Magic Rack vs. Delta 13

msubilliards

msubilliards

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've had the Magic Rack for about a month now and my Delta 13 came in today so I'm a little biased towards the Magic Rack but wanted to list the pro's and con's of each:

Magic Rack Pros:
1) Racks are tight everytime and consistent
2) Very easy to setup
3) Balls explode off the break and scatter across the table nicely
4) 99% of the time the 9 or 10 ball stay within the rack
5) Very inexpensive

Magic Rack Cons:
1) Has a life span of less than a year
2) Kind of flimsy
3) You have to remove the rack after you break

Delta 13 Pros:
1) Very easy to rack the balls tightly
2) Very easy to align the rack squarely
3) Made to last a lifetime
4) Fairly inexpensive

Delta 13 Cons:
1) Loud
2) For some reason, even though it looks like the balls are racked tightly, they don't seem to explode off the break like they do with the Magic Rack. I've only played for about an hour today with it so like I said I'm a little biased towards the Magic Rack currently.
 
My theory is that the balls leaning against each other (MR) adds some energy to the break over if the balls are simply touching (Delta). If it does add to the impact of the break I'm not sure I'm in favor of it. I wish someone more versed in physics could opine on this.

But it is faster for tournaments and when worn balls / cloth make it real difficult to get a good rack. I guess it's a trade-off.
 
I've found if you're playing 8 ball, the 'faster' issue goes out the window,. You can lay the magic on the table, collect the balls by the foot rail, put the regular rack over them... then just roll them forward to herd them onto the magic rack. You keep the other rack lifted slightly off the table. The balls find the holes and settle into place and you don't have to place them one-by-one.

I agree with this writeup. Other racks "can" give you a good rack. But the magic FORCES the rack to be good. It's hard to give a bad rack on purpose with it unless you're really sneaky and keep the balls between the holes :p
 
I've got both the magic rack and the delta rack. Both have their merits. I wouldn't consider playing 14.1 or onepocket using the magic rack, and I doubt many others would either.

So my vote is magic rack for rotation based games generally and Delta for everything else. Usually, I'm just lazy and grab whatever is handy.

As to the Delta's clinking sound, these will do the trick to make it sound almost like a wooden rack. I've got a set and they work great:

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They install like so:

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You can read more about them here.
 
Not sure what happened yesterday when I first played with it, but I played with it again last night and this morning and the balls scattered nicely.
 
One other advantage I see to the Magic rack vs a regular rack( or Delta) is you don't drag the balls across the table.
The Delta rack is also slightly larger than most racks, could be an issue when play 14.1.
I marked my table for the Delta and when I use a regular rack there is about 1/2"
difference, the Delta takes up more space on the table.
I do like both and as someone else said Magic for 9 and 10 ball Delta for 8 ball.
 
I have used the Magic Rack for quite awhile now and for the money its the way to go. But I still run into people who don't like to use it because I think they think they are getting duped or something. The fairest way to play 9-ball is to rack your own and the 9-ball doesn't count in the bottom two pockets. Still many won't try it because they feel they are not supposed to have to rack if they win the game. My favorite line I get sometimes when I say, "You want to rack your own?" is this........"No, we don't have to do that, I trust you." It's quite aggravating to slave over someone else's rack for a couple minutes to get them a good rack but when they rack for you they seem to go blind and the rack is terrible. What are your thoughts? Thanks............
 
BobTfromIL said:
One other advantage I see to the Magic rack vs a regular rack( or Delta) is you don't drag the balls across the table.
The Delta rack is also slightly larger than most racks, could be an issue when play 14.1.
I marked my table for the Delta and when I use a regular rack there is about 1/2"
difference, the Delta takes up more space on the table.
I do like both and as someone else said Magic for 9 and 10 ball Delta for 8 ball.
Click to expand...

I agree with you about the dragging issue is a +1 for the magic rack. However, I and most of the guys on the 14.1 subforum consider the Delta 13 rack to be the best rack available for 14.1. I have found that it actually has a smaller foot print to most of the racks I've encountered. Certainly smaller than the quite nice, but bulkier Diamond wooden rack I used before. I also marked my table using the Delta 13 rack. I guess it all just depends on one's definition of a "regular rack". The Delta rack is quite thin though, which is advantageous, at least in my opinion.
 
I hate the clanking sound of a delta. And it doesnt seem to rack any better than a good quality, wood rack. Magic rack is no good because its just not realistic, its like a cheat rack for 9 ball. Rack with the 9 on the spot so nothing is wired in so dramatically, then i would be ok with it. Same with the slug doctor, plus the doctor is an eye sore that remains on the table.

If the room owners would change the spots on their tournament tables once in awhile, maybe do a little slate work around the rack areas.....the balls would rack much better. Then we could play traditional pool without having to "create" a tight rack. Matching ball sets would help too.
 
BobTfromIL said:
One other advantage I see to the Magic rack vs a regular rack( or Delta) is you don't drag the balls across the table.
The Delta rack is also slightly larger than most racks, could be an issue when play 14.1.
I marked my table for the Delta and when I use a regular rack there is about 1/2"
difference, the Delta takes up more space on the table.
I do like both and as someone else said Magic for 9 and 10 ball Delta for 8 ball.
Click to expand...

Cloth wear from dragging is only an issue if you drag the rack full of balls from the foot rail to the rack area. I place the rack in position first then place the balls in the rack, so this is not an issue for me. Maybe more of a problem in a commercial room, but they're not going to replace those cheap plastics racks with either a Delta or Magic Rack anyway.

As far as the Delta footprint being an issue for 14.1, that's not too much of a problem either. If you think about it, it is not bigger all the way around, but only extends a little more behind the bottom row of balls. The walls aren't really much thicker, so the sides where most of the breaks shots are played into do not extend out into the playing area any further. If the extra bit of space behind the bottom row is an issue then you can always use a smaller cheap plastic rack to mark the rack area and use it only when the Delta would interfere but the plastic rack wouldn't.
 
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I have use the magic rack and i will tell you . It stops from getting a gaf rack.
I love it...
 
I have both. They're both good quality racks. The Magic rack is much better for 8-ball and rotational pool (9-ball and 10-ball). You get get very consistent tight racks and straight racks (not tilted) with the magic racks. The delta 13 is the best triangle rack I've ever used, but it falls short of the consistency and quality of the rack that the magic rack gives you.

If you're playing a game like 1-pocket or straight pool, the magic rack would be a terrible option.
 
mlfield said:
I have used the Magic Rack for quite awhile now and for the money its the way to go. But I still run into people who don't like to use it because I think they think they are getting duped or something. The fairest way to play 9-ball is to rack your own and the 9-ball doesn't count in the bottom two pockets. Still many won't try it because they feel they are not supposed to have to rack if they win the game. My favorite line I get sometimes when I say, "You want to rack your own?" is this........"No, we don't have to do that, I trust you." It's quite aggravating to slave over someone else's rack for a couple minutes to get them a good rack but when they rack for you they seem to go blind and the rack is terrible. What are your thoughts? Thanks............
Click to expand...



I have a friend who racks so bad that Sigel calls him the worst racker on the planet Earth. He cannot for the life of him move the rack up a bit and removing it by tilting it from the back. He just lifts the rack straight up and balls move over half the time. Even with the Delta 13 rack he could never get a solid rack. So I fixed my home table up with the slug doctor and now he cannot get a bad rack no matter how hard he tries - and I am loving it.

BTW, I use the Delta 13 rack to just slide the balls up and have marked spots on the table with a Sharpie using the nifty inside of the holes on the end of the Delta rack for guideance. I have a Magic Rack also and like it too. IMO the slug doctor is much harder to get set up right, but once you get it set it works great. Took me 2 hours at least to set the inserts propertly and fyi I used the Magic Rack as an additional guide.

The only disadvantage of the Slug Doctor is that the cloth moves after a while, as we all know, and you have to reset the inserts again. This happened to me.
 
benefit of Magic Rack

Another huge benefit of the Magic Rack is I can take it anywhere very easily, wouldn't be fun to drag a Delta 13 around:thumbup:
 
robsnotes4u said:
Another huge benefit of the Magic Rack is I can take it anywhere very easily, wouldn't be fun to drag a Delta 13 around:thumbup:
Click to expand...

Not to derail this thread too far, but what have you found to be the best way to travel with it (MR) and keep it in good condition? It seems pretty easy to get kinks in them.
 
bral said:
Not to derail this thread too far, but what have you found to be the best way to travel with it (MR) and keep it in good condition? It seems pretty easy to get kinks in them.
Click to expand...

I've seen people post that they take an empty paper towel tube for transporting the Magic Rack. I don't know if that creates a curvature on the MR that poses a problem though. Maybe someone will chime in on this.
 
Here is a good way to carry the Magic Rack. Go to one of the home improvement stores and go to the plumbing section. Find the PVC plumbing parts. They have a straight piece that is 8" long and 1 1/2" diameter. Keep the Magic Rack in the original wrapper with the thin piece of cardboard that came with it. Start rolling it up from the top end but be careful to go easy. You should be able to get it rolled up to about 1" in diameter. Then just slide it into the piece of pipe. Then just put that in your case, either in a long pocket or it fits great into the butt section if you have a soft case. The PVC even comes with a lip on it to prevent it from sliding down if you put it in your soft case. Works great and won't wear out and only costs less than a dollar. Occasionally reverse the way you roll it to take out bow in it or just take it out and lay it flat overnight sometimes. Hope this helps.
 
I just transport by keeping it in the original ziploc bag. I don't trust rolling the thing, it seems like once you get a curve in it, you have to make sure to rack it curve-side-down for the rest of its life, and if you ever struggle to get the balls to lock in place you gotta wonder if the curve is the reason... I'd rather just not think about it.
 
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