The Eruption is the first of the new releases from Columbia 300 for the new product season. This ball uses the low RG Resurgence core with a new polished pearlized coverstock called New Era Skid Flip. The skid flip part of this name fits the Eruption perfectly. The polished pearl cover allows for a cleaner reaction through the front of the lane with a stronger breakpoint and back end reaction than the Bursts.

Like the Burst, the Eruption is better suited for medium oil patterns whereas the Outburst matches up better with oilier patterns. All three testers had their best looks on the medium test pattern, as expected. Stroker and Tweener played the lane fairly closely to each other. They were able to play near the track and let the strong back end reaction do the work for them to consistently carry the corner pin. Cranker and his higher rev rate were able to really open up the lane, giving him much more area to play with. As strong as the Eruption reacted to friction, Cranker had the best reaction by going around the track area to keep the ball off the nose.

Our second best look was on the dry test pattern. Tweener had the best overall reaction on this pattern, due to his ball speed matching his rev rate. His higher speed gave the Eruption the ability to hold the line on shots he missed to the inside, and he has just enough revolutions to have it recover on shots leaked to the outside. Cranker had to be the most careful of the three. His high rev rate got him in trouble when he got the Eruption to the friction too soon, leaving a variety of pin designs.

The sport and oily patterns didn’t offer much of a look for any of our testers. The oily pattern’s high volume of oil caused the Eruption to push too far down lane, making the breakpoint inconsistent.

On the sport pattern, the Eruption was enough to get back from bad shots missed into the oil, but all three testers found it difficult to control the angle created at the back end. This reaction was magnified when we tried squaring up and going straighter through the front of the lane.

Strengths: The new coverstock is the biggest improvement made to create the Eruption. We’ve seen this core before and now in a shiny pearl shell, we see a reaction we haven’t seen at this price point since the Sharp Noize.

Weaknesses: Because of the polish on the Eruption, at the box finish lower rev players will see it struggle to grip the lane on heavy oil patterns. Keep a 2000 Abralon pad on hand if you’re expecting to use this ball on heavier volume patterns.

Overall Summary: The skid/flip nature of the coverstock wrapped around a low RG core provides a reaction that can find a spot in any bowler’s bag. Players will find a reaction on medium house or broken down sport patterns alike.