The ball: 16 pounds 1 oz before drilling, 3-inch pin, 3-oz top
The drill: Pin below the bridge, CG kicked out right about 3 inches and below the midline, no weight hole, works out to around a 4 x 2.5 drill for me. Surface is box.
Me: PAP 4 over 3/8 up, tweener revs, good speed, typically throw with high axis rotation and low tilt.
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They say shelf appeal matters a lot in bowling ball sales and I guess it's true. I saw this ball a few years ago at my old pro shop but never got around to trying it. Its striking bright red and gold metallic swirls make this one of the most attractive balls ever made.
Wanting to try something from the Legends series after owning and liking a Yeah Baby!, I found a NIB Satisfaxion earlier this year and punched it up. I had never tried a pearl ball with a pin-under-bridge drilling and the CG out before, so that's what I settled upon.
First off, whether LaneMasters calls this ball a pearl or not, the surface is more like a hybrid. The gold metallic portions are clearly pearl but the red areas most resemble a polished solid. The cover goes straight to the core on this ball, no filler.
I first tested this ball on a low-medium volume THS with flatter-than-usual characteristics. I started out on fresh oil in the upper end of this house, which is a bit slicker than the low and middle portions of the house.
Whether it's the drilling, or the fact that the thick cover means more weight than usual out at the outside of the ball, I'm not sure. What I do know is that the ball was "powerfully smooth" in its approach to the pocket. There is little to no snap in this ball. It offers a consistent read of the lane conditions and offers no surprises. In short, it operates much more like a polished solid or a matte pearl than a true skid-snap pearl ball.
Second tests were conducted on dryer areas of the same house, same oil pattern but more broken down. Again, the ball proved to cover up some of the rough spots in the pattern by refusing to overreact in the midlane.
Recovery right wasn't the best. The amount of control built into this ball makes it a poor choice if you need a ball to cover up mistakes made toward the gutter. It also doesn't necessarily balance that with weakness with unexpected hold in the middle, either. Basically, the ball has a certain amount of hook it's going to give whether it's thrown into the oil or out to the gutter. I hesitate to say it ignores the pattern, because it doesn't totally do that, but it does give you what you got.
Where this ball really shines is in the hit and particularly in the drive through the pins. It hits as if it weighs a lot more than 16 pounds. Deflection is virtually zero. Of the hundreds of balls I've owned, this ball is in the top 5 all-time in terms of low deflection through the pindeck.
As such, solid 9s are a real consideration here, as are 4-pins. Carrying the 10 depends on the entry angle you dial in -- see previous comments about recovery right. Carry is average on off-hits but on pocket hits it really shines.
As the lanes broke down, there came a definite put-it-back-in-the-bag point. This ball can play on a nice range of medium conditions but isn't as versatile as some.
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The good: Almost no deflection through the pindeck, very controllable and predictable, beautiful coverstock, carry on good hits is above average.
The bad: Not a ball to use to cover up release mistakes, pretty much for medium oil only, carry on off-hits is nothing to write home about.
Overall: Quality piece of equipment that covers mediums well and works great for people who are above-average in accuracy.
Jess
