The Hyper Cell
Review Date: 6 January 2014
Reviewed by:
Roto Grip staffer John Brockland
Style: Stroker Rev Rate: 280-310
PAP: 5.25" over and 1" up
If you remember the original CELL from Roto Grip, then you undoubtedly remember a strong rolling ball that turned heads left and right in its day because of the way it went through the pins. Its engine was the NucleusTM core.
In the category of taking a good thing and making it better, Roto Grip has done it again! That same NucleusTM core has reappeared as the guts of the new HYPER CELL wrapped with the strongest cover stock Roto Grip has ever created - the 80HTM MicrobiteTM solid.
The result is absolutely the best weapon for heavy oil, tight playing patterns I have ever had in my arsenal! I have had no ball plow through a puddle of oil like this one does. I have had no ball create recovery to the right on a tight pattern like this one does. The numerical rating that Roto Grip has given the grit of this new solid cover stock is no overstatement. At 80HTM this microbite cover is three points stronger than the DEFIANT SOUL - which until now I had identified as clearly the best option in the HP-4 sector (strongest performance) of Roto Grip's lineup. For those who have been pleased with the way the DISTURBED plows through a heavy pattern, the HYPER CELL will make you take notice!
The DEFIANT SOUL was a home run for me and the DISTURBED is one of my favorites, so I don't easily or lightly say that something else is now that much better. The DEFIANT SOUL got me a 17th place finish at the 2013 USBC Masters as the third last amateur standing in the tournament. It was also a great ball for me at least year's USBC Open Championships for Team Event (four bad shots on my part turned what should have been 720 into 635, and would have made my 1951 all-events total a really nice set over 2000). THE DISTURBED was a partner in both those efforts as well.
The first night I had the HYPER CELL in hand was the last night of our Fall STL Sport league in December. We were bowling on the 2013 TOC Pattern (40ft, 24.55ml) in an original pro-anvilane center. The HYPER CELL literally opened up five more boards at the breakpoint than I had with the DEFIANT SOUL! It let me migrate my feet about 7 deeper and create room down-lane in a way I couldn't believe. It just read its way through the tight mid-lane so well and had so much energy left when it got to the end of the pattern. I also used the HYPER CELL with a good measure of success at this year's Storm Holiday Doubles. It allowed me to migrate into the mountain of oil they had applied to the middle of the lane at around 20 board and plow through it smoothly instead of fighting wet/dry in the worn track and worn heads further right of there.
I was told in advance that the design intent in the HYPER CELL was a strong rolling, heavy oil pattern ball that would plow through and smooth out a tight playing pattern, not one that would necessarily cover a bunch of boards with booming hook. I drilled mine with a layout which for me accentuates those characteristics (a pretty simple pin over center of my bridge drilling with the PSA right next to my thumb). To refine the reaction I was looking for, I adjusted the 2000-grit box surface with a wet 4000-grit abralon pad applied directly over the box finish.
It's been quite a while since I've drilled up a new ball that has really WOW-ed me, but this one does! It needs heavy oil or a really tight-playing surface to perform best. Man oh man, in the right surroundings this ball is a beast!
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