your tip is the most important part of your cue, it costs less than table time. So use what ever works best for you, its different for everyone. I like Triangles, coincedentally I have the best tip I have ever had in 25 years on my cue right now, but I had probbaly 6 consecutive bad ones in a row prior to the great tip I have now, with Triangles its the luck of the draw, i believe the layered tips are more reliable meaning there arnt as many bad ones per 100 tips made, where as single layer tips there are more bad tips per 100 made, i'd say that 60-70% of the time I get a good one, however my friend picks over lots of tips before He selects one for me so that gives me a bit of a edge, he gets probably 20% good ones. So while its a cheap tip-it costs a lot of money to get to the good one. Even if it cost more I wouldnt care, the reason being is I like how they play. I was just given a huge gift, some old LePro's red back, black back and one tan back, those 5 tips are all very old but not dried out and they are the nectar IMO. I like single layer tips. However I have owned and played with good layered tips. I have a friend who is a pro player who has a prototype tip, its 18 months old and shown no sign of wear, mushrooming etc. I dont think they will ever make it to market because they last to long, and it plays like a single layer tip IMO.
When I get a bad tip(single layer) I still can get 25 hours of play time out of it before problems start, the tip I have now has well over 120 hours on it and it will last 300, no mushroom, dosent glaze over, rarely miscue. it isnt wearing down fast. when non layered tips fail they wear down fast, mushroom, glaze over or get hard. On a average good non layered tip I get 100 hrs of play time
layered tips dont wear down fast they either get rock hard or fall apart when they fail, That can happen in fast as 25 hours or they can last a very long time and stay consistant if you get one like that it will wear down without falling apart or mushrooming. I have had good ones that lasted a long time, I perfer the feel of a non-layered tip.
best
eric
price of tips should NEVER be a concern if your serious about pool.
i hope that info helps, there isnt much else i can think of.