Okay so I got the beach ball recycler in today and these are my thoughts.
Quality is damn near perfect. I have received 2 other pieces from Lilixia last week and they were very well made too. One of those two was the grenade rig. Quality is flawless but the function wasn't perfect. There was more drag than there should be.
http://www.dhgate.com/store/19835517#st-navigation-storehome
Function isn't all that great on the beach ball recycler IMO. I know it will be nice for some especially if you got it for 50% off, but for me and my collection, it doesn't quite make the cut. For $37.50 it is not a bad hitting piece at all. But for $50+ I wouldn't buy it or recommend it. There are just better ones out there for $50 or less.
Here are my opinions on the function. There are no bubbles going up the return tube so the downline/upline doesn't seem to matter. There is a little chug, but I don't think it is because of the downline. I think it is because the large amount of water you have to use to get the beach ball to function properly.
I think the beach ball and the large amount of water needed are the real issues here. From pictures, the slits of the ball look larger on the Lilixia piece than on the actual JM piece. The slits on the JM piece also appear to be more on the sides and not on the top of the ball. There are 24 slits total on the Lilixia one, but only the few near the top actually function as seen in the video below.
So, I would suggest:
1) make the slits smaller
2) putting the slits more around the side and bottom and not on the top (so you could use less water. I think this will eliminate the chug issue too).
OR make the beach ball smaller if you want to keep some slits on the top which should also allow for lower water levels and less chug
3) do an upline (it may help, I definitely know it won't hurt anything
)