The Ultimate Cue Ball Comparison

cue balls it's been a debated and somewhat mysterious topic for a while now specifically how do the handful of different cues that you encounter out while playing matches measure up and perform on the table players almost always have an opinion about why various cue balls behave as they do and interestingly these opinions often conflict so that leaves us with the following questions are they really any different what are those differences and how do they affect your game on the pool table this is the seeking gravity cue ball comparison we had the cast play each ball back to back providing immediate contrasting feedback along with their thoughts on what differences they thought they were able to detect second to determine what cue ball each player preferred and lastly we'll measure each ball and provide the true numbers because we know that's what everyone's looking for will these numbers correlate with the player impressions we'll find out the cue ball lineup is as follows we played both a black and red arimath measles ball because you know we had them we played an arimath super pro an arimath red circle a cyclops red dot a standard unmarked ball and then the classic fan favorite oversized coin op now the expectation of a quality product is that all of the object balls and cue ball weigh exactly the same or within one tenth of an ounce tolerance most sets weigh in at roughly six ounces if a cue ball weighs even the slightest more or less than the object balls the resulting path of the balls after contact will not behave as designed or expected as these variances increase so does the adverse collision behavior the basic testing included stop follow and draw shots along with cut shots that allow the cue ball to hit a number of cushions to judge how the ball traveled around the table now we all notice simply taking the time to play all the cue balls back to back allowed us to acquire a fine sense for the differences though there were some that stood out from the rest of the pack in terms of performance and behavior we were also surprised to discover how similar most cue balls actually did play alike based off of our plane evaluation we came up with what we consider are the characteristics to grade the cue balls on you may have your own judging criteria but we found this clear and defined characteristics to measure and thus form an opinion agility the ease to spin and move around the table we would consider a cue ball with high agility the tendency to feel a bit lighter and speedier around the table stand-up performers were the cyclops and the red circle we'll find out soon if the size or weight are a factor in this on the opposite end of the spectrum the oversized coin out performed like a bowling ball without measuring it was clear to see that it was both oversized and heavier than the other cue balls consistency the predictability of overall performance and precision simply the ball behaves and settles right where you imagined it would the consensus was that all aramis provided the most consistent and expected reaction the cyclops and red circle feel a bit lighter around the table and are a bit harder to predict how the spin will take it to its resting place on the table and finally cling how prone is chalk likely to stick to that cue ball after a strike the more chalk cling the more kicks and skids and other inaccuracies that are likely to occur widely known by most established players the cyclops cue ball really shines in its ability to withstand chalk cling all their balls required much more cleaning to keep pace with the cyclops this is where we should also point at that no matter what cue you're using you should take a moment to wipe the cue ball off between racks and any ball in hand situation to avoid any bad contacts between q and object ball now let's get to the player preferences when it came to the cast selecting a preferred ball all but one selected the arimth measles ball citing overall consistency and precision being the primary factor the fact that it has dots on the ball and provides instant feedback about spin applied was quoted as a bonus by all players as well while a couple players even felt the dots helped visual contrast when aiming for the next shot the other one player selected the red circle as their preferred ball stating it was the one that they are most used to playing therefore the most comfortable and dialed in with now we measured both size and weight with accurate digital tools we are charting these in order from lightest to heaviest with its size sitting right next to its weight remember it's quoted that most top performing balls are right at six ounces but as we found with measuring three different sets of object balls that number is more like 5.93 ideally cue ball should weigh exactly the same for the correct and consistent reaction lightest was the arimith red circle at 5.64 ounces and 2.21 inches it was easy to guess that this ball was the lightest being a quarter ounce lighter than the object balls it felt easier to flicker on the table next was the standard unbranded cue ball at 5.71 ounces and at 2.23 in size the standard non-branded cue ball was a surprisingly good overall performer all players hanging this one just under performance of the airmeth with it feeling just not quite as precise with contacts next we had cyclops at 5.86 and at 2.24 inches the cyclops is clearly made of a different resin recipe than all the others it's the only difference that you can see in the reaction but you can literally hear the difference when two balls collide it's been described as having a more elastic or dynamic play which we can all attest to next up was the super aramid pro at 5.90 ounces and at 2.24 inches aside from the red circle all of the arimath branded balls felt exactly the same across all metrics which leads us to the arimath measles ball at 5.93 ounces and at 2.24 inches in size also important to note both the red and the black measles measured exactly the same on all metrics and last and no surprise the oversized coin-op ball coming in at 6.74 ounces and 2.34 the oversize is nearly an entire ounce heavier than any other ball and well over an ounce heavier than the lightest ball in our lineup that's a 15 percent greater mass than the object balls it's also over a tenth of an inch larger than any other cue it's a clear behemoth that creates conditions that feel like you're playing a completely different game if there's one takeaway from this entire topic it is this practice with what you'll compete with for example if you prefer an arimath measles cue ball but the pool how you play at uses cyclops it'd be wise to invest in a cyclops q and spend time playing with it before a big match to get your game dialed in with those specific playing conditions also get out there and gain experience with the various cue balls it may sound like overkill and we kind of felt like that going in this experiment but after coming out the other end we were all grateful we took the time to do the exercise which grant us all an appreciable understanding of the differences no matter how slight and that is a seeking gravity cue ball comparison [Music] you

Channel: Seeking Gravity

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Keywords: billiards, training, cue ball, cue ball comparison, 9-ball, 8-ball, pool table, experiment, ball compairson, comparison, ball difference, Aramith, Cyclops, Red circle, Measles cue ball, Coin-op cue ball, Mud ball, Education, 9 ball pool, How to play pool, cyclop, pool ball, Nineball, English Billiards, Billiard, Lesson, Training, Tip, Tutorial, Billiards Training, Pool Training, Billiards Lesson, Pool Lesson, Billiards Advice, Pool Advice, Billiards Tutorial, Pool, Improve, Get Better

Id: y0TYxRriZvU

Length: 7min 36sec (456 seconds)

Published: Tue May 10 2022