My only experience was with a very very early batch of 860HR. It was installed on a GC at my house in Vegas where there was always a top player or 3 and myself using it 7 days a week for around 12 hours a day(I wasn’t playing alll the time-but always someone there). Who ever was in town came to play. Way more hours than I could be there, there was pool going on at my house. Some players would stay a week or 2 or longer. Guys like SVB etc. real players I was the weakest guy 80% if the time
RKC put it on the table, I can’t recall if he got it or where it came from. We usually swapped the cloth out every couple months-long before anything was wore out. It wasn’t always tourney fresh but far from being needed to change. We always kept it fresh. We also changed tables every few months. Jay and had lots of inventory on the property so it wasn’t a big deal to switch tables. It was like a 1 table commercial install.
Ok back to the 860. When it came in I think it was on a GC, I’m 90% sure of that either a 4 or 5. Likely a 5.
RKC puts the cloth in and I remember Bobby Cotton LeBlanc and I were playing 5 days a week. It felt slightly rougher to us. But the balls rolled about the same. In Vegas the table is very very dry 90% of the time (something to consider). We were playing 1P or banks 90% of the time-mostly 1P then(another thing to consider-no jumps)
The first week it played similar to regular 860 which is what it replaced. I can’t recall who else was there at that time, but always someone was playing. No weak players or bangers. Top players. So it was being properly used.
I usually vacuumed and wiped down the cloth about every 3-4 days. It seemed a bit more coarse feeling and as advertised it didn’t show many marks on it. So I decided to start trying to mark it up a bit with jumps and a bit of intentional abuse which it took well-as advertised. It was more durable cloth.
After about 3-4 months of daily use it was still very new looking. So good stuff, it was more durable. I liked it.
We all thought it was a hair slower than regular green 860. Not the tourney blue 860. My HR wasn’t blue either. The blue cloth has always seemed a hair faster than the green to me. It also weighs less. Weigh a bolt of each and see (another can of worms I just opened lol).
So in summary to me the HR was a hair slower, nothing meaningful, and seemed to grab the CB a bit more. Now it was a very early batch, maybe that explains it. Maybe because it’s green and not blue.
Overall it’s great cloth and I don’t have a preference which I like to play on. If I was opening a room I’d use the HR as it did weak better for sure. And it plays very very good.
I’ll save the green vs blue argument for another day-when we need something else to discuss. And idk about gray lol.
Possibly subsequent batches of 860HR are different as mine was here very early and maybe it changed later on. I have some 25 year old 860 and it’s nothing like 860 is these days. Cloth has evolved over time. Which is another great topic of discussion
Yeah last year I flew about 120,000 miles. I’ve been every where in Europe, Middle East, Asia, and all over America this past year. Most I travelled in a year in my life. All is good
Fatboy road show 2025 continues
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Fatboy
