[Question] ID a disc or ask "What is the story on this disc...?" - Take II

[Teebees]

RE: Disc

Thank you for the help, but for some reason I want to know what the coloring is called. I remember Innova making them, something about a "millennium" disc? Could be completely off. Just driving me a bit crazy! :doh:

 

[notroman]

Thank you for the help, but for some reason I want to know what the coloring is called. I remember Innova making them, something about a "millennium" disc? Could be completely off. Just driving me a bit crazy! :doh:

Coloring? You mean the texture in the plastic? That's just what the champion plastic blend of that era looked like (known as 'pearly champ'). The plastic supply for disc manufacturers is not consistent so the appearance/texture of plastic changes over the years.

 

[hugheshilton]

Thank you for the help, but for some reason I want to know what the coloring is called. I remember Innova making them, something about a "millennium" disc? Could be completely off. Just driving me a bit crazy! :doh:

I believe Millennium was a company that was originally started as an experiment to sell mostly premium plastic discs which might be why you have that association in your head (at the time Innova was selling mostly baseline discs). I'm not sure if Innova is/was a partial owner of Millennium or not, but Innova does mold discs for them. Millennium is still around of course. Anyway, Millennium is a separate company with separate molds from Innova. Millennium is not a type of plastic. Millennium discs are manufactured by Innova in the same plastics that Innova uses.

 

[notroman]

I believe Millennium was a company that was originally started as an experiment to sell mostly premium plastic discs which might be why you have that association in your head (at the time Innova was selling mostly baseline discs). I'm not sure if Innova is/was a partial owner of Millennium or not, but Innova does mold discs for them. Millennium is still around of course. Anyway, Millennium is a separate company with separate molds from Innova. Millennium is not a type of plastic. Millennium discs are manufactured by Innova in the same plastics that Innova uses.

The story I heard was that Innova wanted to produce premium plastic discs but nobody knew if the idea would catch on or if the higher price tag would scare people away. They spun off a separate company (Millenium) to produce the premium plastic discs. This way the Innova name won't be tarnished if the premium discs were a failed venture.

 

[Three Putt]

I believe Millennium was a company that was originally started as an experiment to sell mostly premium plastic discs which might be why you have that association in your head (at the time Innova was selling mostly baseline discs). I'm not sure if Innova is/was a partial owner of Millennium or not, but Innova does mold discs for them. Millennium is still around of course. Anyway, Millennium is a separate company with separate molds from Innova. Millennium is not a type of plastic. Millennium discs are manufactured by Innova in the same plastics that Innova uses.

The story I heard was that Innova wanted to produce premium plastic discs but nobody knew if the idea would catch on or if the higher price tag would scare people away. They spun off a separate company (Millenium) to produce the premium plastic discs. This way the Innova name won't be tarnished if the premium discs were a failed venture.

Millennium was originally co-owned by John Houck and Harold Duvall, Harold being a partner in Innova.

Maybe. I'm not sure how Harold fits in. He is a partner in Innova now. Then he was owner of Carolina Flying Discs which became Innova East at right around the same time as Millennium started. Maybe he was a partner in Innova all along? Who knows? Not me.

Anyway, the prevailing feeling amongst all the manufacturers I talked to was that $7 was the ceiling and nobody was going to pay $10 for golf discs. John and Harold thought differently and started a company to sell what essentially would be Pro plastic discs today for $10. They had two big "hit" discs, the Omega Supersoft and the Polaris LS that sold like hotcakes. Soon after, Innova jumped in with the KC Pro line and Discraft launched the Elite Pro line. Golf discs were never the same.

At the time I never got the feeling from anybody who was actually associated with a manufacturer that Millennium was a splt-off dummy Innova company. The people I talked to said Innova didn't do it because they genuinely didn't think it would work, but they were willing to let John and Harold stick out their necks and try it. The rumor that Millennium was an front company for Innova was a player rumor, probably started because the discs had Innova molded into them and people have too much time on their hands between rounds.

 

[hugheshilton]

The story I heard was that Innova wanted to produce premium plastic discs but nobody knew if the idea would catch on or if the higher price tag would scare people away. They spun off a separate company (Millenium) to produce the premium plastic discs. This way the Innova name won't be tarnished if the premium discs were a failed venture.

Yep that's a little more complete version, but it's basically what I was trying to say. Maybe Innova wasn't producing premium plastic discs at all at that point. It makes sense. Often when companies spin off other companies like that they retain an ownership in the spun out company, which is why I said that I don't know if Innova was or is a partial owner of Millennium. Those details aren't necessarily public knowledge with private companies like that.

 

[Three Putt]

Maybe Innova wasn't producing premium plastic discs at all at that point.

The first time I saw Millennium discs was early '96, and I had missed the boat on that one. They had been out for a while before I noticed them. The Omega SS, Tachyon LS and LF and Aurora MS were all past the 1.1 run by then as they had come out sometime the year before in '95.

The first Innova brand disc I saw in an upgraded plastic that was labeled and sold as an upgraded plastic was this guy:



These were out in '97, so it was pretty close to two years after Millennium discs were out. Strangely, these were not made out of the base Millennium plastic. They feel more like KC Pro Roc plastic than anything. The KC Pro line came out pretty soon after the SE Gazelles; the KC Pro drivers were made from the same plastic as the base Millennium plastic.



Again these are '97 discs. They started with drivers; the Roc didn't come out until the 8X's the following year and there were no Aviars until the first year of 9X's.

The Discraft Elite Pro line came out the next Spring in '98. Millennium was a good 2-3 years ahead of the curve on that one, they were the only discs you could get in the upgraded plastic for a couple of seasons, and it was really more like '99 before either Innova or Discraft had what you could call a full lineup of discs in the better plastic. Millennium had a pretty good slice of the disc golf market by then.

 

[ZAMson]

Millennium was founded cuz Innova sold so well, those guys were like "maybe it's the double letters, let's do more of that" but nobody ever noticed that Millennium has two N's and for that matter two of every letter but E and U, and that's why it didn't surpass Innova but it made Innova start using american letters for their ratings system

 

[armiller]

I'm taking this thread down bigtime from the exciting last 5-10 posts!

And I don't have a picture since I forgot to take one before leaving it on the course... but I found a strange disc on the course recently. Not tall, since it barely even had a rim. It had a bit of a "dome" to it, but still seemed more flat than anything because the dome just dead-ended into a strange wing. No label, except "made in China" on the underside. I'm guessing it's some kind of roller disc? Ring a bell to anyone?

If not, I'm sorry for even mentioning it. But at the very least, I got to visit this page and learn from 3P. Thanks!

 

[Teebees]

Innova Masters Disc ID

My dad's Disc from 2002 Masters. Sweet Tye-Die but no clue for the model. I have attached pics, any ideas?

 

[tbird888]

What's written in the center by the nipple?

 

[Teebees]

There is no writing, its the dye effect.

 

[hugheshilton]

Looks like a Viper or a Pegasus to me. Older players will hopefully chime in with more knowledge.

 

[brutalbrutus]

Is that a double bead or just a lighting effect?

 

[chambers]

Possibly an Aero


_________________

 

[SonicGuy]

For sure not an Aero. If you give a diameter I will be able to tell you.

 

[filobedo]

Gremlin?

 

[93EXCivic]

Look like a Viper to me.

 

[tbird888]

Can we get an up close shot of the underside of the disc?

 

[World Eater]

CE Viper? ya, dont tell your dad you mailed that to me. 0.O