First off, I have to thank Chris Zielke for starting this new company. Also have to thank Lee at Andy's Proshop In Chicago for having an Idol on hand.
Now to the ball:
I was looking for something a little stronger than my Ballisitk Kryptonite. The Kryptonite is always the first ball out of my bag, but is beginning to get alittle weak. The Idol has a very similar coverstock, both have a very high mica load. In fact the Idol looks almost wxactly like the original El Nino, red and purple with a lot of mica flakes. The numbers on the Idol were a bit stronger than the Kryptonite, and since I have a penchant for buying balls from small companies, I was sold.
My Idol had a 1 1/2 inch pin and about a 3 oz topweight. We decided to go with the strongest layout on the drill sheet. Pin is below and just to the right of the ring finger, about 3 inches from my PAP, CG is about an inch from the centerline, 2 inches or so from my PAP, MB in a strong position, about 45 degrees from my track.
As you can see from my profile, I throw around 17-18 mph, very high track, with a lot of revs.
Tried it out last night on a very wet dry house shot, looked like they were oiled to about 38, 8 to 8 with a flood in the middle and screeching backends. Not sure about the exact pattern, though. It was basically a very wet/dry condition.
The first ball I threw with my Kryptonite was between 15 and 25, out to about 3. The ball skidded through the oil, hit the dry and rolled out, coming in light. My next shot was pitched straight up 18 out to about 12, ball wallowed in the oil and never really got into a roll, clipped the headpin, but had no drive.
The Idol in box condition gave much better results. The first shot I tried was the same as the Kryptonite, 18 out to about 3. The ball sailed through the oil, hit my breakpoint at about 45 and roared back to the pocket, ripping the rack. Next I tried to throw it up tight to 15 to see what it would do. The Idol once again cleared the heads great and then made a great transition out of the oil and set up nicely, once again clearing the deck.
This is basically how it went for the next 3 games. The Idol was incredibly forgiving, storing enough energy to bounce and make a very strong arc from the channel, but still having enough core and cover get into a roll even if I tossed it into the soup.
I was originally a little worried about how well the ball would carry, since it looks like a modified 3-piece. I had nothing to worry about. Carry was very good. I left two solid ten pins, but that's about 5 less than I leave on a typical night. The kept the pins low, but still gave me a lot of messengers that swept the deck.
I usually don't drill up too many strong balls, but I am really impressed with the Idol. Track flare was about 7-8 inches, which means the ball is basically one big bowtie. I think this is one of the reasons the ball was so even. It was giving me a lot of different looks, depending on where I played. It would roll heavy if I got behind it and keep it in the oil, and if I circled it some more and sent it wide, it made a very snappy move off the gutter. This ball was very helpful for overcoming the tricky wet/dry condition because it never blew up when it hit the dry, and saved a lot of energy. I was the only one in the league getting such a consitent read, which helped me pay the ball off in one night, so I have no complaints.
I knocked the box condition off of it with a grey scotch brite, and hit it with some 3M Perfect-it, fine cut. I plan on giving it a try on a THS this week, to see it will still have as consitent of a reaction. I'll update as I try it on more conditions.
Mankow
(Sorry this was so long-winded, it's my first review, and wanted to make sure I covered all the bases.)
