Who has tried these new tips ?
Taom vs zento
- Thread starter Creekrock00
- Start date
Haven't tried Zento, but I have tried Taom. Frankly, I don'tsee why this tip is so popular? I mean it's easy to shape and hold chalk ok, but it doesn't jump better than regular, cheap phenolic, I think it jumps worse and gives less power on the break. My J&J Jump break with a one piece phenolic tip/ferrule jumps better than my dedicated jump with a Taom and breaks better than my dedicated breaker with Taom. If you have a cue with a normal ferrule, do yourself a favour and try a cheap linen phenolic tip first, before shelling out money for a Taom. The Taom tip to me was a great disappointment, especially at the high price. I used it for a couple of weeks and then cut it off. Huge waste of money. If you want control, use hard leather, if you want power use phenolic. Taom does neither particularly well.
^ I must say that I disagree with the above.
I have tried phenolic, g10, SPC, Zento, Hammerhead, White Diamond, Samsara and Cell BK break tips on my break cue and Taom works the best for me. Has the power of phenolic with a more pleasant feel and a bit more control in my opinion.
Zento was the plain worst of the bunch, never liked it much performance wise and it chipped severely after a week of breaking with it :sorry:
For jumping I like the Cell BK the best, it jumps easier but has a similiar feel and grip to that of Taom.
Of course everyone will have their own opinion on what works the best as we can see here, even the cue you are going to use the tip on may play a part here
I had a Taom on a Revo shaft and I hated it, it just felt terrible. However I have a Taom on my Kai break cue now and I love it
I have tried phenolic, g10, SPC, Zento, Hammerhead, White Diamond, Samsara and Cell BK break tips on my break cue and Taom works the best for me. Has the power of phenolic with a more pleasant feel and a bit more control in my opinion.
Zento was the plain worst of the bunch, never liked it much performance wise and it chipped severely after a week of breaking with it :sorry:
For jumping I like the Cell BK the best, it jumps easier but has a similiar feel and grip to that of Taom.
Of course everyone will have their own opinion on what works the best as we can see here, even the cue you are going to use the tip on may play a part here
I had a Taom on a Revo shaft and I hated it, it just felt terrible. However I have a Taom on my Kai break cue now and I love it
^ I must say that I disagree with the above.
I have tried phenolic, g10, SPC, Zento, Hammerhead, White Diamond, Samsara and Cell BK break tips on my break cue and Taom works the best for me. Has the power of phenolic with a more pleasant feel and a bit more control in my opinion.
Zento was the plain worst of the bunch, never liked it much performance wise and it chipped severely after a week of breaking with it :sorry:
For jumping I like the Cell BK the best, it jumps easier but has a similiar feel and grip to that of Taom.
Of course everyone will have their own opinion on what works the best as we can see here, even the cue you are going to use the tip on may play a part here
I had a Taom on a Revo shaft and I hated it, it just felt terrible. However I have a Taom on my Kai break cue now and I love it
Lots of friends of mine use the Taom, and they were always talking about how great that tip is etc...I guess it depends on what you think is important. BTW when i say "phenolic" I mean the generic brown phenolic tips you buy for about 5 bucks on Ebay. Some of the one piece ferrule/tips will have similar qualities to those as well.
If you want maximum jump height with minimum effort, you need a hard phenolic tip. G10 is even better, but it can actually be too hard and damage your ball set, so I'd be careful about that material. . Both hard phenolic tips and G10 can have an unpleasant sound/feel, though. The Taom will not jump as easily as a normal brown phenolic tip, but will have a softer sound and feel.
The Taom does seem to hold chalk ok. However, it's not so much bettter than phenolic that it can justify the much higher cost. You still need to chalk every time, especially if you want to put action on the ball.
Putting spin on the ball, is something I do quite often on my jumpshots. I find that the Taom does not give much more spin and control than a normal phenolic tip. There may be a difference there, but not to a degree that I'd deem significant. I have a specially treated hard leather tip, that IMO outclasses both the Taom and regular phenolic tips in that regard.
When it comes to the break, the Taom is softer than most regular phenolic, so less energy is transmitted. That is a fact. Does that translate to more cueball control? Not in my experience. I use my one piece phenolic ferrule j&j for breaking now, and I much prefer that over the Taom (I had a close to identical cue changed to a ferrule/Taom combo and it was worse in every regard.
At best, the Taom is a compromise tip that doesn't excel in any particular area. All IMO, of course. I'd recommend it only to someone who wants some of the power of hard phenolic, but cant stand the feel or sound of that material. For maximum performance, I'd look elsewhere. Price probably isn't as important when you're talking about Jump/Break cues, since the tips tend to last. However, when something is roughly 5 times more expensive than the alternative, one should expect better performance, and I'm just not seing it. Keep in mind this is all subjective, as I havent' made measurements or scientific tests.
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^ I appreciate your extensive reply and your thoughts on different materials :smile: Refreshing to see some actual comparasion and reasoning instead of the usual back and forth online forum stuff 
I concur with the effects of G10 & similiar materials on the cue ball. That was the reason I started experimenting with different tips to find the solution that jumps well but doesn't damage the balls in normal use. From what I tested the synthetic tips like Taom, Zento and Cell BK were the best jump tips that did not damage the ball and that to me performed well enough. The mentioned Zento didn't hold up to breaking very well though. Regular phenolic works aswell, nothing wrong with it but I just can't get quite comfortable using them as the feel is just off for me and I find myself more worried for miscues even when I'm hitting the ball well and center as the sound of hit is not what I am hoping for. There also seems to be some differences between different phenolics and how they perform, for example I have some very coarse brown phenolic that feels a bit softer than usual tight woven phenolics and I like that material a lot, makes a great ferrule and works adequately on its own aswell, could even use it on my own j/b if I was in urgent need of a new tip
As for energy transfer I can't say for sure but I remember reading something about tip compression and the affect it has with energy transfer. I don't know and don't have the tools to study it much further so maybe Mr. Renfro or someone else more educated can chime in on what goes in to making a synthetic break tip?
All I know is that I can generate enough cue ball speed with any kind of tip, regardless of material. I break decent with my playing cue and the only reason I started to use a break cue for breaking hard was to save my playing tip and shaft from the abuse. Doing so has improved my break as the stiffer taper and rigid construction of a good break cue make me feel more confident and thus my break more consistent. A synthetic tip makes a nice addition as it has the sound and feel that I enjoy and require minimum maintenance to stay the same for a very long time :smile:
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, thankfully so so there is no right or wrong answers for questions like this. Just opinions and I am glad to see that we can share ours without insulting the other guys view and preferences :smile:
Play well with what ever works well for you
I concur with the effects of G10 & similiar materials on the cue ball. That was the reason I started experimenting with different tips to find the solution that jumps well but doesn't damage the balls in normal use. From what I tested the synthetic tips like Taom, Zento and Cell BK were the best jump tips that did not damage the ball and that to me performed well enough. The mentioned Zento didn't hold up to breaking very well though. Regular phenolic works aswell, nothing wrong with it but I just can't get quite comfortable using them as the feel is just off for me and I find myself more worried for miscues even when I'm hitting the ball well and center as the sound of hit is not what I am hoping for. There also seems to be some differences between different phenolics and how they perform, for example I have some very coarse brown phenolic that feels a bit softer than usual tight woven phenolics and I like that material a lot, makes a great ferrule and works adequately on its own aswell, could even use it on my own j/b if I was in urgent need of a new tip
As for energy transfer I can't say for sure but I remember reading something about tip compression and the affect it has with energy transfer. I don't know and don't have the tools to study it much further so maybe Mr. Renfro or someone else more educated can chime in on what goes in to making a synthetic break tip?
All I know is that I can generate enough cue ball speed with any kind of tip, regardless of material. I break decent with my playing cue and the only reason I started to use a break cue for breaking hard was to save my playing tip and shaft from the abuse. Doing so has improved my break as the stiffer taper and rigid construction of a good break cue make me feel more confident and thus my break more consistent. A synthetic tip makes a nice addition as it has the sound and feel that I enjoy and require minimum maintenance to stay the same for a very long time :smile:
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, thankfully so so there is no right or wrong answers for questions like this. Just opinions and I am glad to see that we can share ours without insulting the other guys view and preferences :smile:
Play well with what ever works well for you