Dyno-Thane was kind enough to send Willie Willis one of these to test out.

Willie laid the ball out with the pin 1 1/2 inches off his grip line and the CG in the center of his palm.  

On the heavier oil volume house shot, this ball was awesome.  It would rev up in the head, pick up a roll in the mid lane, and then make a strong sweeping move to the pocket.  On a medium oil shot Willie just moved deeper into the lane to give the ball more room.  When the lanes started to dry out, the ball was too much.

Willie found this ball to be as aggressive as his Ultimate Inferno and Total Annihilation overall.

This is Dyno-Thane strongest release to this point.  The Soaker coverstock gets rid of the oil on the surface of the ball quickly and will keep bitting on those heavier volume shots.

Any questions, please email me at Bill@BuddiesProShop.com

Thanks,
Bill
BuddiesProShop.com
"The Place All Bowlers Shop"
1-866-884-9355

As the costs for premier bowling equipment continues to rise, one has to do their homework prior to investing in a new ball.  This being said, I highly recommend the new The Thing Lives by Dyno-Thane a must have for anyone needing a ball for medium to heavier oil conditions.  

I had my Thing Lives drilled with the pin above my bridge with the CG 1/2 positive to account for my 500+ rev rate to allow some length.  I used this ball on a light to medium shot and it's performance was nothing short of dominant.  I was forced to swing it out a little more than normal due to the drier conditions but the Thing Lives made the transition easy with its smooth mid-lane roll and strong backend.  The pin action is outstanding allowing even less-than-perfect shots to carry.  I absolutely can't wait to get this ball on a fresh shot with a tad more oil.

On a 10 point scale:
Hook.........8
Backend......9
Carry........10

While most companies seem to be obsessed with bombarding the market with their "latest and greatest" balls; Dyno-Thane quietly and consistantly is developing quality equipment one great ball at a time.  

The Thing Lives is a strong addition to the best line of premier balls in the industry.  As always, I don't post scores scores as they do not reflect the ball's performace.  I'm happy to answer any questions pertaining to the ball.

Dynothane was nice enough to send myself a Thing Lives to test out:

Original Ball Specs:  4” pin / 1.89 oz of top weight
Drilling: 5” pin x 4” CG with pin 3.5” above midline and no weight hole required.
Style: High rev player with a 12.5” track circumference and a high track (5-1/2” x 1-3/8”)

Condition #1 (ball in box condition):
What could be considered 2nd shift on our THS…surface is synthetic heads with wood backends.  Warmed up with my polished V2 and found a good line 20 at the arrows to about 8 at the breakpoint.  The TL forced me 3 boards left immediately of my original target.  The ball has such a pronounced mid-lane read but was surprisingly clean through the heads.  When the ball turns it made a really hard arc back to the hole and the carry was excellent.  The only thing I did notice with the ball is that I had to make very quick adjustments and had to stay firm with my ball speed.  The ball was a forced fit on this condition and while it was effective I could see the need to polish the surface if I intended on using it continuously on this shot.

Condition #2 (ball still in box condition):
Utilized at a recent NEBA tournament on a high volume fresh oil shot, full synthetic lanes with moderate backends.  This ball could be played in the middle of the lane where (17-20 at the arrows) where my other equipment wouldn’t pick up a read early enough.  I had a great look on this high volume shot and I could really see the ball perform on its intended condition.  Even with the amount of oil present the ball didn’t want to squirt through the breakpoint…it kept making a strong read and turn.  As the tournament went on and the shot changed I put the ball away when the track moved inside and I needed to swing the lane / go around a hang spot.  The TL could handle this shot, but a polished ball was better suited.

Condition #3 (ball sanded with grey Scotch Brite then polished with Storm’s Reacta Shine)
Same as #1 but with slightly stronger backends.  With the surface now polished I was able to play further right with the ball and get a familiar reaction out of the ball.  It gave its strong mid-lane read and hard arcing motion, but pushed down the lane another 4 feet and transitioned harder.  I found the reaction easier to judge for me as I rarely use highly reactive dull equipment.  The problem I found with the ball in box finish was that I didn’t recognize the necessary adjustments soon enough and they were more drastic than I expected.  With the polish the moves were more of a typical 2-n-1 shift and I didn’t miss the move.  In essence I had more trust in the ball and confidence that my reads were accurate.

Overall Conclusions:  The ball in box condition is a monster ball that needs oil to work properly.  I could see some of my stroker customers benefiting from this ball on heavier conditions.  High Rev players would probably want to polish this ball to get maximum use out of it unless they have good tilt or very high ball speed.  

I rarely see enough oil in my area or tournaments that I attend to warrant keeping the ball in box condition.  Polished I'm very happy with the ball and could see myself drilling a 15lb version for my tournament bag, now that I have dropped weights.
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-Chris: DJ's Pro Shop : Auburn, MA

16lb. - Pin out 3.5 inches - 3.5 oz. top weight

Pin 5 inches from axis
CG 3 1/2 inches from axis

Pin under bridge, cg swing (rev leverage), x hole 4 1/2 inches on line from grip center through cg

Looking for hook?  Found it.  This ball is a monster.  The high-flare tri-stack core (from the Elixer balls I believe), coupled with the Soaker X cover makes this sucker a coast-to-coast hook machine.  

Usually you see high-flare balls with agressive dull shells like this one burn up early and hit soft as you move inside.  This ball seems to be the exception, because it always has hitting power to spare.  I try to use this ball on synthetics mostly, because of their slicker characteristics.  I have used it on wood a few times though, and it still performs.  

You see some companies introducing hook monster after hook monster, but really this is DT's only big hooking introdution since the Anomaly, and that ball was more roll than overall hook.  This ball is HOOK & HIT.  The Thing Lives fills out DT's line perfectly.  This is their best hooking ball since the Green Element. If you had one and want something similar look to this ball.  

UNO
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www.collegebowling.com

UNOmaha Mavericks Bowling
GO MAVS!

Have had this ball for some time now,first review, drilled it stacked leverage, pin just below and to the right of ring finger,pin is 3 3/8" from pap, mb right of thumb and just below, balance hole was to go on pap. When ball was rolled it had to go up higher than was planned,it had to be placed high up close to the label. Got lots of under/over with this ball in box condition, house condition Slick Synthetics 40ft Tophat 23mls Australia. Check profile for style. Usually I will polish most balls that do this but instead hit it with a light sand of 600 wet. Boy did this Thing come Alive, held its line nice cleaned all 10 out in quick time, as long as you kept it in the flood. Sending to the dry boards caused a huge unpredictable snap rapping 9's 10's, don't get me wrong this is a good ball but only for heavy oil with light backends. Any hint of dry heads, huge back ends or very short oil put it back in your bag. A few months later the hit went away, change of plan polished it right over the 600 wet finish and bingo, it is now my go to ball for medium conditions. Very easy to read and hits like a tank again.
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Flash59

I bought this ball a few months a go and had it drilled using drill pattern number 3 with a little bit of delay on the hook. Tried using it staight from the box and a little hook was created so I let it be polish for 600. So now it hooks fine on heavy and medium oil. This ball gave me an average of 180 in four games. I usually have 140 to 145 average.