I've gotten a little silly on the eBay lately.  Nothing horrible, but I have picked up a Diva and Marauder Madness. 

Building on my thread on arsenal motions I was going to see what you guys think of where I'm going here.

Me -
LH
17-18 MPH
300-325 RPM
PAP - 4 1/2 over, 1/2 up
Axis tilt - 16-17
Axis rotation - 30

So far I've got...

Brutal Nightmare - 45 x 5 x 45 (box finish)
Misfit Pearl - 40 x 4 1/2 x 65 (box finish)

My thoughts to build on this are

Diva - 45 x 5 x 70 (box finish)
Marauder Madness - 45 x 4 x 45 (2000 Abralon)

The Diva would be the benchmark withe MM being surface with length.  The Brutal would be the length with a motor and Misfit is when they get toasty.

At this point, I'm short a sponge, and maybe a couple of niche drills.  Summer's coming, so I'm slowing down, but no promises. 

You, sir, are a wealth of info.

Thanks for the heads up on the MM.

Might save the 45 x 4 x 45 for the sponge. 

You are welcome. And, the 45 x 4 x 45 would be better for a sponge type of reaction. I would suggest the Ruckus Feud or the Endless Nightmare as your sponge. With the hybrid cover on the Endless Nightmare, it will have a quicker response to friction. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

I was going to hold off until the fall for the sponge since I usually focus on playing golf badly over the summer, but there's a tournament coming up in late April that I may just have to go to.  They've already announced it going to be 44 feet with some volume and might need some teeth for that shot.

I'm leaning towards the Ruckus Feud, but the Endless suggestion sounds interesting.  I was also considering bleeding over to the Big B for a Mastermind. 

Going to punch up the Diva and MM over the next couple of weeks.  Local house guy is going to run some longer patterns for me, so I can see where to go from there.

Most likely, will be putting up some questions in the next couple of weeks.

I had been wondering the same thing since I was offered both.  Per my pro shop guy and an online review company, the brutal is very skid/snap as where the endless is more mid lane read. 

The endless is about 4 boards overall stronger than the brutal. The brutal does have a little more length compared to the endless. Even at 1000-1500, the Brutal will still be weaker than the endless in overall hook.

The Ruckus Feud, Endless Nightmare, and the Mastermind would have similar reactions when drilled the same. All 3 of them have a 1500 box surface with stronger coverstocks.

Brandon H--

Agreed on all fronts; I found the Endless to be about 5 feet earlier over the Brutal, with a little less angularity on the backend. Even when altering the surface on the Endless, it will handle more volume when compared to the Brutal, but about the same amount as the Ruckus Feud (though the Feud does have a bit more backend over the Endless). I added polish to my Endless just to make it more playable on typical conditions; when heading to tourneys (or where I suspect volumes will increase) I simply remove the polish and take the Endless back to box surface.

To me, the Endless is great on heavier volumes with clean (fresh) backends-- when the reaction gets "fishy", switching to the more angular but just as strong Feud or Mastermind makes all the difference.

Hey Mongo--

Just a tidbit of info for you (regarding a "sponge" bowling ball)-- just saw on buddies pro shop dot com that they have the Radical Reax (original black/solid) on closeout for $99 shipped. Best "oiler" I've ever had and thrown..... if you are thinking of getting a Feud, (in my opinion) grab the Reax instead. For $100 its a great "experiment"........... but I'm guessing it will introduce you to their products, and you'll be going back for more :-)

Check out Lane Side Reviews on you tube.  they did a review of a lot of balls.  i know they did the reax 2.0 and both the feud and mastermind.

Thanks for posting the link Brandon.  These are the guys I turn to for brutally honest reviews of equipment.