BallReviews
General Category => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: trash heap on September 30, 2014, 12:56:14 PM
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Can we get some real information on a bowling ball instead of hype? I am really getting tired of this.
Here is Storm's Latest Greatest Comming Out:
Crux - Release Date: October 14, 2014
The Center of UNBRIDLED POWER. Asymmetry is 'The Crux'
For eight years running now, more professionals have included Storm in their arsenal than any other brand. They want the same thing as amateur bowlers—superior performance. With strong, consistent motion and energy through the pins, Storm bowling balls are incomparable.
Okay hyping up your own company it is great.
Of course though we get the same words for the past eight years on bowling balls. Strong, Consistent Motion, Energy.
The Catalyst™ Core is not only our latest groundbreaking technology, it is the sparkplug of this ball. It soon will be the stimulation of exceptional bowling. Its’ dynamic asymmetrical design will help you create more angle through the pocket. It’s been proven that increasing your entry-angle gives you a much wider margin for error that can lead to more strikes. Think Jason Belmonte or Pete Weber’s pin-action, you don't have to throw it like these pros but that is what you can expect from the Crux.
Every new core is "Ground Breaking"! I am guessing they really mean it this time.
I have heard cores referred to as the engine of the ball, but a Sparkplug?
"It soon will be the stimulation of exceptional bowling." ???
This ball is going to give you the same pin-action as Jason Belmonte or Pete Weber. Impressive!
And the ERGâ„¢ hybrid reactive cover stock is prepped to a 3000-grit, so bowlers like yourself can be rest assured that the Crux has decisive performance
WOW! 3000 Grit is now the magical surface. I better get all of my equipment to 3000 grit. It is statements like this is why most bowlers refuse to change the surface on their bowling ball.
Also any review of new ball based on throwing it immediately out of the box is a waste of time (especially on a fresh house shot).
I want to know how well a ball works after many games on it. I want to know how well it performs once you have to do some maintenance on it. We as consumers should be demanding this kind of information from the manufacturers.
Instead we get statemenst that the core soon will be the stimulation of exceptional bowling and the cover's magical 3000 grit is going to give decisive performance.
This message was not just to pick on Storm. All ball companies do this. As someone who purchases bowling balls, it would be nice to have some real information along with the hype.
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I feel the same way. With the exception of one staffer, every staff review I have read is nothing but glowing praise about how the current ball is the "second coming". Riggs is that exception as I have seen a few reviews where he specifically mentions that he doesn't match up to a ball.
I can give you almost EVERY staffer review in five lines.
1. This ball gets through the heads cleanly.
2. This ball gives a great read of the mid lane then makes a nice move to the pocket.
3. This ball has great continuation through the pins.
4. This ball is much improved over (insert previous wonder ball here).
5. This is a ball that should be in everyone's bag.
I left out the company marketing collateral that many reviews include in their preamble. And yes, I understand this is probably part of the conditions of being on staff, but at some point you lose credibility.
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You guys couldn't have said it any better!
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Appearance: the ball is round, great color, and cartoon like logos...
Performance: skids about 35 feet, then it starts to read the lanes and hooks, and in the last few feet it starts to roll crushing the pocket like a peter built. nothing left on the pin deck like ISIS getting blown up to nothing.
Overall: best ball I've ever thrown, if you haven't got one, you're missing out.
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And the ERGâ„¢ hybrid reactive cover stock is prepped to a 3000-grit, so bowlers like yourself can be rest assured that the Crux has decisive performance
If it were at 2000 or 4000 grit, there would be reason for concern. I wouldn't be confident that it has decisive performance. :P
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It'll take a lot of guess work and/or money to sift through all the BS and find what works for you.
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I know what weight block shapes work well for me, along with what numbers I like to have for a certain reaction. If I get a ball that's a bummer, I don't get another one. If there's a ball that I match up to well, if another future ball comes out with the same core, I'm going to snag it up. Break weight block worked well for me, so I have a NIB Break Point and War Eagle, as well as a WE and Black Eagle in the bag.
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You guys are missing something though. "If you don't have one, have fun taking second place." Lol. When I heard Randy Pedersen say this I literally laughed out loud. It's stuff like that that makes me very cynical about reviews in general. Lol.
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Yeah I bashed Hammer pretty good on their Bad Ass marketing . . and this isn't any better. I've seen it in action and it IS a really good ball, but do people honestly get suckered in by this patronizing drivel? Does it actually excite them or can they really not see past the marketing?
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Hope it doesn't leave any stone 8's...
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I agree 1000%.
Someone has to be believing it, or else why would they put it out there. Or at least the ball companies believe it is working based on their sales data. Otherwise we wouldn't see any more of it.
I also agree that I don't put much stock in the review of staffers anymore. I also agree that Riggs is the exception. He tells it like it is, what worked and what didn't work for him. And, on balls that don't work for him, he explains who he thinks that ball would be a good fit for. Every bowler is different, not every ball works for everyone. Every ball company puts out a clunker now and then too. It's to the point now if I see a staffer wrote the review, I generally skip past it. It's a shame though as these folk should be the people with the most knowledge of a ball that could really impart some good info. Be honest if a ball doesn't work for you and tell us who it would work for. Simple as that.
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Go heap!
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Yeah I bashed Hammer pretty good on their Bad Ass marketing . . and this isn't any better. I've seen it in action and it IS a really good ball, but do people honestly get suckered in by this patronizing drivel? Does it actually excite them or can they really not see past the marketing?
We bowl here on the website, so chances are this "fluff" doesn't work on the demographic on this site. However, there are many bowlers who don't know this site exists or much about balls in general, so if they see a flyer with all this "fluff" on it, they will believe it.
You think this is bad? (Bowling) Look at golf club/ball ads, I just started golfing and I fell for all of it. Its human nature.
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I agree 1000%.
Someone has to be believing it, or else why would they put it out there. Or at least the ball companies believe it is working based on their sales data. Otherwise we wouldn't see any more of it.
I also agree that I don't put much stock in the review of staffers anymore. I also agree that Riggs is the exception. He tells it like it is, what worked and what didn't work for him. And, on balls that don't work for him, he explains who he thinks that ball would be a good fit for. Every bowler is different, not every ball works for everyone. Every ball company puts out a clunker now and then too. It's to the point now if I see a staffer wrote the review, I generally skip past it. It's a shame though as these folk should be the people with the most knowledge of a ball that could really impart some good info. Be honest if a ball doesn't work for you and tell us who it would work for. Simple as that.
Tommy Gollick and Casey Murphy (along with his videos) are pretty damn good too. I like Riggs' reviews, and this is no knock on him, he throws it like a common man. Medium speed, medium revs so his reviews are very indicative of what most mortals will see.
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More honesty like in any other market such as energy drinks, candy, cars, or body spray?
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This got me thinking:
Think Jason Belmonte or Pete Weber’s pin-action, you don't have to throw it like these pros but that is what you can expect from the Crux.
Does this mean if Pete Weber uses this ball he will get the pin-action of Jason Belmonte?
Or is it Jason Belmonte using it going to get the pin-action of Pete Weber?
They need to be more specific, before I buy it. I guess I will have wait and see when they are bowling TV. :P
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LOL
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Tommy Gollick and Casey Murphy (along with his videos) are pretty damn good too. I like Riggs' reviews, and this is no knock on him, he throws it like a common man. Medium speed, medium revs so his reviews are very indicative of what most mortals will see.
This is why I never get why PBA guys getting a reaction out of a ball makes people buy that same ball. I don't bowl like any pros out there. balls don't do for me what they do for them. I'm much more likely to buy a ball based off of what I see some guy in league that bowls similar to me does with it than anything a pro does with it. I think the ball companies are missing the boat on this one and could sell more product with the right league bowlers for a lot less money.
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I buying it anyways cuz I usually better with their non gravity high end releases...a la invasion, vivid, etc...
Save yo bucks for a crux!
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Ok, Now that everyone here is having their fun...
How would you expect them to market their ball to their core buying public?
I seriously doubt, it is to us on this board as most of us have a clue.
I would expect that it is marketed to the once a week bowler who thinks he needs a few more strikes and the newest best bowling ball ever invented will provide that to them.
Because if you only market to the 10% top tier bowlers your company probably doesn't succeed.
Their are only at most 10,000-20,000 bowlers at most who care how a ball reacts after 50 games, or what surface their ball has, or how does it perform outside of a THS. The rest of the bowling population (1 million +) and their check books only care about does it strike more. It might be sad but it is true.
People buy what the pros use. People buy the clubs Tiger, Phil and Rory hit even though they do not have the game anywhere close to those 3 because they "think" if I use Rory's club, I will hit it further and straighter. If I use the ball that Jason, Chris and Wes use, I will strike more. That's the way the masses think and the marketers exploit. Marketing 101.
Come on Man!!!
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Txbowler, I get what you're saying and I think most who have responded to this topic do, as well. While there may have been some humorous jabs taken, the fact is if your bowling skill is in that 10% range or higher, you're not likely to drawn to a ball because of the hype. Your buying decision is going to be influenced by what you've seen for yourself and a knowledge of your abilities whether the latest and greatest ball introduced to the marketplace is suitable for your game or not.
Where I live for example, most bowlers I've seen use Storm and Motiv, particularly the latter. I suspect many have followed the hype and/or figured if the top bowlers in the area are using those two brands then it must be good for them. Where as, I've used Brunswick and Radical; however, my decision has solely been based on what I think will work best for my game -- and I've been right so far.
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Those sneaky bastards at Storm. They almost got me! Solid solid thread.
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txbowler I have to disagree with you analysis about the once a week bowler's reason for a buying a ball. It comes down to hook for them not striking. Which ball out hooks the other.
Its the same story across all proshops. The proshop reccommends this type of ball to a customer (which will fit their style and produce the strikes they are looking for). Well the customer wants another ball because it will hook more and is newer. Let's face it, Storm advertising that you will get the same pin-action as Jason Belmonte and Pete Weber is really stretching things.
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Would you rather them say, "the ball will leave washouts if you miss right and big 4's if you miss left?" It's all apart of marketing a product, whether truths may he stretched or not. How about Radical claiming their balls are technologically more advanced than others or Track claiming their products are "smart" bowling? It's all about connecting with the bowler and persuading them to try your product. Do you think every kid who ever bought Air Jordan's, could truly "be like mike?" I couldn't jump any higher with my Jordan's on, but it never stopped me from buying the next pair.
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It's all about connecting with the bowler and persuading them to try your product.
The connection a bowler should have is with a proshop. Its the proshop that does the magic, not the ball.
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Would you rather them say, "the ball will leave washouts if you miss right and big 4's if you miss left?" It's all apart of marketing a product, whether truths may he stretched or not. How about Radical claiming their balls are technologically more advanced than others or Track claiming their products are "smart" bowling? It's all about connecting with the bowler and persuading them to try your product. Do you think every kid who ever bought Air Jordan's, could truly "be like mike?" I couldn't jump any higher with my Jordan's on, but it never stopped me from buying the next pair.
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It's all about connecting with the bowler and persuading them to try your product.
The connection a bowler should have is with a proshop. Its the proshop that does the magic, not the ball.
This is a great point. But this is where the disconnect with the general bowling population happens.
I can walk into any high end golf store and purchase the best club and not talk to a sole. And to the average bowler, I would guess that a majority have no idea that a bowling ball can be drilled multiple ways for different reactions based on their games.
Just like a majority of golfers do not get custom length shafts made for their exact height.
As was stated above, the bowler should be talking with their pro shop to maximize the potential of the ball and bowler. But marketing the ball, I don't recall the pro shops being mentioned much at all by the major ball companies.
Maybe that needs to change. If they stated in their commercials and marketing that you should consult with your local pro shop operator to determine the correct drilling layout for your game, it would help?
Just a thought.
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If they stated in their commercials and marketing that you should consult with your local pro shop operator to determine the correct drilling layout for your game, it would help?
Excellent Point. This is should be required.