314-3 upgrade for Poison with Venom

Think of how GM markets the Chevy Camaro and Pontiac Trans-Am. Predator Group takes a similar approach with their tiered brands of 314, Poison, Venom, etc.

I don't think the Venom shafts are LD so there will be a difference in how it plays and feels.

Yes you can buy a cheaper cue and then a shaft for it. I though you asked that already about some other cues.

hang-the-9 said:

I don't think the Venom shafts are LD so there will be a difference in how it plays and feels.

Yes you can buy a cheaper cue and then a shaft for it. I though you asked that already about some other cues.

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Venom's are a little-less-deflection but not close to what a 314-3 will offer. IIRC all they do is use a lighter ferrule on a solid shaft.

garczar said:

Venom's are a little-less-deflection but not close to what a 314-3 will offer. IIRC all they do is use a lighter ferrule on a solid shaft.

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I think they use a lighter ferrule, and they core it in the front similar to the predator shaft, BUT they fill that space with like a balsa wood.

Up until recently, I used a venom shaft for a long time. I'd say it's closer to a maple shaft than it is to a 314-3 in terms of deflection.

I think the Venom 2 has slightly less deflection than the 12.75 HXT shaft, and they are very comparable.

giulichajari said:

If a buy a Poison it takes venlm shaft.
Is really a 314 shaft better than Venom?
In terms of money i could buy a cheaper cue and other day the 314. The only diference will be the back part of the cue..but is minor.
What do you recommend me?

I mean the butt of the cue is not so important.

I think dufferin D-421 p.e. https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-701216310-taco-de-pool-dufferin-d-421-_JM

and then 314-3, it is as expensive as Poison
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I like poison a lot. I think their butts hit better than other low end production butts.

What I don't like is that predator only offers the Z3 and the 314-3 in bullet joints. You won't have access to predator's other shafts (vantage, revo) for a cue that they make, which I think is a little dumb. And I think the bullet joint 314-3 is more expensive than a uniloc 314-3.

The poison cue that I think hits much better than player's or dufferin or lucasi, are the more expensive poison cue. If you buy those poisons, you are 80% of the way to just getting a predator cue.

But you're right, the butt doesn't matter as much. If you get that dufferin first. It has zero improved performance. So you will be playing with a traditional maple shaft until you decide to switch to a "very" low deflection shaft.

I think Player's HXT is the best choice if you want to later upgrade to predator shaft.

Player's HXT is less expensive like the dufferin, has a little bit of performance enhancement like the poison cue. And pretty much every company makes their shaft in the player's joint.

314 shaft is not better than the venom shaft, it's just different. If you like the way venom shaft plays then use it. Choose the one that you like. I play with a solid maple shaft. I like it. I have played with the venom shaft. I like it, it has good feedback, it feels good. I am considering getting a poison cue as back up. I think they are a good value in terms of how they perform. They are very ugly though.

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crazysnake said:

314 shaft is not better than the venom shaft, it's just different. If you like the way venom shaft plays then use it. Choose the one that you like. I play with a solid maple shaft. I like it. I have played with the venom shaft. I like it, it has good feedback, it feels good. I am considering getting a poison cue as back up. I think they are a good value in terms of how they perform. They are very ugly though.

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This guy gets it. There is not such thing as "better shaft", there is "better shaft for me".

I have a Poison cue, and I've been playing with the Venom shaft. I like the feel of it a lot. I am planning on some point on changing the shaft and getting something with a bit less deflection, but I'm still working on other stuff, so maybe I will finally get used to the deflection of it.
The only thing I don't like is the joint. I would much prefer to have a radial joint, bullet joint is not that good. I've actually considered to replace the joint...

As crazysnake said, most poison cues are indeed ugly. To each their own tho, I happen to not like how 80% of their cues look, but happen to absolutely love how mine looks. I have the Nitro NI-4 and to my eyes it's absolutely gorgeous, black and white which I love, minimal design with long and short points, and octagonal handle which is almost unique (there are other cues with octagonal handles, but a)way, way more expensive and quite off my budget and b)very rare, I'm one of 2 people i think that we have octagonal cues in Athens..)