reliable reviews

[snowspike1]

When looking for a new bowling ball those of use that don't really have a close relationship with a pro shop.. or excetra.. where can we get reliable ball reviews?

I'm speaking from some experience with the purchase of the Twisted Fury Destruction. I maily relied on Bowlingball.com for the reviews posted. all of which were on the love it/ give the ball a gold star (who paid them).

With all the new balls to be hitting the market where is the best place to get a unbiased opinion on the new or even old ball that wont require a monthy fee or charge the same amount as a ball would. Not everyone needs to have an up to date review of every ball -- a plastic spare ball is just that and doesn't need a review ---wow look at the why it looks!!! Once or twice a season people look at buying new equip (or some anyway) so that wouldn't require even a yearly subscription either.

with the results of the TFD i think bowlinball.com reviews should taken with a grain of salt (and thrown over shoulder).

[butch444444]

I understand your frustration about ball reviews. Unfortunally not everyone throws the ball with the same lane conditions, speed or revs and I too take the reviews at Bowlingball.com wiht a grain of salt. What I try to do before I get a new ball is talk to people that are using the ball I want to get and watch them bowl. I also look at the bowlingball.com reviews, with a close eye on the peoples ball speed, revs and age. Finally I surf the net for ball reviews and review them the same way above. I have got a lot of good suggestions from this group when I asked what would be a good ball for me, based on my age, ball speed and revs. Good luck, and if you find a reliable ball review site, please post it here.

[Pliko]

Bowling magazines have some good reviews, but I cant say they are impartial as they may have prejudice due to advertising?

[idlehourlegend]

ballreviews.com usually will have someone with your style that has thrown just about any ball you want. I usually read some of them, and watch some videos, but I know basically by the RG and Diff values, coverstock, etc. whether the ball will be a good piece for me for what I want it to do.

[bluerrpilot]

With all the new balls to be hitting the market where is the best place to get a unbiased opinion on the new or even old ball that wont require a monthy fee or charge the same amount as a ball would.

Its best to find someone who is not particularly brand loyal and has thrown the ball in question and compared it with other pieces with similar layouts and conditions.

You really don’t need to find someone that has the same style you do. Just someone that has compared one ball to another or many others and has used the same layout on the same lane condition. That will give you a benchmark reaction and hopefully there will be a ball that was compared to that you use as well.

[Pliko]

I think its hard to go by what other people say, maybe if you have a wide enough sampling, but high rev, low rev, high speed, low speed, not to mention the number of layouts possible to change how it reacts, as well as the lane conditions/shots.

[Adrenaline]

I think it has less to do with being bias and more to do with peoples results on the ball. Meaning, someone who enjoys the ball is a lot more likely to go out of there way to post a praise, whereas a person who has bad results is less likely to waste their time ever posting a bad review. Especially when people probably doubt themselves. A bad drilling, isn't the balls fault. A person who bought a low oil ball, and tries to throw it on a heavy oiled lanes, people who were looking for "x" motion, but didn't understand RG and differentials, and the list goes on. I think people are a lot less likely to blame the ball, and are afraid that it was their own fault, so they don't post. There aren't many "bad balls" and even if someone gets a ball drilled 100% perfect and it still doesn't work, it doesn't deem the ball "bad" it means it simply didn't match that specific bowler/style/lanes. So that's why I think you see very minimal negative reviews posted on bowlingball.com.

Just my opinion though.

[Chicarpenter84]

You can try http://www.bowlingballreviews.com/ also.

I wont buy a ball that's just been on the market. I'll read all the reviews I can find on the net and then there's always people out there that have to get the newest ball. So finding a driller or even just going to different ones and get there review could help too probably if they drilled any of them. Then I try to find someone throwing it even if they don't match up to me I can get a feel what it does on those lanes and see what else there throwing to get a better idea. I just need to get into reading layout and understanding this layout should be doing this/that and so on.

[TraPStaR]

BJI, they have seemly the most unbiased approach to ball reviews and are accurate compared to the balls i have thrown... its not free to get it either... the USBC mag normally uses it as an insert for the balls released per year... they are based on numbers and scales and a reaction type listed along with the surfaces of the balls out of box.

ballreviews.com isnt bad but its normally to scattered for me to use it... i research the ball myself by using videos on videoballreviews.com

goodluck and if you find something good or better let us know..

[pba6285]

My vote would have to go to BTM.

[VinceD111]

For me it's also hard for me to choose a ball (as a lot of you may know) I use bowlersjournal.com (NO HOLES BARRED) to look up each ball. I use bowlingball.com as well just for reviews now because the perfect scale thing they had on their website really confused the heck out of me and made me make wrong decisions. Also bowlingballreviews.com and ballreviews.com are great sources. My other problem was how I bowled. I always use to have this 6th step and step on the wrong foot at the release so it was a waste. Although I fixed that now and the balls I have are perfect. Just surface adjustments are needed...