Adidas RX Series Padel Racket vs Bullpadel Ionic Light Padel Racket — Padel Rackets Comparison UK 2026

Two intermediate-friendly options that serve different priorities. The Adidas RX Series gives you a teardrop shape, medium balance, soft EVA performance core and a carbon fibre face at £105 — genuinely well-specced for the money, which explains why it keeps coming up in our intermediate guides. The downsides are real though: it's not the lightest at 360-375g and a beginner stepping up can find it punishing.

The Ionic Light at £114 leans on the Bullpadel name and a lighter feel. The old complaint — that you were paying a chunky brand premium without the spec sheet to back it up — has largely gone: it's now less than £10 dearer than the RX.

Where I land:

• RX Series still wins on value-per-spec. Carbon face and proper performance core for slightly less money.
• Ionic Light wins if manoeuvrability matters more than peak performance, particularly for players with shoulder niggles — and at this gap that's a perfectly sensible reason to pick it.

For an honest intermediate player who wants kit that'll grow with them for two seasons, the RX Series is still the cleaner buy — but it's now a close call rather than a walkover.