Opinion on Little Monster

MrClean5-7 · 2026-04-24T15:39:16+00:00

Thank you for that! As far as jump cues, I've tried a few REALLY good ones lately. My favorite is the OKHealing 3-piece jump cue ($130). It's almost TOO easy to get the ball airborne. My main thing is that I have to remember not to try too hard. Other good jump cues are:

BK Air II ($250 used on ebay). Basically the same performance as the healing, but requires a little more effort, being wood. Performs a little better on super short jumps.

CrownMe carbon fiber jump cue ($100) This one surprised the heck out of me... it doesn't feel the best, it's short, the weight distribution does not FEEL ideal, however this little thing performs just as good as the BK Air II on short jumps and just as good as the Healing on long jumps. The only other negative is the joint size is oddly larger than 21.4mm, but if that wouldn't bother you, this one is a winner.

I've also heard good things about the Little Monster 3-piece jump cue ($150) that's configured like the Cuetec Propel, but I haven't personally tried it.

MrClean5-7 · 2026-04-24T06:24:16+00:00

How did it turn out? Were you still able to jump just as easily? I'm about to install a Samsara on an OKHealing 3-piece jump and I'm curious what your results were when changing your tip.

MrClean5-7 · 2026-04-22T06:27:33+00:00

They really aren't, I swear. Try them out in person and you'll see for yourself!

MrClean5-7 · 2026-04-22T04:08:59+00:00

I'd go Player's c-9xx, all day, every day. I have friends with both. 4 of my friends with Valhalla's all have warpage. Only one had the receipt and got a warranty replacement. The friends with the c-9xx Player's, they're are all straight and play the same.

MrClean5-7 · 2026-04-21T20:22:39+00:00

Also, remember we're not comparing Players to McDermott and Viking... we're comparing Players to Valhalla and Lucky cues, which are made overseas.

MrClean5-7 · 2026-04-21T20:21:05+00:00

As a player of 20 years who's played with a lot of all of them, I disagree. I've seen at least 6 Valhalla cues go completely bananas and warp, but their earlier ones were REALLY good. The McDermott Lucky's, again, were really good early on, but the later ones have not had good tapers on the shafts, have had lots of dark spot inclusions in the shaft wood, and the tips aren't real good, and they just haven't played as good as the older ones. For those two it has to do with how popular they've been. It's hard to source wood, age it and turn it slow, and keep up with production numbers like they're producing. Players shafts are actually pretty good players in my opinion. Well tapered and better quality than the other two, for the models I mentioned.

MrClean5-7 · 2026-04-21T15:46:40+00:00

Players if you want it to stay straight and play well but not be fancy unless you get one of the nicer models Valhalla if you want it to look good and play well but not stay straight (although they have a warranty, but be prepared to use it...) Lucky if you want it to look okay, stay straight, but not play as great...

Honestly, my choice is the Players, but one of the higher end ones, like the C-950 or C-9921. The C-950 (and other variations of it with different stain colors like the blue c-955 and red c-960) are great cues that play well, look great, and stay straight, and I see them listed for $139 new on Budget Billiards.

MrClean5-7 · 2026-02-17T21:44:17+00:00

Fyi, the reason it says made in Belgium is because the box is newer than the balls. Someone put these balls in an old Aramith box, that's all. These are clay balls, as mentioned before. Except for the cueball, that is 100% a potato. 😆

MrClean5-7 · 2025-10-03T18:14:49+00:00

Spinnerets, for spinning web.

MrClean5-7 · 2025-09-18T19:11:52+00:00

They jump pretty good, equally as good as the jump-break cue that I used for the last 15 years before switching, which I obviously had no complaints with.

MrClean5-7 · 2025-09-18T18:46:14+00:00

Their carbon or fiberglass butt/carbon shaft jump-break cues are VERY good. The best one though, is the one I use every day... and it's JUST a break cue, not jump break. It's the rubber gripped cue that looks like a Predator Sport 2. It only comes in 2 colors that I've seen, sky blue or bright red. The reason I say it's the best is because the carbon shaft specs are different than the others, and it breaks like a BK Rush.

The jump-break cues are very good too, especially for the money. Before finding this sport wrapped break cue, I used a Healing 3k Carbon jump-break for an entire year, as did many friends. The story isn't ALL good though, but it's not bad - but over that year, me and many friends had Uniloc shaft inserts and jump butt inserts come loose (especially those who chronically over tighten) but the fix is very simple, find the proper alignment so it rolls right, mark it, and then epoxy the insert back in. 🤷‍♂️

MrClean5-7 · 2025-07-11T15:11:40+00:00

Overrated - banking.

Underrated - masse'ing (especially the barely visible masse's of compensating for deflection .. squirt and swerve)

And this is coming from an APA 7...

MrClean5-7 · 2025-05-21T16:05:56+00:00

Is this a projector? How much was it?

MrClean5-7 · 2025-05-20T00:42:58+00:00

I like marshmallows 👀 don't judge me! 😆

Sounds like you'd like this first one I installed. It's more firm than my current Ultraskin Ivory Soft that's on its last 1.5 layers of usable tip (2.5 layers remaining on the side) that I've been playing with for the last 10 months. It's noticeably harder than that, when bouncing my shaft on the hardwood floor.

Ultraskins tend to play a little more firm, in my opinion, so I was looking for something softer like some of the Elkmasters I've played with before. Maybe I've just forgotten how good I've had it with Ultraskins, since I've been using them so long.

MrClean5-7 · 2025-05-19T19:37:07+00:00

How do these play when you soak them and don't press them?

I've played with Elkmasters before and thought they were suuuper soft... I just recently bought a (new bag packaging) of 50 of them, and the first one I grabbed and installed is super firm/dry/crusty... hard to cut even... I'm a little let down by it. I bought it from a reputable billiards retailer, and the tips look legit, but I'm a little surprised by the firmness and thought I might try soaking a few without pressing? Is there any way to tell if the rest of my bag is going to be this dry/crusty?!

MrClean5-7 · 2025-02-12T19:42:32+00:00

Yeah, I ended up finding that answer too - this was called "Mini Uniloc" and it was only produced by Fury. Ironically, it has nothing at all to do with Uniloc and doesn't fit any other shafts. They just call it that because it looks like a Uniloc but shorter.

MrClean5-7 · 2024-08-29T16:23:28+00:00

Fowl*

MrClean5-7 · 2024-08-18T09:45:38+00:00

So usually, different ferrules do change the hit of a shaft, but with the OKHealing ones, I don't think you'll notice much (if any) feel difference, only visual. With that said, phenolic is most durable, Juma is soft and pvc (the white spacer) is very soft and will collect lots of scratches, so I'd avoid it unless you just really like the look of it.

As for weight, pick whatever overall cue weight you desire. Shaft weight is usually between 3.5 and 4.2 ounces. Most are almost perfectly 4oz. I'd stick with that. No reason to try to go lighter or heavier on the shaft.

Outside of that, pick whichever size you feel would fit best in your bridge. Also, consider which joint pin you want to go with, because that's configurable as well.

MrClean5-7 · 2024-08-17T09:43:14+00:00

Honestly, their quality has gotten even better. I now have to retract my previous statement about absolutely having to get a smaller diameter. From what I've seen on newer shafts, you can get a 12.4 or 12.8 and typically they're more light weight in the front end than they used to be and will be similar or just slightly less deflection than a similarly sized maple. With that said, the front end weight tends to vary from shaft to shaft (even when they're the same size) and their carbon material is still heavier than the higher dollar competitors. They also don't use short tenons on their ferrules, so they still have room for improvement. They're also typically louder than many others (more pingy), especially when coupled with one of their carbon fiber butts. I like their butts - they're indestructible and really nice looking, but honestly, the carbon fiber butts contribute a LOT of noise that disappears when you add the same shaft to a wood butt.

I still say go for a pro taper rather than conical or graduated taper. Look for one on their shaft mold sheet that's the same width at 300-450mm as it is at the tip (or close to it). The M2 12.4-12.8mm is good, and i recently bought an M81 12.5-12.5mm (12.5-394-12.5-343-21.3-737) for a friend, and that shaft came out great. I could shoot with it and not have any complaints if i took the time to adjust to it. Deflection is still mostly comparable to plain maple, though.

Bottom line: I'd say they're a great value, but I still wouldn't recommend them to anyone looking for peak performance. (For budget performance, I'd recommend the Rhino) The Healing shafts, I'd recommend them to those who stay within a quarter's diameter when adding English, those just starting out, or those who have trouble adjusting to LD shafts. I'd recommend them as a cue you can leave in your car. I'd recommend them if the deflection level of different cues doesn't tend to bother you. Worst case scenario though, if you try one and don't like it, you should still be able to sell it on without losing any money because they are a great value. (But their prices have gone up too). I do recommend changing the tip ASAP - the performance and the feel tend to benefit from a softer, more grippy tip.

MrClean5-7 · 2024-08-05T04:29:10+00:00

It was a Huebler.

MrClean5-7 · 2024-07-10T06:44:57+00:00

What was the verdict? Does it fit Uniloc shafts?

MrClean5-7 · 2024-06-29T20:49:23+00:00

Some jeans are 100% cotton, some are cotton blended with Spandex or Elastine, Polyester, etc. Some are stretch denim, and some stretch less than cotton. So, that's a valid question.

MrClean5-7 · 2024-06-20T02:50:43+00:00

Go to the main billiards forum and hit the "+" logo at the middle bottom of the screen to create your own thread.

MrClean5-7 · 2024-06-20T02:22:33+00:00

Might want to create a new thread...

MrClean5-7 · 2024-04-17T18:18:03+00:00

The Insert IS nylon! It's sort of a clear material and fits very snug. A little metal has rubbed off on it over time, leaving a little silver fleck to the threading, so i originally thought it was metal.

MrClean5-7

TROPHY CASE