The RPM Q2 vs Selkirk Boomstik debate is the one every full-foam-curious Aussie player is having right now. Two power paddles, two carbon faces, two very different price tags. The Q2 lands in Australia at AUD $358 and is in stock. The Boomstik lists at AUD $599.95 and is sold out at the major Australian retailers as we publish this. So the question isn't "which is the better paddle on paper" — it's "is the Boomstik worth $241 more, assuming you can even get one?"
Short answer: for most Australian players, no. The longer answer is in this guide. We'll walk through the full Q2 range (four shapes, all in stock at Pickld), describe the Boomstik honestly, compare them head-to-head, and tell you which one to actually buy.
TL;DR — pick in 30 seconds
| If you are… | Buy this |
|---|---|
| A power player who wants reach and a fast putaway | RPM Q2 16mm Elongated — AUD $358 |
| A control-first player who likes a forgiving, manoeuvrable paddle | RPM Q2 16mm Widebody — AUD $358 |
| Wanting more touch and less raw pop | RPM Q2 14mm Elongated or 14mm Widebody — AUD $358 |
| Specifically the Selkirk feel + brand prestige + a lifetime warranty, willing to pay AUD $599.95 and wait for stock | Selkirk LABS Project Boomstik (not stocked at Pickld) |
Reseller disclosure. Pickld carries the RPM Q2 range. We do not carry the Selkirk Boomstik. Picks below are based on published specs, customer reviews and our own play-testing — not affiliate incentives. We've cited Selkirk's official page once for transparency.
Why these two paddles keep getting compared
Full-foam construction is the headline change in pickleball paddles for 2026. Instead of the traditional polymer honeycomb core, both the Boomstik and the Q2 use a moulded foam core wrapped in carbon. Foam reshapes the way a paddle feels: more pop, a bigger sweet spot, and (importantly) a paddle that doesn't soften over six months of hard play the way a polymer core can.
Selkirk launched the Boomstik in early 2026 as the flagship of their LABS programme. RPM responded with the Q2 in collaboration with paddle engineer and reviewer John Kew, whose feedback shaped the multi-zone foam-density tuning that defines the Q-Series.
The reason these two get compared (and not, say, the Q2 vs a JOOLA Hyperion) is simple: they're aiming at the same shot. Players reaching for either paddle want the ball to come off harder than honeycomb allows, without giving up enough touch to lose the soft game.
The RPM Q2 range — one platform, four shapes
The Q2 isn't a single paddle. It's a four-SKU range covering both core thicknesses (14mm and 16mm) in both shapes (elongated and widebody). All four sit at AUD $358 and use the same construction philosophy. Pick the shape and thickness that matches your style.
Q2 16mm Elongated — the power weapon
This is the headline Q2. Swing weight sits at 114 with a 16.5-inch length and a 5.5-inch handle. Twist weight is 6.1, which is on the lower end for an elongated paddle — the trade-off you accept for the higher swing weight and reach. Aggressive players who put the ball away from the baseline will love this one. It's the closest direct comparison to the Boomstik elongated. Six in stock at the time of writing.
Shop the RPM Q2 16mm Elongated
Q2 16mm Widebody — the control specialist
Same 16mm core, but the wider 8-inch face drops the swing weight to 107 and pushes the twist weight up to 6.9 — a genuinely high number that translates to remarkable forgiveness on off-centre contact. If you've been hitting a JOOLA Magnus 3S or a Six Zero Ruby Pro and like that profile, the Q2 16mm Widebody is the foam-core paddle that gives you the same feel with more pop on putaways.
Q2 14mm Elongated and 14mm Widebody — for touch players
The 14mm versions trim the core thickness and shave a touch of swing weight (112 elongated, 104 widebody). You give up a small amount of stability on hard hits, but you gain feel on resets, dinks and roll volleys. If you're moving across from a 14mm honeycomb paddle and want the foam-core upgrade without losing the touch profile you've built your game around, these are the two to look at.
Shop the RPM Q2 14mm Elongated · Shop the RPM Q2 14mm Widebody
The Selkirk LABS Project Boomstik — what it is
The Boomstik is Selkirk's full-foam answer to the rest of the 2026 paddle market. It uses a "BoomCore" construction — a PureFoam core surrounded by an EVA Power Ring — covered in a Multistrata T700 carbon face with Selkirk's InfiniGrit surface texture. The widebody runs 15.95 inches long by 8 inches wide, 16mm core, 5.6-inch handle, with an average weight in the 8.0-8.4 oz band. The elongated stretches to 16.5 by 7.45 inches with a 5.8-inch handle.
A defining feature: the Boomstik ships with Selkirk's MOI Tuning System, a perimeter-weighting kit that's pre-installed at the factory for what Selkirk calls a "ready-to-play" balance. The Q2 ships clean — if you're a tinkerer who likes adding lead tape, that's a feature; if you're not, the Boomstik's pre-tuned weighting saves you the experimentation phase.
The Boomstik also carries a lifetime warranty, which is genuinely unusual at this price point and worth flagging if your decision is on the fence. RPM's standard warranty is shorter.
You can read Selkirk's official spec page on their site.
We don't carry the Boomstik at Pickld, so we won't show product photos here — that imagery is Selkirk's. We've described it accurately enough that you can match it to the photos on Selkirk's own site or the Australian distributors.
RPM Q2 vs Selkirk Boomstik head-to-head: spec by spec
| Spec | RPM Q2 16mm Elongated | Selkirk Boomstik Elongated |
|---|---|---|
| Core | Full-foam multi-zone tuning | BoomCore PureFoam + EVA Power Ring |
| Surface | Thermoformed carbon (raw textured face) | Multistrata T700 carbon + InfiniGrit |
| Length × width | 16.5" × 7.5" | 16.5" × 7.45" |
| Core thickness | 16mm | 16mm |
| Avg weight | 7.8 oz | 8.1-8.4 oz |
| Swing weight | 114 | ~115 (±2) |
| Twist weight | 6.1 | not published |
| Handle length | 5.5" | 5.8" |
| Pre-tuned MOI weights | No | Yes |
| Designer | John Kew collab | Selkirk LABS team |
| Warranty | Standard | Lifetime |
| AU price | AUD $358 | AUD $599.95 |
| AU stock (10 May 2026) | In stock at Pickld | Sold out at major AU retailers |
A few things stand out:
- The Q2 elongated is slightly lighter out of the box (7.8 oz vs 8.1-8.4 oz). For Australian players coming from a sub-8oz paddle, that matters more than the spec sheet suggests.
- The swing weights are within margin of error of each other in elongated form. The widebody Q2 is meaningfully more manoeuvrable than the Boomstik widebody, which is one of the cleanest separation points between the two ranges.
- The Q2 has a published twist weight (a stability metric that matters for off-centre contact). Selkirk doesn't publish theirs, which makes apples-to-apples harder.
- Pricing is the headline. AUD $241 is a meaningful gap when you're choosing between two paddles in the same general performance band.
Power, control and spin in real play
The two paddles trade blows where you'd expect, and the gaps are smaller than the price difference suggests.
Power. The Boomstik probably edges the Q2 by a small margin in raw exit velocity — independent reviews put the gap at around 5%. Both are firmly in the "power paddle" category, both will punish slow hands at the kitchen, and both will reward a clean swing path with putaway pace.
Spin. RPM made their name on textured carbon faces and the Q2 keeps that pedigree — it produces heavy topspin and dipping drives the moment you commit to a swing path. The Boomstik's InfiniGrit surface is also strong on spin, with Selkirk claiming three-times-longer life than typical raw carbon. In our experience the Q2 generates marginally more bite, but both are top of category.
Control and feel. This is where the Q2 separates itself, especially in the widebody version. Multiple independent reviewers have flagged that the Boomstik can feel "disconnected" on touch shots — the cost of all that pop. The Q2's multi-zone foam tuning gives you a softer feel on dinks and resets without losing the firm, connected impact on drives. If you live at the kitchen line, this is the more important spec than peak power.
Sweet spot and forgiveness. Both are big. The Q2 16mm Widebody's 6.9 twist weight is one of the best stability numbers in the foam-core category. The Boomstik's pre-tuned MOI weights also widen its sweet spot, but you're paying for that perimeter weighting at the till.
Price reality in Australia
The Boomstik's USD $333 price tag becomes AUD $599.95 by the time it crosses the Pacific and lands at an Australian distributor. That's not Selkirk being cynical — it's the reality of bringing low-volume LABS paddles into a small market. But the result is a paddle that's 67% more expensive than the Q2 in AUD terms. As of 10 May 2026, the major Australian Selkirk retailers (Total Pickleball Australia, The Pickleball Studio Australia, Tennis Only) all show the Boomstik as sold out. If you want one, you're either waiting for a restock or paying international shipping.
The Q2, by contrast, ships from our Australian warehouse, lands in 2-5 business days for most metro postcodes, and is stocked across all four shape/thickness combinations as we publish.
Who should still buy the Boomstik
This isn't a one-sided argument. Buy the Boomstik if:
- You specifically want the lifetime warranty. At $600 a paddle, that warranty has real dollar value.
- You already play with Selkirk paddles and have built your stroke patterns around their feel. Switching brands is a six-week adjustment most club players don't want.
- You're a tinkerer who values the pre-tuned MOI weights and don't want to fuss with lead tape.
- You're at a level where the 5% peak-power difference matters competitively. For 5.0+ tournament players, this is real.
- The Boomstik's specific brand prestige is worth $241 to you. That's a personal call and we won't argue with it.
If those points hit, the Boomstik is a genuinely excellent paddle. We just don't carry it.
Who should buy the Q2 — and which one
For everyone else, the Q2 is the smarter buy. Specifically:
- Power player, baseline driver, two-handed backhand: Q2 16mm Elongated. The closest direct Boomstik substitute, and the one most reviewers compare side-by-side.
- Control player, kitchen-first, gets to the line and stays there: Q2 16mm Widebody. Lower swing weight, higher twist weight, foam-core pop without the disconnected feel.
- Touch player coming from a 14mm honeycomb paddle: Q2 14mm Elongated or Widebody. Same Q-Series foam tuning, more touch.
All four sit at the same AUD $358 price, all four are in stock, and all four ship from Australia with our standard returns policy. Browse the full RPM Pickleball range or compare against the rest of our pickleball paddles collection if you want to see what else lands in the same ballpark.
Full-foam paddles, demystified
If you're new to foam-core paddles and want the short version of why this category exists:
Polymer honeycomb cores have dominated paddle construction for years. They're cheap, light, and softer on the hand. The downside is that the cells compress over time, and an aggressive player can flatten a honeycomb paddle's pop in 6-12 months of hard play. Full-foam cores like those in the Q2 and Boomstik don't compress the same way — the foam is denser, more uniform, and the paddle's performance stays closer to day-one feel for far longer. The cost is a slightly different impact feel: firmer, with more reflexive pop. Most players who switch don't switch back.
FAQ
Is the RPM Q2 a Selkirk Boomstik clone? No. They're both full-foam paddles aimed at the same player, but the construction is different (RPM's multi-zone foam-density tuning vs Selkirk's BoomCore + EVA Power Ring), the surface technologies are different (RPM's textured carbon vs Selkirk's InfiniGrit on Multistrata T700), and the Q2 ships without pre-installed MOI weights.
Is the Q2 USA Pickleball approved? Yes. RPM's Q-Series is built to current USA Pickleball spec, which is the standard the Australian Pickleball Association also recognises for sanctioned play.
Does the Q2 come with a cover? RPM's Q-Series typically ships with a paddle cover. Confirm at checkout — what's in the box can change between production runs.
14mm or 16mm Q2 — which one? 16mm if you want more dwell time, more touch on resets, and a slightly firmer feel. 14mm if you want a touch more raw speed off the face and you're confident with your stroke mechanics. For most club-to-tournament players, 16mm is the safer pick.
How long does the Q2 take to ship in Australia? Pickld ships from an Australian warehouse. Metro orders typically arrive in 2-5 business days using standard post.
What's the warranty on the Q2? RPM's standard manufacturer warranty applies. If you damage a paddle through normal play within the warranty window, contact our support team and we'll process the claim with RPM.
Can I demo before I buy? Pickld doesn't run a national demo programme yet, but our 14-day satisfaction policy on paddles in unmarked condition gives you a hitting window. See the policy on the product page for the specifics.
The verdict
The Selkirk Boomstik is an excellent paddle. The RPM Q2 is also an excellent paddle, ships in Australia, costs $241 less, comes in four shapes instead of two, and (in the widebody version) arguably plays with better touch than the Boomstik.
If the Boomstik's brand, warranty or specific feel are non-negotiable for you, buy it. If you're choosing on performance, value and Australian availability, the Q2 is the one we'd put in your hand.