Roto Grip Unhinged Ball Review by Walter McKnight

[WKnight84]

REVIEW BALL SPECIFICATIONS

Coverstock Finish Out of Box
Drilling Angle 45
Pin to PAP 6
Pin to VAL Angle 40

REVIEWER SPECIFICATIONS

Bowler Type Cranker (400+ RPM)
Hand Right
Ball Speed 17
PAP Horizontal 5 1/4
PAP Vertical 1/8
Staff Member Yes

LANE SPECIFICATIONS

Lane Surface Synthetic
Lane Condition THS

REVIEW

Coming to Proshops 1-6-15 The Rotogrip Unhinged. Another great addition to the HP3 line. The 60M™ Pearl coverstock comes out of the box 1500 polished and is a wrapped around the Late Roll 69™ Core. This ball has a lot of guts. Smooth early motion down the lane and strong read off the friction. The Unhinged is a versatile ball that can be drilled to hook the lane or go straight up the boards.

I drilled my Unhinged 45° x 6" x 40° pin over the middle finger, CG kicked out on the midline. I was expecting a tamer reaction but was pleasantly surprised by it's mid lane read and power. The Hysteria gets a little further down lane and has a gradual shape toward the pocket. The Unhinged still gets down lane well but it starts it's motion a lot sooner and has a sharper breakpoint.

The Unhinged produces a high end reaction at a mid range price point. It could easily be the next go to ball in everyone's bag. I would suggest this ball for players of all skill levels. It would also compliment an array of styles.

[Aslan]

Kinda hard to take this review seriously.

1) The oil pattern is a "THS" that is only oiled out to about 30ft??? I should HOPE you get some ball reaction out of a reactive resin ball when you give youself a lane thats half dry.
2) A "cranker" with 400+ rpms...on a 30ft pattern....and you're not missing left? How weak IS this ball?
3) "The Unhinged is a versatile ball that can be drilled to hook the lane or go straight up the boards. " I'd like to see that. I'd like to see the unhinged thrown by the same person, the same way, varying only the drill layout and see how it can be drilled to go straight or to hook.
4) "I would suggest this ball for players of all skill levels. It would also compliment an array of styles." Really? You'd suggest it for EVERYONE? Of all skill levels? And it would compliment just about everyone? That isn't at all an "over sell"?

I think the ball is interesting. But the review needs work.

1) The pattern is on the short/low volume/dry end of the THS spectrum and a "cranker" is simply going to make the ball seem like it has more hook than it really does. As soon as someone buys it and plays on a normal pattern with a normal release they are bound to be disappointed. I don't think the purpose of marketing is to disappoint the buyer.

2) The claim that a ball can be drilled differently...and that will impact an average bowler...is unlikely based on testing. At 400+ rpms??? Maybe...probably. But again...you're not selling this to 400rpm bowlers with 230 averages. They want to know what it does for THEM.

3) Stating that the ball is 100% wonderful and suits everyone is like a politician saying he's in favor of a "quality education and a clean environment". What does that mean?? And while that might attract someone to the ball who believes it's the best ball out there and is universally good...that marketing ploy also turns away bowlers that don't want a "general purpose" ball...they want a ball to get them "X". Not "strikes"...I mean "X" in terms of whatever the specific thing is they are looking for.

Am I being unnecissarily harsh on our young ball reaction poster?? Maybe. But see...the key is that this young gentleman is a rotogrip/storm staffer. So marketing and selling bowling balls is part of his job. If it wasn't...that it's just an interesting video of a guy bowling and offering an opinion. But since it's an advertisement...it is subject to more scrutiny.

An interesting ball. I'll add it to my "wish list"...but with an "asterisk" since I'm not so sure about this "review".

[Mike White]

Kinda hard to take this review seriously.

1) The oil pattern is a "THS" that is only oiled out to about 30ft??? I should HOPE you get some ball reaction out of a reactive resin ball when you give youself a lane thats half dry.
2) A "cranker" with 400+ rpms...on a 30ft pattern....and you're not missing left? How weak IS this ball?

The graphic of the oil pattern shows the oil is applied to the buffer for approximately 30 feet, and the buffer applies oil to the lane for approximately 42 feet.

3) "The Unhinged is a versatile ball that can be drilled to hook the lane or go straight up the boards. " I'd like to see that. I'd like to see the unhinged thrown by the same person, the same way, varying only the drill layout and see how it can be drilled to go straight or to hook.
4) "I would suggest this ball for players of all skill levels. It would also compliment an array of styles." Really? You'd suggest it for EVERYONE? Of all skill levels? And it would compliment just about everyone? That isn't at all an "over sell"?

I think the ball is interesting. But the review needs work.

1) The pattern is on the short/low volume/dry end of the THS spectrum and a "cranker" is simply going to make the ball seem like it has more hook than it really does. As soon as someone buys it and plays on a normal pattern with a normal release they are bound to be disappointed. I don't think the purpose of marketing is to disappoint the buyer.

The purpose of marketing is to get you to buy the ball.

[Aslan]

The graphic of the oil pattern shows the oil is applied to the buffer for approximately 30 feet, and the buffer applies oil to the lane for approximately 42 feet.

It looks shorter and lighter than a typical Kegal house pattern. Thats all I'm saying. I don't know if it's just the THS that center puts down...or if he specifically went with something shorter...but, c'mon.

The purpose of marketing is to get you to buy the ball.

Thats called "short-sighted marketing". True marketing gets you to buy the ball, love it, and want to buy more balls from that particular company due to your good experience with their product...then being SO impressed that you are loyal and exclusive to that company for a lifetime. Buying a ball that is shown to be a "hook monster" and then getting it drilled and throwing it...only to find out it's 'weak'...is NOT good marketing. It's effective at short term sales...if thats what yer after.

My opinion.

[mc_runner]

I've posted before I'm not really a big fan of biased "reviews" where every ball is perfect and rosy and great for everyone. I'd much rather read something/find out something unbiased about how a ball performs. To me it's a little shifty to have a staffer/marketer "review" a ball when it's their job to write a glowing report.

[Aslan]

I've posted before I'm not really a big fan of biased "reviews" where every ball is perfect and rosy and great for everyone. I'd much rather read something/find out something unbiased about how a ball performs. To me it's a little shifty to have a staffer/marketer "review" a ball when it's their job to write a glowing report.

I know. It'd be funny if they were 100% honest though. It'd be interesting to read a Hammer staffer review that stupid burgundy ball..."This ball rolls as ugly as it looks. The only time anyone should consider buying this and using it is if it's a choice between this ball and a lump of solid bacon grease...at which point it would be a toss-up."

[bowl1820]

That looks to be a pretty typical 42' foot house pattern and looking at that graphic there's no way to tell the oil volume from that, so you can't really say it's low volume & dry .

As for the marketing mumbo-jumbo, just about every staffer review says the same thing as this review does.

The companies want to sell balls, so they sell what people want. Not what need, what they want.

And people want "Hook monsters" !

If a company came out and said "Okay this new ball is condition specific and will only work for one certain style of bowler."

or if they said "Here is our new house bowlers ball. It's designed for the house bowler, who doesn't have a lot revs or speed and just wants to play second arrow all the time."

What will most say "Will it hook a lot?" (no but you don't need alot of hook) , "Do the pros use it? (No but they are on harder conditions) "Well I want the hook monster the pros use and drill it so it hooks alot (ie: goes long, snaps hard)"

A month later, those new house bowlers balls are on the clearance rack. they might as well have hung the "Out of business" sign up the same day they release the ball.

Don't think it can happen, go back and look at Brunswick when they got the rep for weak balls (They weren't though) and sales dropped like a stone.

[Aslan]

But Bowl1-8-2-0...

He spent that whole post talking it up...not ONE mention of what it smelled like!! HELLO!! Nobody cares!!! (if it smells like bubblegum)!

What...Storm won't share their patented "fragarance technology" with...themselves???

DHoff might be onto something...last time I checked Rotogrip had identical ball technology to Storm...yet Storm FAR outsells them...only difference??? Smell.

I'm just saying...if the "Unhinged" smelled like a cross between burnt toast and a wet schnauser maybe somebody would want to buy it.

[Amyers]

I will say this was a typically useless review. I have seen a few that will admit when a ball doesn't match up to thier game or if they find it condition specific but most of these guys are third rate sales people who just put out the review because that's what they do.

I don't know maybe these help you sale balls but all it does is turn me off. Test the balls on a couple conditions tell me what it did well and not as well. If it's stronger than ball x that's fine if it's weaker I'm smart enough to know on the average conditions I don't need the largest hook monster on the planet. So don't pretend that it is. I'll even search your reviews out from the crowd if your honest in them we all know who these guys are that at least put an element of truth to them

[got_a_300]

Well I think we need more average THS Joe's you know your
everyday league bowlers like myself and the rest of us here
doing the ball reviews so we can get some truthful and honest
opinions about the ball(s) and don't just show all strikes every
frame show some missed mark single/multiple pin leaves.

I'd really love to see some reviews where the ball was yanked a
board to a few boards inside their mark and see how it reacts in
the heavy oil. Then again I'd love to see what the ball will do when
it is sprayed outside into the dry to early.