I didn't want to get into the "debate" going on in the other post about what taking weight out of the core will do to the roll of the ball as I am not an expert in that.
What I would like to do is give my take on what I see with my equipt and with my wife's equipt and to let people know if you are thinking about trying a lighter weight Legends/LM ball don't be afraid to do it.
Neither my wife or I use the "manly" 16lb weight bowling balls. I use 15lbs and she uses 14lbs. I have many LM balls (even more than is listed in my profile) and she only has 2, the Yeah Baby and the Big Kahuna.
I'll start with her. There is no loss of hitting power or hook with her LM balls as compared to the Inferno line of balls, which she also has. She also had about 5 of the newer Ebonite balls before she decided to go to the Inferno line and still the Yeah Baby had that familiar crack at the pins and awesome carry. She still carries the Yeah Baby with her. Compared to the other balls that she uses, all drilled the same, I see no difference in hitting power.
I use 15lb equipment. The "problem" I see with the Legends/LM stuff is that they hit too hard or drive too hard. I leave more 8 or 9 pins than anything else. I don't see any hitting loss in these 15lb balls.
I used to use Lane#1 almost exclusively and did very well with them. They make great balls and I am not interested in getting into a debate which is better, hits better, etc. I have recently tried some of their stuff again; the Carbide Plus, Cobalt and H2O. t-god said this in the other post:
"The higher the RG, the more they will "poop" on heavier and or longer oils, and/or on "off hits".
It's like having a 3-piece (pancake core) ball compared to a high density 2-piece core ball. The 2-piece will work better on heavier oil. =:^D"
Again, not wanting to get into a debate, just saying what I see. I bowl in a sport shot tournament on Sunday nights. This week they had a heavier flat oil shot. I used my Carbide Plus and Big Bang. Both are drilled the same. I got great practice picking the 3 pin off with the Carbide Plus (I'm a righty) but the Big Bang got down to the breakpoint and made the move to the pocket and destroyed the rack. I even stayed after the tournament was over and bowled another 4 games trying to see if I could get a better read with the CPlus and today it is redrilled and in my son's bag. There is also no comparison between the Cobalt and the Masterpiece. Again, MP is much stronger and carries better. When the lanes dry up too much for the MP the Cobalt starts to work better. Perhaps I need to compare the Cobalt to my Satisfaxion.
Based on MY style and game, I do not see any degradation of hitting power or performance with my 15lb LM/Legends equipt and would say again, if you are interested in trying this line of equipt in a lighter weight, don't be afraid to do it.