I am an amatuer player looking to get a decent table. I have been looking at the Tornado Cyclone II and the Shelti Pro & 400. The 400 had the black teflon coated rods and was priced about the same as the cyclone. Can someone give me some insight to these 3 tables and thoughts regarding each.
What should I know about these different table men?
IMO, the men on the Shelti are too wide. This makes blocking too easy, and shooting from goal especially hard. And it's a bit hard to get around the ball on pin shots. But the table is much grippier than Tornado, which helps ball control.
Overall a slight edge to Tornado, though if they narrowed the men I'd prefer the way the Shelti playes.
However, the Tornado table is what is used for tournaments; that's a major factor, and even if Shelti were slightly better I'd still go with Tornado so I could practice on the same table I play events on. Even if you don't play tournaments, it means if you find a table in a bar/hotel/whatever it'll be like yours, and also the resale value is higher on the Tornado.