Crical case

SSDiver2112

Escott Cues
I mean, to be clear, they are rarely going to bang around against each other the way I handle my case.

I'm not tossing the case into the back of my car from 20 feet away.

I only just yesterday realized that the internal padding doesn't run down the whole length of the case, and only because I made an effort to violently shake the case.

But whatever, somehow I've gotten into this position where I feel like I have to argue that my $80 cue case is better than a $300 cue case, which is never something that I claimed or thought or wanted to argue about.
Your original post was just what is supposed to be in this thread, a review of your case. No one thinks you think it is better. We are simply pointing out these inexpensive cases want you to believe they are the same or just as good as a JB and they are not. A lot of people are a bit passionate about them because they think they are just that good.

You are satisfied with the protection level it provides for your cues, which is fine, but you stated: "I still struggle to understand how full-length internal padding would make much of a difference." so the answers were given.

If the thin material isn't a problem, just use the same material all the way up. Why waste money putting the foam padding at the top? Putting the little bit at the top is just a deception to trick us.
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tomker

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Your original post was just what is supposed to be in this thread, a review of your case. No one thinks you think it is better. We are simply pointing out these inexpensive cases want you to believe they are the same or just as good as a JB and they are not. A lot of people are a bit passionate about them because they think they are just that good.

You are satisfied with the protection level it provides for your cues, which is fine, but you stated: "I still struggle to understand how full-length internal padding would make much of a difference." so the answers were given.

If the thin material isn't a problem, just use the same material all the way up. Why waste money putting the foam padding at the top? Putting the little bit at the top is just a deception to trick us. ...
Err, maybe this is where our disconnect is.

Those ~6 inches of padding are going to make an enormous amount of difference in terms of protection. I'm sure they absorb a huge amount of force from any lateral impact that the case might experience, especially towards the top.

Imagine if the inside of the case was completely empty and the cues were just rattling around freely. That's not what's going on at all.
 

SSDiver2112

Escott Cues
Err, maybe this is where our disconnect is.

Those ~6 inches of padding are going to make an enormous amount of difference in terms of protection. I'm sure they absorb a huge amount of force from any lateral impact that the case might experience, especially towards the top.

Imagine if the inside of the case was completely empty and the cues were just rattling around freely. That's not what's going on at all.

Bingo!
 

tomker

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I suppose one way of looking at it is: if those 6 inches of padding are providing THAT much protection, imagine how much protection you would have if the whole thing was padded.

Another way to look at it is: those 6 inches of padding are providing so much protection that adding more protection would be superfluous.

I would be interested to know what kind of forces we're talking about re: cues banging around against each other inside my case. I suppose the forces could be measured with accelerometers or maybe finite element analysis but I don't have the equipment or skills to do either in a reasonable amount of time.
 

hkstyle

Registered
Wow it was hard to get a picture of the inside, but, here you go.

Looks like the foam padding only extends about ~8 (?) inches from the top, then it's presumably just fabric dividers, although I can't tell for sure.

When I shake the case, I can hear the shafts and butts "banging" around, although it's low-pitched and muffled and not the clacking you would expect to hear if they were making direct contact with each other.

When I turn the case upside-down, everything slides out.

I'm sure that having padding run down the entire length of the case is more expensive but I question its practical value. Could shafts and butts possibly be damaged by rattling around against each other, especially if there's fabric between them?

View attachment 805360

Hi! Yes, most of the cases are a thicker fabric on the top half and the bottom is just a nylon sleeve.
I was wondering why my cue had all these marks and dings on them since I was being very careful with them during play. Turns out it was because of the design of them that doesn’t provide protection in the bottom half of the case where it rattles during any kind of movement.

I had a few hard cases and unfortunately this was the design of most of them, so I was looking for a case that would protect my more expensive cues. I came across JB and did some research. For me, it’s worth purchasing to protect my cues in case I ever sell them. For my cheaper bar cues that I don’t care about being damaged any case will suffice.

If you don’t need that level of protection or wanting to shell out that much cash, then any one you like is fine. JB also sell the fabric inserts for $50. So you can later upgrade/ convert the inside of your case with that if you wanted to later.
 

tomker

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hi! Yes, most of the cases are a thicker fabric on the top half and the bottom is just a nylon sleeve.
I was wondering why my cue had all these marks and dings on them since I was being very careful with them during play. Turns out it was because of the design of them that doesn’t provide protection in the bottom half of the case where it rattles during any kind of movement.

I had a few hard cases and unfortunately this was the design of most of them, so I was looking for a case that would protect my more expensive cues. I came across JB and did some research. For me, it’s worth purchasing to protect my cues in case I ever sell them. For my cheaper bar cues that I don’t care about being damaged any case will suffice.

If you don’t need that level of protection or wanting to shell out that much cash, then any one you like is fine. JB also sell the fabric inserts for $50. So you can later upgrade/ convert the inside of your case with that if you wanted to later.
Thanks for letting me know. Never would have thought that cues could get damaged this way, considering that they're being stabilized by the padding and there's fabric between them. What did the marks and dings look like? Do you have pictures? So far I've been using my new case for about two months and haven't noticed anything different about my cues.
 

JB Cases

www.jbcases.com
Silver Member
Not really sure what you mean by "inside." This is a tube-style case. You can't really see the inside. It's just some tubes for butts and shafts anyway. Other than being padded with foam and soft fabric, how could one possibly be better than the other?
I haven't gotten around to doing a tear down of the crical case yet. But to answer your question in general; many of the cheaper cases use a little padding at the top where you can feel it and they switch to thin fabric about six inches down which allows your cues to essentially bang against each other during transport.

JB Cases interiors by contrast are padded all the way down and double padded at the top and bottom. Our interiors are also removable in case there is any problem such as dropping something inside or spilling sometime inside.

There are definitely quality differences and those differences could be damaging to your cues. That said if you aren't that concerned about it and you just need something to hold the cues then I am sure the case is perfectly adequate for the job given the price.

When I get time to do a video on the crical case I have I will post the video here.

The case you bought looks nice for sure.
 

JB Cases

www.jbcases.com
Silver Member
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.

View attachment 801303
The case is not comparable to the JB Cases at any price level. Perhaps comparable to some other brands but I can tell you today it's absolutely not comparable to ours.

The thing about recommending cases is that I feel a person is vouching for the protection but not willing to take responsibility for damage to cues that could result from an inferior interior.

Before I vouch for a case I want to know how it's built inside and out to be absolutely sure that the cues can't be damaged by normal usage.

Granted I am a little more biased and knowledgeable about the subject given my job as a case maker. But I got into this business because my cue was damaged by a case that was not as protective as I thought it was.

Since then I have been on a 30 year journey to build cases that are highly protective, very durable, comfortable to use, very practical, and fully custom.

I understand the appeal of cheap cases. Especially when they look similar to my designs and when they copy the look of the interiors I designed.

I would just be careful of recommending them and especially if saying that your opinion is that they are as good as cases in our price category.
 

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm not familiar with JB cases but a lot of them seem to look like e.g. this one:


Comparing to a variant of the Crical case that I bought:

amazon link

These cases look so similar that I would be shocked if they weren't manufactured at the same factory.

I have no doubt that the JB cases have certain higher-quality details and features but it feels like if you get one of these Chinese-branded cases, you're getting about 75% of the case for about 25% of the price.
wrong.
 

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
It's rare that I see somebody defending his right to write posts that don't contribute to a discussion. Thanks for making my day a bit more novel.
Its even more rare to see the lengths some will go to to look like an idiot. Props bro, you're killin it.
 

tomker

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
...
There are definitely quality differences and those differences could be damaging to your cues. That said if you aren't that concerned about it and you just need something to hold the cues then I am sure the case is perfectly adequate for the job given the price.
...
I'm definitely concerned about my cues being damaged and would be curious to know what damage might occur. Do you have pictures of cues that have been damaged by external impacts to hard cases?

Now that I think about it, for the first ~10 years that I was playing pool, I used a 1x1 cue case that only had a flimsy fabric divider between the butt and shaft, and I don't think my cue was ever damaged while in the case.

Note that I'm not disagreeing that damage could occur, I'm just doubting that damage might occur in my case, since I basically never subject my cue case to any sudden impacts.
 

tomker

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The case is not comparable to the JB Cases at any price level. Perhaps comparable to some other brands but I can tell you today it's absolutely not comparable to ours.
...
I would just be careful of recommending them and especially if saying that your opinion is that they are as good as cases in our price category.
Note that in my original post I claimed that the case seems comparable to anything i've seen in the $200 to $250 price range. From your web site I see that you only offer one (?) case for less than $250 and it's out of stock. Almost all of your cases cost much more.

So I never claimed that this case was comparable to a JB Case. So I don't think we have an issue here.

I feel like I've been rhetorically maneuvered into claiming that the case I bought is the best case anybody has ever made in the world at any price point, which is something I never thought or claimed.
 

tomker

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I tried to tell him 🤷‍♂️ he gets what he gets
Reminder: you told me nothing useful. "Listen to other people" is a useless thing to say. Several other people have contributed useful information to this thread. You have contributed nothing.

Also, "he gets what he gets"? What is it you think I'm getting, exactly? Useful information being posted by other people?

You're trying to frame this thread as a fight between a wrong and ignorant bad guy (me) and knowledgeable smart good guys (everybody else) except that there's no need for a fight. Stop trying to will one into existence. Go try to start a fight on some other thread. Not sure why you have to post on this one.
 

jasonlaus

Rep for Smorg
Silver Member
Reminder: you told me nothing useful. "Listen to other people" is a useless thing to say. Several other people have contributed useful information to this thread. You have contributed nothing.

Also, "he gets what he gets"? What is it you think I'm getting, exactly? Useful information being posted by other people?

You're trying to frame this thread as a fight between a wrong and ignorant bad guy (me) and knowledgeable smart good guys (everybody else) except that there's no need for a fight. Stop trying to will one into existence. Go try to start a fight on some other thread. Not sure why you have to post on this one.
Because you keep doubling down on saying stupid shit. How many people have to tell you you're wrong before you STFU?

I'm guessing at least once more.

Now we wait
 

tomker

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Because you keep doubling down on saying stupid shit. How many people have to tell you you're wrong before you STFU?
...
What is it you think I've doubled down on, and what do you think I'm wrong about?

I've QUESTIONED the practical value of having padding run all the way down the interior compartments.

How can my QUESTIONS be wrong?

hkstyle has helpfully posted that he has had cues damaged in cases without such padding, so it seems like we at least have one person with firsthand experience saying that damage can and has occurred.

Meanwhile you have yet to post anything helpful, useful, or even interesting. Again, stop trying to start a f!@#king fight where there doesn't need to be a fight.
 

JB Cases

www.jbcases.com
Silver Member
Note that in my original post I claimed that the case seems comparable to anything i've seen in the $200 to $250 price range. From your web site I see that you only offer one (?) case for less than $250 and it's out of stock. Almost all of your cases cost much more.

So I never claimed that this case was comparable to a JB Case. So I don't think we have an issue here.

I feel like I've been rhetorically maneuvered into claiming that the case I bought is the best case anybody has ever made in the world at any price point, which is something I never thought or claimed.
Actually, our cases range in price from $80 to $2000. A JB Case in a similar style to yours runs about $250.


I can only speak for myself regarding the content of your review. I certainly don't think you were saying it's the best ever. I totally get it that you are happy with it for the price. My only contention is that it's definitely not a good case and is actually dangerous to cues. I feel that you are happy with it now but if your cues are valuable enough to you that you didn't want them damaged then you might feel otherwise if you knew how the case was actually constructed.

I went ahead and did a video of the one I purchased a few months ago. I will post the link in my next post. You can then decide whether to stick with your review as written or amend or based on new information. All I ever care about is that cues are well protected and consumers are not lied to explicitly through marketing deception or through construction deception such as showing padding at the visible part and then taking it away at the invisible part.
 

JB Cases

www.jbcases.com
Silver Member
My dissection and review of the Crical case.

This way consumers have both the impression of the original poster and the opinion of the originater of this style from which this knockoff is based.

For context I purchased this case months ago and just hadn't gotten around to doing the dissection.

It's 45 minutes long and completely unscripted. I didn't intend to have it be that long but I am more passionate than deliberate. I don't plan these things or do multiple takes or edit. It's totally stream of consciousness.

For the op; you can decide whether to amend your original post or not now that you have more information. I hold zero ill will towards you in any capacity and I make that clear in my video.

 

JB Cases

www.jbcases.com
Silver Member
I'm definitely concerned about my cues being damaged and would be curious to know what damage might occur. Do you have pictures of cues that have been damaged by external impacts to hard cases?

Now that I think about it, for the first ~10 years that I was playing pool, I used a 1x1 cue case that only had a flimsy fabric divider between the butt and shaft, and I don't think my cue was ever damaged while in the case.

Note that I'm not disagreeing that damage could occur, I'm just doubting that damage might occur in my case, since I basically never subject my cue case to any sudden impacts.
The typical damage that occurs when cues rattle excessively is generally internal. The whacking breaks the structure and causes the glue to come loose.

Sometimes the damage is able to be seen when the joints develop small visible cracks in the finish.

Sometimes it manifests in damage to the butt cap where the cue parts have hit other at the bottom of the case when the cavities are not sealed from each other.

I have seen it happen that people have dropped things into the case like quarters and those coins with serrated edges have traveled freely from cavity to cavity and scratched the finish.

I have done demonstrations where I have slammed the case to the ground, admittedly applying more force than most cases will experience, to show that a cue can be visibly cracked at the handle joint. I have done the same demonstrations with my personal case with around 3k in cues inside.

Here is a slow motion video showing the movement with a simple fall. In our you can see how a chunk of one tip flies off in one of the tests.

 
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