I put a short post up about the X-Breaker before trying to be a little funny. Suggesting some changes that would make it ugly and more expensive, insinuating that I didn't want them to sell because I don't want to have to compete against it. Didn't get as many laughs as I thought I might.
In this thread I'll tell what I really think about the X-Breaker and why it is now the third stick in my 3X5 case. I saw this 3x5 case and just loved it but for the last year I've been wondering what I was going to do with the 3rd hole.
I'll start by making a comparison to what I remember of another post about the X-Breaker. On breaking I remember someone saying in a post that the hit felt softer than phenolic tip. I don't know about that. Maybe a little bit, but this stick hits the rack hard, that is for sure. When I first got it I noticed right away that it was blistering the rack. When I hit it right I was getting great spreads and making balls. I also notice that when I miss hit the break there was less tendency of the cue ball flying off the table. Don't ask me why, I don't know what could do that but I have a tendency to have the cue ball go airborne now and again and I think I've only had that happen once since I'm using the X-Breaker. I eventually took a little off my break though. Control has to be maintained.
The Tip - I'm bewildered about this tip. How can a tip this hard hold the chalk like it does? I've had a phenolic break/jump stick for a long time. It seems like I was always hoping that I had enough chalk on it because it didn't seem to hold the chalk. So every so often I'd get out a little piece of sand paper and rough it up slightly. That doesn't happen with the X-Breaker. The chalk just seems to adhere to it and you can see it. There is no doubt in your mind that the tip is covered. I've used it enough now to be able to say that after a lot of use the tip still holds the chalk and doesn't need roughed up. I told Richard he might emphasize this more as a selling point. Zero tip maintenance. Imagine a stick with a tip that you never have to fiddle with. If he ever makes a regular playing tip like this he won't be able to keep it on the shelf.
Jumping - I've always had to be very careful that I didn't try to jump when the cue ball and the ball that I'd be going over were not to close together. My measure was two balls. If there wasn't two balls width between them I had to figure out something else to do. Not any more. With the X-Breaker I can now jump with only one balls width between them. If there was no other thing, this would make it worth having.
Now you will find out that this is a very honest review. There is a down side here. I gave a hint of it in the second paragraph when I said "third stick in my 3X5 case". On my jumping I'm just not as accurate. It is not the stick, it is me. I talked about the stick holding chalk so well above. When jumping with the X-Breaker the shot seems to pick up any, no matter how small, flaw in stoke. Resulting in spin that can masse the cue ball off line a little after the landing. But without this extra grip I can't jump when the balls are so close. Thus me saying third stick in my case. At this point, until I get better at the jump stoke to the point that I don't get this unwanted spin sometimes, I'll be using my old jump cue if the balls are far enough apart. This is also the reason I said above that I had to take a little off the break. Even though I'm taking some off I'm still getting a better break with this stick.
Again this down side that I'm talking about isn't the sticks fault, it's me. I think having it show me this will help me improve as well.
All in all, this is a GREAT pool stick. Enough better than what I had that I feel it was well worth the extra money. I got the maple without the wrap, very nice looking also.
In this thread I'll tell what I really think about the X-Breaker and why it is now the third stick in my 3X5 case. I saw this 3x5 case and just loved it but for the last year I've been wondering what I was going to do with the 3rd hole.
I'll start by making a comparison to what I remember of another post about the X-Breaker. On breaking I remember someone saying in a post that the hit felt softer than phenolic tip. I don't know about that. Maybe a little bit, but this stick hits the rack hard, that is for sure. When I first got it I noticed right away that it was blistering the rack. When I hit it right I was getting great spreads and making balls. I also notice that when I miss hit the break there was less tendency of the cue ball flying off the table. Don't ask me why, I don't know what could do that but I have a tendency to have the cue ball go airborne now and again and I think I've only had that happen once since I'm using the X-Breaker. I eventually took a little off my break though. Control has to be maintained.
The Tip - I'm bewildered about this tip. How can a tip this hard hold the chalk like it does? I've had a phenolic break/jump stick for a long time. It seems like I was always hoping that I had enough chalk on it because it didn't seem to hold the chalk. So every so often I'd get out a little piece of sand paper and rough it up slightly. That doesn't happen with the X-Breaker. The chalk just seems to adhere to it and you can see it. There is no doubt in your mind that the tip is covered. I've used it enough now to be able to say that after a lot of use the tip still holds the chalk and doesn't need roughed up. I told Richard he might emphasize this more as a selling point. Zero tip maintenance. Imagine a stick with a tip that you never have to fiddle with. If he ever makes a regular playing tip like this he won't be able to keep it on the shelf.
Jumping - I've always had to be very careful that I didn't try to jump when the cue ball and the ball that I'd be going over were not to close together. My measure was two balls. If there wasn't two balls width between them I had to figure out something else to do. Not any more. With the X-Breaker I can now jump with only one balls width between them. If there was no other thing, this would make it worth having.
Now you will find out that this is a very honest review. There is a down side here. I gave a hint of it in the second paragraph when I said "third stick in my 3X5 case". On my jumping I'm just not as accurate. It is not the stick, it is me. I talked about the stick holding chalk so well above. When jumping with the X-Breaker the shot seems to pick up any, no matter how small, flaw in stoke. Resulting in spin that can masse the cue ball off line a little after the landing. But without this extra grip I can't jump when the balls are so close. Thus me saying third stick in my case. At this point, until I get better at the jump stoke to the point that I don't get this unwanted spin sometimes, I'll be using my old jump cue if the balls are far enough apart. This is also the reason I said above that I had to take a little off the break. Even though I'm taking some off I'm still getting a better break with this stick.
Again this down side that I'm talking about isn't the sticks fault, it's me. I think having it show me this will help me improve as well.
All in all, this is a GREAT pool stick. Enough better than what I had that I feel it was well worth the extra money. I got the maple without the wrap, very nice looking also.
