The Renfro was kind enough to send me out some Soft Ki-Techs. Unfortunately, I received a Predator Soft literally the day before they arrived and my cue was in desperate need of a tip so the Pred went straight on. I was impressed with the Predator tip, I was getting a little more action on the white from what I was used to with my Elk Masters, so I thought I'd stick it out and push the Ki-Techs to one side. Fortunately that didn't happen...
I instead used one of the Ki-Techs on my snooker cue. 13mm tip onto a 9mm snooker cue seemed like a waste, but id heard good things about them and wanted to give them a fair shot. Installing the tip was very simple. They cut with little effort, shape well and burnish well also. What struck me was how much they resembled an Elk Master tip in how they install and look.
So, down the snooker club I went. What's the first thing most of us do when trying a new tip? "I wonder how much draw I can get...". First shot of the day, CB around the blue spot, red is hanging over a corner, try screw back to blue spot with a nice firmish hit. EASY, I thought. Could I do it? Could I hell. The white always ended up near the pink spot. I was getting a 1/4 of a table TOO much draw! So my next thought was, I wonder how much I can really get if I full on lay into it. I didn't know whether the tip was upto the job just yet of withstanding a deep power screw shot, but I tried it. Same set up, the white took off like a jet, went full table down to the black spot, of the cushion and back up to the blue spot. I've never been able to achieve anywhere near as much action on the CB. Its added the possibility of like an extra 6ft of draw into my game. Ridiculous.
As the session went into the third hour, it felt like I'd been using this tip for years. I was landing the white where I wanted, spin was taking exactly how I planned in my head. Its hard to describe how the tips feel to play with, I'm so used to having my Elks so short that it vibrates a lot and I feel everything in my hand, but I left quite a lot if the Ki-Tech on, incase it mushroomed and needed adjusting so it feels quite soft, quiet and I can't feel any vibrations on my hand, so its not what I'm used to, but if the CB keeps landing where I want I don't care.
I shall be cutting that predator off my pool cue at the first opportunity and sticking another Ki-Tech on it. From my experience, all other tips you can think of don't allow you to get as much action on the cue ball as the Ki-Techs. I've tried probably all laminated tips that are widely recognized as being top quality tips and they simply don't compare.
My final thought - BUY ONE. I shall be trying all the hardness' out in due course until I settle on one, but honestly, the soft may be the one.
I instead used one of the Ki-Techs on my snooker cue. 13mm tip onto a 9mm snooker cue seemed like a waste, but id heard good things about them and wanted to give them a fair shot. Installing the tip was very simple. They cut with little effort, shape well and burnish well also. What struck me was how much they resembled an Elk Master tip in how they install and look.
So, down the snooker club I went. What's the first thing most of us do when trying a new tip? "I wonder how much draw I can get...". First shot of the day, CB around the blue spot, red is hanging over a corner, try screw back to blue spot with a nice firmish hit. EASY, I thought. Could I do it? Could I hell. The white always ended up near the pink spot. I was getting a 1/4 of a table TOO much draw! So my next thought was, I wonder how much I can really get if I full on lay into it. I didn't know whether the tip was upto the job just yet of withstanding a deep power screw shot, but I tried it. Same set up, the white took off like a jet, went full table down to the black spot, of the cushion and back up to the blue spot. I've never been able to achieve anywhere near as much action on the CB. Its added the possibility of like an extra 6ft of draw into my game. Ridiculous.
As the session went into the third hour, it felt like I'd been using this tip for years. I was landing the white where I wanted, spin was taking exactly how I planned in my head. Its hard to describe how the tips feel to play with, I'm so used to having my Elks so short that it vibrates a lot and I feel everything in my hand, but I left quite a lot if the Ki-Tech on, incase it mushroomed and needed adjusting so it feels quite soft, quiet and I can't feel any vibrations on my hand, so its not what I'm used to, but if the CB keeps landing where I want I don't care.
I shall be cutting that predator off my pool cue at the first opportunity and sticking another Ki-Tech on it. From my experience, all other tips you can think of don't allow you to get as much action on the cue ball as the Ki-Techs. I've tried probably all laminated tips that are widely recognized as being top quality tips and they simply don't compare.
My final thought - BUY ONE. I shall be trying all the hardness' out in due course until I settle on one, but honestly, the soft may be the one.
