When I first got the Reax I thought it was awesome. The house I used it at was med oil...I go to a different house that has a heavier volume of oil and the ball sucks. I tried different surfaces...1000, 2000, 3000 and 4000. I even tried with some polish and that made it worse. And yes, I clean my equipment right after every session. Its a medium oil ball at BEST. Every other ball I have out hooks the reax on heavier oil..the Nightmare, Hellraiser terror, storm manic, revenge.... The reax was drilled to be my "go to" ball in heavy and tournament condition patterns but so far its proven to be a medium oil ball....nothing more.

Wow, lots of speculation. First off without seeing you throw a ball it would be unfair for me to comment on how the ball should perform based on the info regarding the drill pattern.
The Reax is "our" strongest ball, I have a Torrid Elite that out hooks my Reax on every pattern I bowl on, why because my ball speed is about 14 mph and I am rev dominate.
Now on occasion I will bowl on a test pattern that is longer and a bit heavier, the Reax out performs the Elite.
I am disappointed that you feel qualified to label this ball a dud and comment that is sucks. I have never put a ball in the market that claimed to do something it wasn't capable of doing.
I noticed the comment about Long Island, I am from there, there is not a house on "the island" that uses enough oil to claim heavy. I still go to the island many times a year and bowl there quite often, I recently bowl a USBC tournament there and finished 3rd using a polished Yeti, what was amazing was that the bowlers were all complaining how much oil was on the lanes, what my buddies call heavy would be considered medium at best. My point is if you take a strong ball and drill it strong you need a true heavy pattern to see it work, adjusting the surface may be a bandaid at best.
The balls you listed as your heavy oil balls are much weaker than the Reax, again without seeing you throw a ball I can say that a pin 4 inch from the pap is far to strong for what you are bowling on. I have my pins on the Reax at 5+ and it is still too much ball. We have very detailed drill sheets in each box, did you get a chance to look at them, we suggest that your driller measure your track to determine which set of drilling's you should follow, high, medium or low track and without measuring the track you would be guessing.
Lastly and please do not take this the wrong way, in my 26 years of doing this I have seen many posts, complaints etc, I do believe many times ( not necessarily in your case but many times) its the Indian not the arrow, meaning he is not matched up properly so the best thing to do is blame the ball, the lanes or whatever else.
Please go back and check the drill sheets, they are on our website as well and be sure you got what you needed. 

12,

Listen, I feel for you. I've bought several balls that I thought were going to be awesome heavy oil balls, and they haven't quite lived up to my expectations. I've tried 2 out of the 3 in the line, and after what I've seen from the first 2 in the series (which I've drilled 2 of the first one), not going to gamble on the third one. They, too, are ok when they're broken down, but compared to my other equipment, where I can go more left to right with them, these I can't. They don't jump off the spot, and personally, need a surface change out of the box.

Now, bowling on Shark this weekend, and for sure am bringing them. Going to try them on the fresh, and if I don't like the look, I'm probably going to get rid of them. But I know what works for me, and what doesn't. Maybe this weightblock just doesn't roll well for you. Some people work well with certain weightblocks and designs. The balls you listed are all meant to be angular by design, so if you put the same layout on a ball that isn't meant to be angular (Reax isn't meant to be angular, IMO), you're not going to see the same motion. In fact, it may be overflaring and just puking on the fresh, and then once there's friction, it can look different on medium.

Personally, I'm with Phil. I wouldn't drill this ball with anything closer to my pap than 5 inches, and that's even stretching it. If you can't get anybody any information on your game or how the ball is laid out, we're grasping at straws.

12,

Now, bowling on Shark this weekend, and for sure am bringing them. Going to try them on the fresh, and if I don't like the look, I'm probably going to get rid of them.

Quick sidebar.  Don't load up on (only) heavy oil balls for Shark.  Last year I never threw any of my strong stuff on it, and the first time I saw it this year I used a polished Nuts Pearl and wish I had something weaker (at least cleaner up front) by the 4th game.  My experience is only PBA leagues; if you're bowling a regional or something where the machines are capable of putting out heavier volumes, you might need stronger equipment.

Quote from: Impending Doom on July 05, 2013, 12:53:32 PM

12,

Now, bowling on Shark this weekend, and for sure am bringing them. Going to try them on the fresh, and if I don't like the look, I'm probably going to get rid of them.

Quick sidebar.  Don't load up on (only) heavy oil balls for Shark.  Last year I never threw any of my strong stuff on it, and the first time I saw it this year I used a polished Nuts Pearl and wish I had something weaker (at least cleaner up front) by the 4th game.  My experience is only PBA leagues; if you're bowling a regional or something where the machines are capable of putting out heavier volumes, you might need stronger equipment.

Not to create a sidebar, but I am also going in there with some lowend stuff, in case I have to move back right.

I am surprised to hear the comments about the Reax. I drilled mine 70x3-3/8x30 and had to polish it to get it down lane. The cover was just too strong @ out of box. I have used mine on many Kegel Sport and Challenge patterns as well as other various patterns. It was my savior at States this year. It handled the longer patterns with ease and have me an area of miss that many of my other stuff struggled. Even with the small coat of polish, I have issues kicking out the corners on our house shot. The ball is great for the fresh but if I'm slow to move into more head oil, the ball loses energy. Even though its a 42 foot pattern, the cover is just that strong. IMO the Reax is a great piece and I can't wait for the pearl. I could have fun with 2 solid and 2 pearl Reax in my bag.

Jugg,
I also said the ball was great on a lighter pattern where my DV8 stuff was terrible. However, I didnt get it for the lighter volume conditions...FOR ME PEOPLE.....the reax was a dud on heavier patterns and several kegel patterns...at different houses. I used the reax on 4 different kegel patterns at 4 different houses with the same bad result. WITH THAT BEING SAID....When my fall league starts up again and they put out the Stone Street pattern (basically a house shot) it will be the first ball I take out. Its gonna replace my Storm Manic for that condition. The Nightmare, hellraiser and Revenge (unless all polished up) dont work great there...a lot of 10 pins.

Werewolf too. Too much core for cover