I have loved Columbia balls for a long time. I will always have 2+ in my stock ready to use, forever. I think they do have some of the best equipment and they can tweak coverstocks and cores with the best of them. (Yes, I really believe that!)
That said, they are leading the other ball companies (although Storm is a close 2nd) in producing ball that overlap and with virtually trivial differences in cores and covers. They still have many great balls (that can't be said too often), but it's as if they are never sure of what they are putting up for sale. It's as if they do not do enough proper testing. (You've got to use plain bowlers as well as pros; otherwise, you'll only sell to the market which does your testing.)
(Notice I used the phrase, "as if". I don't know, of course; it just seems like this is what's happening.)
With these "extra"balls, they may be spinning their wheels too often and not focusing on what's need or wanted most in the marketplace. It's "as if" they could be doing more and better, but are wasting time on the trivial.
