Hi, as promised my little review :smile:
My mate bought a basic model, the same as T hohmann uses just in black.
First look at it, looks good, sporty, an elegant cue, only the big ringwork on the joint is a matter of taste.
I was afraid the rubber grip of this cue would feel like the ones used on poison and predator sport cues, but it felt MUCH smoother. Being a wrapless fan, i still found the rubber grip very comfortable. pleasant surprise :thumbup:
The laminated shaft was very "white", but you can see the segments of the lamination very clearly. BUT the woodquality of this shaft (the only lucasi in our club) seemed much better than all pred shafts (about 20 in our club). another really nice surprise, regarding the lower price
Qualitywise, the cue is top nutch :thumbup:
Weight: it comes with a weightbolt which my mate took out, so it was much lighter than my cue (uncored ebony PJ)
Still it felt well balanced, just a little bit to light for me.
The taper of the slim shaft is a matter of taste, i like it since im used to conical tapers from my snooker sidesteps (rarely but i enjoy it
)
Playability: the shaft feels stiff without being really hard. the hit feels much more natural than most of the laminated shafts i tried out so far, maybe because the lucasi shaft has no hollow front end unlike their concurrence (which clearly is predator). The LD effect comes entirely from the taper (like a Z shaft) and the light ferrule.
The result is it produces more deflection than a Z shaft, but it is still one of the lower deflecting LD shafts i tried out.
The advantage however is that the feeling and speedcontroll on soft shots is better than with Z and 314.
So its up to you if you prefer lower deflection or more controll on soft shots, its a nuance.
I had less problems judging draw shots and sidespin because it felt more natural. Others prefer lower/lowest deflection. So its up to your taste.
Conclusion: Qualitywise a very good cue for a reasonable price. With the slim shaft it deserves to be called an LD cue and shaft (not treid out the other).
I liked it a lot, which is a suprise to myself because i never found a laminated shaft i liked before
if your stroke is (more or less, im no pro too^^) straight, you can have a lot of fun with this cue, plays really good and is reasonably priced.
For a production cue i would give it 8/10 for quality, 7/10 for playability (i still miss some feedback) and (finally) an overall rating of 8.5/10 (all together and price for what you get).
I hope this helps
