Tait Tough Test 4: The Bowling Test

Can a Tait portable survive a 24mph (40km/h) bowling-ball smash?

Tait Tough: Bowling Test

It started out rather innocently. We were thinking about fun ways to test the TP9400 — throwing a ton of rubber bouncy balls at it, aiming a tennis ball shooter at it, taping it to a rugby ball, and so on. However, we weren’t satisfied with just fun. We yearned for a challenge. We needed a tougher test, a really tough test — to see if we couldn’t destroy the radio in the process.

We wanted a challenge. We wanted suspense. We wanted impact. We wanted to smash it!

So, naturally, we came up with 10-pin bowling. Get someone to send a bowling ball flying directly at the TP9400 and see which comes out better off. Our expectations weren’t high for the radio — which had already been punched and pummeled in a previous test — yet we remained hopeful.

We visited our local bowling alley and they kindly agreed to help us with our test. This involved shutting down the lane in order to manually reset pin #1, which had the TP9400 taped to it. We quickly realized that we didn’t have the speed or the accuracy that this test required — we needed to bring in the resident master bowler.

So, what happened?

What happened was a 16lb blue bowling ball went barreling down the lane at 24mph (40km/h), directly striking pin #1 and sending our radio flying. Bear in mind that most pro bowlers strike the pins at more like 18mph (30km/h). In other words, we hit that radio hard!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/aCXoJcsfvgc?rel=0]

The resident master bowler had a few bowls and each one struck the TP9400 with fantastic force and accuracy, as can be seen in the video. The radio burst through three layers of duct tape and flew down into the depths of the bowling alley. Amazingly, it survived the smash, no doubt thanks to its virtually bomb-proof build.

If you’ve got an idea for a “Tait Tough” test, let us know in the comments area below— we’ll film the most popular suggestions and post them online.

Comments

  1. […] of Tait Tough videos. We had a great time launching the TP9400 with a catapult, hitting it with a bowling ball, running it over with a jeep, and more. We were consistently surprised by how durable the radios […]

  2. […] Tough Test 1: The Crush Test Tait Tough Test 2: The Punch Test Tait Tough Test 3: The Catapult Test Tait Tough Test 4: The Bowling Test Tait Tough Test 5: The Car Wash […]

  3. […] over the past few weeks conducting experiments like running over the radio with a 2.2-ton jeep and smashing it with a bowling ball. But, alas, it can’t all be about having fun. Sometimes you need to get serious — Military […]

  4. Bob says:

    cute. but i would like to see the ball dropped on it.

    • Tait Communications says:

      Thank you, Bob. That is an interesting suggestion. We will keep it in mind for a future “Tait Tough” test. Meanwhile, you might be interested in the Crush Test, in which we run a 2.2 ton Jeep over a Tait TP9400 radio.

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