BallReviews
General Category => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: lilpossum1 on September 27, 2016, 08:05:20 AM
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Mine is currently a Pitch black. I actually balled up to a Ride last night ;D currently wondering where the oil is that allows people to throw mid to low strength equipment!
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Currently it's a Snap Lock at 4000.
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Brunswick Fanatic loving that ball right now. Can't seem to get it out of my hand to throw anything else.
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Mine is a Radical Ridiculous Asym at 4000
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Night Hawk SE. I can ball down to a Boost or ball up to a Ops or Dream On.
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Still the Motiv Sigma Sting.
I think Motiv needs to update the sigma core and give it a strong pearl cover.
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Mine is an Arson Hybrid. Liked it when I first got it and then thought it died really quickly. Now that I know better and use quality cleaners, refreshed the coverstock, and have the NuBall it's looking great again.
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Hammer Scandal for me
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Brunswick Brute Strength. If I need more backend I go to a Storm Fight or ball down to a Rhino
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Hammer Scandal for me
Just curious, what do you "ball up" to if the Scandal is your benchmark?
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Radical Primo Solid at 1000 Siaair
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Hammer Scandal for me
Just curious, what do you "ball up" to if the Scandal is your benchmark?
Thanks for asking. I was getting a headache with shaking my head at the concept of a Scandal being a "benchmark".
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Hy-Road or IQ Tour (both preferably at 2000) serve as great benchmarks for me. Depending on the lane surface and pattern I bowl on dictates which ball would be at a higher surface.
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Radical Guru Supreme - I ball up to an Absolute Nirvana and when the breakdown starts I go to a Radical Limited Pearl.
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Gamebreaker 2 Solid.
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For me, if it is not broke, don't fix it. Tried a ton of stuff over the last 5 years but I always migrate back to Visionary. Orange/Black Ogre is always first out of my bag and some can still be had although the ball is close to a decade old now.
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nothing wrong with that until a couple weeks ago my benchmark was a cherry vibe. i have since updated to the infrared vibe. for sport patterns i still go with my iq solid
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My benchmark ball is still my old Visionary Blue Warlock.
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My Tzone which gets nothing less then 8 count
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Hammer Scandal for me
Just curious, what do you "ball up" to if the Scandal is your benchmark?
He goes to the Dynamo X2
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Hammer Scandal for me
Just curious, what do you "ball up" to if the Scandal is your benchmark?
He goes to the Dynamo X2
That would be the original Dynamo. Know your balls. :)
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Sigma Sting
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It's my Sigma Sting. I still haven't found a benchmark as good as that.
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Brunswick Vintage Danger Zone at oob finish. It's an all purpose ball for me.
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Venom Shock, all purpose ball, special piece.
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HyRoad...
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Venom Shock, all purpose ball, special piece.
same
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Forza was a great benchmark ball for me. Now I am using the GT and I am loving it.
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NO RULES!!! OOB benchmark, ball down with UFO, ball up with 1000K.
Tropical Thunder baby!!! SURVIVE!!!!
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Old Columbia 300 Pearl Beast, ball up to modern resin, ball down to urethane :)
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NO RULES!!! OOB benchmark, ball down with UFO, ball up with 1000K.
Tropical Thunder baby!!! SURVIVE!!!!
I've been thinking about making an Incinerate @500 grit drilled double thumb with a 4 inch pin my benchmark, but it hooks so soon that I actually can't get it out of the parking lot before it goes left. Still trying to figure out how to get it in the building...
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Hammer Scandal for me
Just curious, what do you "ball up" to if the Scandal is your benchmark?
He goes to the Dynamo X2
That would be the original Dynamo. Know your balls. :)
The houses in my area that I go to keep the lanes with heavy oil, So i really have no choice but to throw the Scandal. If for some crazy reason the oil is real light, I will go to my Red Legend or Blue Urathane.
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I would have to say my Defiant Soul. Pretty much my go to ball if all else fails.
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polished 900 global network
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We face around 38 to 40 feet of medium light oil. I start with a Colombia Ti-boss II Grape rolling around the 8th board at 40 feet. That line is usually good for at least one game. Then adjust line or make ball change as needed.
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NO RULES!!! OOB benchmark, ball down with UFO, ball up with 1000K.
Tropical Thunder baby!!! SURVIVE!!!!
I've been thinking about making an Incinerate @500 grit drilled double thumb with a 4 inch pin my benchmark, but it hooks so soon that I actually can't get it out of the parking lot before it goes left. Still trying to figure out how to get it in the building...
hahahaha.....
use baby oil and rub it all over the ball!
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in all seriously, For last year leagues, the Lane Masters Power Strike.
This season I'm still searching for it......
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It seems these "Benchmark Ball" surveys should be re-titled as "Current Favorite THS Ball"
The concept of benchmark appears to be subjective to everyone instead of a hard-lined definition.
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It seems these "Benchmark Ball" surveys should be re-titled as "Current Favorite THS Ball"
The concept of benchmark appears to be subjective to everyone instead of a hard-lined definition.
"THS" is just the same as "Benchmark ball" lol .... two house close to each other are totally different. The "Brunswick" house my BM ball would be something in the Thunder line. The other house I bowl has a shorter lower volume, SPL surface, and my benchmark ball would be in the HOT line by Storm
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It seems these "Benchmark Ball" surveys should be re-titled as "Current Favorite THS Ball"
The concept of benchmark appears to be subjective to everyone instead of a hard-lined definition.
"THS" is just the same as "Benchmark ball" lol .... two house close to each other are totally different. The "Brunswick" house my BM ball would be something in the Thunder line. The other house I bowl has a shorter lower volume, SPL surface, and my benchmark ball would be in the HOT line by Storm
Wait a second......I bowl 2 leagues, one on wood and one on synthetic. At the synthetic house I use my Snap Lock at 4000 and at the wood house I use a shiny Hectic.
My arsenal progression is Eternal Cell at 500/2000 down to Snap Lock at 4000 down to shiny Hectic down to MoRich Mojave.
Is your argument that my "benchmark" ball is the Snap Lock at one house and the Hectic at the other? That your benchmark is relative to the house you're in?
That isn't very logical.......(if I'm understanding correctly)
A benchmark ball is the ball in your arsenal you use to read the pattern and will ball up and down accordingly. The ball you end up throwing often on a THS in a house doesn't make it the benchmark in the context of your arsenal. spmcgivern hit it the nail on the head, this thread should be "Current Fav THS Ball"
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It seems these "Benchmark Ball" surveys should be re-titled as "Current Favorite THS Ball"
The concept of benchmark appears to be subjective to everyone instead of a hard-lined definition.
"THS" is just the same as "Benchmark ball" lol .... two house close to each other are totally different. The "Brunswick" house my BM ball would be something in the Thunder line. The other house I bowl has a shorter lower volume, SPL surface, and my benchmark ball would be in the HOT line by Storm
Wait a second......I bowl 2 leagues, one on wood and one on synthetic. At the synthetic house I use my Snap Lock at 4000 and at the wood house I use a shiny Hectic.
My arsenal progression is Eternal Cell at 500/2000 down to Snap Lock at 4000 down to shiny Hectic down to MoRich Mojave.
Is your argument that my "benchmark" ball is the Snap Lock at one house and the Hectic at the other? That your benchmark is relative to the house you're in?
That isn't very logical.......(if I'm understanding correctly)
A benchmark ball is the ball in your arsenal you use to read the pattern and will ball up and down accordingly. The ball you end up throwing often on a THS in a house doesn't make it the benchmark in the context of your arsenal. spmcgivern hit it the nail on the head, this thread should be "Current Fav THS Ball"
I used to get a weird look when I replied to a question asking about which is my bench mark ball when I bowled at several house (3.5 houses) a season. My answer would always be "For which house I bowl?"
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I used to get a weird look when I replied to a question asking about which is my bench mark ball when I bowled at several house (3.5 houses) a season. My answer would always be "For which house I bowl?"
Yeah, that's probably why they gave you a weird look. :)
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The asylum is my benchmark. I ball down from there.
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For me its the Motiv Paranoia. Nice piece!
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I have a smooth, pin down Match Solid that's great for getting the idea of how lanes are going to play at new houses or on sport patterns. By definition, it's my benchmark.
However, I bowl all of my leagues and usually practice at a single house where pin downs are 10 pin machines for me. So 90% of my bowling (everything outside of tournaments and an occasional practice session elsewhere) is done without even having my "benchmark" ball in my bag. Which begs the question, is it really my benchmark? I know what works there, start with my medium ball of the ones I bring (Double thumbed Radical Jackpot) and ball up or down from that ball.
So yes, I can see how people may have different benchmarks for different purposes. In my case, I have a tournament benchmark and a league benchmark. Each ball's purposes are well understood by me, so it doesn't really matter what label you put on them.
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See, I know exactly where to go if I need more or less than my Night Hawk, no matter if it's a house shot or sport pattern.
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I used to get a weird look when I replied to a question asking about which is my bench mark ball when I bowled at several house (3.5 houses) a season. My answer would always be "For which house I bowl?"
Yeah, that's probably why they gave you a weird look. :)
hahaha.... even when they ask me, "what arrow are you aiming at?" and I tell them the truth, "I don't know." i get a lot of faces like "THE ROCK".... i'm not that bright
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The triangles aren't just decorations??
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Hyroad....for the first year ever...solids are out of the question...gotta love the three centers that oil our for big dog men's leagues...2 of which are scratch.....and u can wheel the ditch with anything...so dry.
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It's going to sound so cliche....IQ Tour Solid.
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The triangles aren't just decorations??
they are directions to where your benchmark ball should roll.....geez... i need a bulliet...
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IQ Tour/Venom Shock/Rocket/ Vintage Danger Zone????
Tough decision, lol ;D
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See, I know exactly where to go if I need more or less than my Night Hawk, no matter if it's a house shot or sport pattern.
I wasn't implying that a benchmark ball can't be use on both house and sport. I'm saying that a stereotypical benchmark roll doesn't carry for ME consistently at my home house on the THS they put out. It works great at other houses and on sport shots and gives me a good read of the lanes on either sport or house. But since much of my bowling is at one house where it doesn't like to carry a 10 pin, it's not worth bringing with me much of the time. My read of the lanes in league is that they're going to be pretty close to the same as last week.
Tournaments at new houses are a different animal. A true benchmark roll to start with is preferred in those situations.
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I used to get a weird look when I replied to a question asking about which is my bench mark ball when I bowled at several house (3.5 houses) a season. My answer would always be "For which house I bowl?"
Yeah, that's probably why they gave you a weird look. :)
hahaha.... even when they ask me, "what arrow are you aiming at?" and I tell them the truth, "I don't know." i get a lot of faces like "THE ROCK".... i'm not that bright
I'm right there with you except different! If someone asks why board I am standing on, I couldn't tell them. I just go by feel based on the line I am throwing. And I certainly don't have a clue where I am sliding which I know is bad. I do know by feel when I drift abnormally with my feet
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If both centers near my house were close in pattern and surface, then I could say the hyroad. but the seasons I had bowled in both houses, the hyroad wass way too much ball for my second shift scratch league. I used a tropical Heat, "breeze", and spare for this 36-37" lower volume ICE on SPL's.
The house #2 I carried... Vivid, "Hyroad", and Heat - breeze for spares. They put down 40-43' No reverse (A22 machine?) OOB outside 5. on Pro surface. Both were night and day. In fact, I think it's even flooded at this house this season. Scandals, NO rules, ect... are being used. This is what people have said who bowl leagues there..
I bowled a tourney there and it was really flooded, scores were very low, and ppl decided not to hold the next tournament there and move it somewhere else. it was that bad I guess...but my team and I did okay
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If you were to walk into a strange house with an unknown lane pattern, which ball do you want to start with to give you a read of the pattern? To me, that would be my benchmark ball.
For a league that you have been bowling in for years on THS, you might not need a benchmark ball because you know what to expect. You may want to dig out the benchmark ball if you started out struggling to figure out if if was you or the pattern.
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If you were to walk into a strange house with an unknown lane pattern, which ball do you want to start with to give you a read of the pattern? To me, that would be my benchmark ball.
For a league that you have been bowling in for years on THS, you might not need a benchmark ball because you know what to expect. You may want to dig out the benchmark ball if you started out struggling to figure out if if was you or the pattern.
This ^
Still on the hunt for a new benchmark ball. Thinking a Venom Shock.
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If you were to walk into a strange house with an unknown lane pattern, which ball do you want to start with to give you a read of the pattern? To me, that would be my benchmark ball.
For a league that you have been bowling in for years on THS, you might not need a benchmark ball because you know what to expect. You may want to dig out the benchmark ball if you started out struggling to figure out if if was you or the pattern.
Yes!
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right now pyramid pathogen smoooooooooth controlled motion
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For home turf, the Grudge ball.
For the alley where it's usually dry as a desert, the Freakshow.
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I totally agree with MI 2 AZ....
if bowled as much as I used to today (i only bowl 3 games a week nowadays) for tourneys or travel league, or continued to bowl sport, the Hyroad is my best BM since the TRack Slash.
I've owned 3 generations of Hyroads (I still have 2012 thanks to charlest) and there's a reason it's still in production.
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If you were to walk into a strange house with an unknown lane pattern, which ball do you want to start with to give you a read of the pattern? To me, that would be my benchmark ball.
For a league that you have been bowling in for years on THS, you might not need a benchmark ball because you know what to expect. You may want to dig out the benchmark ball if you started out struggling to figure out if if was you or the pattern.
One of the best posts in this thread Gary! Your definition of benchmark is right on IMO.
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For the places I'm familiar with it's the Fanatic, but if I'm a somewhere new I'd throw the Melee Hook in the bag.
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I love my Zone Classic. Wait, what year is it?
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Only because the house that I bowl league at is an old wood house (very, very old. So old that it has hit the limit on resurfacing and has lots of holes in the heads, but very thankful that they are still open for business!), my benchmark is a Storm RIDE.
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Right now, I use either a 1500 grit Brunswick Melee or a 1000-grit Mastermind Intellect as my benchmark piece. Both are smooth and rolly, and they never get jumpy on me.
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An AMF Hawk! ha, ha, ha! Don't laugh!
I have scored some pretty high scores, and very consistently with this ball, no matter where I bowl. The crazy part of this is, I have a NightHawk which I absolutely love the downlane motion on……..but it will not carry for me!
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Venom Strike, Riley, smooth archy, consistent ball motion.
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How does the Hyroad compare to the Forza? Will there be overlap if I pick up a hyroad?
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My current benchmark ball is the Alpha Crux polished. I can ball up to a Haywire and ball down to a Crux Pearl.
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My current benchmark ball is a Radical Guru Supreme drilled 42 x 4" x 32 (4"x4"x2") with a 4000-grit surface (neaT pad). This ball gives me the board I'm playing, a board to the right in recovery, and a board to the left in hold on many local patterns. Most importantly, it gives me a good read regarding the conditioner pattern and lane topography. If I need more back end reaction, I go to a Radical Guru drilled 60 x 5" x 30 (pin over bridge), also with a 4000-grit neaT surface. With strong back ends, I go to a Radical Score, drilled 30 x 5.25" x 60 (pin under middle finger with mass bias close to the VAL), also with a 4000-grit neaT surface. For light and/or short patterns, I go to a Radical Rack Attack Pearl with the pin in the middle finger and the CG just right of the grip centerline, with a factory finish (500/compound/polish). When I need more surface, I can go to an Ebonite GameBreaker 2, pin over bridge, CG right on grip center, with factory 500/2000 surface. When I need a different shot shape for carry, I can go to a Storm Lock, drilled 50 x 4" x 35 with a 2500 grit neAt surface. The emphasis here is that I start with the Guru Supreme in practice and move to a different ball, if necessary, based on the read I get from the GS. For many local patterns, the GS works well for me.
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At the 2 centers I sub at and on sport shots it's a polished Covert Revolt. At the center I bowl full time at it's a Venom Cobra
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How does the Hyroad compare to the Forza? Will there be overlap if I pick up a hyroad?
From what I have seen, the HyRoad is kinda flippy while the Forza is very smooth and stronger. Not really similar.
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The IQ Tour solid. House patterns, sport patterns, and everything in between. It's always the first out of the bag.
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For me, if it is not broke, don't fix it. Tried a ton of stuff over the last 5 years but I always migrate back to Visionary. Orange/Black Ogre is always first out of my bag and some can still be had although the ball is close to a decade old now.
The Orange/Black Ogre was/is a great ball, very predictable and rolls great!
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Roto Grip Unhinged. Always gets me out of Trouble 8)
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Motiv Tag. I can always count on this ball to save the night.
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Taboo jet black
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Motiv SR2 clean, smooth, predictable easy to make small moves with out destroying line to pocket