Why the hate for the price of some tips?

This may sound naive, but I support companies that sponsor players and tournaments no matter what the price. I play with Kamui tips, they work just fine for me and as for the price, I can see their patches on many of the players. I know there's some money in sponsorship thrown the players way, so it's my way of indirectly sponsoring the players. The price may be lower with other tips and they don't have the image of gimmicks or artificially inflated prices, but do they give to the sport?
 
Cardigan Kid said:
This may sound naive, but I support companies that sponsor players and tournaments no matter what the price. I play with Kamui tips, they work just fine for me and as for the price, I can see their patches on many of the players. I know there's some money in sponsorship thrown the players way, so it's my way of indirectly sponsoring the players. The price may be lower with other tips and they don't have the image of gimmicks or artificially inflated prices, but do they give to the sport?
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We have members here who give back to the community with money earned from sales of products. I would much rather support them than a corporate entity.
 
I used to have no problem paying $20.00 for a tip. But when I noticed that I liked the way my thin soft tip hit I decided to try a hard tip from the same manufacturer. I cant really say that I notice much difference between the soft and the hard. I know they were marked soft and hard before they went on my cue, so I'm sure its not a case of any tip laying around the shop getting thrown on my cue. I would like to try some Milk Duds, anyone know where I can get them?
 
The price and type of tip is irrelevant! The same goes for "which is the BEST cue" and "what is the BEST hitting cue"!

It is what YOU feel MOST comfortable with and what feels BEST for YOU! You spend whatever YOU feel gives you the BEST game. It may be all in your head, but it is what works for YOU.

I have shot with hundreds of cues from house cues to Szamboti's and NONE of them feel or play the SAME. Some are very simlilar, but not the SAME.

The same goes for tips. I've tried quite a few over the years and some I like a bit better than the other for some reason, but it all boils down to the COMPLETE cue for hit, feel, and control.

I am currently using a Milk Dud that came from an AZBer and it plays very well on the cue I'm using at the moment and I have no complaints.

My other cues have Triangles, Le Pros, Kamui Black SS, etc.
 
fastone371 said:
I used to have no problem paying $20.00 for a tip. But when I noticed that I liked the way my thin soft tip hit I decided to try a hard tip from the same manufacturer. I cant really say that I notice much difference between the soft and the hard. I know they were marked soft and hard before they went on my cue, so I'm sure its not a case of any tip laying around the shop getting thrown on my cue. I would like to try some Milk Duds, anyone know where I can get them?
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Contact pooldawg8 here on the forum. Jeff, is a pleasure to deal with and you will not be dissapointed.
 
fastone371 said:
I would like to try some Milk Duds, anyone know where I can get them?
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Get with pooldawg8 here on AZ. His name is Jeff and he makes great milk duds, which are also my favorite tip. His prices are ridiculous too (in a good way). I could get around 8-10 milk duds for what one Kamui tip costs, and the milk duds are really great tips. Ultraskins are good too, and I think they're a less-than-5 dollar tip as well.

EDIT: Whoopsies, this is why you don't take 5 minutes to click "Post". I'll just say "tap tap" for Allen Brown's post above me.
 
Txstang1 said:
because a triangle tip works great, I can do anything i want to do with that tip, so no need to spend $25. $10 installed.
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For most players, just any old tip will do......that's obvious from the posts on this thread and based upon my personal experience as well.
I think the same applies to pool cues, especially production made versus custom made cues & thus there's very little discernible difference to some Azers.

As far as price of a tip, if anyone ever owned their own business, and I have, then they would not be lamenting the price of some tips. Full absorbed,
allocated P&L expenses added to the cost of the actual product "significantly" changes the price of the item. Having said that, it's a matter of what tip
you think works best "for you" and how much you are prepared to spend? I think in terms of functionality, all tips do the exact same thing but in terms
of performance, durability and hardness range of the tips, then all tips are indeed different from one another.

Just find the one that works best for you and pay whatever it takes to get them on your cue shafts. Personally, it's Kamui Black Clear on two of my cues
(5 shafts) with soft and super-soft hardness ratings. My other cues have Kamui Black (medium) tips and I intend to change these to Kamui Black Clear eventually.

Matt
 
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Bavafongoul said:
For most players, just any old tip will do......that's obvious from the posts on this thread and based upon my personal experience as well.
I think the same applies to pool cues, especially production made versus custom made cues & thus there's very little discernible difference to some Azers.

As far as price of a tip, if anyone ever owned their own business, and I have, then they would not be lamenting the price of some tips. Full absorbed,
allocated P&L expenses added to the cost of the actual product "significantly" changes the price of the item. Having said that, it's a matter of what tip
you think works best "for you" and how much you are prepared to spend? I think in terms of functionality, all tips do the exact same thing but in terms
of performance, durability and hardness range of the tips, then all tips are indeed different from one another.

Just find the one that works best for you and pay whatever it takes to get them on your cue shafts. Personally, it's Kamui Black Clear on two of my cues
(5 shafts) with soft and super-soft hardness ratings. My other cues have Kamui Black (medium) tips and I intend to change these to Kamui Black Clear eventually.

Matt
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Matt:

This is a great post. I agree, and would like to add something. It's entirely true that there is a need to recoup P&L expenses via sales of the product. It's one thing to recoup expenses, and it actually behooves companies to do this, otherwise, there's no way you can keep the lights on.

There is another thing that certain companies of late -- most notably Kamui -- are implementing. And that is "perceived value" of their product. It might be a bad comparison, but it's much like what the U.S. big-pharma companies are doing with their products. "We think the perceived value of Avastin is $5,000.00 per injection." (When the actual fully-absorbed P&L and R&D costs and a little sumthin'-sumthin' for profit don't nearly come close to that.)

The price of certain vendors' products -- like tips and chalk (e.g. Kamui) -- seem to be a "perceived value" type of thing, that goes beyond fully-absorbing P&L, R&D, etc. And this also seems to be why there's some consternation about the price of tips and chalk.

Thoughts?
-Sean
 
I use a 20 dollar tip for one reason.....lack of maintainence needed. Original shaping, break in period, one more shaping, then its good for a year or more. Dont even have to pick it. Doesnt glaze, doesn't mushroom, doesn't flatten. Holds chalk the same from beginning to end. Plays the same from beginning to end. HOW MUCH IS THAT WORTH TO YOU!
 
buckshotshoey said:
I use a 20 dollar tip for one reason.....lack of maintainence needed. Original shaping, break in period, one more shaping, then its good for a year or more. Dont even have to pick it. Doesnt glaze, doesn't mushroom, doesn't flatten. Holds chalk the same from beginning to end. Plays the same from beginning to end. HOW MUCH IS THAT WORTH TO YOU!
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I personally don't have any extraordinary problems with my tip glazing over. I use either the Triangles or the Tiger Emeralds, which, to be honest, I'm leaning more towards lately. But if it were a problem, what's it worth to me? It's worth this much ... :thumbup:
 
Dockter said:
Not to mention the big companies are using part of the money for future research costs to use on other projects and make their equipment better. I play with a Kumui and love it. I still can't justify spending the 25 dollars on a piece of chalk though. So to each their own.
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"Kamui Tips is a Japanese manufacturer of cue tips for billiards and pool. According to the company,[1] the tips are produced by founder Masato Hiraoka in his workshop in Hiroshima."

I'd like to know how big this "workshop" is and how much money is spent on "research"....i would guess pretty much zero. IMO of course.
 
i use a $20 tip and have used $3 tip..its all on what u like...but for a person to like the $20 tip over the $3 one and refuse to buy it because of the cost is ridiculous..really whats $20 compared to a $150-300 shaft or $1-4k custom cue?..and paying on avg. $5 table time at pool hall...but if you like the $3 over the $20 thats fine..its what u like..but to cry over the cost is crazy when it amounts to pennies or.less if u break it down to an.hourly use over the course of a year...but its all preference and they will charge what one is willing to pay..just my 2¢..
*my playing tip is G2 medium*

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2
 
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I can't honestly say I hate the price of ANY tip on the market. I've spent the money for Kamui and used them on my own cues.

However,I can't tell the difference between them and the Ultraskins,so I've been using them,and will continue to do so.

What doesn't work in my area is spending the money to keep Kamuis in stock.

At the price Kamui charges unless you get a volume discount,I'd have to charge 35.00,maybe even 40.00 to make an profit on the tip itself,while still paying for my consumable supplies and time. Unlike some,that also includes impeccable shaft cleaning and detailing.

Out of 100 people or so I've managed to develop as repeat customers,how many of them do you think will pay even 35.00 for a tip/shaft cleaning?

At last count,I had exactly 2. One of those started buying the Kamuis himself,and at a greatly reduced rate because he's a longtime customer,has them installed that way.

Back when Moori first became available,I bought 5 of them at 25.00 because there wasn't a bulk discount.

I thought I was giving people a hell of a deal pricing them at 35.00 installed with the premium shaft treatment I've always offered.

I wound up using all of them on my own cues,because I had ZERO takers. Tommy D.
 
lost said:
"Kamui Tips is a Japanese manufacturer of cue tips for billiards and pool. According to the company,[1] the tips are produced by founder Masato Hiraoka in his workshop in Hiroshima."

I'd like to know how big this "workshop" is and how much money is spent on "research"....i would guess pretty much zero. IMO of course.
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My mistake. I've never researched them, I had a local guy tell me to try this tip then I see their advertisement all over. I just assumed it was a larger operation. Either way I prefer the Kumui that I'm using right now. The last one I had glazed over a bit early for my taste but the one I'm currently using seems to be holding up much better. That being said I can't wait to give the Ki-Techs a try.
 
I don't think many are haters of the price of $40 tips. I think that a lot of players that have been around the block a few times get pissed at the companies and people saying the more expensive ($30-$50 INSTALLED) layered tips are BETTER THAN THE SINGLE...they are not. Some members try to save new players some money on here. I have stopped doing this, because most don't/won't listen. Too much peer pressure to be seen with a $0.35 Triange, LePro, Elkmaster, or other single layered that is 10 times cheaper on thier cue. Johnnyt
 
I never got mad at the price... I got mad at the bait and switch... buy a soft and it's a medium in a month... Now I gotta buy another soft? Or keep playing because hey the tip is still on the cue doesn't matter it wasn't what I bought.. Gott get my money's worth out of it....... Pass.....
 
Sean posed a great point about "perceived value".

Everyone of us knows that this game we play starts between the ears before our bridge hand touches the cloth.

So if you think that something is overpriced & overstated in terms of worth or value for your pool game, you're absolutely right.
And when you believe that having a certain cue weight, ferrule type, or cue tip brand helps you play better, you're right once again.

It's that thing that Henry Ford said...... "When a man believes he can do something or can't do something, he's right on both occasions."

Pool is played between the ears before you ever stroke the cue ball........and perceived value falls right in line with that notion.

Matt
 
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