The Brands of Brunswick has just discontinued 22 bowling balls, including the original Combat, the Ethos Solid, and three colorways of the Rhino.
The Combat was a strong, sharp bowling ball that many say was one of the most usable, strong, and sharp balls Brunswick had. While it was not the strongest and sharpest bowling ball out there, that is why so many people really liked it. The Combat was great on house shots and sport shots alike. The core was the Rampart Core, which came in with a 2.502 RG, a 0.043 differential, and 0.019 intermediate differential. This is a strong core wrapped around the HK22C Alpha Premier Pearl coverstock, which was not their top-of-the-line strong coverstock.
Some bowling balls that may serve as replacements for the original Combat include the Brunswick Energize, the DV8 Heckler, and the Hammer Black Widow Mania. The Energize and Heckler are both hybrids, and the Black Widow Mania is also a middle-of-the-road strong and sharp ball. If you don’t care about staying brand-specific, substitutions for the Motiv Evoke Hysteria and Steel Forge, as well as the Storm Equinox pearl and the 900 Global Viking, can be made.
Brunswick is really clearing out its middle-of-the-road, strong-and-sharp equipment. I foresee a potential announcement in the coming months for some sharp, high-performance equipment. The Brunswick Combat lasted just about 8 months before its discontinuation, which is on track for Brunswick equipment.
Following the Combat, the Ethos Solid was a medium-smooth bowling ball. This was a benchmark bowling ball, and many deemed it not that great at its release, since so many benchmark balls were out at the time. The Ethos Solid came with the Ethos Core, which had a 2.481 RG and a 0.053 differential. The differential for this core is high, so it flared a good amount, and it had a low RG, giving it a fairly early roll. The core came wrapped around the Savvy Hook 4.0 Coverstock. This coverstock was used on the Knock Out Bruiser in 2023, and it wasn’t very strong at the end of the day.
Bowling balls that can serve as replacements would be the GameBreaker 5 and the DV8 Mantra. If you don’t care about being brand-specific, then I would suggest the Phaze 2 and the 900 Global Vengeance from Storm. The Lethal Venom and the Primal Ghost from Motiv are also decent replacements. Albeit, these balls won’t be as close as something like the Phaze 2.
The discontinuation of the Brunswick Rhinos is not really a worry. These are the equivalent of Storm’s Tropical Surge line and Motiv’s Ascend line. The most significant ball to be discontinued is the Combat from Brunswick, and it will most likely be missed the most.
