The ball: 15 pounds, 4-inch pin, 2 oz. top
The drill: Pin over bridge, CG about 1.5 inches under ring. Works out to a 4.5 x 3.5 drill for me. Surface is box grit (2000 Abralon) plus ReactionPlus polish
Me: Tweener revs, good speed, high axis rotation with average tilt. PAP of 4 over 3/8 up.
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Bought this ball for the fact it was a pearl, and that it had a strong coverstock, plus its high-RG nature would give me something I'm not used to having in my bag. Wanting to get a good look at it, I decided not to trick up the drill pattern and instead went with an old standby for me, pin over the bridge and CG directly down from the ring an inch or two.
First test bed was on Kegel High Street, with pretty good oil volume. I was expecting some strength, even with the polish, but I wasn't expecting quite this much. This ball is very versatile across different levels of oil, particularly with the surface polished.
But what really caught my eye was the way the ball revved up downlane, thanks to the high-RG core. This ball lopes through the heads, but when it revs, it makes a deliberate and very strong move in. The high-RG nature gives it a different look than the classic Lane #1 look of early-rev, midlane control ball.
However, I was pleasantly surprised with the control I did have. Even with polish, this ball didn't snap indiscriminately off the dry. It controls the breakpoint very well and doesn't surprise you much.
Second test bed for this ball was Kegel Easy Street, a typical THS, and it does the requisite hitting-like-a-truck so long as there is sufficient length and volume in the oil pattern.
In box grit with no polish, there's definitely a point where you have to bag it. The ball is not usable on anything south of medium when in box condition. With polish, medium-light is in play but the ball still shines on true mediums to medium-heavy.
In fact, this ball almost acts like some of Storm's famous strong pearls. I'm most reminded of how the original X-Factor looked when it first hit shelves. It was a pearl, but much stronger than any other pearl of its era.
The cover strength, coupled with its tuneability and control, make this ball a must-have for tournaments. This is also the most versatile Lane #1 ball I've had in quite awhile, able to play on a variety of oil volumes and concentrations. This core is a perfect match to the overlying 900Global coverstock. In short, it's one of the best balls I've bought in years.
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The good: Unique look due to high-RG nature, versatile, takes cover changes easily
The bad: Cover colors are a bit off-putting for some, not for use on floods, too strong for many THS shots without a lot of surface modification
Overall: The best ball yet from the 900Global era at Lane #1
Jess
