The Hot Cell is a new release from Roto Grip, that incorporates one of the most popular cores of all time, the Nucleus core, with a urethane cover called Radioactive. This ball is factory finished with a 1000 grit pad, and is bright red, with orange labels. The core numbers on pre-drilled 15lb Hot Cells are 2.52 rg, 0.056 differential, and 0.018 intermediate differential.
With the multitude of varying volumes and lengths of oil patterns these days, it was only inevitable that we would see a urethane covered ball, with a strong asymmetrical core. This ball will fill a niche void in bowlers arsenals when seeing high volume, very short oil patterns. The cover isn’t jumpy off the friction, and the core strength allows it to create fresher cover by having a lot of flair, to keep the urethane cover rolling strong through the backend of the lane. I really like this ball, and have been asking for something like it for many years now. Comparing the Hot Cell to a Pitch Black ,with same layout of 4 x 3.5 x 3, and surface prep, the Hot Cell starts up earlier, and has more “hook†and continuation through the pins, forcing me about 3 and 2 right to allow for the added hook. I have been able to use the Hot Cell on the above mentioned short patterns, as well as some very long, low volume patterns, that I just wanted to trap the pocket, but putting enough surface on a reactive ball to get it to slow down the right way, created too much overall hook.
THe Hot Cell will be a good choice for bowlers that do not have a high rev rate or super high ball speed, and want a ball to just bump the friction with a controlled shape, rather than have a weaker cored, reactive ball “flip†off the dry part of the lane. Using urethane on today’s high volume patterns does have it’s disadvantages, though. The cover will not soak up the oil like reactive can, and will lane shine quicker, and carry oil down the lane, more than what a reactive ball will do.
Thank you for taking the time to read my review of the Roto Grip Hot Cell.
