The trend for ever more expensive break cues doesn't seem to be going away any time soon, and some are even more expensive than most playing cues. Even players who couldn't crack an egg with their breaks seem to have 400 dollar breakcues these days...
Since I'm very curious about all pool related equipment, I've pretty much tried every one of the common ones. Funny thing..I can't really tell any difference between them when it comes to results. The construction methods of these cues are becoming ever more elaborate and exotic, no doubt inspired by golf clubs, but IMO not in any way emulating the results. Quite often the balance of these cues is awkward and different from the cues most people are using, which is why they can't get as accurate with them (IMO).
Everyone else seem to get "amazing"
results with their expensive cues, but all I'm seeing is breaks out of control and cueballs flying everywhere etc..So what if you get more speed, when you cannot control the cueball worth a damn! The best breakers I know use either "playing type cues" or break cues that come the closest to a playing cue with harder tips. I'm not talking the hardest possible breaks here, but players who break hard and stop their cueball close to center every time, contacting both the object ball and the cueball squarely. Consistent cueball control at fairly hard speed. That's going to win you matches, not scratching or jumping off the table every 3-4 breaks...
Of course it's the most difficult thing to add power to a break, but with the magic racks etc, the huge power break is rarely even used. So you're sacrificing your control on 85% of your breaks for a barely noticable advantage on 15% (in my estimation). I'd love to see some numbers comparing not only the power, but the number of scratches and jumps off of the table. I think a lot of people might be surprised.
A break cue does have it's place, but I think it should be at least somewhat similar to a playing cue for good results (nice, even and forward balance for me), to you maybe somewhat close to what you play with (unless you use a very thin cue, obviously).
Since I'm very curious about all pool related equipment, I've pretty much tried every one of the common ones. Funny thing..I can't really tell any difference between them when it comes to results. The construction methods of these cues are becoming ever more elaborate and exotic, no doubt inspired by golf clubs, but IMO not in any way emulating the results. Quite often the balance of these cues is awkward and different from the cues most people are using, which is why they can't get as accurate with them (IMO).
Everyone else seem to get "amazing"
results with their expensive cues, but all I'm seeing is breaks out of control and cueballs flying everywhere etc..So what if you get more speed, when you cannot control the cueball worth a damn! The best breakers I know use either "playing type cues" or break cues that come the closest to a playing cue with harder tips. I'm not talking the hardest possible breaks here, but players who break hard and stop their cueball close to center every time, contacting both the object ball and the cueball squarely. Consistent cueball control at fairly hard speed. That's going to win you matches, not scratching or jumping off the table every 3-4 breaks...Of course it's the most difficult thing to add power to a break, but with the magic racks etc, the huge power break is rarely even used. So you're sacrificing your control on 85% of your breaks for a barely noticable advantage on 15% (in my estimation). I'd love to see some numbers comparing not only the power, but the number of scratches and jumps off of the table. I think a lot of people might be surprised.
A break cue does have it's place, but I think it should be at least somewhat similar to a playing cue for good results (nice, even and forward balance for me), to you maybe somewhat close to what you play with (unless you use a very thin cue, obviously).
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