Anyone who liked the Roto Grip HALO and thinks that the HALO PEARL would just be a slightly longer and sharper version of the HALO is in for a surprise.

I really like the HALO, as I detailed in this review, and have had lots of success with it on heavy oil.

The HALO PEARL uses the same asymmetrical Centrum core as the HALO, but with the eTrax-P18 pearl cover, which is the same cover as the IDOL PEARL.

The symmetrical IDOL PEARL provides a fairly controlled, hockey stick kind of reaction for me, whereas the asymmetrical HALO PEARL is more of a high-revving, skid-flip reaction.

I have used my HALO at a 500- or 1,000-grit rough surface, and have not gone below 4,000-Abralon over the 1,500 grit polished box finish on my HALO PEARL.

Still, the HALO and HALO PEARL are markedly different in motion.

The HALO PEARL easily skids long down the lane even as it revs up, and the move it makes is quick and sharp. The ball it reminds me most of is the NO RULES PEARL.

I’d also compare it to the hybrid HYPER CELL FUSED, with longer skid and sharper back-end motion but comparable total hook.  

With my slow speed and moderate rev rate, I don’t get much use out of strong pearls, but it’s important to have the reaction in my arsenal for the times when you need a strong pearl that can turn the corner on transitioned patterns that still have enough skid to handle a stronger ball.

I chose a strong pin-up drilling with a smaller pin buffer to control the strong downlane motion. With my PAP of 4 7/8 over and 5/8 up, the numbers for this ball are 4 3/4 pin-PAP, 4 3/4 MB-PAP, and 3 3/8 pin buffer.

It has no weight hole as I am trying balls without a weight hole under the new USBC option, then adding a weight hole later if needed to change reaction. (So far I have not added the weight hole and doubt I will.)

The HALO PEARL goes with me to tournaments on anything but short patterns, and while it doesn’t get a lot of use, there are times when it delivers exactly what I need.

I have not tried rougher surfaces and probably wouldn’t go below 2,000 just because I have plenty of stuff for that level of reaction.

I think bowlers with higher speed who commonly use asymmetrical balls to get early enough motion might get a lot of use out of the HALO PEARL as a complement to a strong asymmetrical like the HALO or Storm SURE LOCK.