hi, thanks for the advice. i'm now debating over a tornado whirlwind ($745) or a shelti 200 ($825). Any thoughts?
in all honesty, all of the players are recreational players. with the exception of myself and maybe a handful of players, most don't even play that much. it's going to be in the faculty of medicine student lounge which only med students can access so it won't even be used more and an hour or two a day if that. the store i went to recommended either the whirlwind or the shelti 200 because price is our major consideration (as well as durability). with tax and everything, the shelti 200 will be ab obout $100 more (quite significant given our budget.) Do you think it's worth the $100 to get the shelti over the whirlwind? The salesman said probaby not as they're both comparable. The counterbalanced men isn't a big concern because no one ever uses that anyway.
since i play the most, the decision has come down to whatever i like. i have mostly played on a really old one man table and have gotten used to it - but i have to admit, when i used the tornado today there was much more ball control than the table i'm used to playing on...any help you can provide is MUCH appreciated since i have exams coming up and need to decide on this by the end of the week...
The differences as I see them:
1. If you're playing singles, the counterbalanced men do make a difference. You can put the 5-rod and 3-rod up horizontally and shoot under them. You might be able to replace the men at a later date, though (with the Storm II men), so you could get the table now and then later on spent the $70 or whatever to replace the men if it turns out to be a problem.
2. The Tornado is what tournaments are played on, so if you ever decide you want to go check out a local weekly tournament you'd have some familiarity with the same table they use.
3. The men's feet on the Shelti are wider. This makes blocking easier, but makes offense (especially shooting from goal) harder. It makes catching the ball and shooting push-kicks easier. It makes getting around the ball on a front-pin shot harder.
4. The ball/foot/surface on the Shelti is grippier. This makes shooting the front-pin easier. It means to shoot a pull/push you need to have the ball set farther forward than on Tornado.
Overall I personally think it's a toss-up between the tables as far as playability, but if Shelti narrowed their feet to the width of the Tornado feet then they'd be my personal favorite. That said, I play a lot of tournaments so I would probably keep using the same table that tournaments are run on even if I felt it was just slightly worse, play-wise.
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