerful foam paddles. It was a refreshing change of pace and I felt like I would never miss a dink or a third-shot drop -- I could move through the ball confidently without fear of popping it up too high and I had total control over where I was placing the ball.

The plush feel also gave me a lot of confidence on resets in the transition zone, although it did take a bit of an adjustment period on resets because it feels so much softer than almost every other modern paddle. So you have to actively push the ball where you want it to go on resets, rather than just sticking your arm out and letting the paddle do all the work for you. The knock on this paddle is that it won't put you ahead in hands battles against most modern paddles, and the overall power on big swings like drives and overheads is lower than what we're used to at this point.

But if you're somebody who can generate your own power and you want a paddle that will help you dial in the soft stuff -- or if you just prefer to play a grindy, defensive style and win points with placement over power -- this is a great option.

Props to Friday for going against the grain a little bit and creating something that true control players can love. Not everybody needs to play with a Boomstik.

Friday Aura Pro -- How it plays

The Aura Pro is more in the neighborhood of what we're used to with modern paddles, and specifically modern foam paddles. It delivers great pop in hands battles and big power on full swings like drives and overheads. The power is really good out of the box, but if you truly want to elevate the power and pop to elite levels, adding weight to the sides of the paddle will accomplish that. I added 3-inch strips of 1-gram per inch UDrippin tungsten tape to the sides of the paddle and that took the power to top-tier levels.

I do think the rubber ring around the core succeeds in giving the paddle a slightly more plush/less harsh feel than a lot of other full-foam paddles, which helped me get a good feel for the ball on shots that require more touch. In that sense it is an upgrade from a lot of the foam options we saw in 2025.

Another big selling point with the Aura Pro is the price. It delivers many of the same qualities of foam paddles in the $200+ range for $40-$50 less. So if you know you like the overall feel and performance of a floating foam core build and are budget conscious, the Aura Pro is a good option.