Pickleball Balls | Advice | Racquet Network Canada

It is apparent from talking to pickleball facility managers across Canada over the last few months that there is a lot of confusion about the new Fuse and the old Pure 2 balls made by Onix ™ Pickleball.

Everybody loves the old Pure 2 because it is durable. Everybody hates the new Fuse ball because it breaks too easily. What, people want to know, is going on with these balls?

Here are some answers …

Two years ago, the meddlesome USA Pickleball Association decided to start messing around with ball standards, just as they have been messing around with paddle standards for the past 20 years.

The end result of this process was the de-sanctioning of the highly popular and extremely durable Pure 2 pickleball ball. In other words, players could still play with it and clubs could still use it, but the Pure 2 could not be used in USAPA sanctioned events.

Of course, this put Onix in the uncomfortable position of having to create a new ball that met the USAPA’s new standards.

The end result of that process was two new balls. The Fuse Indoor ball and the Fuse Outdoor ball. Both launched in 2017 to much fanfare. The Fuse indoor ball was a hit, but the Fuse outdoor ball was a dud. It met the new standards, but it broke too soon and was quickly the least popular ball on the block.

No worries. Onix went back to the drawing board and quickly released a new version of the ball. This time it was called the Fuse G2 (meaning Generation Two) outdoor ball.

There is no question that the Fuse G2 was a better ball than the first Fuse. It broke less often and it still met the USAPA’s standards. So it checked two important boxes. Unfortunately, it was still not good enough for clubs that had come to love the durability of the Pure 2 ball.

So what was Onix to do? The answer was deceptively simple. Keep producing the Pure 2 and keep selling it to players and clubs who don’t care about USAPA standards.

The fact is, most clubs and most recreational pickleball players could care less about the USAPA or its meddling board members. They just want to play with a ball that lasts, and as long as the Pure 2 keeps doing exactly that, Onix will keep making it.

We have had several inquiries about Onix pickleball balls in the past few weeks. Rumor has it that Onix balls are breaking after only a few uses. What the rumors are not making clear, however, is WHICH Onix balls are breaking.

In response to those rumors and to general concerns from our customers, we did some investigating. This is what we have learned.

Several years ago Onix released a new called the Onix Pure 2 pickleball ball. The was an indoor version and an outdoor version. Both were available in two colours: orange and yellow. In less than a year, the Pure 2 became the most popular ball in pickleball.

To be clear, there were no problems that we are aware of regarding breakage with the Pure 2 pickleball balls. We sold thousands. We never had a single complaint.

All good things come to an end, however, and the Pure 2 has now been discontinued. At the time of writing this article, we still have nearly 2000 Pure 2 pickleball balls in stock, but they are not making anymore so these will soon be gone.

In 2018, Onix replaced the Pure 2 with a new ball called the Fuse pickleball ball. Like the previous ball, there was an indoor version and an outdoor version and both were available in orange and yellow.

The Fuse indoor pickleball ball was an immediate hit, says the manufacturer. The Fuse outdoor ball, however, was a disaster. Due to a quality control issue at the factory, the poly was brittle and the balls cracked too easily.

Shortly thereafter, Onix pulled all remaining stock and released a new outdoor ball with a new — slightly different — name. It was called the Fuse G2. G2, of course, means Generation Two. So, in other words, it was the second version of the Fuse outdoor pickleball ball.

As far as we know, there have been no problems with the Fuse G2 pickleball ball. This is also what the manufacturer is telling us: “To date, there are no know problems with the new Fuse G2 outdoor pickleball balls.”

If you have other information, please share it with us by sending an email to orders@racquetnetwork.com.

Tag: Pickleball Balls

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