Last week I was fortunate enough to receive one of the Tiger XPro shafts to demo, and just wanted to write a basic review of what I found in playing with the shaft.
Overall I found the shaft to be very favorable to play with. The fit and finish were very nice, and the shaft slid effortlessly through my bridge. The laminations were slightly visible, but did not distract from the look of the cue.
The deflection/squirt (for Dr. Dave) was very impressive. I needed more proof than just playing with it, so I set up a simple test to compare it to my other cues. Using my Jim Rempe cue ball placed similar to a side rail 9 ball break, I aimed at the center of the corner pocket putting far left, low left, and high left english on the cue ball. I chalked well to make sure that I left a mark on the Rempe ball so I could tell that I was striking the cue ball in the same spot each time. I used a Dominiak $100 cue (when they cost that much) with a 13mm tip, a players brand cue with a 12.75mm tip, and the xpro. With both of the first 2 cues, the cue ball missed the pocket a 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch over and over again. When I used the xpro shaft, the cue ball hit nearly dead center each time. When hitting high or low left english, there was almost no appreciable deflection. When hitting straight far left english, there was some noticeable deflection, although much less than with the other 2 cues. The lack of deflection was also obvious when playing regular games of pool. Enough so, that it took a little getting used to it.
The hit of the shaft felt, very solid, with no negative feedback, but felt a little different than the Dominiak, which I perceived to be due to the difference in mass of the shafts.
I really liked the Onyx tip, and would happily put that on all of my shafts. I prefer a harder tip in general, and while it did not feel as hard as a LePro tip, it had a firm, solid hit that chalked well.
One other thing that I noticed when playing was an increase in english on the cue ball. While I saw no difference in draw while playing, or while testing it, there was a noticeable difference in the action of the CB when L or R spin was applied. This was nice, as it allowed me to hit closer to the center of the CB on many hits requiring side spin.
Overall, I really liked the shaft. I generally prefer thinner shafts to thicker ones, so smaller tip size and shaft diameter did not bother me at at all. The feel of the shaft, lack of deflection, tip, and increased english made the shaft feel worth the money it would cost as reflected in its ability to improve your game when applied correctly.
Hopefully this review was somewhat insightful. I look forward to hearing what others have to say about the shaft after they get a chance to use it, and look forward to trying the ultra LD shaft in comparison to this one.
Bill
Overall I found the shaft to be very favorable to play with. The fit and finish were very nice, and the shaft slid effortlessly through my bridge. The laminations were slightly visible, but did not distract from the look of the cue.
The deflection/squirt (for Dr. Dave) was very impressive. I needed more proof than just playing with it, so I set up a simple test to compare it to my other cues. Using my Jim Rempe cue ball placed similar to a side rail 9 ball break, I aimed at the center of the corner pocket putting far left, low left, and high left english on the cue ball. I chalked well to make sure that I left a mark on the Rempe ball so I could tell that I was striking the cue ball in the same spot each time. I used a Dominiak $100 cue (when they cost that much) with a 13mm tip, a players brand cue with a 12.75mm tip, and the xpro. With both of the first 2 cues, the cue ball missed the pocket a 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch over and over again. When I used the xpro shaft, the cue ball hit nearly dead center each time. When hitting high or low left english, there was almost no appreciable deflection. When hitting straight far left english, there was some noticeable deflection, although much less than with the other 2 cues. The lack of deflection was also obvious when playing regular games of pool. Enough so, that it took a little getting used to it.
The hit of the shaft felt, very solid, with no negative feedback, but felt a little different than the Dominiak, which I perceived to be due to the difference in mass of the shafts.
I really liked the Onyx tip, and would happily put that on all of my shafts. I prefer a harder tip in general, and while it did not feel as hard as a LePro tip, it had a firm, solid hit that chalked well.
One other thing that I noticed when playing was an increase in english on the cue ball. While I saw no difference in draw while playing, or while testing it, there was a noticeable difference in the action of the CB when L or R spin was applied. This was nice, as it allowed me to hit closer to the center of the CB on many hits requiring side spin.
Overall, I really liked the shaft. I generally prefer thinner shafts to thicker ones, so smaller tip size and shaft diameter did not bother me at at all. The feel of the shaft, lack of deflection, tip, and increased english made the shaft feel worth the money it would cost as reflected in its ability to improve your game when applied correctly.
Hopefully this review was somewhat insightful. I look forward to hearing what others have to say about the shaft after they get a chance to use it, and look forward to trying the ultra LD shaft in comparison to this one.
Bill
