Whats the difference between lt oil, med oil, med/heavy oil, and heavy oil?
I can only assume it has something to do with the amount of units, ratio, or length of pattern or combination of all three. Is there a general rule of thumb which constitutes what the pattern is?

The way I see it, anything shorter than 35 feet is light oil, 35-40/41 medium oil and anything longer is heavier oil.  But there are so many more factors than that.  Volume, lane play, oil type, ratio, etc.  You can have a 38 foot pattern with ridiculous volume and it may play like its 43 feet.  You never really know until you throw a couple shots and then make your own assessments.
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i agree with mumzie. you can have a short pattern, 35 ft, that is heavy oil becuase it has more units than a 50 ft pattern. obviously even with more units the 35 ft will prolly hook more than the 50 but still the units can be more on short and still be heavy oil.
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Shawn

This is all great stuff. But from my experience when people say heavy or light oil they are remarking on the fact that the ball is not hooking much which in general is length.
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