The third Rival is the Perfect Rival.  This green/purple/silver ball claims to have the midlane of the original Rival, and finish on the backend as hard as the Arch Rival.

Mine was punched up 65* x 35*, with the pin 4 3/4" from my PAP.  This is the ball to start off every bowling session with.  You can find out what the lanes are like in just a few shots.  The ball motion is similar to a Momentum Swing, but hooks about 4 boards less.  By starting with the Perfect Rival, you can easily find out what ball you will need to use on that particular session (many of which will be the Perfect Rival!)  

When comparing the previous two Rivals, overall hook was close, within 5 boards for the 3 of them.  The biggest difference will be seen off the breakpoint.  The Rival rolls strong in the midlane, and has a smooth arc on the backend.  The Arch Rival has the most length, and flips the hardest in the back of the lane.  The Perfect Rival has the midlane of the Rival, but is a little bit cleaner through the fronts.  On the backend, the Perfect is not AS angular as the Arch, but still pretty angular.  When I'm using either the Rival of Perfect Rival and they start to burn up a bit early, I can go to the Arch and pick right back up again.

The Perfect Rival fits a lot of bowlers's styles...everybody can use a PERFECT benchmark ball.
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Thanks,
Tim
www.BuddiesProShop.com
Columbia 300 Staff
Vise Inserts Staff

Thanks for your review, I think I'll definitely be picking up one of these very, very soon.  I have had great success with the original and some success with the Arch Rival, but this one looks too good to pass up.

how would this compare to the momentum swing?

When you say that you can pick up the Arch after either of the other two burn up a bit, do you mean that the Arch is the weakest of the three?  I thought it was stronger than the Rival but weaker than the Perfect.

You haven't seen many, because they are so ugly. Columbia probably makes the ugliest balls of any company right now and thats why they aren't selling much around here IMO. They need to work on their color schemes, I give them credit for trying something different but its not working. I really want to try it but can't bring myself to buying it cause I am afraid I might vomit when I throw it. Sometimes its just better sticking to the basic look.  

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Have not seen many on the lanes.  The ball in the flyer looked great.  but the balls that came in,  well,  don't get me started on that.  Lets just say that maybe in San Fran, they might sell.  But not in South Philly.


PS,  and I don't want to hear any of that crap, what difference does the color make.  It makes a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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jls

Edited on 12/3/2008 4:35 PM

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