Remember that coverstock accounts for 70% of ball reaction, but the core will create the dynamic shape. Your drilling will alter the shape to suit your game and conditions you bowl on. Jacqui Reese is our tester. Eric Filipovits is our higher rev tester.
Please work with your local pro shop operator to find what best works for you.

First Impressions
This ball firmly establishes Brunswick’s intentions. It’s clear that they want to make their mark with more aggressive and continuous backend ball reaction, a bit away from the “control” ball reaction. To that end, the Ulti-Max exemplifies an aggressive asymmetrical ball reaction. It has decent length, but makes an aggressive and continuous move.

I’m always expecting Pearlized versions of balls to be more length and more angular, but requiring the conditions to be much lighter. However, this ball seems substantially different than the Mutant Cell Pearl. The 4000 grit out of box finish allows it to be more aggressive overall. Not only can it handle more oil, but the thing can move. It really makes a strong defined move at the breakpoint.

Value 9/10
With the rebates Brunswick continues to offer, value to the consumer goes up.

Core
The core called the Dual Flip I-Block has a min RG of 2.535 and differential of .050 with a mass bias of .017. It creates decent length with a strong and continuous move.

Cover 8/10
The CFT Ulti-Max Pearl is finished with 500, 1500 Siaair and rough buff. Of course like most balls you can adjust the cover. If you like to use this on fresh shots, you might want to knock the rough buff off. It’s a pretty aggressive ball overall but less aggressive than the Alpha Max. This ball will be more usable on medium house conditions than the Alpha for many with it’s pearlized cover adding some natural length through the heads.

Reaction 8/10
This ball makes a strong continuous ball motion that is like many other asymmetrical balls. You can tweak the ball reaction with many different drillings to suit the bowler and of course playing with surface is a must to tweak the reaction for the condition.
This ball gets pretty good length on a medium length pattern, begins to make a nice rounded move and then a pretty strong and continuous backend motion. It’s critical to get the drilling correct for the bowler in this type of ball or it can be uncontrollable like asymetrics can be. It is also sensitive to over/under and release changes. This ball seems to be good at a lot but not the best. In other words, it’s more flexible than the Alpha Max for example, but for each condition, another ball is equally good or better. However, I wouldn’t call it a benchmark. Basically, there will be times when this will be the right ball and it will outscore anything else, but most times, you will want to use a proper benchmark first, like the Wicked Siege or Massive Damage and decide if it’s the right condition for the Ulti-Max.

Overall 8/10
I believe the Ulti-Max is a nice addition to the Brunswick lineup, but ultimately not the best ball they have. I think Brunswick made it’s point that it wants to shed the old “control” ball reputation. Well I think they’ve done that successfully. This ball is oddly a kind of “jack of all trades but a master of none.” You will likely want to play with the surface and find the condition it works best on to give it a niche as it really is not a benchmark ball. Basically, find that right condition, possibly medium length and volume with clean backends and this ball can be a beast. The out of box finish makes it too sensitive to over/under. I believe if you dull this ball a bit, it will no longer be usable on many conditions, but much better at the ones it can handle.