Been hearing some scuttle that Cyclop as a brand is dead and Diamond will now be using Aramith balls. Apparently the Cyclop resin formula will only be used in Dynasphere balls. Anyone else hear anything?
I remember my first experience with the original Cyclop cue ball. We were using them for the first time in a major tournament in Vegas and the cue ball was rolling in a curved path as it slowed down. I pointed this out to the company rep who was there and he told me everything was okay (it was caused by table roll), when I could clearly see it wasn't. He implied that I was seeing things. After another day using these cue balls, they were finally replaced and the same rep said it was an isolated case of a bad set of cue balls and that wouldn't ever happen again.
I lost all faith in that company and those balls from that moment on and would never use them in any tournament I produced or directed. I personally have four sets of pool balls in my home that I alternate using and Cyclop is not one of them. Unlike Scott, I don't know anything about how they are made and I can only go by my personal experience. Anecdotal evidence is that they did solve the problem with the cue balls, but the other constant changes in appearance and design did nothing to cause me to want to use them again.
I agree Jay. If you don't know how to properly make the ball having a great resin formula won't help much. I think they did finally solve their issues but i'm just an old die-hard Aramith guy. I do like the new Predator(by Aramith) balls also.I remember my first experience with the original Cyclop cue ball. We were using them for the first time in a major tournament in Vegas and the cue ball was rolling in a curved path as it slowed down. I pointed this out to the company rep who was there and he told me everything was okay (it was caused by table roll), when I could clearly see it wasn't. He implied that I was seeing things. After another day using these cue balls, they were finally replaced and the same rep said it was an isolated case of a bad set of cue balls and that wouldn't ever happen again.
I lost all faith in that company and those balls from that moment on and would never use them in any tournament I produced or directed. I personally have four sets of pool balls in my home that I alternate using and Cyclop is not one of them. Unlike Scott, I don't know anything about how they are made and I can only go by my personal experience. Anecdotal evidence is that they did solve the problem with the cue balls, but the other constant changes in appearance and design did nothing to cause me to want to use them again.
Wow, all those threads, and all those posts. How does that crow taste? You know who you are!
XingBing is actually the maker of both Cyclop and the Dynasphere balls. It looks like Cyclop is going away and the outfit in Belgium that owns Dynasphere will have the rights to sell balls using their resin process. That Belgian outfit is part of Loontjens Billiards and they've been around forever. They own Gabriels tables, Molinari cues and now Dynasphere balls. https://www.loontjens.com/en/service/about/Guess I will have to speak up. Impulse buy a few weeks or a month back, I bought a set of the Dynasphere Tungsten balls. Cheapest they offer but they claim a high quality resin just like the other Dynasphere balls which range up to $350-$400 dollars. This set off of e-bay was about fifty-five dollars plus tax, free shipping which of course is included in the price.
I have played over a hundred racks with these balls and dropped a few of them on moderately rough concrete. Not a mark on them from bouncing on concrete which I find amazing. They roll true and react like they should to collisions with each other and the cushions. The one fault, with poor lighting and my old eyes I'm not crazy about some of the colors. Hard to see edges in low light. A total of eight balls are different than what we consider standard colors now. The brown seven ball does seem like an old friend though. Gray balls, WTF?
These balls are made in china with oversight from Belgium. I was under the impression they were from Belgium when I bought them. I would happily knock chinese balls if I could. However, judging by this one set, they do seem to be high quality phenolic and a great deal. I was planning to buy the gold or platinum set after trying this cheap set but I can't see any reason to. These balls do everything I want for home use and are better than what I play with at local halls and bars.
No knowledge of if the DynaSphere and Cyclop balls are related except in this thread but I can't fault DynaSphere balls with my very limited experience with one set of the cheapest line. I would prefer gambling any amount with this set compared to any "set" at the best hall around here. I have noticed between customers careless with balls, balls mixed when cleaning, and replacing balls that disappear, that the "sets" of balls at the hall where some matches have been played with $100,000 in the middle, aren't sets at all anymore!
Let your political beliefs decide if you want to support china, and be warned about the colors. However, I have to think that claims of filler and unbalanced balls from DynaSphere are likely to be BS. Certainly no indication of that in this cheap set.
Hu
I don't care what SF says.
I have owned three sets of Cyclop and they all played perfectly AND stayed way cleaner during the course of play than Aramiths. Now he's telling horror stories and coincidentally selling Aramiths, lol.
I'm not saying every set that came out of China was perfect but I've watched and played *plenty* of matches at my home room and at the DCC and still believe Cyclop are a great set of balls.
Lou Figueroa
not selling anythin'
Agree. The cyclop skittles set I had for several years was the best set of balls I've ever used. I "upgraded" to centennials and hated them. I quickly replaced them with the Dynasphere tungstens I got a couple of months ago, and the tungstens are every bit as good as, or better than, the cyclop balls I had before. They aren't the prettiest set around, but they play top notch and stay super clean. Been using them a few months now, maybe 80 hours of table time with them, and I can't remember a single skid... something that was a daily occurrence at least with the centennials.
Haters are going to hate, but you can't fault the quality.
All you Cyclop guys should be happy. The formulation will still be around and the balls you now own are collectors items. Sounds like a win-win to me.Looks like you won't be getting Dyna's with Diamond tables tho.