There have been a lot of good points made in this thread, but my original remarks are almost about sales of an entry price reactive ball and what you get for your money. Remember, the manufacturers in general are targeting these balls at beginner bowlers looking to take a step up from a White Dot. They really have little interest in selling Tropicals to bowlers who pay attention to ballreviews. They expect us all to buy the Hot line on up.
Today the lowest price reactive balls out there are the Tornado and the Scout. I am not a fan of either of these and I avoid selling them at all costs. Unless someone is buying them as light oil balls for a beginner bowler they hit like a marshmellow compared to a Rayzr.
The next price point which I am calling 'entry level' is the Storm Tropical, Columbia Freeze, and Hammer Rayzr. My point was and still is that the Tropical was until recently the best ball for the money in this range. However, at this point the Freeze is clearly the most ball for the money in this price point and while the Rayzr is not as strong of a ball as the other two (pancake core) it is very controllable and hits hard.
If Storm wants to continue to be the leader at this price point it is time to retire the Tropicals with something else. If a beginner or slight step up from a beginner bowler wants to move up to a reactive I used to recommend Tropicals. Now I recommend a Freeze or a Rayzr depending on how they throw and what they need the ball to do.
