Roto Grip Nomad Dagger Ball Review

“A Mean Nomad”
A pretty strong Nomad, meant to fit between the Solid and Pearl.

Layout (Picture coming soon)

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.

Please work with your local pro shop operator to find what best works for you.

First Impressions
This ball really hooks a ton! It’s all relative to the condition you bowl on of course, but on a Medium THS, this ball really is very strong. It makes an extremely continuous move through the pins. It stores a good amount of energy with the hybrid cover which still allows for a plenty of hook on the backend. It simply looks stronger than either the original Nomad solid or Nomad pearl.

Price 9.5/10
This ball is relatively affordable and it’s plenty of ball for the money.

Core
The Nomad Dagger uses the same Rotary core as the other Nomads. RG is 2.55 with a relatively high differential of .054. The matchup with this hybrid cover really shows off the core’s potential ball reaction shape. This core is pretty versatile. I’ve seen anything from a smooth, yet aggressive move on the backend, to a skid/flip reaction.

Cover 9.5/10
I think the hybrid cover really makes this ball stand out. Roto Grip/Storm seem to have a good thing going with their hybrid chemistry. This cover really makes this ball have a completely different look on the lanes than the other 2 Nomad offerings. The ball stores plenty of energy, allowing for a strong late midlane and backend reaction. It’s a 50/50 split solid/pearl cover. You can tweak it to your liking based on what you see out of box, but the out of box finish is very usable.

Reaction 9/10
It appears that Roto Grip has created a cover that allows the ball to have pearl characteristics when it comes to getting through the heads and making an angular move on the backends, however with similar overall strength to a solid. In my mind, that’s the best of both worlds. Compared to the Hybrid on the Infinite Theory, I feel it has a different balance. The biggest difference is the sensitivity on oil the Infinite has to make the angular move. The Dagger seems to have a slightly more confident booming move on the backend. The Infinite Theory seems to rely on it’s strong core to make a sharper transition, but not as smooth and booming backend as the Dagger. It could be the saying, “less is more.”
The Nomad Dagger really offers a big booming type of backend reaction. It reminds me of what I saw from the Victory Road. I can see many people being confident in this ball’s overall ball reaction. At least to my eyes, it allows the bowler to relax when they feel confident the ball will turn over on the backend.
Depending on how you drill it, you may find it to be stronger than what you may want in a benchmark type of ball. So this may be a step up to your benchmark when you want to open up the lanes. Given it’s consistent reaction, you may be able to take it down to 2000 or 1000 and use it on even heavier than medium conditions.
The video will easily demonstrate the backend and very continuous motion of this ball. It’s quite impressive and entry angles can be rather high.

Overall 9/10
Overall, this ball is impressive in it’s capabilities and it’s price point. It’s actually stronger than I anticipated shining a different light on what you might want to use it for. I would categorize this ball as one that can be used on the “stronger” control side or opening up the lanes. My feeling is that given how continuous and angular it is, you will prefer to use this ball to open up the lanes from deeper angles. Given how strong it is, you may want to be careful if the lanes are too dry as this ball may simply be too aggressive.

This ball will surely continue Roto Grip’s success with the Nomad lineup. It’s a very capable ball and offers a look on the lanes that many bowlers will like.