Bowling Balls versus Price

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purduepaul
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Bowling Balls versus Price

Post by purduepaul »

Since I run a pro shop now, its always beneficial to ask questions like this, however I am motivated by recent posts on other threads.

What reaction do you expect when you get a high performance ball? what about a mid-plus ball, midprice?

If there is a ball that is at the maximum price point at your local pro shop that you were disappointed by the reaction when you bought it? Is there a midprice ball that you have bought that crushed your high expectations for it?

Personally, I choose not to recommend balls that are an answer to the first question since its bad for my personal business.

What do you guys think?
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Re: Bowling Balls versus Price

Post by bsbowlerama »

Brunswick Fury Solid- Most disappointing overpriced ball

Track Crash- Most surprising ball for the $$$.... one of my all time favorite balls- very versatile. We sold a bunch of them... not one dud, or complaint from bowlers
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Re: Bowling Balls versus Price

Post by kellytehuna »

To be honest, the only disappointment I've had is bringing home a new ball and discovering it reacted exactly the same as a ball I already had. Thankfully, that's only happened once!

I've enjoyed every ball. I didn't necessarily get what I was looking for, but I've enjoyed what I got.
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Re: Bowling Balls versus Price

Post by Revkiller »

When I purchase a new ball my expectation is to get what the manufacturer is marketing. If they claim a ball to be a dry lane ball I expect it to react accordingly. I purchased a Freeze expecting to get a ball that would work well on a fried condition and put a control drilling on it. It turned out to be too strong and was a better medium oil ball. Very disappointing although it lead me to purchasing a Mojave which is great on light oil. I just hope to get what is advertised.

Mid priced ball that has exceeded all my expectations is the Roto Grip Nomad Solid. This ball is long and very strong and is surprisingly versitile.
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Re: Bowling Balls versus Price

Post by coasterp »

Revkiller wrote:When I purchase a new ball my expectation is to get what the manufacturer is marketing. If they claim a ball to be a dry lane ball I expect it to react accordingly. I purchased a Freeze expecting to get a ball that would work well on a fried condition and put a control drilling on it. It turned out to be too strong and was a better medium oil ball. Very disappointing although it lead me to purchasing a Mojave which is great on light oil. I just hope to get what is advertised.
I agree here in that I hope to get what is advertised. This has not always been the case though. I have had what were supposed to be mid-price medium oil balls react the same as high priced heavy oil balls. I'm actually more partial to the mid-price stuff now, as I find I get more bang for my buck when compared to paying for high end balls. I have actually been very disappointed a couple of times with high end balls but never with a mid-price ball.
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Re: Bowling Balls versus Price

Post by JohnP »

I tell most of my customers that they don't need a top line ball. But many are convinced that another $50 in price will give better results. -- JohnP
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Re: Bowling Balls versus Price

Post by M4R10 »

Was disapointed first with my Cell Solid. It reacted nothing like the video reviews I saw on the net. Couldn't get it to turn the corner on any kind of house shot which was unheard of me before that. I finally found it to work acceptable playing parallel on shark or long sport patterns.

Having learned much on this site I now understand why I was disapointed. The layout does not match my game at all.

I think it is easier to recommend mid price stuff:

The best you can achieve with high performance stuff is to meet the customer's expectations because they expect exactly that - high performance. But people do not expect outstanding perfomance out of mid-priced and entry level priced balls. With the right layout and surface the ball may easily exceed the expectation.

Result: Another happy customer! Who by the way saved some money, so the next ball purchase is not as far away as if the pocket was empty...
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Re: Bowling Balls versus Price

Post by greatinmymind »

Most bowlers buy new equipment just to have new equipment. I for one, still get excited when the newest balls get released. I am always looking for a new ball to throw down the lane. Is this why we are seeing so many new ball releases? Some balls are being re-released with just a new surface and a different name. I do think that there needs to be more value on the High performance level. When you can take a medium priced ball, change the surface and it will do the same thing as a ball that cost $50-$60 more..... Why buy the expensive one. I think some companies have done a decent job of separating value while others have lacked in this.
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Re: Bowling Balls versus Price

Post by Nsane »

I found out that the most Bowlers buy new Balls and hope they Bowl better with it. The more expensiv the Ball the better they play.

A lot of bowlers shoot with canons on birds.
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Re: Bowling Balls versus Price

Post by scotts33 »

Maybe I am different than many but my main reason to purchase new equipment is a particular ball reaction I am looking for....I tend to stay in one or two lines to work one ball off of another. Then, I can ball up or ball down off my benchmark.

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Re: Bowling Balls versus Price

Post by kidlost2000 »

Mine is based on price. The reason being is through the years of buying online from different sites including ebay I have been able to get a lot of different bowling balls from $60 to $80 shipped to the house. I have my own setup so drilling is free.(thumb insert $2) In that time I have bought a lot of different bowling balls that cover a large range of high to low performance.

I still have expectations of what I want the ball to do, but am a lot less dissapointed if it doesn't react well since it didn't cost me $200. With that being said I can't think of a single ball that I didn't like. There were a couple that didn't do as expected, but were still useful.

I think this day and time it is too costly to release a bad product and they are very few and far between.

For most of the conditions I have recently faced the mid and lower price point equipment for medium to lighter oil has been awesome. There is also a lot of big hooking equipment in that same price point I have just not had the chance to try it. (yet)
"today I went shopping and talk is still cheap"
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