Craft vs kaizen

I've made my decision on shift vs slim in general from other threads, but what about craft shift & slim vs kaizen shift & slim? I understand slim is more well rounded and slams loons but how does it compare from kaizen vs craft? Same as shift.

Anybody try out both? What are your thoughts?

At this point I'm leaning more towards craft but I always liked "standard" size damas and from what I've seen crafts are plus sized (correct me if I'm wrong, perhaps not all are)

I like the craft because the natty options but if KUSA came out with natty slim thatd change everything considering price

 

Only the craft slim+ and craft shift+ are plus sized, there are craft shifts and slims that aren’t plus sized.

Personally, I doubt it’s gonna happen but, it would be super cool to see maple and ash version of the kaizen slim and shifts like they did with the old kaizen 2.0s.

I don’t own a craft though so I don’t really have any perspective on how they compare to the kaizen ones.

 

The current Craft line from KUSA are just slightly larger (not sure by how much but @htimSxelA would most likely have that answer) and yes, the Craft Plus series mentioned above are the only Crafts that are actually plus sized.

As for the Crafts vs Kaizens (Shifts and Slims) there are few differences between them due to the Crafts having more closely monitored quality control and Kaizens being manufactured (cup rims/stall points not as sharp on the Kaizens, limited wood choice on the Kaizens barring the pro mods, the Crafts obviously being more refined).
As for play differences, I haven’t noticed much of a difference if any besides how each wood performs separate from each other.

If you like the Shift/Slim shape but don’t have the money to shell out for a Craft, the Kaizens are a great lower priced option and besides the level of crafted quality (pun not intended) you’d be hard pressed to really find a difference (same experience I’ve had with GT-E1 and the GT-1 kens). And with the Craft Colors having their own wide variety to choose from you can get one of the best parts of the Kaizens (the painted tamas) on the Crafts in their own designs and color ways.

 

@rhysgoespeace thanks, I wasnt sure about the sizes because most of the ones I look at on the website that I like just say "increased Ken and tama size from 2.0" but apparently they're a little larger than normal...

@KeeganS I like the pun anyways thanks for your input. It's really cool that KUSA has some really good lines of damas at a good spec level, one can really appreciate what they do for us loyal customers Haha. Considering they both play really good I can use a kaizen as my primary dama so I dont have to baby it but I can also have a craft for when I really want to hone in some lines also true about the colors part, but I've really been on a natty trip ever since I saw some guy absolutely SHREDDING in public once on a homegrown walnut natty.

Again, thanks both of you guys i probably would have had to buy all these to find out which one I prefer the hard way

 

Two words: CRAFT SLIM.

 

Thanks Alex! Ahh I guess I just gotta try the plus haha lots of good response about it from lots of people, but if I'm going to get a plus I think the Dave Mateo plus is going to be my first choice due to its uniqueness!