I split my time between
a) 3 13/16", 141* T-Rail home table, Superspeed
b) 4" 141* GCs, Artemis (measured these when I was extending my home table, so I'm sure)
c) 4 1/4" GCs that I'm pretty sure Ernesto did. (didn't measure angles, but just eyeballing, they do look more parallel).
Opinions (I'm not a mechanic):
- (b) and (c) actually play about as difficult. I can definitely say that (c) rattles significantly more overall.
Maybe (c) is more helpful at tight down the rail shots, I haven't paid enough attention to just those, to say for sure.
But overall, even with the 1/4" difference, and careful with pocket speed, there's a lot of
?!? rattles when, for example, playing matches on (c), after hours of (b), the same day.
- With (a) I obviously get plenty of rattles, but I hit plenty of down the rail shots on it. Not that I am to disagree with qualified mechanics, but after hours of play on each I still can't quite wrap my head around how more parallel openings actually help these specific shots. At least, not in any significant and measurable way; in other words, realistic and useful, esp. if most of the commercial tables you use are in the 140 range.
If one type of shot is helped, I guess I just wouldn't want the trade-off, negative effect on overall play.
Admittedly, (a) is hardly a good example to use in a realistic, playable table comparison. Obviously it's only for practice, not matches or entertaining. Only mentioning here since there are plenty of repeated down-the-rail shots on it.