Roto Grip NOMAD PEARL, 15LB

I drilled my Nomad Pearl a week ago.  The ball started out with a 3-1/2” pin and 3 oz. top weight.  I drilled it 5 x 4-1/2 with a 1” pin buffer.   I placed a weight hole 1” in and 1” up from my PAP as I needed to remove some side weight and some finger weight.  The ball weighed in at ¾ side weight and ¾ finger weight when done.  After drilled, the pin ended up above and to the right of my ring finger.  
I bowled with this ball on a THS and it has strong movement off the break point.  The house that I bowl at oils 39 feet.  I started the ball at 3rd arrow and breakpoint at about 8 at 40 or so feet.  The ball hits hard and retains energy nicely throwing the pins around the deck.  When missing outside with the break point, the ball recovered nicely but had a tendency to leave a 9 or 6 pin.  When I missed in it sat still hitting the pocket and throwing pins around and striking with a higher frequency than missing out but not as often as hitting the mark.  If you like to throw pearls this will be a hit for you.
   I bowled on the Shark pattern next.  This layout did not match up with the length and volume of this pattern.
   I bowled with this ball on Cheetah next.  Like with Shark, it was a bit touchy but this ball matched up better on Cheetah as it had more dry lane to work with.  When missing out it would recover but when missing in it did not sit.  Neptune was my ball of choice for this pattern previously.  I will pull my Nomad pearl out of the bag for this pattern first from now on.  
   Overall, I think that this ball will fit nicely under the Cell Pearl and over the Neptune.  The Nomad Pearl will be a benchmark ball for those that only throw Pearl equipment.  Good Job Roto Grip.

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Roto Grip Amateur Staff Member
Roto Grip - King of them all

USBC Bronze Coach

www.tenpincoaching.com

Layout- Pin 3 3/8” off of PAP (4 ¾” straight out) with a 7/8”x 1” hole 5” straight out.

I have been excited about the release of the Nomad and Nomad Pearl for a while, but in all honesty, both balls have exceeded my expectations. Believe it or not, my Nomad Pearl is stronger than my Cell Pearl (albeit it is also drilled a bit stronger and is newer) by roughly an arrow. What’s nice is the increased length this ball has over the middle and high end stuff Roto has released lately. It gives their lineup a completely different look they were lacking before. You can still get the smooth, archy reaction with the Cell line, but now the mid range stuff covers the longer stronger reaction missing from the line for so long. The Illusions were good, but the separation from the Cells wasn’t enough in my opinion. This ball, even with a stronger drilling, is clean through the front for me (a must considering I’m a high rev/medium speed player that is very “up the back” of the ball) and really aggressive on the back. The continuation is more than adequate and the ball punishes the rack in an almost violent manner. It makes me happy inside… lol..

The color is sharp, very reminiscent of the old Silver Streak Pearl (a ball sharing the same core as the new Nomads), but with blue instead of purple. It looks sharp on the rack, in your hands and going down the lane, not to mention on the pro shop shelf. The great part about this ball, as well, is its versatility. You can put this core in the hands of pretty much anyone and have success on a large variety of conditions, making it a must stock in the pro shop and a must have for bowlers looking for a little more from their benchmark ball.

Drilled mine by 4x4 with the pin kicked up 3 inches. Looks clean and stron on my oiler then usual house shot. Used it on Cheetah after it was burned up a little. Made it look like childs play. Looking forward to doing a 3x5 or 3x4 with the next one I drill. I think it fits between my Rogue 5x3 with a small kick, and my Grand Illusion with a 5x3 with 3in up pin and stacked.  
Thanks and enjoy the NOMAD PEARL.

Rick Mitchell
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ROTO GRIP RULES!!! YOU KNOW IT!!!
RICK MITCHELL
COLONY PARK LANES NORTH

Layout:
Pin: 4 1/2" from pap
Pin over fingers
CG: 4" from pap
no extra hole
surface: Box finish

On the House pattern I found that I could move in as much as I wanted and the Nomad Pearl would SCREAM back from the dry. The change of direction was very strong and definately loosened up my swing.

On the shorter PBA conditions I found the Nomad Pearl was very strong when the lanes were fresh and I found my best look when the fronts had broken down a bit and I was forced to open up my angle of attack. Confidant change of direction.

On the longer PBA patterns I found my best look at the very end of a block when the fronts really dried up and I wanted to keep my angles a little tighted.

Compared to the Illusion the Nomad Pearl I much cleaner through the fronts and is more angular.

I will report back when I play with the surface a bit.
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Mike Sinek
Roto Grip Staff Manager
Kingdom member for life

I drilled the box condition  Nomad Pearl with a pin (2-3") just above the fingers on grip centerline, Cg on gripline ,no weight hole, producing a skifd/flip layout .  
 
The Silver Streak, symetric Rotary Core wrapped in the Ultra Vision pearl cover, produces an excellent read of the lane and explosive hit on the pins.    
 
I used this ball on a PBA Sr Tour 37' shot in Decatur Illinois on both qualifying squads .The Nomad Pearl made a nice move down lane off the pattern, and had a nice,controllable flip reaction on the back end. As the shot broke down, I moved left, looked further down the lane with the same results down lane. The med rg (2.55) , med/high differential (.054)  in the 15# will provide the bowler with a versatile ball that can be drilled for medium to light oil patterns. The Nomad Pearl is an excellent companion to the Nomad Solid.
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Senor RotoGrip

Nomad Pearl

The Silver Streak Series was one of my favorite Roto Grip balls.  I was really excited to hear they were bringing it back.  The core is the same with the exception of the Ultra Vision Pearl Reactive Coverstock ( a little bit stronger )  I drilled mine up to compliment the Nomad, I wanted to increase the difference between the 2 balls.  I drilled the Nomad Pearl 4 x 6 layout with the pin just slightly above the fingers for a longer transition.  

I got it done just before my flight out to a PBA Regional in Seattle so I wasn’t able to test it out first.  We were bowling on the new Scorpion pattern and I wasn’t even sure I would take it as the Scorpion has a greater portion of oil down the lane.  I generally like the stronger balls for this pattern.  We bowled on HPL which do hook a little more and I found out quick that this was the go to ball.  I needed something stronger to start the day so I bounced between the Cell and Nomad.  Once the transition started I was able to switch to the Nomad Pearl and find a much better look.  

Really smooth down the lane which is so important on the Scorpion pattern.  However the strength of the core combined the additional additives in the coverstock really gave me a fantastic look on the backends.  Much more that I would have expected from this ball.  

I ended up 13th  among a pretty good field which included Walter Ray and I actually had the pleasure of crossing with the legend Ernie Schlegel.  It was nice to know I had the equipment to compete with these Hall of Famers.

Thank you Roto Grip.
Kelly O’Driscoll
Roto Grip Staff

I went online (http://www.rotogrip.com/products/balls/drilling.asp) and used the "C" lay out on both of the balls.
After drilling and throwing them both balls played true to the factory intent. The Nomad Solid played shorter on the oil pattern than the Nomad Pearl. The Nomad Pearl had more back end to it and more of a snapping motion. The pearl gave me about 5 feet more distance before it made its move. Depending on what part of the lanes your are trying to match up on I think both balls are very good. The Nomad Solid will definitely read the heads better than Nomad Pearl but the pearl will read the back ends better.
 
The oil pattern was our normal AMF house tree pattern * HPL surface * Reactor LL oil *  42 feet distance * using a sentry silver bullet oil machine  ( don't go to sleep reading this part )