I would definately say it's earlier than a Wow Pearl. I think it would be earlier than an Icon 300 with the same surface prep, but then my Icon 300 never really seemed to hook that much. I ended up taking the surface down on my Formula. Once it got a track in it, it started up pretty early for me and was much easier to control off the break point, so I decided to take the surface down and try it on heavier mediums. I'm still not really sold on the ball, it's just too close to some of my reactives and doesn't hit as well, but maybe I just haven't hit the right condition yet. I'm sure others will disagree, but the Formula actually reminds me of a strong Wicked B/R/T.