Cue balls? Whats your fav?

[fastone371]

Something must be wrong with me because I have a measle ball, red circles, Centennial QB, and Aramith Tournament Pro cue balls and I really do not notice much difference between them. Getting a Cyclops set soon, maybe I will notice something then. What seems to make a bigger difference is how the QB reacts on different cloth and how dirty or polished the QB is.

 

[mantis99]

Whats your favorite? I'm using the cyclops just because that's what they use at the dcc. It seems to hop and skid more than any cue ball I have ever used. Seems hard to draw too. My fav is the measle.

Thanks in advance. John B.

I love the measles ball.

 

[CMarshall]

What seems to make a bigger difference is how the QB reacts on different cloth and how dirty or polished the QB is.

This is my opinion too, the cloth is the difference maker for me. I've used the same ball set on different tables and the balls act night n day different. But, I'm no expert, it's just my experience.

To answer the OP's question, I prefer the Aramith measles cue ball. I'm just used to it and I like to see the ball's reaction. I have a hard time playing without it in fact.

 

[Bavafongoul]

Step up and play the best.........Brunswick Centennials by Saluc, i.e., Aramith.

I transport a set to play with at the pool hall in my Aramith case and I always keep a new set (backup) on the shelf.

The tolerances are the best, and the colors & design blows away the competition......for cue ball favorite, I prefer the measles cue ball which helps me evaluate the rotation and speed of my cue ball on soft shots using the rail.......the dots are an aid when you see the cue ball movement to and off of the rails and for long thin cut shots.......Remember that the cue ball never lies and so study the way it moves and understand why.

In any event, as you can see, I carry two measles balls in my Aramith case with my Centennial set......the cue ball to the immediate left of the measles cue balls is a older black dot cue ball.

Matt B..

 

[John Brumback]

Step up and play the best.........Brunswick Centennials by Saluc, i.e., Aramith.

I transport a set to play with at the pool hall in my Aramith case and I always keep a new set (backup) on the shelf.

The tolerances are the best, and the colors & design blows away the competition......Centennials are #1.

Matt B..

That's a nice set up you got there.Thanks for the pic! Bad thing for me is I have to use whatever they have at the tourney that I play in. I have a set of BC"s, I might have to throw them out on my table for awhile along with my measle cb. John B.

 

[pt109]

Blue Circle, for me

 

[fastone371]

Step up and play the best.........Brunswick Centennials by Saluc, i.e., Aramith.

I transport a set to play with at the pool hall in my Aramith case and I always keep a new set (backup) on the shelf.

The tolerances are the best, and the colors & design blows away the competition......for cue ball favorite, I prefer the measles cue ball which helps me evaluate the rotation and speed of my cue ball on soft shots using the rail.......the dots are an aid when you see the cue ball movement to and off of the rails and for long thin cut shots.......Remember that the cue ball never lies and so study the way it moves and understand why.

In any event, as you can see, I carry two measles balls in my Aramith case with my Centennial set......the cue ball to the immediate left of the measles cue balls is a older black dot cue ball.

Matt B..

When I rebuilt my GC a couple years ago I also acquired a new set of Centennials and a new set of Aramith Tournament Pros, I like the look of the Centennials better but for some reason the Tournament set stays nicer looking for much longer. They require less rounds in the polisher (since I have almost $600.00 invested in balls I did not think $500.00 was out of line for a Diamond polisher) I will be picking up a set of Cyclops skittles in the next couple of weeks, I have played them before just never on my table, I will be interested to see if they play different.

 

[JoeyA]

I bought a set of Cyclop balls a few months ago and the cue ball seems to retain the blue chalk marks or at least you can see the blue chalk marks more easily than other cue balls.

I've played about 50-75 sets of 9 ball (races to 5) and had only 1 skid in all of those games/sets. Once I started wiping the cue ball every rack, the skids never came back.

Others who have played with my set of Cyclop balls claim that they don't seem to be able to put as much English on the cue ball. I say every brand of cue ball has its own idiosyncrasies and you just have to adapt to them.

No complaints about Cyclop balls here.

JoeyA

P.S. Ooops, I like the Aramith Tournament set and the cue ball that comes with that set of balls best.

I think I get you, John - thanks.

It sounds like the little hop as the CB hits the OB when a skid happens. My guess is it's the same cause for both things: the balls "stick together" for a moment because of chalk (or something) between them, causing the CB to climb up on the OB and the OB to throw more than usual. You might not notice the little bit of extra OB throw if the shot is pretty straight.

Here at my local pool room they use Centennial balls with the blue circle CBs that come with them. I use my own red circle CB because it has a glossier finish and collects less chalk dust (so fewer skids/hops). I also have a measles CB that I like, but it's newer/bigger/heavier than the old ball sets here, so I usually go with the (older) red circle.

Those are my two criteria: high gloss surface and matched size/weight with the OBs.

pj <- and, of course, as round as possible
chgo

 

[DallasHopps]

I prefer the measles ball because of the seemingly more equal reactions between it and the object balls. I had to buy a red circle cue ball for my own table because it's almost invariably used in the tournaments local to me. The red circle ball isn't bad, but with fast cloth the characteristics already noted about it really seem exaggerated.

 

[Ron Swanson]

Anyone else hate the red logo ball? Like drawing lead.

 

[sjb]

I like the measles ball or the blue circle. They play about the same to me.

I don't care for the red circles, except for when playing on Diamond barboxes. They seem fine there. On Valley barboxes, the purple logo cueballs play well, too -- better than any previous versions.

 

[MitchAlsup]

I like to see what the cb is doing during and after the shot

Technically, the shot is not over until every ball on the table has come to a complete and utter rest. So the after shot is also the before the next shot.

 

[FranCrimi]

Duplicate post

 

[FranCrimi]

My favorite cue ball is the one that properly matches the set of object balls I'm using.

The game started going downhill when players started carrying around red circles to play with Centennials. The reason for that of course was because Hyatt (the maker of the original red circle) started sponsoring the men's association. Naturally, the blue circles were thrown out, even though they were the proper cue balls for Centennials, which was what everyone was using at the time.

When people finally figured out that they shouldn't have thrown away the blue circles, they started seeking them out, but Brunswick didn't make them separate from the sets. Then we had the deluge of fake blue circles. Room owners didn't care. The balls had blue circles and that's what the players wanted. That was fun. Not only were they smaller and lighter, but they were so bad that the blue circle actually wore off.

So then the myth of the superior red circle actually started coming true, compared to the fake blue circles.

That was followed by three different types of red circles. One was brick red -- the original Hyatt ball, another was light red --- the Aramith ball, and then of course there was the fake red circle that wore off the ball in a few weeks.

Every once in awhile we'd come across a black circle, which was a very heavy ball. No one I knew could figure out where that ball came from or why it was made.

And prior to all that mayhem, there was the original Brunswick blue dot.

 

[BobTfromIL]

I like the measle ball, at my skill level probably doesn't really make much of a difference though.

 

[jb1911]

 

[Baxter]

I have a set of Centennials that I take to the pool hall with me. The hall has Super Pro's, but they're over 10 years old, beat up, and hardly ever cleaned. I use the measles ball with my Centennials. I don't mind the blue circle, and I can play with the red circle, but every league and tournament around here all use the measles ball, so that's what I play with. I have noticed that the Centennials do seem to get dirty faster than the Aramiths. I play 3x a week, and clean my set once a week.

 

[Patrick Johnson]

Others who have played with my set of Cyclop balls claim that they don't seem to be able to put as much English on the cue ball.

If so, my guess would be less friction, not less English. Either because it's a newer CB or it's made glossier, or you keep it cleaner, or all of the above.

pj
chgo

 

[peppersauce]

.............

 

[buckshotshoey]

Round ones. Preferably white.
Also, the ones that are afraid of the dark. :smile:

Yea....VERY afraid of the dark!

My favorite Cue Ball would be the Measle Ball, but I think it would be even better with out the measles....

Good rolls.

They have one. The red logo ball is the same as measles ball, without the measles. According to Aramith.

Anyone else hate the red logo ball? Like drawing lead.

I like it. No problem drawing full table or more. The one I have trouble with drawing is the mud ball (steel core). It is completely dead.

On the subject of steel core balls. Does anyone like the green logo tournament magnetic? Very true ball IMO. Plays as well as red circle.... and much better then a steel core

My vote also