I tried this ball on our house shot pattern and this ball does exactly as advertised. It seems like Motiv created something special with their Hexion coverstock technology.

The Hydra is very clean through the front part of the lane and when it hits the friction it has a strong, STRONG move to the backend. When I found out about this release I was expecting a weaker ball but I was wrong.

The Hydra is stronger overall than the preivous balls that used the Halogen core, the Tag Cannon and the Graffiti Tag. As a low rev, medium speed bowler, sometimes I have issues with this type of equipment. If the ball hits the friction too soon, the ball goes sideways, if I stay in the oil for too long, the ball goes foverer and it picks up late, so most of the time I have to use surface to get the ball to read the lane earlier. With the Hydra I didn't have to touch the out of the box surface and I was surprised on how clean this ball is and how much energy it saves for the last part of the lane.

I was able to start close to my confort zone around the second arrow and I could swing the ball a little bit farther down the lane than what I was expecting. The Hydra is definitely stronger than advertised. I can see myself using this ball on fresh without a problem.

Overall I really enjoyed testing this ball. Motiv did a great job creating such an angular ball with a low-mid entry price. Even with how angular this ball is, the Hydra is really easy to read and it is really easy to adjust once you need to make and adjustment.

I feel that this ball will be useful to open up the lane on most light-medium oil conditions or to play straighter angles while bowling on fresh. This ball will be a great fit for all the tournament bowlers who need a ball that provides length and shape downlane.

If you are looking for an affordable ball, with a strong backend motion that can handle most light and medium oil conditions, then the Hydra might be the ball you are looking for.

Thank you for watching!