Okay so I'm sorta new to pool as in I'm 15 and we just got a new 8' table a week ago, but I've been sorta good at pool for awhile. I'm at the level where my breaks almost always sink at least a ball or two, I can use English, draw, and follow accurately, I'm getting good at setting up my next shot, and I can usually run at least 1/2 a nine ball rack on average. Right now I'm just using the plain old cues that we got with the table, and I find I'm best when I'm using the lightest one, which is 18 oz. This is the cue I'm hoping to get for myself after Christmas: http://www.ozonebilliards.com/mccuem1.html. I really like the look, simple with the maple inlays on the butt. From what I've heard Mcdermott and Viking are apparently the way to go. I have two uncles that are very good pool players (one was I believe top 5 or 10 in the state at one time, both are one reason I am already a decent player; one uses a Viking, and the other uses a Szamboti), my one uncle was over on thursday for thanksgiving, we were shooting pool and he was saying viking and mcd are both great, as well as lucasi, but don't want to go that route b/c of the stories I've heard of the wraps and other things being cheap and coming off, plus mcd has free lifetime warranty and maintenance. Seems like $270 is a good price for a g core shaft mcd with a hard case.Anyone else have a mcdermott? The other thing I wanted to ask about is the tip. I've heard everests are really good, but I want to know: Is it really worth the 20 bucks to upgrade to a sniper, or should I just get the cue w/ the standard everest tip and spend 6 bucks on a cue cube instead? I'm pretty sure I won't be breaking with the cue, but if I get a mushroom, would a cue cube be able to shape it out? I already removed a mushroom from my usual 18 oz. with sandpaper, but it was pretty hard to do accurately. I'm thinking not sniper, if I get just the cue and a tool, it's like 265 and free shipping with a coupon code I found, seems like a pretty good buy to me. Thanks, I appreciate any advice you all can give me.