LANE CONDITION
Length: 41
Volume: Medium
Type (THS, Sport Pattern etc): THS
COMMENTS
Likes: Cover, core, cover, reaction, cover, versatility, cover. Did I mention the cover?
Dislikes: That this ball didn't come out five years ago.
PICTURES AND/OR VIDEOS
My specs:
Left handed, ball speed around 16 MPH, rev rate around 300 RPM, axis rotation of around 60°-70°, and axis tilt around 0°-5°.
It has been quite a while since my last review. This is mostly because Visionary’s covers last so long I just don’t buy many balls. I’m still using balls that I reviewed back in 2007! But when Visionary introduced the Raven, I just had to try one. I’ve always had a soft spot for my trusty Ogre Particle. When I saw that the Raven had a modified Ogre core with a light load particle pearl cover at 2000 Abralon, I just couldn’t get my hands on one fast enough.
My first impression when I pulled it out of the box was that this is a really sharp looking ball. The dark wine/silvery oyster swirl looks like nothing else out there. Close inspection showed those little black particles. I knew that the modified core had lowered the RG somewhat (2.59 down to 2.53) and raised the differential substantially (0.029 up to 0.049), but what excited me most was the cover. I was envisioning something that would give me good length, the back end of a scuffed pearl, with the particles to blend out the oil pattern and avoid over/under (something that plagues a higher rotation/lower tilt player like me).
I drilled it up 60° x 4†x 30°, fingers deep, and used a 31/32†“double thumb†balance hole. I finished drilling it, ran a few errands, and headed off to league. My first several practice shots surprised me. I had expected some substantial movement on the back end, but the ball was very, very smooth. Strong, but smoother than I had expected. It still had excellent hit and continuation through the pins, but given the drilling pattern I had expected a little more “pop†on the back end. Then I intentionally tried to throw one through the break point. The ball made it to about the same break point, but the angularity I had expected suddenly appeared. I then realized that the ball wasn’t as smooth as it appeared, but was so strong that it was bleeding off some energy. It was the continuation that had fooled me. Usually when I have a ball burning up, it’s pretty obvious due to the substantial deflection. Not with this one. I decided to keep up the speed and see what it would do.
As the night went on, I became more and more confident with it. Reaction was perfect, and I had some “miss room†both right and left. Shots pulled into the oil held pocket, and shots “leaked†outside recovered, but didn’t “boomerangâ€. I had one shot in particular that was pretty wide. As in “Whoops – area check†wide. It recovered smoothly, barely made it back to the pocket, but still continued through the pins to carry. For a ball this strong to spend that much time in the dry and still show continuation was very impressive. As the shot broke down, the ball never grabbed early or jumped through the nose. It just lost a little of the angularity, still hit the pocket, and still had continuation. It is a very rare ball indeed that can tell me when it’s time to make a move without a scoring penalty. All I had to do was pay attention to the reaction and make simple “2 and 1†moves.
Bottom line for the night? 268, 269, and 279 for a tidy 816 series right out of the box. Yeah, I think I’ll keep this one. I’ve had some terrific balls from Visionary, but this just might be their best one ever.
