I think it's sticker shock that people tend to not buy anymore. This should not be a $190 if it's trying to replicate an NU ball. This is a low-tier ball with high high-tier price point.
All the discourse/discussion around this release is pretty interesting. Meanwhile I'm sitting over here in house-hack land and I'll never have the need for this piece 😂 Thanks for the video Luke.
@@FlippyBoySWEI don't think these urethane like reactives will replace actual urethane on tour. I rarely saw the NU Blue being used. I bowl a lot of tournaments on pba like patterns and never see anybody throwing a nu blue.
@@ripvanrevs they can't. The covers are still too strong up front and if you've never thrown a polymer ball, they get REALLY lazy downlane when the fronts hook a bit. Watch the Barnes video with Ryan, you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.
@@ripvanrevs Agree that they won't replace. When Pitch Black was legal, Jesper threw that on everything. No matter if the pattern was 32' or 47'. What I mean is if it is a ball that someone like him will use when the 78D urethanes are not in play, it is the real deal :) I bowl Swedish league, everyone throws the Purple Hammer on everything
I'm different when I use my pink hammer black widow urethane, in that I never wipe the oil Off the ball. I leave it on to further smooth it out, comes in handy when I move more into the dry outside, the ball doesnt hook at the arrows when Im shooting for say 5-7 board. Other bowlers that use urethane I notice always wipe the ball off each shot, then struggle cause their ball hooks too early. Just a lil urethane tip from me! (IE im just a regular bowler, but I do bowl on sport shot league on sundays)
Well it's not really keeping up with the Storm urethane in the videos I've seen, let alone anything beyond that. We'll definitely put it through it's paces with Zach
How comparable would this release be to the Pitch Purple and Fever Pitch? I feel like those two were in an awkward in between zone where it couldn’t distinctly be reactive or urethane which caused them to be overshadowed. Is this going to be history repeating itself in that sense?
Bowl south region. Was on B7 staff when the NU dropped so I have some experience with NU. Ryan Barnes video showed the issue with polymer to perfection.. Fronts hook, the cover forces you left and the ball just continues to get lazier and you can't just grab more of the finger holes moving left like you can with a urethane. Urethane at least can handle when the fronts hook and it's much easier to keep online and in front of you. I don't buy into the game changing "never been done before" hype in bowling ball tech. Leaves me skeptical and disappointed 99% of the time.
If it's not a hockey stick your every day league bowler will reject it. Looks like a gem for cliffed house shots and Rev dominant bowlers without destroying the pattern. Motiv bowler here, going to give it a go.
They don't send me stuff any more and I'm not paying 400 extra for us to review a couple balls we probably won't throw after that lol. I'm definitely interested, just don't see it happening right now at least.
@@LukeRosdahli hear you. I wouldn’t either and they probably don’t you new stuff because you’re brutally honest 😂 keep improving! I liked this video format
I find these urethane like balls to be completely useless, and I have drilled several of them. When I urethane is called for I want urethane and when resin is called for I want that reaction as well. In a perfect world I’d love to have a ball that lets me do urethane stuff on a house shot, but it seems like that’s not the case on any of these balls
My nu blue was kind of worthless drilled 2 different ways. I put 220 grit on it and it looked pretty good on house. Still don't think it would be much use on patterns.
After throwing some new Brunswick stuff I actually like storm more. It feels like the SPI covers do more on the lane, feel more consistent, and the hold surface better than most b7 stuff I've seen/thrown. That being said, I am so tired of storm reinventing the bowling ball every release so they can charge more than the last time. It also feels like they die quicker than b7 stuff. When they discontinued the hy-road pearl my first thought was well I'm sure we're gonna get an AI updated HRP for a premium. I get that the level is new tech but I don't even have to check online to know this is gonna be overpriced for what the core numbers say alone and the whole lab series idea sounds like a great way for storm to charge even more money
Huh, I've seen the opposite. I had issues all of 2022 and 2023 getting Storm stuff to be consistent or not turn into a marble inside of two games, and after drilling a lot of Brunswick and Motiv stuff this year that actually hooks and actually finishes consistently down lane, I drilled an Ion Pro just for it to be so bad I decided against putting out a review for it. And yes . . the Level is 190, so top tier pricing.
@timanders3151 this year has been huge for b7, wouldn't surprise me at all if they almost doubled SPI sales in the US. Also the tundra blue fire is nuts
@@LukeRosdahl yeah I'm just an outlier I guess. Ion pro is the nuts for me. Plus 2024 was huge for b7 and 2025 already has some killer releases. Me personally I just like how storm balls feel on the lane in comparison. My mesmerize and effect both feel like marshmallows and my tundra blue fire and envy tour are both 🔥. I just have better looks with my storm stuff. I also have a 550 rev rate and don't even have to think to get like 90 degrees of rotation if I feel like it, so maybe that has something to do with it??? Also some of the new motive balls look pretty good too like the sub zero and any shock line ball
@@LukeRosdahl I think Barnes did his review on Cheetah also and it didn’t look much different shape wise to the Pitch Black, just stronger overall with a little more shape down lane. Admittedly small sample size but if it holds surface this could be a banger as Stu would say 😂
@@LukeRosdahl Mine was terrible. Never consistent. Since I never used it, I put 220 grit on it and it looks amazing. I have a couple vids up if you want to see the motion.
Already not much there in the heavier weights and since they have to lower the density to be able to even make the other weights, just not much left by then.
What's it supposed to be? Just needs a catchy name... like Pseudothane or Ureactive. If anybody from a Storm's marketing department is reading this, I can be bought...🤣🤣
Hi Luke, how are you? Good video I think I may have asked this in the life but then again I had to leave and I apologize about that. I heard a lot of good things about the IQ 78U. So what’s the main issue with it it has the same core numbers just like it’s siblings, the reactive, solid, and pearl on the tour side. And if I am wrong, correct me but I heard that the 78U was supposed to be like old school urethane that was harder. from what I’ve seen it looked pretty good at times other times the pitch black was better based on certain conditions. The one thing I am a little surprised some of the staff or some storm loved this ball. I didn’t quite care for the way it rolled in videos, but a lot of them loved the tour dynamics from Rotogrip. does that compare to the level and the NU blue? I think the difference with that is it was asymmetrical but same concept here not urethane and it was reactive.
My guess is too low RG on the 78/U core for most people, it's done hooking by the arrows. Though I throw it so bad it looks pretty good on the megacliff house shot I have, but almost nothing on sport after a few shots.
I have had the IQ78 a year now. The problem I had was that it lane shined quickly and got "slimy". It was not consistent in reaction. I also think the low rg made it spin up or rotate faster than I like for my urethanes. I finally got a black hammer and it has been fantastic. I gave up on the IQ78 so I decided to sand it with 220 grit. To my surprise, it looks amazing. It is more consistent, doesn't lane shine as fast and goes through the pins better.
This ball looked great on high rev and abysmal on full rollers. A lot of league bowlers need to stay away from this ball from all the shots ive seen. Definately not a house killer
I love the undisclosed chemist. Unless something has changed and maybe it has, B7 are the only ones that are able to do in-house chemistry and other brands rely on third party companies for their resins. Maybe this is why the guy was undisclosed, he's not a SPI employee? Possibly why SPI continues to play mix match with new cores and coverstocks developed years ago and does not have something to combat HK22?
Storm seems to have direction issues at the helm just being honest. The release video by Storm for the Level seems desperate. They don't mention urethane but everything they talk about some will remember from years ago when Quantum made this first proactive ball. It was geared towards being smooth like urethane and less like reactive. Seems we are going back they direction again with this "new" technology
Big part of why I left. Everyone is pulling a different direction and it never seemed like they were on the same page or had any idea what was going on. Got really tiring never getting answers or getting 5 different ones from 5 different people. Every time they've really hyped something up lately it's been a dud too. Lightning Blackout was an overpriced Hustle, Ion Pro doesn't come close to competing with the other balls in that category that were already out a long time before it "reinvented the benchmark," and for all the hype on this one, I've only seen it look decent for one person out of 10-15.
@@LukeRosdahl agreed on the Lightning and a string of some bad releases/strategies of what they are releasing. Prices are never going back down but the price increases they are making on some of their stuff makes no sense. This ball is a hard sell for many at $189. If you want to have a "Storm Tax" and go $10 or so above the competition for what the ball is supposed to be Storm usually gets away with it. At $30-40+ over the competitions comparable ball thats a hard sell. Saying the ball is "limited" i guess is the idea of how to justify it.
Because a ball that absorbs oil quickly keeps the cover fresh and tacky so it can be strong and consistent instead of getting slimy and lazy. Regular maintenance will take care of it just fine, so that part really isn't concerning. It's just all the info together with the way that the ball reaction seems to be designed doesn't make a lot of sense.
@Redsox3600 yeah I think this ball would be one you have to "bake" of the oil out quite often. It can only absorb so much, I'm curious at what point if at all does the absorption rate slow down or become that of a normal ball.
That was a different story, all bowling balls absorb oil fairly quickly today, but it was issues with the particle covers at the time. Just have to do regular maintenance and get a detox whenever it's getting slow.
Most big strong balls on the market today are high absorption, so higher performance and more maintenance go hand in hand, but it's really just wiping it off in between shots and cleaning it after you use it. Maintenance isn't as big of a deal as people are making it out to be.
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im so sick of storm’s ‘game changing’ releases every 4 months
And then they're discontinued 4 months after that 😂
I just use my plastic white Dot on those easy house shots!
I think it's sticker shock that people tend to not buy anymore. This should not be a $190 if it's trying to replicate an NU ball. This is a low-tier ball with high high-tier price point.
You mean marketing.
Finally, an objective assessment of the whole release, with a brand-to-brand approach.
I still have not seen a side by side of the level and purple hammer, I would love to see one
There's a video about the Level by CTD that goes very in depth with the Level's tech.
All the discourse/discussion around this release is pretty interesting.
Meanwhile I'm sitting over here in house-hack land and I'll never have the need for this piece 😂
Thanks for the video Luke.
Good point on Justin Knowles, I'm definitely curious to see how he does. The other barometer would be Simo since he likes to play straight
Jesper. He's been throwing the IQ78 begrudgingly since the rule change. If he uses this, it's a solid urethane alternative.
@@FlippyBoySWEI don't think these urethane like reactives will replace actual urethane on tour. I rarely saw the NU Blue being used. I bowl a lot of tournaments on pba like patterns and never see anybody throwing a nu blue.
@@ripvanrevs they can't. The covers are still too strong up front and if you've never thrown a polymer ball, they get REALLY lazy downlane when the fronts hook a bit. Watch the Barnes video with Ryan, you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.
@@ripvanrevs Agree that they won't replace. When Pitch Black was legal, Jesper threw that on everything. No matter if the pattern was 32' or 47'. What I mean is if it is a ball that someone like him will use when the 78D urethanes are not in play, it is the real deal :)
I bowl Swedish league, everyone throws the Purple Hammer on everything
I'm just curious on what it will be like polished, or if having 2 one at 1000 and one at 1000+ polished would work
I'm different when I use my pink hammer black widow urethane, in that I never wipe the oil Off the ball. I leave it on to further smooth it out, comes in handy when I move more into the dry outside, the ball doesnt hook at the arrows when Im shooting for say 5-7 board. Other bowlers that use urethane I notice always wipe the ball off each shot, then struggle cause their ball hooks too early.
Just a lil urethane tip from me! (IE im just a regular bowler, but I do bowl on sport shot league on sundays)
Id love to see how this compares to a purple hammer. If its close to the Kentucky purple ball reaction, then storm is gonna print money with this one
Well it's not really keeping up with the Storm urethane in the videos I've seen, let alone anything beyond that. We'll definitely put it through it's paces with Zach
How comparable would this release be to the Pitch Purple and Fever Pitch? I feel like those two were in an awkward in between zone where it couldn’t distinctly be reactive or urethane which caused them to be overshadowed. Is this going to be history repeating itself in that sense?
I'm not sure yet, we'll see before too long.
Interested to see what a polished one looks like on the burn
Bowl south region. Was on B7 staff when the NU dropped so I have some experience with NU. Ryan Barnes video showed the issue with polymer to perfection.. Fronts hook, the cover forces you left and the ball just continues to get lazier and you can't just grab more of the finger holes moving left like you can with a urethane. Urethane at least can handle when the fronts hook and it's much easier to keep online and in front of you. I don't buy into the game changing "never been done before" hype in bowling ball tech. Leaves me skeptical and disappointed 99% of the time.
If it's not a hockey stick your every day league bowler will reject it. Looks like a gem for cliffed house shots and Rev dominant bowlers without destroying the pattern. Motiv bowler here, going to give it a go.
Even tho I wanna see Zac shoot with this I wanna see you and Angel too. This is very intriguing
They don't send me stuff any more and I'm not paying 400 extra for us to review a couple balls we probably won't throw after that lol. I'm definitely interested, just don't see it happening right now at least.
@@LukeRosdahli hear you. I wouldn’t either and they probably don’t you new stuff because you’re brutally honest 😂 keep improving! I liked this video format
I find these urethane like balls to be completely useless, and I have drilled several of them. When I urethane is called for I want urethane and when resin is called for I want that reaction as well. In a perfect world I’d love to have a ball that lets me do urethane stuff on a house shot, but it seems like that’s not the case on any of these balls
My nu blue was kind of worthless drilled 2 different ways. I put 220 grit on it and it looked pretty good on house. Still don't think it would be much use on patterns.
After throwing some new Brunswick stuff I actually like storm more. It feels like the SPI covers do more on the lane, feel more consistent, and the hold surface better than most b7 stuff I've seen/thrown. That being said, I am so tired of storm reinventing the bowling ball every release so they can charge more than the last time. It also feels like they die quicker than b7 stuff. When they discontinued the hy-road pearl my first thought was well I'm sure we're gonna get an AI updated HRP for a premium. I get that the level is new tech but I don't even have to check online to know this is gonna be overpriced for what the core numbers say alone and the whole lab series idea sounds like a great way for storm to charge even more money
Huh, I've seen the opposite. I had issues all of 2022 and 2023 getting Storm stuff to be consistent or not turn into a marble inside of two games, and after drilling a lot of Brunswick and Motiv stuff this year that actually hooks and actually finishes consistently down lane, I drilled an Ion Pro just for it to be so bad I decided against putting out a review for it.
And yes . . the Level is 190, so top tier pricing.
I think B7 absolutely spanked SPI this year so far. They've had banger after banger this year, for the first time in a long time.
@@timanders3151I’m curious if the new balls will do anything on tour this year, feels like 90% of B7 wins are straight black hammer
@timanders3151 this year has been huge for b7, wouldn't surprise me at all if they almost doubled SPI sales in the US. Also the tundra blue fire is nuts
@@LukeRosdahl yeah I'm just an outlier I guess. Ion pro is the nuts for me. Plus 2024 was huge for b7 and 2025 already has some killer releases. Me personally I just like how storm balls feel on the lane in comparison. My mesmerize and effect both feel like marshmallows and my tundra blue fire and envy tour are both 🔥. I just have better looks with my storm stuff. I also have a 550 rev rate and don't even have to think to get like 90 degrees of rotation if I feel like it, so maybe that has something to do with it???
Also some of the new motive balls look pretty good too like the sub zero and any shock line ball
Storm chemist could have used a lint brush.
I haven't seen 1 ball review where this ball looks good or strike repeatedly.
Me either. I watched virtually all the ones that are available earlier this morning and they're all rough.
I thought it looked pretty good for Chris Via on the new Cheetah pattern with 37mils…that’s a lot of oil.
Yeah but most balls look good for a 2 hander with a 550 rev rate
@@LukeRosdahl I think Barnes did his review on Cheetah also and it didn’t look much different shape wise to the Pitch Black, just stronger overall with a little more shape down lane. Admittedly small sample size but if it holds surface this could be a banger as Stu would say 😂
Do you feel this is like a Pro-Motion type ball? Mine is pretty much done and dead and would love a replacement.
Definitely not, much weaker core and in most people's videos it's getting outhooked by a pitch black.
Looks like a short pin motion. Less in the fronts than urethane, heavy mid lane, smooth, with some pop on the back.
@@LukeRosdahl Thanks for the reply and insight.
I actually love my IQ78, I don't think it's a bad urethane.
It's just not competitive with the other brands. It has its moments but I have 2 of them and 95% of the time my black hammer is the clear pick.
@LukeRosdahl That's fair, I can see why the black hammer would be more popular. I don't have one myself though.
@@LukeRosdahl Mine was terrible. Never consistent. Since I never used it, I put 220 grit on it and it looks amazing. I have a couple vids up if you want to see the motion.
Why is the weight block so minimal for the lighter weights?
Already not much there in the heavier weights and since they have to lower the density to be able to even make the other weights, just not much left by then.
@LukeRosdahl I was kind of hoping this ball would give me a similar reaction to the 70/30 but there's no chance with that block.
Only other good storm urethane ball I saw recently was the Marvel U NXT which was overseas only
What's it supposed to be? Just needs a catchy name... like Pseudothane or Ureactive.
If anybody from a Storm's marketing department is reading this, I can be bought...🤣🤣
Hi Luke, how are you? Good video I think I may have asked this in the life but then again I had to leave and I apologize about that. I heard a lot of good things about the IQ 78U. So what’s the main issue with it it has the same core numbers just like it’s siblings, the reactive, solid, and pearl on the tour side. And if I am wrong, correct me but I heard that the 78U was supposed to be like old school urethane that was harder. from what I’ve seen it looked pretty good at times other times the pitch black was better based on certain conditions. The one thing I am a little surprised some of the staff or some storm loved this ball. I didn’t quite care for the way it rolled in videos, but a lot of them loved the tour dynamics from Rotogrip. does that compare to the level and the NU blue? I think the difference with that is it was asymmetrical but same concept here not urethane and it was reactive.
My guess is too low RG on the 78/U core for most people, it's done hooking by the arrows. Though I throw it so bad it looks pretty good on the megacliff house shot I have, but almost nothing on sport after a few shots.
I have had the IQ78 a year now. The problem I had was that it lane shined quickly and got "slimy". It was not consistent in reaction. I also think the low rg made it spin up or rotate faster than I like for my urethanes. I finally got a black hammer and it has been fantastic. I gave up on the IQ78 so I decided to sand it with 220 grit. To my surprise, it looks amazing. It is more consistent, doesn't lane shine as fast and goes through the pins better.
@@ripvanrevs I thought about getting one, but I got a pitch black and stuff for my very first ever urethane/spare ball
it's the SPI version of NU blue
Seems that way.
You can use my footage anytime Luke =) if you need shots for future vids
Appreciate that man!!
This ball looked great on high rev and abysmal on full rollers. A lot of league bowlers need to stay away from this ball from all the shots ive seen. Definately not a house killer
Well yeah it's definitely not a ball to use in league.
You think will be close to the hyroud nano?
Did you watch the video? This is basically a urethane ball without calling it urethane, how would that be close to a hyroad nano?
Can we get a bowler over doing their arm swing?
Lol sure.
Well done
I love the undisclosed chemist. Unless something has changed and maybe it has, B7 are the only ones that are able to do in-house chemistry and other brands rely on third party companies for their resins. Maybe this is why the guy was undisclosed, he's not a SPI employee? Possibly why SPI continues to play mix match with new cores and coverstocks developed years ago and does not have something to combat HK22?
Looks like a flop to me. Sorry if that hurts anyone's feelings.
Storm seems to have direction issues at the helm just being honest. The release video by Storm for the Level seems desperate. They don't mention urethane but everything they talk about some will remember from years ago when Quantum made this first proactive ball. It was geared towards being smooth like urethane and less like reactive. Seems we are going back they direction again with this "new" technology
Big part of why I left. Everyone is pulling a different direction and it never seemed like they were on the same page or had any idea what was going on. Got really tiring never getting answers or getting 5 different ones from 5 different people. Every time they've really hyped something up lately it's been a dud too. Lightning Blackout was an overpriced Hustle, Ion Pro doesn't come close to competing with the other balls in that category that were already out a long time before it "reinvented the benchmark," and for all the hype on this one, I've only seen it look decent for one person out of 10-15.
Chris Barnes says it reminds him of the Columbia 300 EPX epoxy balls. I think I saw him throw one on TV once and I could see that.
@@LukeRosdahl agreed on the Lightning and a string of some bad releases/strategies of what they are releasing. Prices are never going back down but the price increases they are making on some of their stuff makes no sense. This ball is a hard sell for many at $189. If you want to have a "Storm Tax" and go $10 or so above the competition for what the ball is supposed to be Storm usually gets away with it. At $30-40+ over the competitions comparable ball thats a hard sell. Saying the ball is "limited" i guess is the idea of how to justify it.
Why are we bragging about a ball that is absorbing oil at a high rate? Curious of the life span of this ball given that information.
Because a ball that absorbs oil quickly keeps the cover fresh and tacky so it can be strong and consistent instead of getting slimy and lazy. Regular maintenance will take care of it just fine, so that part really isn't concerning. It's just all the info together with the way that the ball reaction seems to be designed doesn't make a lot of sense.
@ It’s just giving me early Ebonite vibes. Great for 30 games and due to soaking a ton of oil they became useless.
@Redsox3600 yeah I think this ball would be one you have to "bake" of the oil out quite often. It can only absorb so much, I'm curious at what point if at all does the absorption rate slow down or become that of a normal ball.
@@decadude8968 That’s a great point. Pro Shops are going to love the extra revenue lol
That was a different story, all bowling balls absorb oil fairly quickly today, but it was issues with the particle covers at the time. Just have to do regular maintenance and get a detox whenever it's getting slow.
garbage version of the ProMotion
High absorption means high maintenance I’m out
Most big strong balls on the market today are high absorption, so higher performance and more maintenance go hand in hand, but it's really just wiping it off in between shots and cleaning it after you use it. Maintenance isn't as big of a deal as people are making it out to be.
But does it smell like blueberries or blackberries?!?!
Lol I have no idea what Grapple is but if it's green apple . . that sounds fantastic
@@LukeRosdahlmaybe grape apple?
Ah yeah that's probably it. That'd be pretty nice too