I recently got motivated. I picked up a shock and octane.  I thought my shock would be a nice step down as it would be smoother.  Um,  not the case. My shock out hooks my octane by about 10 boards as near as i can tell so far.  Is this typical?  I honestly don't know where I'll use my shock. It moved that much.  Btw, they are laid out the same.

Seeing as how the Shock is a dull solid with a lower RG and the Octane is a highly polished hybrid (solid/pearl combination), I don't find it so surprising that the Shock out hooks it, if you have a decent amount of oil. Although the Shock is rated for medium-light, from what I have seem of it, unless you are highly speed dominant, it is more for for medium to medium-heavy oil.

If you have true medium-light oil, then the polished Octane with the higher RG may handle that condition better than the Shock and see more of its potential hook power.

FYI both are rated by Motiv around 50 for overall hook.

Our oil lately has been on the light side.  Mainly, the outside drier area has been drastically bigger and drier than last year.  It used to be from about 7 and out was where the big change of direction came from.  Now, anything 12 and out and the ball comes back too much.  The octane does a good job of storing energy and going through the pin deck like a typical motiv ball doe even though I'm playing really deep for a lefty.  I could not get the shock down the lane no matter how much deeper I moved.  The weird part was, there was no roll-out.  It was hook that was 8 feet too early, 15 boards too much, however, no roll-out.  Weird.  Pleasantly surprised, but weird.  I'm left handed and was lofting the gutter on "fresh" oil and begging it to stay off the nose which it didn't. 

I can say the Shock is definitely stronger than advertised....I use mine on my 41ft 26ml THS and its great, but on my 38ft 17ml the ball never rolls out but picks up early and just keeps hooking....I can always find a line with it deep inside and even though it picks up early, it still goes through the pins like a truck. It a really nice ball, I have used it at 2000, 3000, 4000 and polished and the results are always great. It has turned me into a Motiv guy, now having 4 Motiv balls in the last 6 weeks....BTW, the Revolt is awesome if you have some volume too....

I like the Apex. I found it a bit over under at box finish. I've thrown at 4000 and liked it but wanted more length. So today I put to 500/1500 and polish. Loved it. It's very smooth and stronger than I thought it would be. It's a nice drop down from shock for me. It rolls very heavy for a entry level ball.