BallReviews
Equipment Boards => Storm => Topic started by: tizzle on February 09, 2010, 07:45:32 AM
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Just got them off the truck... take a look.. surprised they even came as the weather has been shotty at best here. Will throw them tomorrow and give a full review. Also pics of the 3.5 and Evil siege there as well. Will have my old man give a review of those!
Big thanks to Britton for helping with the decision!
http://s647.photobucket.com/albums/uu195/tizzle08/Tournament%20Gear/
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Hmm..Lets see what I have in this bag..A Reign of Fire, an Invasion, a Nasty Spider, and a green Avalanche.. how can I lose....
....HG-300(2006 w/Desert Heat)...299 (03/15/09 w/Agent Orange)...HS-776 (Hot Sauce Pearl & Ebonite Magic)
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Ok.. I finally got some time on the lanes with these two monsters (rof/invasion. Tell me this.. what does an invasion and a rof in a trunk equal? It had to be the fruitiest smell ever.. haha. The minute I opened my trunk, it smelled like I had a trunk full of fruity air freshners. My Wednesday night league consists of old wood lanes that generally have high friction.. tonight on my pair there was a ton of oil.. perfect for my test. I decided to put both to the test immediately in practice. The first couple shots I did not even pay attention to as I was just getting warmed up from the cold. After feeling loose and relaxed, I decided to to stand where I usually stand with my jigsaw corner.. The invasion crushed the pocket, but it did it in a different manner. I picked up an invasion drilled up with the double thumb drilling.. designed for length and extreme backend. I got exactly that! The difference between the Invasion and the Jigsaw Corner is very simple.. The jigsaw corner was much more sensitive to your release and the lane transition. Meaning if you missed hitting it at the bottom or it reads friction too soon, you have an erratic motion (either jumps brooklyn or goes straight). The invasion with this layout blended the pattern very well. More on that later.. I then played the same line with the ROF, drilled with the basic, pin over bridge layout. The ROF washed out and never really turned the corner from that line. I had seen all I needed to see right then, dead is the rumor that the ROF is stronger then the invasion.. not even close. I bet if I took the invasion down to 1000 it would be an even bigger difference. ROF back in the bag for now. Started out the first game leaving 3 10 pins in a row.. missed the second one. Next 6 strikes in a row.. pocket 7-10. There was 3 of them on my pair tonight, and about 12-15 ten pin leaves. Game two I started with the invasion.. first 3 in a row, all flush. The next ball jumped out of the house.. botched spare. Compensated 2 and 1.. through the nose. Picked the spare. Moved 5 and 2 with my feet, in the hole baby. Ran off to the 10th frame.. buried the shot.. left a stone ten pin.. we were getting murdered this game by the other team.. so out of frustration missed the ten pin. Decided its time to settle down and go to something that I could decrease the angle a bit and firm up my ball speed. Moved 4 boards outside and kept the same breakpoint. The ROF just killed the pocket. The motion with this drilling was far from a hockey stick, just a nice early yet continuous roll into the pocket. Stayed on the same line the entire game.. all but two shots in the pocket.. left 1 ten pin. I can honestly say that I am very happy with this 1-2 combo. They compliment each other very well. The ROF loves to be thrown up the boards rather then playing deep inside lines (at least with this drilling on this surface). The invasion was just incredible! I could count on this thing coming back no matter how bad I missed right.. I couldn''t believe all the slack this ball gets. I can honestly say you have to drill this thing pin up, I can see a 4x4 drilling burning up at the arrows as the cover is just so strong. The ball looks like its actually digging a hole in the lane before it sprints the pocket. I am finally happy with my line up. The only thing I worry about is if this will be another high maintenance piece (oil sponge)! If you are wondering which ball is stronger.. its not even close. The invasion will definately cover more ground then the ROF, it just depends on where you want it at. If you want that dimension type look, go with the ROF with a stronger pin layout then mine. If you want a VG on steroids.. there is nothing out there like the Invasion. I can honestly say I have seen nothing like it before. My polished pin down stacked magic action was close, but was nearly uncontrollable due to the type of layout. I''m done ball trading for a while! Sorry for the book.. just wanted to let you guys know my findings, you can see pics of the layouts with the link in the post above me! Thanks Britton.. you were right on the ROF/Invasion debate as well!
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Hmm..Lets see what I have in this bag..A Reign of Fire, an Invasion, a Nasty Spider, and a green Avalanche.. how can I lose....
....HG-300(2006 w/Desert Heat)...299 (03/15/09 w/Agent Orange)...HS-776 (Hot Sauce Pearl & Ebonite Magic)
Edited on 2/10/2010 10:56 PM
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Well tonight I was able to get some more games on the ROF and the Invasion. I polished the ROF up from 1000 and got a big surprise... imagine a reign with a tad earlier read and less over/under.. thats what I got. I arrived with another surprise tonight.. they changed the shot up to a very heavy oil shot. On my second practice shot I began to grin as I watched the now polished reign of fire skate through the oil moving very little. Awesome.. I pulled out the invasion with the dual angle/double thumb layout. I ended up finding the line with my right foot on the middle dot, with my break point out to the second arrow. This is about 4-5 boards outside with my feet of where I usually stand to open up the first game. I was able to really see what this thing could do tonight. Opened up with the front 7, split then off the sheet (let up on the speed and straight through the nose). Opened up with the next 5 in a row, then I began to encounter some carry down, as my entire team was playing around the same breakpoint and moved the oil around. I jumped 6 boards inside with my feet and a full arrow with my eyes and found the pocket again. Carry was excellent. Finished the game with 240, even with the fill ball to bring in the ROF. Moved 3 boards outside and kept the same breakpoint. The ball was nice and smooth, smashing the pocket. I left several 7 pins in the last game as the ball was just flying through the hole, and finishing very hard. All and all.. finished with a 740 series, not bad. Should have been a 800 with a 300 attached to it, but I failed to read the transition, instead I stayed where I was comfortable and suffered a bit. So far I am loving the reaction of the invasion/rof combo. I have another invasion on the way with a pin down layout for an early look on the flat sport patterns. I never imagined they would fit so well together. I am very happy! The other team really hated my invasion shirt to go with it tonight! haha!
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Hmm..Lets see what I have in this bag..A Reign of Fire, 2 Invasions, and a green Avalanche.. how can I lose....
....HG-300(2006 w/Desert Heat)...299 (03/15/09 w/Agent Orange)...HS-776 (Hot Sauce Pearl & Ebonite Magic)
Edited on 2/15/2010 11:25 PM
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When it's time ill take the ROF off your hands...
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My last outing with the Reign of Fire was last night as it has been sold and a mission will take its place. I bowled at my Wednesday Night league (low friction surfaces, more oil then my other house)and it appeared I was on point in practice. Just couldn't miss the pocket with my pin under invasion. I compared the pin under invasion to the dual thumb layout and got an earlier read and about 3 more boards on the front end in practice. Man oh man did that change when the lights came on... First shot high flush.. ok I figured I let up on the speed a bit.. The next pocket jumped through the nose.. split city.. Ok back to the lane I struck on... moved 2 and 1... the ball just slid and never came up.. I was like ok... wow..... whats going on. The next frame on the opposite lane.. i had moved back outside and firmed up the speed... through the nose... Well when I looked at the score board.. At the 5th frame I had one strike and all splits (opens). I began to go crazy... until I watched my teammates ball and I realized that the right lane had a hold spot, where the left lane was hooking out of the building. Corrected myself by using two different balls.. The Invasion on the lane that had hold and the ROF on the lane that was hooking out of the house.. That way I could play the same line, same target. Went off the sheet for a sub 200 game... that was the hardest dutch 200 game I ever bowled. The next game both lanes had blown apart as most players were playing the track area. 170 game ouch... I was not the only one struggling as I still was alive and some brackets with that horrible game.. The last game I used the dual angle invasion deep inside away from everyone.. shot 231.. to survive in brackets and take all 7 points in league. I felt like I threw the ball alot better then I scored tonight, which is ok with me. Still shot a low 6 series, so I feel like a salvaged a wreck of a series, and stll made money. I will give it to Storm that the ROF is very versatile as the ball acts very different with polish on it. Its like a whole different ball, probably could have played around with the surface a bit and increased the flare hole to get it to bend a bit more downlane, but have been wanting to get a mission for some time now, so she has to go. I might be looking for a pin under ROF later and polish it to see what it does! Thanks for reading!
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Hmm..Lets see what I have in this bag..A Reign of Fire, 2 Invasions, and a green Avalanche.. how can I lose....
....HG-300(2006 w/Desert Heat)...299 (03/15/09 w/Agent Orange)...HS-776 (Hot Sauce Pearl & Ebonite Magic)