Devil Sticks
I recommend buying from Serious
Juggling. They're nice people, run a friendly business, have a
good selection of devil sticks, and provide measurements of the sticks
they sell.
I own:
Devil Sticks
A mostly undecorated devil stick that might be from Mr. Babache.
(I'm not actually sure. I bought it at a festival.) This is my
favorite stick. I have two of these, just so that if I ever break
one I won't have to hunt around for another good stick.- Renegade - I have two of these,
both of which were gifts. I don't like the older one (good weight,
but too fat in the center), but the newer one is quite good and has
a great sound. Very good for doing percussion rhythms, and it feels
nice too.
- Two really nice extreme fire sticks I
made, and also one crappy one (an earlier design).
- Dubé trigon - This is pretty
heavy, and I don't use it much anymore. The pattern looks great
under some artificial lighting and the weight makes it more stable
than most on a windy day. The weight also means my hands get tired
if I'm not used to them. That wasn't a problem when I used them
every day, but now that I only use them every few months, it's
tough.
- Dubé fire stick (heavy
and slippery, just like all the commercially available fire sticks
I've seen)
Flower Sticks
- Lunastix Master - an excellent flower
stick. Great balance, great grip (silicone), great ends (leather
cups and tassles). Lighter and faster than the Crystal Stix
Superflight. Very durable; I've never had a problem with these
despite years of abuse. This stick has an excellent rolling
resistance; I can tip the handsticks to ~60 degrees before the stick
slowly begins to roll.
- Crystal Stix Superflight - an excellent
flower stick. Great balance, great grip (silicone), great ends
(large cups, and tassles), solid construction. Heavier and slower
than the Lunastix Master. Amazing rolling resistance.
They don't roll at all, even when I tip the handsticks all the way
to vertical. Also noteworthy are the excellent handsticks. They're
shorter and thicker than standard, and the ends are dipped in a
sealer so the silicone won't ever get peeled back or get dirt under
it. Once I tried these, I realized that everyone else's handsticks
are too long.
- Spectrum Crafts Design - latex over aluminum shaft, leather
ends. One of the ends came off after a few months. Not
recommended. (good balance, fair grip, slow)
Other
I've also tried:
- AJA devil stick (perfect, but hard to find)
- Absolute Circus devil stick (quite good and inexpensive! Available from Serious Juggling)
- Infinite Illusions devil stick (good size, but too light)
- Todd Smith mylar devil stick (good size, but too light)
- Todd Smith cloth devil stick (not bad, but the cloth wears out)
- Harvey Freeman devil stick (crappy, but cheap)
- Mystix (a mediocre mass-produced flower stick)
plus lots of others I can't remember offhand, both mass-produced and
home-made..
Hand sticks
If you're not working with fire, I've never seen anything better
than the silicon covered sticks you get with most of the juggling-pro
sets. Many vendors will sell them individually, so even if you make
your own devil stick, you can get top quality handsticks for just a
few dollars.
A mostly undecorated devil stick that might be from Mr. Babache.
(I'm not actually sure. I bought it at a festival.) This is my
favorite stick. I have two of these, just so that if I ever break
one I won't have to hunt around for another good stick.