BallReviews
Equipment Boards => Brunswick => Topic started by: baer300 on October 13, 2013, 08:44:03 PM
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Be sure to check the website tomorrow for the new releases. There will be three new ones. www.bowlwithbrunswick.com
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Fiiiiiiinaly
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I am only yet to see the cores...
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bill, they are in the final issue of Bowling This Month.
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Mr. Hutch I am not privileged enough to have seen a copy of btm.
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All three balls got great reviews in BTM. The Melee is tempting me the most!
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Love the looks of the Melee and Platinum. I will own them both
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Can't wait to send in my order and drill these up!
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Ringer Platinum Pearl looks like a light-oil THS murderer! :) :) :) :) :)
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Just google brunswick melee bowling ball and the whole issue of BTM is on a link. Cant miss it. It has the whole reviews, pics and cores for all three balls.
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Solid Red and Silver pearls always look great going down the lane. The look of the Mastermind in Ronnie Sparks' hand is awesome. For someone that can get that up the back of it, the way it makes the corner from deep inside is crazy.
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Solid Red and Silver pearls always look great going down the lane.
I agree. Glad to see Big B going back to the old school with these balls. Hard to believe something could be better than my trusty Versa Max, but the Melee just might be it.
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Solid Red and Silver pearls always look great going down the lane.
I agree. Glad to see Big B going back to the old school with these balls. Hard to believe something could be better than my trusty Versa Max, but the Melee just might be it.
Veersa-Max here for me also Doug...
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I must say that these releases appear to have "raised the bar" and I can't wait to get my hands on them.
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To say that I'm excited about the direction of Brunswick is an understatement. To compare the Melee to the Versa Max and say it's longer with more continuation had me sold. The Mastermind looks crazy strong down lane and still had a strong move at the break point. I thought the Ringer was a touch too strong for what I wanted and a go to ball. It hooked almost as much as my Maurauder and when I saw the Ringer Platinum with a milder cover stock to get it further down lane and more angular I was sold on this ball. I have all three on the way and excited to get them on the lanes. The Platinum should bridge the gap more between the Strike King and Ringer with the Melee as my bench mark ball. Maybe I should add the DV8 Dude in the mix? Just my $.02, Bruce
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Just not a believer in the hype. Brunswick or any company's new stuff. Go back to any ball video for the last five years from Brunswick. Same adjectives. Same goals. Same old, same old.
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Could anyone out there tell me if there is a replacement for the Versa Max in the Brunswick Universe. Can anyone tell me why one of the best balls in the last three years was discontinued.
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Just checked out buddiesproshop. They have a 20.00 instant rebate on the mastermind which makes it 134.95 shipped!!!!!!!! And 10.00 instant rebate on melee which makes it 119.00. Pretty sweet deals if anyone was going to pre-order.
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Could anyone out there tell me if there is a replacement for the Versa Max in the Brunswick Universe. Can anyone tell me why one of the best balls in the last three years was discontinued.
The Melee will be the Closest thing. It is an improved Versa Max
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Just not a believer in the hype. Brunswick or any company's new stuff. Go back to any ball video for the last five years from Brunswick. Same adjectives. Same goals. Same old, same old.
Amen to that. I bought a (red) Ringer based on their videos and what I read on the web site. Even polished it's almost as strong as my Wicked Siege at 2000 grit. It was supposed to get super easy length for people with slow ball speeds. Mine checks up really early unless there is quite a bit of head oil.
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All of the Ringers I have seen were as advertised. Length with plenty of reaction down lane.
The Platinum is on my list along with the Melee. Don't really need a lot of hook.
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Just not a believer in the hype. Brunswick or any company's new stuff. Go back to any ball video for the last five years from Brunswick. Same adjectives. Same goals. Same old, same old.
Amen to that. I bought a (red) Ringer based on their videos and what I read on the web site. Even polished it's almost as strong as my Wicked Siege at 2000 grit. It was supposed to get super easy length for people with slow ball speeds. Mine checks up really early unless there is quite a bit of head oil.
Its a joke. I put a Wicked Siege in the closet and picked up a Nexxxus. "Unbelievable length" "Most backend out of a pearl cover ever". What a joke. Ball doesn't move in the backend. Have played with surface. Move left and get in the oil so "it doesn't burn up" and it doesn't make the corner. Play straighter and watch it get to the pocket and leave 10 after 10. Finally got smart and grabbed the Wicked. Wow! So that's what easy length and unbelievable backend move is supposed to look like.
I have to laugh at Mrs. Billy O in the Mastermind video. "Move left, throw it right, watch it come back to the pocket" as she throws the same line she's thrown for all the latest big hook balls out of Big B. My original Nexus will do what that Mastermind will do. Hell, an AlphaMax will do the same thing. As Public Enemy sang, "Don't believe the hype". I'm not. Not from Big B or any other ball company.
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Notice what happens to sells in an HP line when they release big ball followed by bigger ball then go to a lesser big ball......the numbers fall off. The general bowling public doesn't want to pay big ball price for a lesser hooking big ball.
Ex: big ball Hell Raiser big sales #s, bigger ball HR Revenge big sales #s, lesser big ball HR Terror bad sales and plenty sitting in distributors on clearance.
Aura good sales, Paranormal good sales, Mystic not good and being dumped quickly on ebay and soon by distributors.
Great bowling balls, not great sales. Wicked Siege is my all time favorite ball and I have 3 drilled and 2 undrilled but its sales did not match in popularity.
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I agree the Ringer was stronger than advertised but at 2000 polished and a pin under drill with my slow ball speed I still get decent length and a ball that kills it as long as there is oil in the heads (as has been mentioned).
When the heads dry up I can switch to the Strike King!
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Burgundy Ringer:
The benefits of using our Chemical Projection Technology allows us to produce a less aggressive reactive coverstock that easily projects down the lane without making the coverstock highly sensitive to the dry and oily parts of the lane.
With its High Gloss box finish, the Ringer Burgundy Pearl will provide excellent length with a medium to quick response to friction at the breakpoint. The Ringer Burgundy Pearl is great ball for rev dominant and slower ball speed players on light oil conditions.
Platinum Ringer:
The CPT – Flip / Chemical Projection Technology Flip reactive coverstock describes our newest formulation for a low friction coverstock. The benefits of using our Chemical Projection Technology allows us to produce a less aggressive reactive coverstock that easily projects down the lane on medium to light oil lane conditions.
With its Royal Shine box finish, the Ringer Platinum Pearl will skid longer with a quicker response to friction at the breakpoint than the Burgundy Ringer. The Ringer Platinum Pearl is great ball for rev dominant and slower ball speed players on light oil conditions.
Since I have and don't believe what's written about the Burgundy, excuse me if I don't believe them about the Platinum. It's certainly not just Brunswick, but I'm tired of manufacturers marketing balls for condition "A" when in fact they work best for condition "B". I don't buy a ton of equipment. I hate to buy the wrong thing because I was mislead by the manufacturer.
Ringer Hook Potential - 115
Wicked Siege Hook Potential - 145
Ringer Length - 160
Wicked Siege Length - 115
From Brunswick's own numbers, the Wicked Siege should hook much earlier and much more than the Ringer. I know it's hard to compare a Storm ball to one from Ebonite, but why can't anyone even be right within their own scale? If both of these had the same surface, I think the Ringer would be earlier. It's hard to say about more because the Ringer has so much mid lane. I think it would puke if I put any surface on it.
Sorry for the continued rant, but I don't want people buying any ball based on marketing and end up not liking it.
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Your comparing different bowling balls from different times. I'm sure also with a different number of games.
Any ball hooks if they are dry enough. No one knows anything about you or how your Ringer is drilled. Could be part of the problem. If the ball hooks too much and you don't believe the new Platinum hooks less then fine. If you don't think they Strike King would hook less, or the Slingshot or plastic then all fine as well.
Doesn't mean it is the ball, or marketing hype. Those are general statements of what should happen, but can not work for everyone on all conditions depending on the style and layout. It does however seem to fit that mold nicely for a lot of people.
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My Burgundy Ringer from the factory went too long for my taste, but after I wore some of the gloss off it got much stronger. At first I thought it would be a "dry lanes only" option, but over time it became as strong as many higher priced balls.
Face it. No manufacturer can anticipate every possible lane surface, oil used, amounts used and where, etc. Not to mention every possible bowler style. They test it on their conditions and lane surface, etc. and produce their marketing material and recommendations.
Rarely do I end up using the exact factory finish on a ball. When I do find that optimal surface for my game I make some notes for future reference so I can try to repeat it as closely as possible.
I really don't believe any manufacturer would purposely deceive the public regarding any ball and it's intended use. To do so would risk future sales at the expense of sales for one ball (that has a relatively short "selling season" to begin with). These companies want to be in business this year, and next year, and for years to come.
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My Burgundy Ringer from the factory went too long for my taste, but after I wore some of the gloss off it got much stronger. At first I thought it would be a "dry lanes only" option, but over time it became as strong as many higher priced balls.
Face it. No manufacturer can anticipate every possible lane surface, oil used, amounts used and where, etc. Not to mention every possible bowler style. They test it on their conditions and lane surface, etc. and produce their marketing material and recommendations.
Rarely do I end up using the exact factory finish on a ball. When I do find that optimal surface for my game I make some notes for future reference so I can try to repeat it as closely as possible.
I really don't believe any manufacturer would purposely deceive the public regarding any ball and it's intended use. To do so would risk future sales at the expense of sales for one ball (that has a relatively short "selling season" to begin with). These companies want to be in business this year, and next year, and for years to come.
notclay +1
Great comment and I totally agree!
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Your comparing different bowling balls from different times. I'm sure also with a different number of games.
Any ball hooks if they are dry enough. No one knows anything about you or how your Ringer is drilled. Could be part of the problem. If the ball hooks too much and you don't believe the new Platinum hooks less then fine. If you don't think they Strike King would hook less, or the Slingshot or plastic then all fine as well.
Doesn't mean it is the ball, or marketing hype. Those are general statements of what should happen, but can not work for everyone on all conditions depending on the style and layout. It does however seem to fit that mold nicely for a lot of people.
True, but I maintain my equipment very well. I'm sure the Wicked Siege has lost a few boards, but probably in the back end, not the mid lane. I had to add surface to it because it was ridiculously clean through the front part of the lane when it was new. Both balls are drilled very close to the same and I bowl on a large variety of sport shots, so I've seen both on many patterns.
I still say if the same manufacturer says ball "A" should be much cleaner down lane and hook less than ball "B", it should. Otherwise get rid of all of their charts that give performance data on their equipment.
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Strider,
I will tell you. NIB and after about 40 games my Strike King gets easy projection down the lane and then has a fairly quick response to friction. It IS something different! 5 inch pin to pap 5 1/4 pap to CG pin up! I have seen others at 4 inches pin to Pap start churning a lot earlier and then reacting big time!
I have a Battle Zone Bullet that projects very easily(Powerkoil 17 XD) and it reacts much less to friction however on the back. (it also sat in a brutal strorage area for 5 years I believe leaching resin).
I have a Ringer and have thrown it undrilled. It does not seem to project near as well on first impression. My Damage with some projection additives seems to go much further!
REgards,
Luckylefty
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I bowl in several different houses and I get different reactions at all of them. Is it the ball? Is it the lane conditioner? We've used different lane conditioners at our center until we found one that cut down on carry down and didn't break down before the first game was over. All synthetic lanes are created different and don't react the same. I've had experienced bowler tell me they bowl on synthetics and didn't know they were all different. The surface hardness isn't the same and change depending on manufacturer. We stopped using Kegel oil cause we had out of range nightmares from all the carry down. So this being said, you'll get balls that are super clean through the heads at one house and it may hook at your feet at another house. It's impossible for all the manufacturer to give bowlers the exact reaction they are going to get or expect. I have a high axis rotation and what a ball will do for me, isn't the same reaction other see when I let them test the bowling balls that I drill. When I drill a new ball I always take the balls out with other and place a piece of tape on my pap. By doing so I can tell how the ball transitions going down the lane. Without a way to read the ball it's impossible for me to tell what's going on and where the ball actually gets into the final ball transition stage of rolling. It's better shows me the skid phase, hook phase, and roll phase. I tell you that the Strike King and Ringer are drilled the same and the tape on the pap shows me they roll different. The drilling makes a big difference in ball reaction and placing a drilling to create early roll isn't going to help the ball go long especially when the lanes have opened up! Stepping off my soap box now. Just my $.02, Bruce
P.S. I've been working in the bowling business since 1978 and have drilled hundreds if not thousands of different bowling balls from almost all the manufacturers since starting to do ball work in the early 80's. The hype was the same back in the day as it is today and it happens in all areas, just watch tv and it shows.
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+1 with batbowler!
I manage a 32 lane center and there are soooooo many factors that can change ball reaction.
One example is this year. We are applying more conditioner on each lane than we ever have, but because we also poured lots of money into the lane machine, the back ends are crazy good. What does the average league bowler say? "Put some oil down, they're too dry." Then when we did put more down they cried "what did you do to our shot?" Translation: I want tug room, and 5 boards of miss room outside, AND I don't want the shot to EVER break down... ;)
Once it gets really cold outside the pattern will act different again. We won't change what the machine puts down, but it will surely act like we did...
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What does the average league bowler say? "Put some oil down, they're too dry." Then when we did put more down they cried "what did you do to our shot?" Translation: I want tug room, and 5 boards of miss room outside, AND I don't want the shot to EVER break down... ;)
I absolutley cannot stand "that guy".....
They are simply the worst and the problem is........they're too uneducated about bowling to even grasp the basic concepts (factors that change conditions) in which you speak of Lane...
It is what it is. :D
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I absolutley cannot stand "that guy".....
+1000 lol
We have those in our center and you can't please everybody, but we try!!!!