BallReviews
Equipment Boards => 900 Global => Topic started by: avabob on October 01, 2018, 09:02:35 PM
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Old low speed low rev stroker here. Looking at stuff in the Global line to replace or compliment some balls in my tournament arsenal. I currently throw a Hyroad nano, Marvel Pearl, Blue Vibe, and pitch blue.
Honey Badger has appealed to me for awhile, and a couple of straighter players have really gotten a good look from it on my league shot. I would probably use it to replace or compliment the Marvel. Other ball that captured my attention is Desert Ops. It looks like something that might let me olay straighter from outside on shorter patterns, when the urethane is struggling in carrydown.
Any thoughts or alternative recommendations would be appreciated. I have thrown more storm than anything since the glory days of Brunswick Zones, but kind of love hate on much of the storm stuff.
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If you're looking for a ball to get thru the heads, After Dark Pearl. The S70 is strong enough to make you move in on the Desert Ops.
Marvel Pearl vs Honey Badger... I'd probably go with a Badger instead. HB is much more angle than I've seen out of the Marvel.
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The Honey Badger is a really good ball and one that I do carry around quite a bit, it is very versatile and has a unique ball motion.
For general league conditions here are the current 4 main balls I use across 2 league houses.
- Tactical Ops
- Badger
- Boost
- After Dark Solid
One house has tighter backends. For that house I generally start with the Badger and when lanes start to burn and I need to step into the flood in the middle I switch to the Tactical. That ball just has a ton of backend.
The other house I generally start with the After Dark and once a lot of carry down happens if a move right doesn't work I'll move up to the Boost. This house has the wet/dry conditions normally seen for a THS.
I will also add this, most people consider each of these houses more on the drier side. With that said I carry my Truth Tour to tournaments as it is one of the smoothest/predictable big balls I have. The Eon is also very smooth/predictable for a strong ball but is slightly more skid/flippy than the Truth Tour where I get people asking me if it is urethane.
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I dont bowl much on house shots. Heads don't usually give me much trouble. Handling transitions on medium to shorter lengths is my biggest problem. Marvel Pearl has been excellent on longer patterns, but forces me to play too much out angle on medium patterns until the back ends settle down.
Pretty sure I am going to try the honey badger. Tempted to try the desert ops, but visions of the Ride come to mind. Shot great once on a wet dry house shot, but never had any luck again.
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I dont bowl much on house shots. Heads don't usually give me much trouble. Handling transitions on medium to shorter lengths is my biggest problem. Marvel Pearl has been excellent on longer patterns, but forces me to play too much out angle on medium patterns until the back ends settle down.
Pretty sure I am going to try the honey badger. Tempted to try the desert ops, but visions of the Ride come to mind. Shot great once on a wet dry house shot, but never had any luck again.
Honey Badger is a ton more on the backend than Marvel Pearl at least for me. Never seen a pearl that reads the midlane like the Marvel Pearl. Honey Badger would be more like the Hy-Road pearl than Marvel Pearl imo but even stronger on the backend.
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In most cases I disagree with Impending on breaking the surface. But on the Desert Ops I think you have to break the surface for the best look. You described yourself as a low speed/rev player so you may get away with polish. But if you don't like it definitely experiment with the surface.
The Honey Badger was our, pro shops, best seller for a while and lots of styles used it with success.
If you are mostly hitting tougher conditions I would look at another ball on the Preferred Tour line. The X or X2 are just great balls, if you can get your hands on one.
The Boost and After Dark also give good predictable rolls, although as you've certainly heard over and over again the Boost is stronger than advertised.
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Honey Badger is a ton more on the backend than Marvel Pearl at least for me. Never seen a pearl that reads the midlane like the Marvel Pearl. Honey Badger would be more like the Hy-Road pearl than Marvel Pearl imo but even stronger on the backend.
Depending on the lay out the HB can be surprising on the backend. The best part of the HB, to me, is unlike most other asyms it doesn't roll out when you really open up the lane. At least in my hands asyms tend to burn up if I try to cover too many boards, with the HB I can send it to the dry or play tighter angles.
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Honey Badger is a ton more on the backend than Marvel Pearl at least for me. Never seen a pearl that reads the midlane like the Marvel Pearl. Honey Badger would be more like the Hy-Road pearl than Marvel Pearl imo but even stronger on the backend.
Depending on the lay out the HB can be surprising on the backend. The best part of the HB, to me, is unlike most other asyms it doesn't roll out when you really open up the lane. At least in my hands asyms tend to burn up if I try to cover too many boards, with the HB I can send it to the dry or play tighter angles.
+1. Doesn't roll like an asym for me at all as you say. Its a great ball overall. Not as much midlane as the Marvel Pearl but more responsive to friction and still controllable.
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I am also a lower rev player, but have a higher than average ball speed. I have a Honey Badger and for me the ball reaction is inconsistent. It would be hard to use on a flatter pattern. I have not tried to play around with the surface. The out of box surface is difficult to use. I won the ball in a raffle so it wasn't critical for me to adjust the surface.
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I am also a lower rev player, but have a higher than average ball speed. I have a Honey Badger and for me the ball reaction is inconsistent. It would be hard to use on a flatter pattern. I have not tried to play around with the surface. The out of box surface is difficult to use. I won the ball in a raffle so it wasn't critical for me to adjust the surface.
Higher ball speed with lower revs on a flatter pattern? I would definitely modify the surface of the ball. HB is a great ball but it is far from the most motion from 900. Continuum or Inception would be the balls to expect more reaction from. That's not saying the HB is weak, but what you describe sounds like a bad match up that could be improved by modifying the surface.
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Ok. One more question. I drilled both Honey Badger, and After Dark solid. Like them both. How would a black ops compare to my Hyroad Nano which I really like.
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Ok. One more question. I drilled both Honey Badger, and After Dark solid. Like them both. How would a black ops compare to my Hyroad Nano which I really like.
Unless you sandblast your Black Ops, you're going to see much more angle. Nano smooths out everything, so if you were going to compare something we have to the nano, I'd say it would be the Truth Tour drilled strong.
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Thanks. Thats okay. Not looking to replace the nano. Looking for something a little stronger than either Nano or Honey Badger on flatter patterns.
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HB Claw is looking amazing from what I've seen, or ball up to an Eon or Continuum
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Thanks. Thats okay. Not looking to replace the nano. Looking for something a little stronger than either Nano or Honey Badger on flatter patterns.
Stronger as in what?
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Stronger in the sense of being able to get a little deeper on a house shot than with the Nano or Honey Badger. After more research the Continuum might be a good option.
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Stronger in the sense of being able to get a little deeper on a house shot than with the Nano or Honey Badger. After more research the Continuum might be a good option.
Honestly, I think the Dream On is better for this role. I haven't seen the remake much though so that's the only thing I don't know about.
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Dream On definitely has response downlane. Haven't thrown the new one, as my first one is still going strong 3 years later, but I'm also going to go 45*5*65 with some.surface to get a different shape.