Review of the Delta-13 Rack
The rack that came with the used table I bought was OK, but it was a little too small. The space behind the last row of balls and the bottom of the triangle was about ¼” and that made it far to difficult to remove the rack without hitting the balls and ruining the work. What I liked about it was that it was very thin, which made it great for straight pool. Also, the wood sides were very hard, apparently having a hard finish. It left the balls in perfect alignment, but it was annoying as heck to see that perfect rack go to waste as you bumped the balls removing the rack.
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| Delta-13 Regular |
I looked for a replacement. I decided against the thick wooden racks (different brands) used at the halls I frequent, because they all seem to have the same two problems. First, the wood gets banged up a little on the inside, leaving small depressions where the balls touch the wood. This makes the space for the balls just enough bigger so that they can’t be forced into contacting one another, no matter how you rearrange the balls or how hard you press them into the rack. Actually, pressing hard just exacerbates the problem, by enlarging the depressions in the wood.
The 2nd problem is that the depressions at the front of the rack sometime grab hold of the head ball enough so that when you slide the rack forward, the head ball is pulled away from the rack.
The Sardo rack is very highly touted, but I shied away from it because of mechanical complexity. I wanted something simple and reliable that would last forever. I figure that plastic always breaks sooner or later. I admit, I have no personal experience with the Sardo rack, nor have I heard anyone say they’ve had any particular problem with it. I just went with my gut and passed.
I bought a Delta 13. This simple, aluminum rack does an excellent job and I couldn’t be happier with the results I get from it. I get a perfect rack, first time, every time. The hard metal won’t ever get the depressions that cause problems with wooden racks, so I won’t be needing to replace it over the years. It has small lines in the middle of each side, along the top, so proper alignment is a snap.
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| Delta-13 Regular |
The only downside I experienced is that it’s loud. The noise the balls make when clanking into the rack is both louder and higher pitched than the softer, duller thud they make against a thick wooden rack. My table is in my finished garage (central heat & air) but the walls and floor are cement and that seem to accentuate the sound. Nonetheless, I’ve gotten used to it, and it was a minor problem to begin with. Sometimes when I rack for the first time of the day, especially if it’s the first time I’ve played in a few days, I’m surprised at how loud and harsh the sound is. Then when I slide the rack away from the balls and they’re perfect, I smile and all is right with the world.
I chose the standard Delta 13 instead of the Delta 13 Elite. The elite is beautiful, and made from 6 pieces rather than the one piece construction of the standard Delta 13. But it’s much more expensive, and I already thought I was spending too much. When I found out that I could get the sides of the Elite model engraved I was almost persuaded to get it instead, but then I learned that the engraving was going to cost $70, $40 for set-up and $10 per side. And I was so looking forward to seeing “Pool Student” engraved in my rack.
The rack comes in black, which is the one I got, blue, red, gold and green. If you go with engraving you have a choice of fonts and they’ll do logos too. Checking on the website to make sure nothing had changed since I bought mine, I now see that engraving is free for the 1st side and $5 for the other two. Logos are $25. I’m glad to see the price change, but it’s way too late for me.
I know there are 3rd parties selling strips to fit into the sides to deaden the noise, but I thought they were too expensive too. I can’t say whether they work, I didn’t try them.
Wrapping up, I really like my Delta-13 rack and I highly recommend it. It’s well worth the extra money compared to a good wood rack, and it should last as long as you do.
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6 Responses to “Review of the Delta-13 Rack”
Terry A. Taggart
- February 9th, 2010
Hello and thank you for the honest appraisal of our product.
Your story is becoming a familiar one, as players are tired of gimmicks and products that don’t last. More manufacturers need to become better listeners, developing products that work just as well 10 years from now.
The sound as the balls touch the aluminum rail is what we like to call “the sound of quality.” Like most technological advancements, it requires us to change our habits. Players that put the balls on the table first, then coral the balls with the rack, find this to be a quieter method vs. tossing the balls into the empty rack.
We offer a set of leather inserts that mount into the ergonomic grip on the exterior of the rails. The leather is mounted with two-way tape which can be removed at any time. You will be surprised to find that racking with our leather inserts is quieter than using a wooden rack.
Thanks again for your comments and best of success in your upcoming games.
ps. You have a talent for photography. I am impressed with your rack pictures.
g2
- February 10th, 2010
Delta-13 is my rack of choice by far! Great write up John on a GREAT product. Delta-13 was kind enough to provide the Predator 9-Ball Tour with racks for each stop and let me tell you, they are the talk of the tour! They give us the edge in class and when I’m playing in a room that doesn’t use them, I’m often grumbling under my breath something to the effect, “if I only had my Delta-13 rack, my back wouldn’t hurt so much trying to get these balls to freeze!” lol
Great product, great business, great read! Thanks for sharing!
John Biddle
- February 10th, 2010
@Terry: It’s great to hear from you. Your company has shown me that it cares what their customers think in several ways. First, you listened to the feedback about the noise of the rack and came out with a way to dampen it. While I can’t comment directly on the effectiveness of the add-on, the fact that you have made one available shows plenty. Second, you responded to criticism about the high engraving costs and cut the price drastically. Way to go. Lastly, you noticed my review and checked it out within a day of its release. It would be great if more companies were paying as much attention to their customers and were as agile about making appropriate changes as you guys. I wish you guys every success with this rack, it’s a great product.
@ Gail: I’m glad to know about Delta’s support of the Predator Tour. How would you compare the Delta-13 to the Sardo? Also, I’m curious about the racks after the tour leaves each location.
Since you said that they provided racks for each stop, did the tour sites continue to use them for their regular players? Or do they put them away until the tour stops by again next time? One thing I’ve seen in a number of halls is that they are hesitant to invest in better quality products, because they quickly go missing. I could easily envision someone stealing a Delta-13.
Terry A. Taggart
- February 17th, 2010
Thank you all for your comments and support. I wanted to address the comment pertaining to the pool halls and their reluctance to move toward higher end products.
We are currently “fine-tuning” the prototype for a ball tray. You can see a blueprint of this on our web site and we’ll have an actual picture up yet this week. This ball tray will hold all the balls, including the cue ball, and most racks, including the Delta-13 line. It will also hold two pieces of chalk.
The reason we designed this is to help support the pool halls. They will be able to safely store our racks with the balls, then securely check them out to the playing customers. The ball tray will minimize the space required for storage and will be able to stack on one another.
We have three manufacturers wanting to produce this product as soon as we finalize the design and file for our patents. We have already taken pre-orders so I feel good about this product helping to elevate the quality in pool halls and yet protect pool hall investments.
There is one more feature about the Delta-13 line I’d like to mention. What pool halls have found that use our rack is that there is less friction on the cloth as the aluminum glides during racking. We have one testimonial from California on our site which speaks toward this issue. So, while the racks may be more expensive then the wood and plastic racks made overseas, in the long run owners will save money by not changing cloth as often.
We certainly appreciate the opportunity to respond to questions and issues on your site John. This is a wonderful venue for the industry. Thanks so much.
John Biddle
- February 17th, 2010
Terry, I love the idea of the device to hold the balls and the rack together. It solves the problem of theft pretty well.
The downsides I see are that this device is unlikely to fit into the cabinet slots many halls have to hold all their ball sets now. It’ll be tough enough to get them to pay up front for the better racks without also needing to rebuild a cabinet to hold all the ball sets. Of course, I haven’t yet seen your design. . .
The other issue is much smaller, namely that of user inertia, and general dislike for anything new. The first guy who forgets to bring back the rack along with the balls, something they are definitely not used to, will get the bitch session rolling. Maybe the design will make it so obvious that the rack is missing that this would happen only rarely. Use of a contrasting color or something?
Anyway, best of luck with your new product, and if you know anyone looking for an honest, and hopefully thoughtful, review of their product, send them my way.
bill
- February 22nd, 2010
Thank you all for your article
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