BallReviews
Equipment Boards => 900 Global => Topic started by: Average Joe Reviews on July 13, 2017, 11:31:59 AM
-
This time we had the chance to try the new Honey Badger from 900 Global. This ball joins the Drift and the Boo-Yah in 900 Global’s Tour Preferred line. We used our house shot pattern to test it (Kegel Main Street, 41’) and the ball does exactly as advertised. It is an angular monster.
When I use this kind of balls, pearls with a high RG and medium differential, I usually stand close to my comfort zone, throwing the ball around second arrow and about 6 at the breakpoint… I couldn't do that with the Honey Badger. This ball is one of the most angular balls I’ve ever seen. All my warming shots ended up in hitting high or going Brooklyn, so I had to move 6 boards to the right and play inside second arrow, while moving my breakpoint from 6 to 3 or 4 to keep the ball on the left side on the lane.
This ball never hooked too early for me. It has great length and it has a FAST response to friction. As soon as it exits the pattern the ball makes a strong move to the pocket. For me being a low rev bowler with medium speed, seeing this kind of shape down the lane is something I don’t see that often. The ball offers a lot of recovery and it comes back from almost anywhere. I was able to play close to the third arrow and still got some light pocket shots with good carry. For me to do that with a medium oil ball on a fresh pattern is quite an accomplishment! :)
I felt like I had a good margin of error using the Honey Badger on fresh. However, when I missed my target farther left or when my ball speed was slower than usual, the Honey Badger hooked too much and left some unpleasant splits, while misses into the oil caused too much skid, resulting in flat 7 pins most of the time.
As soon as the pattern started breaking down, the Honey Badger reaction just got better and better. I was able to swing the ball more to the left and see a lot of recovery. Even on a broken down pattern, this ball never wanted to read the lane early and saves most of its energy for the last part of the lane.
I feel like this ball will be a great option to bowl on fresh for the power players, providing them easy length and an angular backend motion. While for speed dominant or low rev bowlers, this ball definitely will come into play when you need to ball down, when bowling on the transition or on broken down patterns or when you need to get more length and strong angular motion at the breakpoint.
For the tournament bowlers, this ball might be a little unpredictable or over/under if you bowl on fresh, flat patterns. To get a better reaction you can always adjust the surface of the ball to match up with the pattern. But once the pattern starts breaking down and you created a hook spot, this ball will be a great option to move in and create more angle.
The guys at 900 Global definitely delivered with this ball. It does exactly as advertised. If you are looking for a ball with a skid-flip reaction and a STRONG angular motion at the backend in most medium oil conditions, then the Honey Badger is the ball for you.
Thank you for watching!
-
So... You liked it? :D
-
I see this going in my bag.Hope my Black Ops don't get jealous! Anymore angular than the Dark Matter not sure I can stand it.
-
So... You liked it? :D
I did. Actually I liked it a lot. Is probably one of the most angular balls I have ever used. I liked how angular is and how I could keep throwing it harder and farther left and the ball still recovered... Really impressive. I have only used it twice, once for the video and one time in league, and so far the ball worked great.
-
I see this going in my bag.Hope my Black Ops don't get jealous! Anymore angular than the Dark Matter not sure I can stand it.
I think it will be a great complement to the Black OPS from what I've seen... I haven't seen the Dark Matter so I don't know, but the Honey Badger is ANGULAR!
-
Great video! Sure looks tempting, but I still have my IQ gold ball that continues to get the job done for me.
-
I see this going in my bag.Hope my Black Ops don't get jealous! Anymore angular than the Dark Matter not sure I can stand it.
The Badger has a lot in common with the Dark Matter shape wise. Dark Matter was my favorite for a while. I really don't like gold colored anything, including bowling balls, but I do love the motion so much that I throw the Badger anyways.
-
It's snappy, but not jerky off the dry due to the lower diff.
-
It's snappy, but not jerky off the dry due to the lower diff.
When I hear "snappy" I think jumpy or jerky.
For me the HB is an angular motion but a predictable or consistent one.
-
^^^^^WHAT HE SAID^^^^^
-
When I watched this video I didn't see flip, am I missing something?
-
Great video! Sure looks tempting, but I still have my IQ gold ball that continues to get the job done for me.
Thank you! The IQ Pearl is a great ball... I feel the Honey Badger is at least 3-4 boards stronger down the lane.
-
It's snappy, but not jerky off the dry due to the lower diff.
When I hear "snappy" I think jumpy or jerky.
For me the HB is an angular motion but a predictable or consistent one.
I agree. The ball is definitely super clean and saves all the energy for the last part of the lane, making it super strong down at the backend, but is not jumpy or jerky. It is predictable, something I appreciate in these kind of balls, which tends to be "jumpy" or unpredictable.
-
Having just watched the video again, I want to point out one thing all the marketing and hype can't do. It can't create good ball reaction. Watch the ball go thru the pins. No shots where the ball ends up right by the 7 duento deflection, but it continues right thru the 1-2-5-8 in a convincing manner.
Watching a ball roll is the best marketing there is. When is your Covert video coming? Having too much fun with it?? ;)
-
I am amazed at this point in time how old designs of cores are brought back out combined with different covers and creating new reactions on todays "different" oil patterns.
This ball to me has a core that looks very similar to a ball I still used sometimes today, my AMF Clutch. So I guess this Honey Badger with its 7X cover should be similar to the AMF Clutch pearl with its similar core, but with the faster response cover this thing really seems to pop off the spot hard for even quite fast and powerful bowlers.
Definitively different from the smoother look of the well loved Clutch Pearl.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdvvcM-ZQac
I do note the higher rg and lower diff of the reconfigured core. What I have seen from the Honey Badger in my house looks like this video...second bowler in particular. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUWRrF2NaqI
Looks like a real winner for the bowler who wants that type of exciting reaction.
Regards,
Luckylefty
-
LL,
I still have and use my Clutch Pearl, and have a NIB tucked away. So I will be comparing the HB with the CP.
-
Having just watched the video again, I want to point out one thing all the marketing and hype can't do. It can't create good ball reaction. Watch the ball go thru the pins. No shots where the ball ends up right by the 7 duento deflection, but it continues right thru the 1-2-5-8 in a convincing manner.
Watching a ball roll is the best marketing there is. When is your Covert video coming? Having too much fun with it?? ;)
I definitely agree, even with my low rev rate, the continuation I saw from this ball is great. I left some 9s during the video, but if I remember I only left a couple of flat 7s, other than that, the ball worked great. It took me like 20 minutes to shoot the video.
The Covert OPS video should be released within the next day or so... Now I understand the hype about the Break core...
-
Having just watched the video again, I want to point out one thing all the marketing and hype can't do. It can't create good ball reaction. Watch the ball go thru the pins. No shots where the ball ends up right by the 7 duento deflection, but it continues right thru the 1-2-5-8 in a convincing manner.
Watching a ball roll is the best marketing there is. When is your Covert video coming? Having too much fun with it?? ;)
I definitely agree, even with my low rev rate, the continuation I saw from this ball is great. I left some 9s during the video, but if I remember I only left a couple of flat 7s, other than that, the ball worked great. It took me like 20 minutes to shoot the video.
The Covert OPS video should be released within the next day or so... Now I understand the hype about the Break core...
BELIEVE, BROTHER! BELIEVE!!
-
Even though I will probably not be back to bowling till January I can't wait to throw this ball. Mine will be here next week. I plan on drilling it the same as the Clutches I had. They were among my mall time favorites. Also have a Desert Ops and Compass waiting to drill
-
Even though I will probably not be back to bowling till January I can't wait to throw this ball. Mine will be here next week. I plan on drilling it the same as the Clutches I had. They were among my mall time favorites. Also have a Desert Ops and Compass waiting to drill
January can't come soon enough! ✌🏼
-
I TOLD EVERYONE! DIDN'T I?? Sleeper ball of the year.