I spent more than your budget at a decent "Rec Center" type of store (i.e. not Walmart/Sears), but the quality is not at the level of the ones you see in bars. You'd need to spend upwards of double your budget to get to that, unless you went used.
Ours has done well, but it's been pounded on by adults pretty regularly.
One thing that helps is to keep a nice coat of wax on the surface. Leave your fans on (to keep the holes from clogging) and apply Pledge liberally. This both protects the playing surface and makes it even more "slick."
The Sams table looks to have plastic side rails, but it is hard to tell from the pic. If you can go to a store and see it, then you can get a "feel" for the build quality.
Mine are aluminum.
There seems to be a big step in price from a solid home table to a low end "commercial" table.
I looked at the Sam's table in person over the weekend and it does have plastic rails. It also looks a little undersized, but that might be preferable if you're limited for room.
I bought one at costco about 3 years ago... it didn't see very regular use until a year ago, but it's held up well. It's a ~7' table, and has metal sides. I think it was under $300.
I have a 7' table that is right in your price range. However, the only real "playable" puck is the triangle one that came with it. The round puck gets too much air and flies off the table way to easily. I tried to weigh it down, but it slows it A LOT! It was a present around 5 years ago and I've had a lot of fun with it. There are definitely better tables in the same price range these days so I can't recommend it. I was also going to try a larger diameter puck, but never got around to it.
The top is wood, what wax would you recommend trying to speed up the table?
If it's wood, and the finish is still good...I would just try loading it down with a good couple of coats of Pledge. Just make sure your fans are on so the holes don't get clogged.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
AVS Forum
34M posts
1.5M members
Since 1999
A forum community dedicated to home theater owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about home audio/video, TVs, projectors, screens, receivers, speakers, projects, DIY’s, product reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!