Comments on: Review of the Delta-13 Rack

By: Michael Reddick

Michael Reddick — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:21:04 +0000

John, I FINALLY got my very own pool table… a 9 foot Gold Crown III! I was googling around to get recommendations for racks, and voila!, your site popped up! Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll have to get a Delta13…maybe with a few bells and whistles added! Thanks!

By: handbags

handbags — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 16:42:40 +0000

Very useful rack, thanks for writing about it! It’s great that people are actually trying to do good things for these world, unfortunately there are less and less each day!

By: bill

bill — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:49:55 +0000

Thank you all for your article

By: John Biddle

John Biddle — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:15:02 +0000

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.

By: Terry A. Taggart

Terry A. Taggart — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:30:17 +0000

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.

By: John Biddle

John Biddle — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:54:30 +0000

@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.

By: g2

g2 — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:20:41 +0000

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!

By: Terry A. Taggart

Terry A. Taggart — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:00:45 +0000

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.