Who REALLY makes the best cloth??

TAP

TAP

"Banks are Always Open!"
Silver Member
Hi guys-I have been a player for about thirty-five (active) years, and have played the majority of my games on Simonis. A few years back I bought a nine foot Olhausen table, and had it covered with Champion "Touring Pro". I found this cloth to be faster than Simonis 860, and actually held up better than Simonis. When I finally recovered my table, I wanted to change to the "Electric Blue", and Champion's color was just not the right blue, so I went back to Simonis. I have enjoyed my Simonis, but still wish it were faster overall. Now I am hearing about "Milliken Cloth". I have had no info whatsoever about this cloth. Can I please get some input from others who know? Who REALLY makes the best $ for $ cloth??
Thanks.
Modesto, CA.
 
Simonis

TAP said:
Hi guys-I have been a player for about thirty-five (active) years, and have played the majority of my games on Simonis. A few years back I bought a nine foot Olhausen table, and had it covered with Champion "Touring Pro". I found this cloth to be faster than Simonis 860, and actually held up better than Simonis. When I finally recovered my table, I wanted to change to the "Electric Blue", and Champion's color was just not the right blue, so I went back to Simonis. I have enjoyed my Simonis, but still wish it were faster overall. Now I am hearing about "Milliken Cloth". I have had no info whatsoever about this cloth. Can I please get some input from others who know? Who REALLY makes the best $ for $ cloth??
Thanks.
Modesto, CA.
Click to expand...

Stretching the cloth properly makes a world of difference!! You could try 760.

Ray
 
TAP said:
Hi guys-I have been a player for about thirty-five (active) years, and have played the majority of my games on Simonis. A few years back I bought a nine foot Olhausen table, and had it covered with Champion "Touring Pro". I found this cloth to be faster than Simonis 860, and actually held up better than Simonis. When I finally recovered my table, I wanted to change to the "Electric Blue", and Champion's color was just not the right blue, so I went back to Simonis. I have enjoyed my Simonis, but still wish it were faster overall. Now I am hearing about "Milliken Cloth". I have had no info whatsoever about this cloth. Can I please get some input from others who know? Who REALLY makes the best $ for $ cloth??
Thanks.
Modesto, CA.
Click to expand...

I found just the opposite to be true, I own a pool room and no cloth has held up better than Simonis. I have tried both types side by side, and the Championship cloth wore out much faster and as far as speed I did not see that the Championship was faster all. I recover my tables every year, and in my opinion Simonis is the only way to go for commercial use, and I would not recommend anything for home use either.

Take care
 
You want faster then 860 - Take your pick of these top shelf cloths -
Simonis 760
Granito T2000
Simonis 860HR
Championship 3030 Tour Edition
Simonis 300 (faster then all the above)

Here we go with another of these "whats best threads".
 
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Championship wears out MUCH quicker than Simonis.... A pool hall I used to play at used this cloth and after a few months it looks like it needs to be replaced, and is WAY too fast.... Just my worthless opinion, though...
 
Dartman said:
You want faster then 860 - Take your pick of these top shelf cloths -
Simonis 760
Granito T2000
Simonis 860HR
Championship 3030 Tour Edition
Simonis 300 (faster then all the above)

Here we go with another of these "whats best threads".
Click to expand...


I have not heard of this one before. must be like silk.
 
Bigtruck said:
Stretching the cloth properly makes a world of difference!! You could try 760.

Ray
Click to expand...


agreed... these types of questions are going to get you a bunch of different preferences, my preference is Simonis. Not all people like the same speed either.
 
I have always preferred Simonis since I first played on it many years ago. Any cloth will play great if it's installed right. RKC's gluing method is the best I have seen. And I get to see it every day on my table. The cloth will not move and this table plays tighter now that it did when the table was first setup.
 
PROG8R said:
I have not heard of this one before. must be like silk.
Click to expand...

This cloth is made foir 3-Cushion Billiards, and in my opinion it would be way to fast for standard pocket billiards. Granito, also makes a version of this cloth and it is marketed as Granito-M.

Take Care
 
manwon said:
I found just the opposite to be true, I own a pool room and no cloth has held up better than Simonis. I have tried both types side by side, and the Championship cloth wore out much faster and as far as speed I did not see that the Championship was faster all. I recover my tables every year, and in my opinion Simonis is the only way to go for commercial use, and I would not recommend anything for home use either.
Click to expand...

While I have no personal experience, there is a cloth called Z9 - mainly marketed in Germany. The manufacturer is Klaus Zobrekis. The cloth has been on the market for about three years. It is a little faster than Simonis 860, and it is reported to last much longer under heavy use. There are a lot of clubs in Germany who changed from Simonis to Z9 for its endurance.

http://www.z9billiardcloth.com/index.php

Klaus' mailaddress is klausZ9@Z9Billiardcloth.de

Best regards,

Detlev
 
I can't really answer the which cloth is better question. I can tell you this. The company that makes Milliken Cloth is Strachan in England. They have been making billiard cloth longer than Simonis. Milliken purchased this company years ago but it has remained unchanged in the way that they produce cloth with one exception. Having access to Milliken's testing labs they were able to develop pool cloth that last's up to 30% longer than all the other pool cloth brands in direct comparative testing.

Exactly how they are able to do this I don't know and I presume that this is something that they do not wish to share with their competitors. However this claim has been tested in the field and found to be fairly accurate.

While Milliken SuperPro is fairly new in the US market as a pool cloth it actually has been around for a long time. We at Sterling Gaming have been promoting it for several years exclusively in the USA and now it is catching on to the point that we are having stock shortages.

Many room owners and private table owners have switched to Milliken SuperPro and are very pleased with the results.

If you want something faster than Simonis 860 or 760 though then you need to look at the various carom cloths. We don't carry Milliken in that weight. I do agree with everyone who says that stretching makes a huge difference.
 
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Detlev Rackow said:
While I have no personal experience, there is a cloth called Z9 - mainly marketed in Germany. The manufacturer is Klaus Zobrekis. The cloth has been on the market for about three years. It is a little faster than Simonis 860, and it is reported to last much longer under heavy use. There are a lot of clubs in Germany who changed from Simonis to Z9 for its endurance.

http://www.z9billiardcloth.com/index.php

Klaus' mailaddress is klausZ9@Z9Billiardcloth.de

Best regards,

Detlev
Click to expand...

I play on the GB9 ball tour in U.K, the Z9 is used on the t.v tables on the tour..imo it is not faster than Simonis, i think it's alot slower...it lasts slightly longer but there isnt a great deal of durability difference in them.
 
I recently acquired an "International Billiards" bar box the pro gets here Monday morning to recover.... and I am going with


the Mercury ultra... and new rails....


2 reasons


#1

Durability....I play more pool than almost anyone i have ever met in person...I practiced on the same bar table for 2 years.... never even wore a line in the fabric......not even counting spilled drinks and band equipment


#2...
It"is the felt I will have to play on at the year end tourney..
 
My home table, 8 ft. Brunswick VIP, has been covered with Simonis 760 ever since it's first recovering, by Sailor, about 40 years ago. My son acquired a nice 9 ft. Brunswick GC about two years ago and it is covered with Simonis 860. They both play well but we both agree that we prefer the 760.

Dave Nelson
 
I really like Gorina Granito Basalt. I have it on my home table and a local pool hall owner has been using it at both of his pool halls because he thinks it wears better than 860 too.
 
It is silly to talk about cloth speed without considering the cushion rubber being used. The playability of a pool table is the combination of the cushion being used and the type of cloth being used. If you have slow cushions, then you are going to like faster cloth. If you have fast cushions the opposite is true.

Diamond Billiard Products for example uses Simonis 860 with Artemis Intercontinental 66 cushions (K55 profile) on their 9' tables. These two products match well for fast, true play and excellent stability and durability.
 
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