With Motiv, look at the Venom Shock, Forza or Forza Redline as your benchmark.  All 3 are great to have.  The Forza will be the earliest reading ball of all 3 and will handle some more volume.  The Redline is cleaner down the lane but still has a very even reaction with its pearl cover.  The Shock is one of those balls that's really versatile and you really get your money's worth at that price point.  It's a great ball for medium patterns and also for patterns that have a little less volume.

The huge advantage with Motiv is the covers they use.  They don't nearly soak up oil as much as the other brands, which means you won't be extracting oil during the season.  Just maintain them as you would with any other brand (clean after every set, freshen the surface every 20-40 games) and you'll be fine. 

Motiv tends to be a little smoother overall in ball motion yet is probably the closest to Storm with what you'll see.  At the same time, I think the Motiv balls are a bit more versatile compared to Storm or even the EBI brands for the most part.

I agree with SVstar34 on the Radical Primo. I am not too familiar with other lines as I am sticking to Brunswick equipment - especially the Radical line. This is by preference, I am not a staffer.

I have a track legion set up as my bench mark ball.  fits right in between a red solid and warrior on top and viral and spike below

I think bowlers in general don't know the difference between "benchmark ball" and "best ball for me right now on the conditions I see."

I've used my Radical Primo (Pin up) and Radical Grease Monkey Whack (pin down) as my benchmarks. That will probably change here after the first of the year as we are looking to install synthetic lane beds around Christmas (if all of our leagues agree on that time frame).

I think bowlers in general don't know the difference between "benchmark ball" and "best ball for me right now on the conditions I see."

Absolutely. I look at a benchmark ball as the first ball that I pull out of my bag and I know it so well that based on what it does, I know I can stick with it or if I have to make a ball change and which ball to change to. That's why I like to have something that doesn't hook too much or too little, because it's easiest for me to shoot consistenly and get an accurate read on the lane, quickly.

I love getting new equipment, but I hate when I have to replace "old reliable" because I know it so well and know what to do, based on what it does.

Good choice.  I love mine so far.  I just shot a 900 series with mine last week.  The rest of the league didn't realize we were playing no-tap though.    I'll still take the 734 with 10 nine counts.  Most of those were just bad shots on my part.  Everyone else was saying how much they had to move and I moved 1 board on the left lane and 2 boards on the right all night.  Opened the league a few weeks ago with a 792 / 299.  I'm definitely buying more Motiv!  I drilled mine with the pin straight above the bridge and the cg in grip center.  Surface is at 4000.