Once again we’ve been given the chance to review a ball produced by Roto Grip. This time around they’ve sent us a the entry level Saturn. Don’t let the fact that this is an entry level ball sway you from reading this review because as you will soon see it is entry level in price only. Please read on.
The Saturn that we tested was a 15 pound sphere of devestation. It had a 3 inch pin and this let us put in the familiar 4 by 4 drilling pattern that we like to use on our test equipment. At the center of this ball is the same Orbiter core that is in Roto Grip’s Mercury. While the reactive shell is also the same the difference is that the Saturn is an 800 grit solid while the Mercury is pearlized but what a difference there is. The rg is 5.9 and the flare potential is a 4.5 but once again don’t be put off by these numbers.
The first test pattern that we used was a house shot with 22 feet of oil buffed to 38 feet and drier from 1 to 10. On this shot our Saturn was fine as long as we played in the oil. We played a very light swing from around 15 to 12 and the ball read the lane as expected. At around 30 feet the ball started to get into a roll and never stopped. We had to move in to around 18 to get it to the pocket. When it hit there was no doubt that this ball had come to play. The pins are kept low and corners are carried with regularity. During our time on this pattern 8 pins and 9 pins were left more than corners. Playing outside in the dry was not an option as the ball would start to roll up too soon and we could not get a proper entry angle to make it effective.
Our second test session was on a flatter pattern of 30 feet buffed to 42 feet with the only dry boards being 1,2,and3. Our test subject really shined on this shot. As before we could play a light swing shot inside but now, with oil in the track area we could also play straight up. Once again we would not be disappointed. The Saturn’s high rg would get the ball down lane far enough to store the energy needed for a strong roll in the backend. Playing outside and entering the pocket from a higher angle yielded more corner pins but still hit with the power of a wrecking ball.
Overall we can’t say enough good things about this “entry level ball”. It is our opinion that if you are looking for a ball that will serve you well on a moderate to almost heavy oil pattern and you are strapped for cash, this is the one for you. Our thanks go out to Dan Smith and the fine folks at Roto Grip for supplying us with this great piece of equipment to test and to Bruce Heim and the rest of the crew at the National Bowling Store for drilling our test balls.