Yeah, hats off to Cuetec. Seriously, 25 years ago Cuetec was seen as a "bad" cue. Their marketing team and actual development team has done a remarkable job. Other manufacturers have either taken a step back or have completely disappeared from the limelight. Lucasi was the up and comer who sponsored multiple tours and players, but now aren't even mentioned anywhere. OB ran themselves into the ground. Schon imo has priced themselves out of the market. Fantastic cues but it seems they are stuck in the past. Mezz has also disappeared at least here in the US. I guess pool participation has increased globally and other manufacturers have focused there, but the market has really narrowed in the US.
Cuetec and Predator are the 2 manufacturers that have consistently been active marketing and developing new products globally and here. I know people will probably say it's all marketing, but that's business 101. It shows and I personally would rather spend my cash on companies I know are active and who are supporting the players. Don't get me wrong, Mcdermott and Viking are also in the mix and have been pumping out fantastic products.