I bought a Crical case via AliExpress. The headline is that I'm very pleased with it. More thoughts:
- It's a hard case, 2 butts, 4 shafts
- The cost was $80 = $105 after tax and shipping
- Be careful ordering from vendors on AliExpress who advertise free shipping, I ordered from one and they messaged me asking for extra money to cover shipping. Gross. I canceled my order and ordered the same case from a different vendor.
- The interior is padded with foam and covered in soft fabric, including the dividers. It's mostly great but 20% annoying because the fabric is black and the dividers are recessed an inch or two, so if you're not in a well-lit environment it can be hard to see where to put your stuff.
- The exterior is covered with a nylon (?) weave fabric that looks nice and feels rugged. The blue decorative bits are polyurethane "leather." I don't think PU leather ever looks great but at least these are only decorative bits and the stitching is nice.
- The handle and shoulder strap are attached with some pretty heavy-duty stitching. The reason I bought this new case is because the shoulder strap on my old case broke. Not a concern with this new case.
- There's a variant of this case that has three storage compartments. It looks nice, but "Crical" is printed on the bottom compartment in HUGE lettering. No thanks.
- I'm not familiar with the "Crical" brand. This cue case was shipped in a cardboard box with Konllen printed on the outside. I get the feeling from browsing AliExpress that Crical, Konllen, Zokue, and JFlowers are all the same company.
Overall, this cue case is a HUGE step up from the 2x2 hard cases that you see everywhere for ~$40. The quality seems great. From what I've seen, I feel like it's comparable to anything in the $200-$250 price range from a US manufacturer or a US vendor. I would recommend it to anybody.
- It's a hard case, 2 butts, 4 shafts
- The cost was $80 = $105 after tax and shipping
- Be careful ordering from vendors on AliExpress who advertise free shipping, I ordered from one and they messaged me asking for extra money to cover shipping. Gross. I canceled my order and ordered the same case from a different vendor.
- The interior is padded with foam and covered in soft fabric, including the dividers. It's mostly great but 20% annoying because the fabric is black and the dividers are recessed an inch or two, so if you're not in a well-lit environment it can be hard to see where to put your stuff.
- The exterior is covered with a nylon (?) weave fabric that looks nice and feels rugged. The blue decorative bits are polyurethane "leather." I don't think PU leather ever looks great but at least these are only decorative bits and the stitching is nice.
- The handle and shoulder strap are attached with some pretty heavy-duty stitching. The reason I bought this new case is because the shoulder strap on my old case broke. Not a concern with this new case.
- There's a variant of this case that has three storage compartments. It looks nice, but "Crical" is printed on the bottom compartment in HUGE lettering. No thanks.
- I'm not familiar with the "Crical" brand. This cue case was shipped in a cardboard box with Konllen printed on the outside. I get the feeling from browsing AliExpress that Crical, Konllen, Zokue, and JFlowers are all the same company.
Overall, this cue case is a HUGE step up from the 2x2 hard cases that you see everywhere for ~$40. The quality seems great. From what I've seen, I feel like it's comparable to anything in the $200-$250 price range from a US manufacturer or a US vendor. I would recommend it to anybody.