The Replacements: Storm IQ Emerald Bowling Ball – Roto Grip Hyped Pearl or Hustle Wine?

what is the best bowling ball to replace your storm iq emerald bowling ball

If You Love Your Storm IQ Emerald What Bowling Ball Should You Replace It With? 

Hello and welcome to another video in the Replacements series where I’ll be trying to help you find a suitable replacement for the at least theoretically popular IQ Tour Emerald which was a remake of the IQ Tour Pearl slash gold ball.  BowlersMart and Coolwick, links in the description and at the end of the video, get your Storm and Turbo gear there, and if you’re in the market for older, rare, used, or international stuff, check out Storm Roto Grip Bowling Balls For Sale on Facebook, best place out there to find that stuff.  

Storm IQ Emerald Bowling Ball 

So first things first, the Emerald wasn’t really that popular.  It should have been, and there was a bunch of buzz early, but it got discontinued because it wasn’t selling.  People still ask about it, talk highly about it, and complain about it being discontinued, but talk doesn’t keep stuff in production.  People are incensed about the Idol being discontinued but the company shipped 20 balls worldwide the last two months it was in production, that kind of tells them the ship has sailed and that they need to move on.  People were mad about the gold ball, when it got discontinued that’s all they could talk about was a rerelease.  It got remade in the Emerald, lot better looking and smelling ball, and people were excited but that didn’t last long.  This video is about a compromise, highly doubt we’ll ever get another R2S Pearl IQ Tour, but it’s too good of a look on the lane, it’s too important of a reaction to not have in one of the lines somewhere.  This is the reason the IQ Tour is still around, the Hyroad, Phaze 2, but not everything can stick around forever.  Sometimes we lose important reactions, but if they’re important enough, they’ll be there somewhere, and sometimes they’re even reinvented.  5 or 6 years ago when the original Phaze came out, people hated it by and large, it was a pearl that wasn’t an RST X-2 or a UC2, it was pretty smooth and rolly.  Nobody realizes it, but it was basically the Zen, which has been the most popular ball on the planet for almost a year.  I loved the original Phaze, all 3 that I had back then, and the 4th I currently have lefty, don’t think that video and an immeasurable amount of gloating isn’t coming, mostly because apparently I crave attention, that’s why I have a YouTube channel about BOWLING, you know, it’s all for the fanfare and media coverage. Moving on, the pairing of a medium strength cover with a low rg low differential core is about control and predictability.  Again, the lower the RG is, the earlier the ball wants to roll and rev, think back to the figure skater analogy in the classroom video.  The lower diff however is what promotes the control, just enough imbalance in the core to get a bit of flare ring separation so you get some fresh cover exposed to the lane, but with longer bowties or the areas where the rings cross each other so you get a nice blend of traction and control both down the lane and on the backend.  The polished cover gives you a shape compliment to the IQ Tour, more length and more pop for when the lanes start drying up.  The IQ Tour is a pretty good ball all the way around, but it’s iffy on house shots.  The Emerald could split duty, it had enough shape to hang on a house shot but enough control to back up the Tour Solid on tougher stuff.  

Roto Grip Hustle Wine Bowling Ball

The two balls we’re looking at are the Roto Grip Hustle Wine and recently released Hyped Pearl, we’ll start with the Wine . . for the video at least, I’m having a nip of Whistlepig Rye on the rocks.  2.53 RG, .030 differential, so a few ticks higher on the RG, negligible diff on the diff, that adds a little length, and shape actually as a byproduct.  If the ball starts rolling and revving a little later, it doesn’t start up so soon, leaving more shape for the end of the lane.  This does however reduce the midlane control a little, which in the case of the Wine seems to be a little more theoretical or an on paper kind of thing.  VTC Pearl is also a little weaker than R2S Pearl that’s on the Emerald, but it doesn’t seem to be that much weaker.  The Wine is a bit longer and marginally quicker than the IQ Emerald, but the shapes are incredibly similar.  I don’t think the Wine is quite as strong as the Emerald, but realistically it’s close enough that it’s hard to notice.  

Roto Grip Hyped Pearl Bowling Ball

I made mention that the Wine was virtually an Emerald in the review, or the closest thing we’ve had since it was discontinued, but then we got the Hyped Pearl Bowling Ball, and spoiler alert, it’s closer to the Emerald than the Wine is in our opinion.  Just a smidge lower on the RG than the Wine, 2.52, while the differential is up at .036.  The Hyped core rolls heavier than the Hustle core, and despite the RG still being a few ticks higher than the Emerald, the heavier roll and bit extra diff makes up for that and gets the Hyped Pearl to do all the same things in all the same places.  Again, I don’t think VTC Pearl is QUITE as strong as R2S Pearl, but it’s close enough that you’d have to have a pretty specific set of circumstances or conditions to see the difference, and even then it’d be pretty small.  

So Which Bowling Ball Is The Best Replacement For The Storm IQ Emerald

So to recap, the Hyped Pearl is definitely the closest, however, if you liked the Emerald but felt it was a little too early and slow sometimes, the Wine might be the fix or the adjustment to make the match up click for you better.  Now if you don’t mind spending an extra 50 to 75 bucks, Emerald’s are still available, and the price is actually coming down because there’s not as much of a rush on them as people were expecting.  Usually I’d recommend stashing a ball or two of the ones you really like, in this case, this type of reaction is going to there somewhere in some form or another pretty well indefinitely.  While I’ve got a handful of balls stashed myself, they’re very specific things that I don’t think we’re going to see again, most people hated the SPEC cover so I know we aren’t getting any more Pro Motions, so thanks for that ya dummies, and I’d really be surprised if we ever see an IQ Tour Nano Pearl type look again once it’s discontinued.  Outside of that, I don’t tend to worry too much.  The PhysiX got replaced with the RST X1, the Astro got replaced with the UC2 and kind of the RST X-2, the Sure Lock got replaced with the Reality, took a few years but it’s a thing now, and so on and so forth.  Spoiler alert for future episodes, but we’ll call it a teaser and pretend I haven’t had too much Whistlepig.  Thanks for watching and may the strikes be with you.  

roto grip hustle wine bowling ball

Built to provide performance for both the novice bowler and the advanced bowler, the Hustle Line of balls serves as the standard in which all other entry level balls are compared. So, whether you are looking to get your very first ball or looking to get a ball to fill out your arsenal for those lighter conditions, have no fear, the Hustle Line is here!

Engineered For – Light to Medium Oil Conditions

– Core: Hustle
– Coverstock: VTC Pearl Reactive
– Finish: 1500
– RG: 2.53 
– Diff: 0.030 

 

 

roto grip hyped pearl bowling ball

We collectively gathered our thoughts and perspectives on what we felt the HP2 line truly stands for and what it should be. We then went to work developing and constructing what is now known as the Hyped Core. Measuring in as the lowest RG core we have ever offered in the HP2 line, the Hyped Core provides more overall motion than the balls offered in the HP1 line, while providing a touch less motion than our HP3 line offerings. Thus, making this one of the best options we have ever constructed for the HP2 line of balls in history. So, if you weren’t already excited, it is now time to GET HYPED!

From the beginning, the end goal for the Hyped Core was to create a core design that would provide us more overall ball motion than the Hustle Core found in the HP1 Line, while also creating a viable step down option (less performance) than the motions found from our HP3 Line of balls. In the end, our R&D Team hit it out of the park with creating a core shape that provides medium flare and the ideal ball motion for the HP2 Line of balls moving forward.

Coverstock Name VTC
Coverstock Style Pearl
Coverstock Type Reactive
Weight Block Hyped
Color Black/Carolina/Charcoal
Finish 1500 Polished
Finish Method Can be Polished OR Can be Sanded More
Durometer 73-75 on D-Scale
Weights 16lbs – 12lbs

RG: 2.52
DIFF: .036

 

900 Global burner pearl bowling ball

Legendary 900 Global value performance continues!!  Introducing the ALL NEW Burner Pearl

The 600 Series has been revamped to give you even more performance than previous releases! The Burner Solid and Burner Pearl both feature the highly versatile S62 Cover and the ALL NEW Centroid Symmetric Core. With this combination, we have created a

The Centroid symmetric core addresses a need that many value performance balls struggle with…a lower density. By shifting the weight more towards the center of the ball we have eliminated the over/under that many balls in this category struggle with. The Burners have been purposely engineered to give you a reliable reaction when the lanes have broken down.

Color: Amethyst / Red

Coverstock: S62 Pearl
Weight Block: Centroid Symmetric
Factory Finish: 1500 Grit Polished
Flare Potential: 3-4″
Radius of Gyration (RG): 15lbs – 2.53
Differential (Diff): 15lbs – 0.037

 

 

roto grip bowling Balls

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