Viper Desperado 58-Inch Freedom Billiard Cue

The product itself is great. However, it arrived with multiple large stickers placed over the carvings. Removing the stickers was a tedious and painstaking process.

Beautifully engraved. Good weight and balance.Removable shaper bottom

This is a nice stick for the money. My first stick was fiberglass and just didn't seem to play right as I tried to improve my game. I selected the 19 oz. model which is lighter than my old stick hoping to help me not hit the cue ball so hard all the time. Although not a performance issue everybody likes the looks of the stick. Some may think the stick is off balance because the top end is light.

Good if u play once a week!

Most of us get a pool table, it comes with a set of (what we think are decent) pool cues and never think about it again.But some of us learn that - like everything in life it seems - there is a rabbit hole you can go down... a rabbit hole with different quality pool cues at different price points from $20 to some that rival the price of your initial investment in the pool table itself!I have two different Viper pool cues. This is the more expensive of the two, and yes... it is the better cue. But is it 3x better? I'm not so sure.This cue is straighter than the less expensive one that I own. It isn't PERFECT, but on a granite counter top, rolling it, it is VERY, VERY, GOOD. I'd say less than 1/8th of an inch off of perfect, maybe even 1/16th. It is good.So what isn't good?Well, it is made in China and if you have ever dealt with Chinese manufacturing, you learn that there are pitfalls that must be avoided. Some of those pitfalls weren't avoided in the manufacturing of this cue. I have a feeling that some people will get PERFECT cues, and some people will get VERY GOOD cues. I got a very good cue.Most of the flaws I have are cosmetic. They don't affect the game, but at this price point, you shouldn't have cosmetic flaws either. I'll start with my opinion... Subjectively, the cue is a little gaudy. Not terribly so. Not cheap. But it makes the cue look cheaper than it actually is - IMHO. In fact, if you wanted to call this a SLEEPER cue, you could make a case for that... if you are a shark and want to make people think you are playing with a cheaper cue than you actually are using - this might be for you!Also, it has some gimmicks that I don't really think add to the cue at all. The scuff tool that comes off the back of the cue feels like a gimmick and seems like a potential problem. It could come off and get lost. It doesn't screw on, it just presses in. And when you take it out, you see the innards and where they hogged it out to (I assume) get the weight dialed in to 19 oz. I did not weigh this to see how accurate it was on weight. It feels good though.Probably my biggest beef is the handle. They have an insert of some kind, or maybe it is a finishing difference, but it kind of looks like theywound black electrical tape around the handle. It looks fairly good - EXCEPT the quality control is spotty. There are parts where the finish is not as opaque as others. Nothing seriously noticeable to the casual view - but at this price point I would expect a little more attention to detail.Let's be honest though, you are gonna use your cue and scratch and scuff it up, so this doesn't matter much. But it is just mildly annoying on an expensive cue. And I am being VERY PICKY here. If I were just reviewing it for performance, this is an excellent, very good cue. But when you start to get up in price, you expect other details too.So what makes this a four (or 4.5 star) review? This is a well made, straight, smooth, tight cue. It performs very, very well. The bottom of the shaft is not coated in the glossy urethane or lacquer covering that the handle and top part of the shaft are coated with. The lower shaft is not glossy and it glides beautifully across your hand and there is honestly NO NEED FOR POWDER on your hand. It is perfect. This is true of the less expensive model of Viper that I have as well.The two piece design lets you easily unscrew and break the pool cue down to carry it with you to play pool somewhere besides your home. Unfortunately, that reminds me of another flaw in the cue as well. It is packaged terribly. It comes in an absurdly large box, with virtually no protection other than a plastic bag separating the two halves and keeping them from getting scratched. But they can bang and bash in transit. It seems wrong to pay that much for a cue and have it arrive, banging and clunking around in an oversized cardboard box. For a cue this expensive, I was expecting a "guitar case" style carrier with a plush, padded inside for the cue. This is not a luxury experience. The unboxing video would be underwhelming.Also, the cue arrives with annoying, hard to remove stickers stating that it is made in china and the bar code is on the cue. I had to use goo gone to remove them. Not the end of the world, but mildly annoying.It is hard to decide whether to give this cue four or five stars, but in the end - price does make a difference to how you decide if something is a good buy or not and this cue is a great cue, but it is expensive and for the price, it should be nicer. It should come in a nice case, and it shouldn't be sent to you in a non-protective package that makes you feel like the manufacturer wasn't very proud of their product based on how they were willing to send it to you.If you get this, you'll probably like it and keep it. But you won't have a case, and you may or may not get a great copy or an ok copy depending on the luck of the draw. It feels like there is probably some variance in quality control. So I ended up choosing four stars, it's a really, really good cue. But there are probably cues out there that deserve five stars and I think four stars is fair for this stick...

About eight months ago, I was offered a free 19oz Viper Desperado 58-Inch Freedom Billiard Cue for review via the Amazon Vine Program, and I accepted.I've been playing pool off and on for around 25 years, usually for leisure but sometimes competitively. I've won a few local 9-ball tournaments in my time. Nothing major though... luck. I have a nice, midrange McDermott cue I purchased many years ago...I think it's an "E" series, from the early 1990's. Possibly an E-B10 in red, but I'm not sure. That cue worked well then and it still works well now. I don't play as often now as I did when I purchased that McDermott, but I still thought this Viper Desperado would be cool to try.The finish is really nice on this cue. The butt is nicely carved, probably by a computer controlled machine, but regardless, the carving is really nice. There is a large, attractive, recessed starbust pattern of sorts above the wrap and an eagle head just below it. Aside from the carving, the wood was clearly finely finished prior to the varnish. The varnish was also applied extremely well as it is perfectly smooth and bubble free. It's like glass. The leather wrap is nice, though I prefer the feel of the string wrap of my McDermott. I really like the scuffer on the bumper, though - that's nice to have. The shaft is was also expertly finished and mine is perfectly smooth and feels good when shooting. The weight is good. The balance is good. My tip is okay. My cue arrived perfectly straight.One of the things I like about this Viper Desperado as compared with my old McDermott, is that it has a not just a metal pin at the joint, but also a metal joint collar (the receiver for the pin). My old McDermott has a metal pin, of course, but the joint collar is wood. Expertly finished hardwood mind you, but still wood. The metal joint collar on the Viper Desperado will help ensure that joint stays tight and true for many years.Overall, I like this Viper Desperado cue. I find it to be attractive and highly functional. It was a great addition to my McDermott. Just wish Amazon didn't put a large inventory sticker over the carving. That was tough to remove!

Absolutely horrible initial quality! The stick came in a OPENED plastic bag without any kind of wrap protecting it. The leather grip was all scratched. The bottom piece was worn and dented.