Review of the new 350Hz Metal Powerball

[Obiw4n]

Review of the Metal Powerball ( or Super Powerball 350Hz)

1)Presentation & first impressions

Let’s begin with a presentation of the new metal Powerball model recently put on the market and which was to come for two years. It is the Powerball PB-388 C, better known as “Phantom” or “Super Powerball”. This model is 350Hz certified, that means its rotor will be able to reach speeds of 21000 RPM (rotations per minute). This specific speed unit will be used in this test. The Powerball I got was send with a heavy rotor named “stegosor”, it’s in fact a musculation rotor because of its weight and the power generated. Indeed, its strenght is much more higher than the one you feel with a simple 250 Hz Powerball. The speed rotor named” raptor” is not yet available but it will be a low-weight rotor which will allow speeds of 20000 rpm.
This whole test will therefore discuss about the features of the metal Powerball equiped with a heavy rotor. My Powerball was sent from Powerballs.com and first we will take a look at the wrapping paper. Here are some images :

(cliquez to enlarge)

No problem on this side like you can see by yourself, when everything is unwrapped, you only want one thing: to try it!!

Here is, for people who still never saw , the external view of the Metal Powerball.



(click to enlarge)

Here is a video of one of my first tries:




For the first try, first I was surprised by the high weight of the Metal Powerball compared to the regular models. At slow speeds you first feel a smooth movement which is quite the same as the one you feel on a new Pro blue model for example. There is almost no noise at all even when you begin to accelerate the rotor. When you exceed about 7000 RPM, you discover the real power of the thing, indeed, at those speed you can encounter difficulties to keep a firm grip on the ball because of the force generated! It’s really like a fight of Man against machine…and of course without any vibration…It’s really amazing ! My first score was around 10700 RPM. Before going further in the tests, one notice very fast the sturdiness and the astonishing power generated… Let’s take a look to the package :

2)Package

a)The Box

The Metal Powerball is sent with a magnificent plexiglas box which allows you to keep an eye on it at all times. It will perfectly match to any of your house furniture. It wasn’t the case with the paper boxes of the plastic models. This new box is therefore really appreciated. This box is not heavy, and you close it easily thanks to the 4 magnets at each corner. Below the box you’ll find 4 anti-glide gums. Your Powerball will therefore stay on your shelter with no risk of falling down.
Here you’ll see a selection of images followed by a video:





Now I propose to you to look at all the additional components provided with this Metal Powerball.

b)Additional Components

The Powerball is sent with a lot of differents pieces which are for the most of them destinated to remplace pieces which are supposed to wear out quickly. It will be better for your understanding to take a look at these pieces:

(clik to enlarge)

Here are the components you’ll find:

- A security string
- A starting cord
- Small squares wich support the rotor’s axle.
- A blue ring for the lower shell.
- A rotor ring.
- A user’s notice for further informations about the pieces remplacement.

One can wonder why the upper ring isn’t available inside this replacement kit. Moreover, there is no mean to know if the presence of this kit is a sign of weakness of the Powerball. The only thing which is said by the user’s notice inside, is that the replacement components may won’t be used…it’s only a security kit, in case of any issue…
I can’t say at this time much more about the resistance of the Powerball, because usually one have to use it for many hours before to notice any weakness, but I would say this one is much more sturdy than the plastic 250Hz models.


3)Opening the Powerball

First thing to notice, this Powerball is much more easier to open than the regular ones (for which you had to use a vise) because you only have to unscrew the shell wich will separate in two pieces.

Here you’ll find a video which shows the opening of the ball :



One can notice more components inside the Metal Powerball compared to the old ones. The rotor’s axle lays in a symmetric ring wich itself lays inside two plastic rings, a white and a blue one. The rotor laying on a plastic ring seems to be an important part of the physics of a Powerball because this is unchanged since the plastic models. Indeed, this plastic allows the rotor to accelerate whereas metal would be too smooth and slippery.




Now we should take a closer look at the rotor. Indeed, the main issue on 250 Hz Powerballs was the quick wear out of the plastic surrounding the axle’s rotor. Here the axle is much better protected and covered even if it is still inside a plastic material. Maybe the axle is built into the rotor but deeper inside of it where there is no possiblity for me to check it. That’s why a long use of the Powerball is absolutely necessary to determine its real durability.



Let’s talk about the speedmeter which comes with this Powerball. It’s exactly the same version and type as the 250Hz Powerballs counters and that’s really deceiving! Indeed, the Powerball game wouldn’t be so famous without the international competition wich is part of it. From now on, there will be no possiblity of proving a score with a simple picture of the score but every record will need a video evidence. That’s reducing the amount of people which will be able to participate to the scoreboards, and that’s not a good thing for the promotion of the Metal Powerball throughout the world.

4)Weight / Size

Let’s compare the weight and size of the different components of the Metal and plastic Powerballs. These results will appear into the following board :




One can notice that the Metal Powerball weights almost the double of a Pro Blue Powerball, that’s coming from a heavier sphere and also from a heavier rotor. The external size also changes a little bit, the Metal Powerball is bigger than the old plastic models. This could be an issue for those who encountered difficulties with holding the plastic powerballs in a proper way because of their small hands. The Metal Powerball is indeed much more harder to hold firmly.

5)Using & Score comparison with a 250Hz Pro Blue

Now we will take a look at the performance of the Metal compared to a Pro Blue. I did some warm up runs for 10 minutes and then I achieved some scores and switched each time from the Metal to the Pro Blue.

Results:

-Average speed on the Metal 350 Hz Powerball: 11300 RPM
-Average speed on the Pro Blue 250Hz Powerball: 13000 RPM

I also tried an endurance run of 30s and I achieved 4730 on the Metal and 5720 on the Pro Blue.

As a conclusion, one can see that the scores on the Metal, heavy rotor, are about 15% lower than those achieved on a Plastic Powerball. That's obviously an evidence of the power generated by the Metal 350Hz.

Other impressions during this test:

- When one use The Metal Powerball for some time, and then switch to the Regular models, there's really an impression of coming back on a paper Powerball or a toy.
- Even if you're used to spinning the Powerball each day, when you try a Metal, you immediatly feel the difference on the musculation capabilities...Your arm will work much more intensely with a Metal Powerball.
- You'll have to be well trained when you use the Metal Powerball because after 10 minutes you'll begin to get blisters on your hands...beginners will get them in less than 5 minutes I think!


6)Noise

Let's take a look at an other important side of the Powerball. The noise which is generated. I compared the noise of the Metal and a Pro Blue (less than a week old).
Here's the video, just listen to the sound:




The difference is maybe not easy to hear on this video. Nevertheless, in reality the noise generated is not the same kind as the one generated by plastic Powerballs, indeed the sound is "smoother", and more pleasant. Everybody must remember the strident sound of the regular Powerballs, believe me, the Metal Powerball won't bother your neighbours at all!!
Of course, my Metal is brand new and I can't predict how the noise will be like in a few weeks...But compared to a plastic Powerball of the same age, the Metal will always be more silent.



7)Reliability and resistance

A Powerball which is perfect the first day, and which you have to send back two weeks later isn't an example of good reliability, and that was unfortunately the case for the Plastic Powerballs. Indeed the rotors of those Powerballs got quickly tolerance around their axle. The inner plastic support band wore out, and the same thing occured to the plastic ring. All this is obviously responsible of the vibrations and lack of performance which appears in the weeks after you get a plastic Powerball.
The Metal Powerball's rotor is an improvement of the former one. The presence of the replacements pieces shows the aim of the manufacturer to keep the Powerball alive as long as possible. It's difficult to judge of the resistance of the Powerball after a few days, but the smoothness at high speeds is a hint of an obvious sturdiness. It gives an impression of solidity and reliabilty but in this test I can't go further than this point. You'll have to check every now and then the Gyrotek.net forum to collect more information about the durability.

8 ) Bonus and Tuning

To add a bit of originality to this test, I'll conclude with a theme I like a lot and which is the Powerball tuning. Indeed some of you may remember the test of the plastic models in water, or the Techno Amber Pro! This time it will be different. I simply tried to exchange the rotors between a Metal and a Pro Blue.
This isn't useless, it can bring its amount of infomations.
First you should take a look to the images and videos:



Video of Metal rotor inside a plastic sphere

Video of plastic rotor inside a metal sphere

All those tests showed me : first, that it is really the metal rotor which is generating strenght ( first I thought it was part of an illusion due to the heavy weight of the spheres) then, I could have a sort of preview of what it’s like to use the future « raptor » model ( when I put the plastic rotor inside the Metal sphere). The rotors aren’t perfectly exchangeable because some lack of performance appears when you exchange the rotors, the same kind of thing you can feel in a brand new Plastic Powerball. Nevertheless, one can predict a really fast “raptor” rotor, but it will be very difficult to reach the 21000 RPM , because at those speeds it will be mostly technique…Sorry for the ones who expected the test of the Metal inside water! Some more tunings are still doable, like putting a Techno or Led rotor inside the metal…

9) Conclusion

Eventually, the best thing to do is to summarize the good parts and the worst parts of this new Metal Powerball without forgetting to keep in mind the comparison with the regular 250Hz models.

The good side :

- Definitly more attractive than the 250 Hz models.
- Smoothness.
- Solidity.
- Low Noise level.
- Power.
- Esthetism.
- The nice transparent box.
- Your arms are really suffering while using it.
- Replacement pieces.
- Easy to open.

The bad side:

- The prize ( about 100€) really high compared to the Regular 250 Hz models (30€).
- The fast rotor isn’t send with this Powerball and it’s shameful…
- Same speedmeter type as the 250 Hz models.
- You almost need gloves tu use it if you want to take care of your hands!


General apreciation from Gyrotek.net : 8/10

Comments: Nice model, much higher in quality and efficiency compared to the old plastic models. You really have to get one if you’re already competing for the world scoreboards! This model is definitely the future of the Powerball, but its prize is still high due to a lack of stock.

REMY Frédéric , December 2005, great thanks to Powerballs.com for sending us the Metal Powerball !!

Copyright Gyrotek.


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