First things first, I'm a very amateur player. I play casually in bars and spend a couple hours a week in a pool hall, either shooting by myself or with a partner or some friends. No leagues, no competitions. BUT when I get into a hobby, I get into it obsessively. Some of you might relate. Secondly, I ended up buying two models, partly because I liked the 03 so much, so this will inadvertantly be a partial review for both the Crical 03 (butt with blue crystals) and Pro01 (cursive Crical Pro logo) models. 1. This was my first "expensive" cue that I'd bought online, sight unseen. When it arrived, it arrived in a cardboard CRICAL labeled shipping box and a plastic sleeve. Small panic attack, but as it turns out, I had nothing to worry about. They must be confident about the durability of their cues. 2. My Crical 03 came out of the box at a 10 straightness. There's zero noise or wobble on a roll test, and watching the tip as the stick rolls doesn't reveal any obvious flaws. Even against a straightness checker, it passes with flying colors with no detectable wobble, even when placed at the joint of the cue, where it would show even the most minute wobbles. 3. The shaft is is described in the product description as "pro taper" and if you check the product images, the halfway point of the shaft widens to 13.5mm (i.e., +1mm vs the tip). I ended up buying the Pro model (Crical Pro embossed on the butt of the cue) to compare. I haven't been able to play with the Pro model yet, but there is a noticeable difference in the taper of the shafts, both visible and in the hand. The Crical Pro shaft has a "more" pro taper, with the halfway point matching the diameter of the tip. If you have medium to smaller hands like me, that might matter for you to perform closed bridges more reliably. 4. The design is beautiful, clearly designed to be classy and sleek, and the piano gloss remains unscuffed after a handful of drops and falls (I need to invest in a cue holder). It's the "suit and tie" cue, understated but sexy. The shaft has a laser-etched "crical" (yes, lowercase) on the shaft and a clearly carbon fiber outer shell. 5. The "rainbow" tip is more like layers of red and blue leather. It takes chalk fine, but seems to need more scuffing than, say, Tweeten (found on Valhalla by Viking cues). It took about a month of fairly consistent playing (average about 4-6 hours a week) before the tip started to mushroom visibly and catch my nail. Because Tweeten/Viking rate their own stock tips at a medium-hard, this might suggest that the stock tip on the Crical might be a medium. This might be a quality/quirk of the tip or the tip-ferrule combo (I'm not nearly good enough to even come close to telling you), but the Valhalla cue feels decisively more efficient at delivering strokes than the Crical. Less speed is required for more powerful strokes and breaks compared to the Crical. My friend who plays a Valhalla 200 series full time called the Crical 03 "tame" in comparison. 6. Compared to my own Valhalla VA221, it's definitely not as "talkative". There's much more feel, much more vibration and feedback in an all-maple cue compared to a carbon-maple combo. If you're someone who plays by feel, know that this is going to not give as much feedback as a traditional maple cue. It isn't "dead" feeling by any means, just more quiet. You can still clearly tell whether or not you've had a clean hit on the cue by feel and hearing. 7. I can't comment on ball control. Players who are better than me can comment on English. As far as I'm concerned how well it takes spin depends more on the skill of the player than the tip, and I don't have that kind of skill. Overall, dead pleased with it, and very happy that I now have two. Although, this might start a bad collection of "but what if I use this one for...?" cues. Or ones for experimenting on. Oops.
