The difference between cleaning your bowling balls with traditional methods and truly rejuvenating your bowling balls is staggering. A high-quality bowling ball rejuvenator will do what normal cleaning approaches can’t, getting deep into the pores of your prized reactive bowling balls to remove oil and dirt buildup from extended usage.
Cleaning the surface of a reactive bowling ball will give you a solid boost towards your ball’s maximum reactivity quotient, but it’s not until you rejuvenate your ball and basically reset your ball’s coverstock that you’ll be able to maximize its potential on the most challenging of lane conditions and oil patterns.
Rather than relying on a pro shop over and over again to deep clean and rejuvenate your ball for a hefty service charge, a true bowling aficionado needs a personal bowling ball rejuvenator of their own. That’s why we’ve created this handy primer on personal bowling ball rejuvenators highlighted by our definitive list of the 3 Best Bowling Ball Rejuvenators To Buy In 2021.
The 3 Best Bowling Ball Rejuvenators
1. Salmon Creek NuBall
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One of the most highly-rated and trusted bowling ball rejuvenators to hit the online marketplace, the Salmon Creek NuBall offers precision heating to 135 degrees and provides an ease of use which will blow your bowling mind. Just place your ball on the custom designed stand within the unit, leave it for an hour, and you’ve got a brand new bowling ball in your hands.
Pros
- Heats up your ball and extracts oil with precise temperatures and even airflow. It’s been calibrated to near-perfection.
- Extremely durable and lauded by consumers as a long-lasting rejuvenation solution worthy of the initial investment.
- Adjustable thermostat is fantastically responsive and easy to use.
Cons
- Doesn’t have a built-in timer, so you’ll have to keep time yourself on a separate device.
- It’s constantly switched on with no on/off switch to toggle. Be careful that the unit is not plugged in when attempting to clean it.
2. Innovative Personal Bowling Ball Revivor
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As close as you’re going to get to a pro shop revivor at home, the Innovative Personal Bowling Ball Revivor provides consistent temperatures in the 120s to ensure you get every drop of oil and residue out of the pores of your favorite ball. After testing this revivor multiple times over the span of a few months, we saw no drop-off in the evenness and effectiveness of the internal air flow mechanisms.
Pros
- Reaches peak temperatures with ease and distributes airflow evenly to ensure every part of your reactive bowling ball is rejuvenated to its peak performance capacity.
- Takes just 30-45 for a full ball rejuvenation depending on the porousness of your ball’s coverstock.
- Durable design offers extended usage life for your investment. It’s a brilliantly self-contained unit with very few vulnerable parts to be damaged by improper use.
Cons
- Oil reservoir cannot be removed for easy disposal. You’ll have to clean the base of the black chamber on the bottom of the machine as attached.
- The enclosed design of the unit (and lack of removable parts) can make cleaning and removing bowling balls a bit tricky.
3. Pyramid Phoenix Personal Bowling Ball Revivor
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The relative budget option of the three bowling ball rejuvenators on this list, the Pyramid Phoenix Personal Bowling Ball Revivor offers added features and consistent performance which belies its agreeable price point. Its heating system works from the bottom of the device to ensure that all oil and dirt is extracted from the pores of your ball without the risk of gravity driving them deeper into the ball.
Pros
- Features a digital display which both times the rejuvenation of your ball and gives you an accurate measure of the overall temperature within the unit.
- You can easily break down the constituent parts of this rejuvenator for easier storage. Reassembly is also a snap!
- This particular rejuvenator was designed and built by a team of dedicated bowlers who wanted to improve on rejuvenation devices they had encountered through decades of play.
Cons
- The cheaper price point appears to have reduced the overall durability of the rejuvenator’s multiple parts. The plastics are a bit flimsier than on the other two units on this list.
- A couple user complaints have been lodged about uneven heating for certain reactive bowling balls. It doesn’t seem to be a pervasive complaint, but it has been brought up.
FAQs
What is a bowling ball rejuvenator?
A bowling ball rejuvenator heats your reactive bowling ball to an optimum temperature (usually in the range of 120-135 degrees Fahrenheit) in order to lift oil and dirt out from the deepest pores in your ball’s coverstock.
Using circulated heated air and an ingenious design scheme so the air hits the ball evenly from all angles, a bowling ball rejuvenator coaxes the most stubborn of residue from the ball’s coverstock and catches it in a reservoir for easy disposal.
It’s a simple process that usually takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to complete. Once done, your ball should be as close to out-of-the-box reactivity as it’s going to get at its current point in its overall play life.
How often can I use the bowling ball rejuvenator?
A bowling ball rejuvenator is less invasive than other deep cleaning methods such as placing your bowling ball in a dishwasher. However, you still want to be judicious about how often your heat up your bowling ball’s coverstock so that you don’t risk weakening its overall constitution and lessening its durability going forward.
If you’re playing on medium to heavy oil patterns with regularity, it’s a good idea to pop your ball in the rejuvenator every 30 to 50 games or so.
Pay attention to your ball’s reactivity as you get closer to that range between rejuvenation. If you start to see a noted drop-off at 30 games, that’s likely a good number. If you can stretch it out to 40 or 50 games without much of a dive in total reactivity, do so if you can to limit your usage to the healthiest degree possible.
How do I use bowling ball rejuvenators?
Personal bowling ball rejuvenators are extremely easy to use and really don’t require much technical knowledge or effort on your part. Set it and forget it isn’t exactly it, but it’s close!
To use a bowling ball rejuvenator, you simply place your bowling ball on a stand within the main unit of the rejuvenator. Air flows from every side of the rejuvenator as your ball sits in a cup-like contraption inside.
You adjust the thermostat up to around 130-135 degrees maximum and leave the ball within the rejuvenator for 45 minutes to an hour. The deep grime and oil within the pores of your ball is lifted from the coverstock and falls into a provided reservoir for disposal.
One rule of thumb – don’t rejuvenate your ball to the point where it feels completely dry. Follow the 45 minutes to an hour rule and the little bits of excess oil on top of the coverstock can be wiped away after the fact.
Closing Thoughts
Bowling ball rejuvenators provide a safe way of deep cleaning your bowling balls so you can utilize their reactivity to full effect. If you’re a bowler who’s serious about their game and the quality of their equipment, investing in a personal bowling ball rejuvenator will do wonders for both and save you ample recurring fees if you’ve previously been using a pro shop to clean your equipment.
The three bowling ball rejuvenators on our list above are the best in the marketplace, bar none. Invest in one of them and you’ll be in great shape for both casual bowling nights and the pressures of league and tournament play.
