New Mozi Gold Rush: My In-Depth Thoughts

Picture Paul Guyas

First Look

The Gold Rush comes well-packed in a sturdy cardboard box with internal cutouts to keep your paddle in pace through shipping and present to you a nice look and feel when you open the box. The paddle feels solidly constructed and slightly head-heavy. The grip feels substantial and is tackier than most and has a ridge that runs along the angle of the grip tape. The paddle face and the edge guard have gold colored highlights giving it a unique look.

Background Research

Introduction to Mozi

Mozi is a family-owned company out of Kansas City, Missouri. It is unclear how long Mozi has been producing paddles, but it seems they are a relative newcomer. The Gold Rush is one of two thermoformed paddles available on the website, with many others built traditionally. There are not many other reviews of this paddle online, and no reviews on sites that are not selling the paddle.

The Gold Rush Paddle

The Gold Rush is a unibody thermoformed (think “waffle iron”) carbon fiber case around the polypropylene crystalline core. Mozi intends and markets this paddle as a top-of-the-line paddle for high-level players. The primary selling points are the unique titanium-infused carbon fiber surface and the aesthetics.

Design Features

Mozi sent me this paddle so I could review it, and I was excited to try it and see what the titanium was all about. The benefits of using titanium-infused carbon are not apparent nor stated in Mozi’s marketing materials. General internet research tells us that carbon fiber has the highest strength-to-density ratio of any fiber, and titanium has the highest strength-to-density ratio of any metal. This tells me that the face of the Gold Rush is designed to be strong without adding bulk.

Performance and Core Evaluation

The core is stated to be polypropylene crystalline, but this is where the paddle disappoints. I expected a plush and responsive core, and I was hoping for an elongated dwell time due to the core and the presence of titanium, which is more ductile than the very brittle carbon fiber. Instead, this felt like hitting any other basic paddle. The sweet spot was modest in size and not significantly “sweeter” than off-center paddle locations.

The Handle and Grip

Mozi markets the Gold Rush grip as follows: “On top of that, we created what we feel is the best handle/grip in the industry – (elongated, textured, tacky, ridged, perforated, slightly cushioned) – the feel is simply perfect.” Judging a grip is highly subjective, but this grip is objectively tackier than most, and at 4.15 inches around, larger than most. The handle is 5.5 inches long, and because the paddle has a tapered throat, you can easily get two hands on it without hanging off the end.

Additional Features of the Grip

The grip tape Mozi uses has two additional features, including perforations and a ridge. The perforations may help in temperature and moisture management. Personally, I do not know what purpose the ridge serves, and if you are left-handed, I believe you would find it uncomfortable.

My Experience

This paddle plays like an average paddle. Average power, average spin. It feels slightly slow when trying to counter or reset drives and it provides low feedback in the soft game. I cannot find published data on the specs nor do I have the capacity to measure them myself, but I would speculate that the Gold Rush has a fairly high swing weight and a fairly low twist weight compared to other paddles of this shape and overall weight. The sound is moderate/average. I have only used the Gold Rush for a brief time, but my guess is that it would be more durable than most because of the materials in the surface.

Comparative Analysis

I have trialed many thermoformed hybrid shaped paddles and the Gold Rush feels and plays similar to many, but the other paddles typically do one thing well such as a larger or sweeter sweet spot, more power, better feel for the ball at impact, more control, better spin. This paddle does not have any outstanding aspect and I think you could find a similarly performing paddle for a lower cost.

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