First Impressions
The Ion Pro Solid brings back old school Storm motion. Long and strong.
Tamer Elbaga (Lefty)
Style: Tweener
RPM: 330 rpm
PAP: 5 & 3/8 up
Average Speed: 18.5 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: low
Axis rotation: medium/high
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Layout: 4 x 40
Bryan Hoffman (Righty)
Style: Stroker
RPM: 280 rpm
PAP: 4 1/2 & 1 1/2 up
Average Speed: 18.5 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: high
Axis rotation: medium
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Layout: 4.75 x 45
Tyler Church (Righty)
Style: Power Player
RPM: 425 rpm
PAP: 5 1/2 & 1/2 up
Average Speed: 19 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: med
Axis rotation: medium
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Layout: 5 x 45
“Keep in mind that coverstock accounts for 70% of ball reaction, but the core creates the dynamic shape of the reaction. Your driller will alter the shape to suit your game.”
Pattern
THS: 44ft, 25.8ml 12:1 ratio
Specs
The Storm Ion Pro Solid uses the Element Tour AI asymmetrical core inside the TX-16 Solid Reactive coverstock.
15 pound = RG of 2.47, diff of .035, mb of .014
14 pound = RG of 2.51, diff of .036, mb of .010
Coverstock finish: Power Edge
Power Player’s Persective
I’m going to start with Sean here as the ball looked spectacular for him. He joined us for this and the HyRoad 40 review. It was honestly very straightforward, perhaps a bit too much so for Sean. Not a bad thing at all. He easily found a look 17 to 8 and the ball was pretty consistent there. Very good length as you would expect with a strong round hard motion downlane. He has some miss room in so that was nice to see. Out wasn’t as forgiving but this is a consequence of the 44ft house shot on HPL lanes that don’t really read well that deep that far outside in general. He also experimented with less axis rotation and moving right and that looked quite good. For context, it is slightly rounder than the snappier HyRoad 40 we tested alongside.
Tweener’s Take
For me this was interesting. I don’t feel it looked quite as good for me but actually it really wasn’t bad at all. I had a nice slot around 12 at the arrows to 8 at the breakpoint. I could roll it a bit more forward and either move left or move the breakpoint in. I love the solid blue color. I will say this ball came looking way shinier than the HyRoad 40 or any other Power Edge finished ball. This ball seems to rely mostly on the end of the pattern in its current surface finish. For a lefty, that’s not ideal. So once I moved to 3rd arrow, this thing had zero chance for me. Way too finicky. Went way too long and I don’t have the hand to make it respond. I could use speed adjustment but when I did, it snapped like crazy which essentially means over/under behavior. Too hard from in. Also using the outside of the pattern seemed way over/under. I think this is partly due to the lane beds and pattern again, but the shiny finish didn’t help either which narrowed the window of operability. I like the shape but for me to make it more usable, surface adjustment would be a certainty.
Stroker’s Stance
Bryan is up and honestly, the characteristics I previously discussed also come into play for him. For this ball, his area of lane play was almost identical to mine, in that 12 at the arrows range to about 8 or 9. The ball had surprising pop and more hook in general than Bryan’s was expecting. The shine gave it very easy length. It was sometimes a bit snappy and sometimes a bit soft so same kind of over/under since it pushed Bryan away from the area he typically plays on this house pattern, right on edge of oil and friction. Once he moved slightly off of that 12-13, the ball was done. Same thing I had. Too much length and not enough pop.
Bottom Line
This ball immediately had my mind thinking about the Pro-Motion, mostly due to color. Even the older Radical Reax 2. But with the OOB finish, we had an almost mid late ball that is better suited to some lower volume or a little breakdown. I’d say Storm is accurate in saying it offers more pop than the Ion Pro Hybrid but they also say it blends the wet/dry and we honestly didn’t see that in the factory finish. I do feel like some surface will make the TX-16 solid more truly in benchmark or mid control territory.
Thanks for watching.