There are two things I typically think of when I think of Kamui. One is that their products are typically expensive. Second is that their products are usually exceptional. In my review of the Kamui Diamond Slicer product, one of these statements is 100% true, unfortunately, it’s the price.
One of the most underutilized aspects of a pool table are the diamonds. Individuals who take the time to study and practice diamond systems can truly elevate their game to new levels. The diamonds are an enormous strategic advantage to players that are knowledgeable of how to use them effectively. Many amateur players do not how to use the diamonds, and in fact, are intimidated by the them, thinking the systems to be complex.
The Kamui Diamond Slicer product is designed to help players leverage the diamonds effectively and to compliment the various books and videos which teach diamond systems, helping make them easier to learn and practice.
I was truly excited when I first saw this product at the Kamui booth at Super Billiards Expo. I am always on the lookout for unique, less known products that can truly help players to improve their game and I thought this was one of those products. Unfortunately, after purchasing and reviewing the product, the Kamui Diamond Slicer system fell way short for me. Read on for more details.
What the Diamond Slicer product is and how it works:
What it is:
In essence, it is a set of 24 transparent stickers that you stick to the rails of your pool table. The stickers contain tick marks that allow you to measure distance between the diamonds. For this review, I only stuck a few of the stickers on. Here is what they look like on a section of my table:
How you use them:
As my dad would say….”time for some math”. Diamond systems typically assign a major number to each diamond as well as the pockets of the pool table for aiming purposes. For example, in a bank, the pocket you will sink the ball in is assigned 0. The first diamond up is 10, second diamond is 20, third diamond is 30, next pocket is 40 and so on. Diamond system instructional material will to tell you to aim at specific locations in this regard for a kick shot or a bank. The difficulty comes in when calculations fall within the diamonds. So for example, instead of instructing you to aim at location 20, you may be required to aim a bit before 20, say location 18. Typically, players use judgement in visualizing these locations relative to the diamonds. The diamond slicer stickers provide visible measured tick marks on the rails, allowing you to explicitly see these precise locations.
For example, in the picture below, since this is a half table bank, there two diamonds and two pockets – locations 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 respectively. The perfect angle to bank the ball into the side pocket would be if the object ball laid exactly half way between the corner pocket and the side pocket. If this were the case, you would aim the object ball at the second diamond from the side pocket, which is 20 (exactly half of 40). As you can see, the object ball is off that line a little bit.
Adjusting for this is where the diamond slicer tick marks are helpful (click picture to zoom):
Here is a closer look (click picture to zoom in) :
Since the ball is not quite on the 20/40 line, we have to make a small adjustment. If you shift the cue over, you will see that the alignment is at 18 /36. Using the Diamond Slicer tick marks, you can make this “two tick” adjustment quite easily as depicted below (click to zoom):
Aim at that spot on the rail and stroke it in. I am going to stroke this in with a bit of top, at about lag speed. My aim is on the 2nd tick mark after the diamond. I put a piece of chalk there to help visualize it.
You may be wondering why I used a piece of chalk to mark the location on the rail if I had the slicers. The reason is because when you are down on the shot, the slicer tick marks are not visible. You can see this from the picture below:
Final Verdict:
I find it hard to recommend the Kamui Diamond Slicer system for the following reasons:
- At around $50 for a bunch of stickers, this is very expensive and over priced
- I do not want to permanently attach them to my table. I would be more likely to consider them if I could easily remove them
- They are not visible when you are down on your shot, so you still have to pick your point on the rail by eye when shooting
While the Kamui Diamond Slicers are somewhat helpful in making it easier to measure distances between the diamonds, I find that measuring the distances from the diamonds is not that difficult to do by eye. There is simply not enough value here to for me to recommend the product – and certainly not at the price point.
