More Affordable Predator Revo Cues

GoldCrown said:
Is a filthy dark blue chalked shaft a showpiece. I don't see any benefit to playing with an expensive Gina Cue other than to flaunt. To nick the shaft or butt would be as bad as a shopping cart pressed against my car door. But yes the REVO is ugly. It's a tool. Does fashion matter. It does but here I was looking for different. I hope this is the only model they ever make. Cause I might bump it up to Double Ugly. I need another REVO like a snail needs air brakes.
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I love my shafts nice and blue and never understood the anal need to clean, bleach, and Mr. Eraser a shaft.

As to the Gina, it's what I grew up playing with as a teenager and nothing feels as good to me. Over the years I've tried, Meucci, McDermott, Black, Joss, Schon, Predators, and a few others you'd recognize. Sure the Gina looks swell but I also play my best pool with it. It does have a distinctive hit but my five-point Gina is a simple affair and looks no different than a thousand other cues out there. (My eight-point Gina is a different story :-)

No matter what cue you're playing with or how careful you are you're going to ding your cue. Wood can be steamed back to normal. Carbon fiber... time will tell.

Lou Figueroa
 
lfigueroa said:
I love my shafts nice and blue and never understood the anal need to clean, bleach, and Mr. Eraser a shaft.

As to the Gina, it's what I grew up playing with as a teenager and nothing feels as good to me. Over the years I've tried, Meucci, McDermott, Black, Joss, Schon, Predators, and a few others you'd recognize. Sure the Gina looks swell but I also play my best pool with it. It does have a distinctive hit but my five-point Gina is a simple affair and looks no different than a thousand other cues out there. (My eight-point Gina is a different story :-)

No matter what cue you're playing with or how careful you are you're going to ding your cue. Wood can be steamed back to normal. Carbon fiber... time will tell.

Lou Figueroa
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The Gina.... I'm jealous.
Steaming nicks. Would you mind explaining your technique. I'd like to know. Most of the nicks I get are from the cue hitting a chair or getting knocked over. The rest of them were from a person trying out a new shaft I got.... It took them 5 minutes to damage it. Can nicks be steamed from butts? Thanks.
 
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RickLafayette said:
That's what I was afraid of.
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Predator is doing a great job over selling the REVO. No reason to have to buy the butt with shaft. Sort of like needing tires but you have to buy the entire car.
$350-$400 for the shaft alone would be more than it's worth.... But they have suckers like me. The last thing I need is another cue... Especially for what they are selling for..... What can I say.
I did see a REVO shaft only on eBay for $550. I'm no expert but the shaft will not improve anyone's game. It might stay new forever.
 
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GoldCrown said:
The Gina.... I'm jealous.
Steaming nicks. Would you mind explaining your technique. I'd like to know. Most of the nicks I get are from the cue hitting a chair or getting knocked over. The rest of them were from a person trying out a new shaft I got.... It took them 5 minutes to damage it. Can nicks be steamed from butts? Thanks.
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The technique I use is to fill a glass cup with a couple of inches of water, microwave it until it boils, and dip a Q-tip into the boiling water and apply it to the boo boo. Three or four times will take out all but the severest of nicks. IF it's *really* bad I have gently sanded the dink with some 600 sandpaper (to open up the wood pores) and then go with the aforementioned technique. Burnishing with a glass or hitting it with some 5000 sandpaper finishes the repair.

Two other similar techniques I've heard of but never tried are: putting some aluminum foil with a small hole in it on the spout of a tea kettle, boiling water in said kettle and holding the dink over the escaping steam. The udder technique is placing the corner of a wet cloth on the dink and heating it with an iron.

I think that if your butt is sealed these options will not work.

Lou Figueroa
 
lfigueroa said:
The technique I use is to fill a glass cup with a couple of inches of water, microwave it until it boils, and dip a Q-tip into the boiling water and apply it to the boo boo. Three or four times will take out all but the severest of nicks. IF it's *really* bad I have gently sanded the dink with some 600 sandpaper (to open up the wood pores) and then go with the aforementioned technique. Burnishing with a glass or hitting it with some 5000 sandpaper finishes the repair.

Two other similar techniques I've heard of but never tried are: putting some aluminum foil with a small hole in it on the spout of a tea kettle, boiling water in said kettle and holding the dink over the escaping steam. The udder technique is placing the corner of a wet cloth on the dink and heating it with an iron.

I think that if your butt is sealed these options will not work.

Lou Figueroa
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The boiling/Q tip sounds very reasonable.
Do you know of anyone that uses a steamer (with a pinpoint tip)
 
GoldCrown said:
The Gina.... I'm jealous.
Steaming nicks. Would you mind explaining your technique. I'd like to know. Most of the nicks I get are from the cue hitting a chair or getting knocked over. The rest of them were from a person trying out a new shaft I got.... It took them 5 minutes to damage it. Can nicks be steamed from butts? Thanks.
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I use a wash cloth and an Iron. Get the tip of a wash cloth wet with hot water and then lightly wring it out. Put the wet wash cloth tip over the dented area and then use a hot iron tip over the wet wash cloth for 2 or 3 seconds (its steams slightly). If its a big ding you may have to do it 2 or 3 times. Right after you finished you use the dry part of the wash cloth and rapidly go up and down the shaft to create heat to close the pours of the wood. This works great for me.
 
GoldCrown said:
Let's remove Scott from the picture. Scott has nothing to do with the shaft. I am searching for complaints and failures on the REVO. I need to find one quickly so I can return the cue in a reasonable time if I want the option to do so. Until then it gets an "A". But once again.....won't nick won't warp does not mean it's hammer proof or you can drive over it. I'll will put it to extensive use toward the end of Oct. Should it crap out you'll be the first to know. And I will return it for a refund... Not an exchange.
However I got over the first hurdle. As I brought the box in the door my wife asks me what is it. And I tell her the truth as always. It's a cue I had refinished. I dread getting caught in a fib..I'm not snip-proof :killingme::killingme:
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A friend of mine bought the 1,399.00 version. He played with it for a couple of days and didn't like it and the big seller didn't allow him to return it. I also called another big dealer and they wouldn't accept returns on the Predator Revo either. To be fair I think both dealers didn't want hundreds of players buying them just to try it out (out of curiosity with no intent to keep them) and then return them.
 
Do you like the new Predator Revo cues? Then you should get yourself one of these! Like the Revo cues they are stylish, trendy and good in a fight. We guarantee you will not be able to put a dent in that hair! But the color may bleed a little. The orange will eventually wear off and smudge after heavy use. But remember, you are getting a real bargain with these, so don't expect any part(s) to be real. They do function almost as if they are real, though.
 

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TWOFORPOOL said:
A friend of mine bought the 1,399.00 version. He played with it for a couple of days and didn't like it and the big seller didn't allow him to return it. I also called another big dealer and they wouldn't accept returns on the Predator Revo either. To be fair I think both dealers didn't want hundreds of players buying them just to try it out (out of curiosity with no intent to keep them) and then return them.
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MIne's a keeper. Like frog it's staying around until it croaks. No intentions of returning it. Would only do that if it failed structure wise under reasonable conditions. I would never waste a merchants (or private persons) time or want something for free. I considered the $1399 one. I don't mind saving 5 bills on the SP2
 
Straightpool_99 said:
If someone was given an item to promote it, their review means N O T H I N G! If, on the other hand, someone paid for an item with their hard earned money and is at least a somewhat reasonable person/player, then their review becomes interesting. That is not to say you have to buy an item to review it, but at least be somewhat impartial. Professionals endorsing products are completely without credibility.
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I purchased the REVO P3 after test hitting one at Seyberts. The P3 butt, IMO, is not good. I really don't like it. I use the REVO shaft on a BLAK 3-3 butt and really like that set up. I have also used Scott Lee's shaft on several of my Samsara cues and REALLY like that set up.

So far the shaft seems well worth the money to me. Worth noting is that I am older not that good a player and mostly indifferent to cost if it is something I enjoy. So far, I really enjoy the shaft and find it a definite advantage.

It is my opinion that Predator paired the REVO shaft with crappy cue butts that they couldn't sell rather than offer the shaft by itself. The lack of choices with tip diameter and joints is more than annoying. The folks at Predator are going to do what makes them the most money, I understand that. But to say "not available" when I have physically held and used a shaft is a bit of an insult. What Predator is saying is 'not available to you'. IMO, that type of short sighted marketing is going to really bite them in the butt over the long haul.
 
GoldCrown said:
The boiling/Q tip sounds very reasonable.
Do you know of anyone that uses a steamer (with a pinpoint tip)
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Nope, don't know of anyone using that technique. My recollection is that we had a discussion about this on RSB many moons ago and someone offered it up as an alternative method.

I also now recall that one of those discussions led to the topic of superheated water. I didn't believe it at the time but someone mentioned that if you microwave water in the right container it is possible for it to get so hot that, while looking nice and calm, it can explode on you. Reputedly, people have suffered severe burns. I became a much firmer believer when I actually had this happen to me once when I went to dip the Q-tip. So if you go with the Q-tip be careful.

Lou Figueroa
 
lfigueroa said:
Nope, don't know of anyone using that technique. My recollection is that we had a discussion about this on RSB many moons ago and someone offered it up as an alternative method.

I also now recall that one of those discussions led to the topic of superheated water. I didn't believe it at the time but someone mentioned that if you microwave water in the right container it is possible for it to get so hot that, while looking nice and calm, it can explode on you. Reputedly, people have suffered severe burns. I became a much firmer believer when I actually had this happen to me once when I went to dip the Q-tip. So if you go with the Q-tip be careful.

Lou Figueroa
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Interesting thanks for the head up. always careful on this end. I'm ugly enough.
 
Tramp Steamer said:
Would you consider my review worthy? You would? Okay, here it is.
The cue stinks. It's uglier than a mud fence. It looks like who did it, what for, don't do it no more. That is one butt you don't want to wrap your hand around. I've seen better looking butts in an ash tray.
Need I go on? :D
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Since I own the cue, I don't need anyones review. I'm able to review for myself. I could care less what anyone else thinks of the cue or shaft, I like it and play my best pool with it.
 
cleary said:
Since I own the cue, I don't need anyones review. I'm able to review for myself. I could care less what anyone else thinks of the cue or shaft, I like it and play my best pool with it.
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You're right on track. I'm enjoying mine.
 
I know that practically nobody here knows me so I understand if you think I'm talking out of my ass. Just found the conversation interesting enough that I decided to chime in.

I bought a P3 Revo for fun, thinking at the very worst I'll be able to sell it without much trouble as there was sufficient enough interest in my area and not much by way of supply. I have always been interested in the idea of finding a more consistent and stable material to replace wooden shafts.

So I went in expecting the worst, but I wound up becoming a satisfied user and the cue is staying with me. Here's my $0.02; so yeah, for what it's worth...

Pros
  • – Consistency from one shaft to another (butt will change characteristics though), which means replacing a shaft doesn't require you to make massive adjustments in future. Caveat: I only had two to compare with so far.
  • – Very low deflection although that's also subject to the stiffness of the butt it's attached to. Actually, I think that's a vague and unhelpful description, but oh well, ain't got time to do all those experiments.
  • – Very easy to maintain, doesn't get sticky like the old Cuetec stuff. A quick wipe is all you need. No need to clean and buff etc.

Cons
  • – Cost. Most expensive shaft ever that happens to have a butt that comes with it. I still can't figure out how drunk I was when I bought it. It is relatively silly money.
  • – (Elephant in the room / #hardtruths alert) The supposed increase in low deflection is irrelevant if you are a consistent, decent player. Is it really worth to pay that much more when more often than not you can get more from practice and just a regular/314 shaft? #notgonnaopenthatcanofworms
  • – Unknown quantity. How long can this shaft last before it falls apart? Reviews are good only for that time period. It's like u see many raving reviews for XX brand of smartphone, but fast forward one year later and it acts like a turd. In my case, I willingly (some say stupidly) accepted the risk.

Other thoughts
  • – The slimmer flatter taper of the P3 Revo butt compensates for the stiffness of the shaft and makes it easier to play a larger variety of shots, especially those requiring finesse and a loose stroke. Stiffer, fatter butts tend to make the shaft play rather heavy-handedly due to its stiffness. The hit, though rather metallic, is generally rather satisfying. It's really down to preference, but I could understand why they re-tapered the P3 for this version. The shaft generally works well with the regular slim Predator butts too.
  • – The weight distribution of the shaft is unique and tends to make cues more front-weighted.
  • – Difference between a seasoned medium tip and a soft one is quite massive (IMHO) in terms of how the shaft behaves. Not quite sure which I prefer yet. If people don't quite like the soft tip, I recommend that you give the medium Victory (or anything similar) a try. Not too hard, though; the shaft is stiff enough. I can see why they went with a soft tip in the end, it helps balances out the stiffness of the shaft.
  • – It's so straight it's ridiculous. Although not the right way to measure straightness, just try rolling it on the table anyway; it's quite a mindf**k. How long will it stay like this?

I love the shaft, despite the overwhelmingly diminishing marginal returns. And the reality is, it's not really going to improve my play by any significant measure. Let's not kid ourselves, practice matters more at the end of the day.

Do I think it's better than a wooden shaft? Depends on your definition of better. Nothing will replace the hit and feel of a quality maple shaft, period. But that's not my priority when I'm looking for a cue for serious play. It so happens that a low deflection shaft suits the way I set up my shots, that's all. I would still plonk down good money for a well-crafted 'traditional' cue; ultimately it's about what you want out of your purchase.

Is it something I would recommend? Not at this price. Unless you're prepared (and don't mind) to pay over the odds, to begin with.

I think I'm more fascinated by its potential (rather than the actual shaft) and hoping this could be a watershed moment, much like when graphite tennis rackets became de facto. But at these prices, I doubt it will happen anytime soon. Unless copycats can do a reasonably priced alternative that performs competently. If not, our collective mindset towards these shafts will not change. Why pay more when you don't believe in the benefits?
 
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