900 Global Honey Badger Intensity Review
While no longer in production, the 900 Global Honey Badger Intensity remains a solid option on the used market for bowlers facing medium-heavy oil conditions. The Grapnel 2.0 core provides strong asymmetric motion with excellent hitting power.
wow dirty [Music] welcome back to jr pro shop vids jim moos here today we have jung on the lanes throwing the honey badger intensity and the zen from 900 global the new honey badger intensity features the grapnel 2.0 core wrapped with the s70 solid cover stock and this is very interesting because we have a mid-performance asymmetric solid ball this is very interesting because most asim solids are the big tanks like the
proton physics the obsession and the reality all big tanks and we have the zen which features the meditate core and the s77 response pearl cover stock as you can see in front of me i got a whole lot of balls with me we'll compare this honey badger to the rubicon which is an upper mid asymmetric solid ball from rotogrip and we'll compare the zen to the bell mo trend and the trend features the piston core as well as the r2s pro reactive cover stock so we'll be using these asymmetric solid balls on 37 foot
broadway and we'll use these pearls on 41 foot beaten path for our solid comparison we believe that the rubicon will slightly out hook the honey badger and for our pearls here we believe that the zen will out hook the trend because of the core numbers and the cover stock strength thanks to thomas and gus our lane technicians here at lucky nine for oiling our lanes and making sure our machines run smooth let's see if we're right jump [Music]
[Applause] [Music] jungle's back another 900 global day so we got the honey badger intensity [Music] pulling 37 feet here honey badger intensity weaker end of the spectrum for asymmetric bone balls so i think something like a 37 foot pattern is going to be really good because you want that ball rolling pretty early pretty
smooth right because there's lots of dry boards down lane something like urethane or if there's lots of oil you know an asymmetric solid that's really smooth is really going to be good so let's give it a shot here [Music] all right as you can see ball starts up really early and really smooth transition all right that was three left of the
previous shot got around it a little bit there so since i did get around a little bit hooked a little hard off the spot which i wanted so let's stay in the same spot just be a little bit more off the back of it be much smoother when it exits the pattern on short patterns if you have a sharp hook shape you're gonna bowl like 120. let's try and smooth that [Music] all right we've got up the back of that a little bit better still a little bit strong for that line so let's move three more to the left we'll try and get to
that same spot should be perfect [Music] wow still a forfeit crazy [Music] all right that looked really good just wrapped a 10 there so we're about 15 at the arrows up to about five which is uh pretty standard for like a 37 footer just wrap the 10 there let's throw the rubicon on the same line i think the rubicon's in a strike a little bit more continuous i
think [Music] all right exactly rubicon a little bit more ball a little bit more boards covered down a little bit more continuous so you can see like the honey badger there so wrap the 10 and the rubicon went dead flush so slightly slightly weaker the honey badger so the
rubicons which are like hp3 so not a totally high end asymmetric that's a good sign right gives you another option of the asymmetric ball that's a little bit weaker so rubicon looked really good there let's go five left with the rubicon [Music] wow see how continuous that is off the back end of a shorter pattern really really good but you know playing that far inside on the short is really ideal the ball hooks this much on like shorter patterns i would probably go to my pitch black and play a little bit more direct like up five or up seven not swinging
the whole freaking lane let's go back to the honey badger same line as rubicon there should be a little flatter off the spot and hook a little bit less so i might leave another tenth in here [Music] i actually missed slightly left at the arrows but that's all right as you can see it was flatter not as continuous as the rubicon almost a pocket 17. i've got lucky you
got the seven let's move back a couple to the right throw a good strike [Music] good shot there 10 went a little bit late so let's go one more right and uh should be perfect [Music] all right middle of the review question town with jungle my question is if a new ball releases
and you really want it are you going to buy it right away and be the first guy with it or you're going to wait a little bit watch other people throw it watch some ball reviews and then make your decision let me know down in the comments all right let's head over to the next lane 41 feet beaten path let's check out this new zen from global 900. all right beating path with the zen [Music] against the storm trend through a few warm-up shots here so
have a good idea where to play let's try 20 at the euros [Music] that looked okay i think i got the bump a little bit right ball just a little half hit there watching the tournament champions ball looks really good later in the day we need to get left really make that ball corner down lane one right here 19 at the arrows let's see if we can hit a flush [Music]
wow just one right there three are pretty good so i went kind of half hit ten one right four pin this ball really responsive to dry that's going to be pretty pretty similar with all shiny balls in the upper mid high end area the cores are strong right so as soon as that cover still hits the drive board it's gonna take off one all right let's go back one right one left i mean [Music] all right slowed it down a bit missed a little bit left one board at the arrows there but that's okay we went through the pins pretty
good i'm going to compare it to the trend as you saw in my bar view of the trend really good for burn really good for inside angles right so let's give it a shot [Music] i think this is going to be a little bit weaker than the zen i think it's going to go a little bit further down lane and hook a little bit less [Music] yeah the zen cornered really hard from
there smoke the pocket tren just a little bit lazy compared to the zen zen would be a nice step up [Music] wow up all hooked from there i missed the hair right too from where i threw the trend tren barely hit the headpin this thing came all the way back smoked the pocket a little bit of week 10 but that's okay so obviously this ball is made for a little bit later in the block maybe third game a league when there's lots of traffic on the lanes this ball is really going to slide
through the front because every time you throw a ball boils it and picked up from the front brought to the back when you really need a ball that slides through the front corner is really hard on the back end as you can see it's four ish boards stronger than the trend just a couple shots i've thrown so let's move four left here [Music] yeah this ball is good [Music]
it doesn't quite have enough to get back from that far inside let's see if we can make it do that by slowing down the speed [Music] a little slower speed that ball sure kicked left down lane really really nice to see that it's responsive to speed changes like that okay let's do the belmo trend on that same line there i think might leave like a week 10. [Music]
yeah just what we saw a little bit earlier playing a little bit in the middle of the lane there just hooks maybe four boards less if you have a trend you need something a little bit stronger zen would be good axiom pearl would be good let's go four more left with the zen we're probably out of the striking zone with the trend a little weak there all right let me see if i can just loft it here and make it corner down there [Music]
oh that ball will come back if you slow it down off the hair that ball will hook a ton in the back end okay let's go talk to myself back in the shop jungle's back in the shop after throwing the honey badger and the zen you know these balls are pretty good let me tell you why first we start on the left lane with uh 37 feet broadway i thought that would be a good pattern for the honey badger because it's a weaker asymmetric solid the asymmetric stuff they kind of want you to play a little bit straighter because they start up a little sooner and have a little bit smoother shape down late so i thought
something like a 37 foot would be ideal because you want that ball to start nice and early be nice and smooth but you still need a little bit of strength right sometimes a pitch black or something like that's not strong enough for 37 feet or high volume shorter patterns so we gave it a test on that did exactly what i expected was early smooth a little bit flat off the spot compared to the rubicon which was definitely stronger three to four boards stronger and more continuous and the rubicon is not even a high-end asymmetrical piece it's in the hp3
lineup and this is even weaker than that so i think there's definitely a spot for this somewhere if you're pulling a lot of short patterns or shorter medium patterns and your urethane ball like pitch black or something not quite enough lots of times so something like the honey badger intensity might be a really good ball for you right it's still going to have that early smooth shape but it's got that asymmetry and that stronger cover stock to really get you through there and hook a little bit more than the pitch black i will say though that the honey badgers have been really good for a really long time they just don't get the publicity they deserve because of 900 global and not a
big storm ball right so i think you'll be seeing a lot more of these in the storm guys hands for sure now let's talk about the zen so lots of comments uh lots of people come in the shop asked me if i've thrown the zen uh so i decided to get one test it out and this ball did not disappoint uh reminded me a lot of the axiom pearl actually with how strong and how sharp it was but i decided to throw it against the bell mode trend because this is my favorite ball for later in the block on the burn where i need the ball to get really get through the fronts and not go crazy on me down lane right so this ball is definitely
stronger four boards or more maybe four to five and it really cornered hard and it really looked good when i slowed it down and got around it and let the ball turn the corner really hard down lane as you can see when i was playing a little bit straighter it just as soon as it hit the drive just took off on me so a little bit unpredictable playing straighter but once i got into the middle of the lane more oil uh it really looked good if you're looking for something a little bit stronger than the trend or an idle pearl that just got discontinued something similar to that
uh then really nice really nice looking ball too i like the colors this review got a little bit of everything right we got a little sim pearl in the zenya little asymmetric solid and honey badger uh two different patterns yeah we saw a little bit everything today i liked it so here we can see where they fit on my everything graph uh but neither of these balls are gonna make my six ball tournament bag if i'm not sure what the pattern is but if i do know what the pattern is and if it's shorter bring in the honey badger for sure and if it's a little bit
higher friction surface or a little bit lighter volume pattern i'm definitely going to bring the zen or if it's long format 8 or 10 games i'm definitely gonna bring the zen for that but if i don't know any of the variables i don't know any of the information these two will not be in my six ball tournament bag so with our pro shop staff here i think the most ideal person to have this honey badger would be barks as you can see asymmetric solid very flat very smooth so i think barks would love this planet 5. and as far as
the zen goes i think this ball will really be good in goose's hands uh the slower i threw it uh the more i got around it the better it looked and that's gootz's game that's boots all over that's goots thanks for watching everyone uh really interesting vid coming up next brandon riley we're doing old tech versus new tech and the new hellraiser return so stay tuned for that peace [Music]
you
Performance Analysis
Performance Analysis
Testing on a 37-foot Broadway pattern revealed the Honey Badger Intensity to be an early-rolling, smooth-transitioning asymmetric solid with notably moderate hook potential. Independent reviewers observed the ball exhibiting a weak end-of-spectrum motion shape characteristic for asymmetric solids—it began its angular motion sooner than comparable pieces and produced a flatter, less continuous arc off the back end compared to higher-end asymmetric competitors. When matched against the Rubicon (an upper-mid HP3 asymmetric), the Honey Badger Intensity demonstrated approximately 3–4 boards less hook and a noticeably smoother overall shape. On the short pattern, this translated to performance roughly 15 boards up the arrows at the 5-board break point—standard geometry for 37-foot house conditions. The testing revealed that positioning required careful line management; aggressive angles produced overhooking reactions, while moderate inside-line play yielded controlled pocket hits.
The ball’s defining characteristic proved to be its suitability for patterns where traditional solid resin urethane may fall short but heavy-duty asymmetrics risk becoming uncontrollable. Reviewers noted that the Honey Badger Intensity filled a genuine void: it delivered enough cover stock strength and asymmetric core motion to handle moderate oil volumes and friction, yet retained the smooth, predictable roll characteristics of lower-entry asymmetric designs. Surface adjustments were minimal during testing, suggesting the S70 solid coverstock is well-matched to the Grapnel 2.0 core. The ball responded predictably to hand position changes and speed variations, with no unexpected or anomalous reactions observed.
Who Is This Ball For?
The Honey Badger Intensity is ideally suited for house bowlers and league players operating in the short-to-medium oil range who currently find themselves between equipment classes. Bowlers relying on pitch black or basic plastic on shorter house patterns—situations where those entry-level pieces lack sufficient oomph—will find the Honey Badger Intensity to be a natural step up. The ball rewards controlled, moderate lines rather than extreme angles, making it excellent for bowlers who prefer predictable motion and smooth transitions over aggressive angular responses.
This ball will also appeal to bowlers who regularly encounter high-traffic, higher-friction conditions typical of league play later in a block or during high-volume tournament days. Slower-speed bowlers and those with moderate rev rates will extract the most value from the ball’s early-motion characteristics and responsiveness to speed changes. The Honey Badger Intensity represents a understated but practical choice for bowlers seeking asymmetric core strength without the terminal hook intensity of premium asymmetric designs.
The Pros
- • Strong hook potential with Grapnel 2.0 asymmetric core
- • Solid reactive coverstock handles oil well
- • Good pin action and hitting power
The Cons
- • Limited versatility on lighter oil conditions
- • May be too aggressive for house shots
Who Is This Ball For?
While no longer in production, the 900 Global Honey Badger Intensity remains a solid option on the used market for bowlers facing medium-heavy oil conditions. The Grapnel 2.0 core provides strong asymmetric motion with excellent hitting power.
Technical Specifications
How It Compares
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BowlerX.comVerified Bowler Reviews (41 reviews, 5.0/5 avg)
Bowlers Say
Bowlers praise the Honey Badger Intensity as an excellent benchmark ball with smooth, controllable motion. The S70 solid coverstock provides clean front-end action while storing energy for strong backend reaction. It's consistently described as fitting perfectly between lighter asymmetricals and stronger pieces like the Reality, making it ideal for medium-heavy oil conditions and versatile across various bowling styles.
AI summary of 41 verified purchase reviews
Bowlers frequently mention:
The new Badger from the 900 Global line is one of a kind. This type of benchmark ball is typically my favorite to throw. What I liked about the Badger is it is a step down off the Reality which is a stronger ball. A lot of the surfaces we typically bowl on have been generally hooking very early. The way to counter that is going with cleaner covers. What I like about the Badger is it has a clean cover yet its smooth shape won't blow past the break point making this a great ball for the fresh. What I, also, liked about this ball was its ability to migrate in and yet retain enough energy to give me angle down lane. This ball provides plenty of versatility if you want to have your angles in front of you then slowly migrate in and open up the lane without losing carry. This ball will be a must have and will work with a variety of styles, against many different oil patterns and be favorable to different layout and surface changes.
This ball moves just like they say. A very good partner to its brethren the extreme and revival
OH, United States
The Honey Badger Intensity offers everything great about the Honey Badger line as a benchmark piece of equipment. Players of all styles will find this ball to be the first thing out of the bag. While this may not be the strongest piece of equipment, it will allow for players to reach the pocket on any house shot and most medium long patterns with ease. Not only will it get you to the pocket, it will look pretty doing it with its sleek, eye-popping, pink and black combination. Personally, my Honey Badger Intensity is laid out with the pin over the ring finger. This allows for the ball to have a smooth, strong, and controllable reaction that throws pins around with ease. Throughout the first couple weeks of this ball in my bag, it has been the first ball I grab. It allows me to grasp which adjustments I need to make real early on due to its predictability. This ball is similar to the original solid cover badger, the Honey Badger Claw, but offers a bit more on the back end. Also, with newer technology comes better pin action as well. Also, I'd venture to say if you love the badger line in general, you ought to add one of these to your bag. You will not regret your purchase of this piece! -Matt Hibbard 900 Global Regional Staff
The HB Intensity features the S70 Solid coverstock we've most recently seen on the Ordnance Solid. The S70 Hybrid is the overstock around the Revival and that ball got me out of trouble a ton. I drilled this Intensity with a little more of a calmer weaker layout to give me more of a gap between the Reality and Ordnance C4 and it's exactly what I needed. On house patterns with lower volumes of oil (or something similar to this 38" Bourbon Street) it's the first ball out of my bag as a benchmark piece. It's strong enough for the fresh but the Grapnel Core doesn't overreact in the front part of the lane. The HB Claw was one my favorite San Antonio pieces and I had a lot of success both in league and on sport patterns with it. I'm expecting this ball to become a staple in my bag for the rest of the spring. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkc_10liKMY
Honey Badger Intensity Layout - 55 x 5 x 30 This ball rolls really good for me, I find it best used on fresh being that it is a sanded smooth rolling ball. When the lanes aren't tight enough to use Reality but you still need something smoother this is the ball. I would put it in a similar overall hook category to a Rubicon and Phaze 2. This should be a great ball for bowlers of all skill levels and could be utilized on a variety of conditions! Great shelf appeal too!
Showing 1–5 of 35 verified reviews
Frequently Asked Questions
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