I have not. Orbit is basically Goldline, so should be a hair less stable than the Opto.
I thought they are calling these "grand orbit" so I was thinking it was related to grand plastic. Not the case?
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I have not. Orbit is basically Goldline, so should be a hair less stable than the Opto.
I thought they are calling these "grand orbit" so I was thinking it was related to grand plastic. Not the case?
Tried a Rive for the first time today. Royal grand plastic. I have zero clue how this plastic differentiates from any other Rive models. The plastic itself is shiny, somewhat stiff, yet pretty grippy. The plastic definitely has a premium look to it. Disc is 173g, and has a mild dome.
Overall, I wasn't ridiculously impressed with the Rive, nor was I disappointed. The disc flew OK, but wasn't quite as long as I was expecting. The Rive has a good hand feel, and at no point did I have grip issues or inconsistency in throwing it. The rim on the Rive seems perhaps a bit shallower than the Ballista Pro.
The Rive is zippy out of the hand, but has a noticeably narrower rim than the Ballista Pro. The Rive turns a little initially, than seems to want to fade pretty suddenly, and hard. I also feel like the Rive didn't glide that remarkably.
Top distance with the Rive in the field today might have been 430'. I feel like it should have been a little more. The lack of great glide and hard fade definitely knock down the distance a bit. Ballista Pro (special edition, 174g) was a little longer, and had an overall mellower flight. The Ballista Pro seemed to maintain the high speed turn a little longer than the Rive, and fade later/less harshly. That made it longer by about 10' on most throws.
Overall thoughts: The Rive is a good driver, but I feel like the Ballista Pro overshadows it a bit. The Rive takes power a little better, and the harder fade is reliable in windy conditions. Sometimes Ballista Pros will bend right into the wind and never come back. The Rive can be smashed at 100% power without worry of it getting too drifty. It'll always fade reliably late in flight. The Rive is definitely a disc I'd throw on the course. I won't set any new distance records with it, but I found it to be a very reliable flier. It's never a mystery as to what the disc will do once thrown. In fact, one could probably bag both the Rive and Ballista Pro, and find independent uses for them.
Rive: 13, 4, -1, 4
Ballista Pro: 14, 5, -1, 3
This is how I'd rate/compare the two. For me the Ballista Pro is faster, glides better, and has less late fade, and is longer than the Rive. The Ballista Pro works better for all out smashes, while the Rive is better for pinpoint accuracy. Honestly, the Rive reminds me of a Destroyer that's a speed faster. IMO the Rive is a driver for top tier professional arms (500'+) I throw 450'ish, and I didn't feel I was maxing out the Rive's capabilities. This is a fairly overstable driver for sure.
Rive: 13, 4, -1, 4
Maybe you have an anomaly?
I'm a noodle arm but I dabble with big drivers occasionally and have been bagging the Rive recently.
Mine goes a hundred feet shorter than yours but I'd give mine ratings of 12/5/-.5/3
Mine is blue (if color makes any difference) has what I would call an average amount of dome and is marked 173g but I haven't weighed it.
For me it's a great wind fighter or control driver. I do agree it is more of a workhorse type driver and not really a max distance disc for us mere mortals.
I had two Grand Orbit Rives go up against my two Halo Destroyers. Within a week of learning them and seasoning all of them in, they were interchangeable in regards to flight, consistency, and distance. Take with a grain of salt since I was only comparing two versus two, but it was nearly a solid month on local courses where I could throw them multiple times.
The only reason my Destroyers won out was because they were awesome dyes. For the Rives, I had trouble finding dyes on the marketplace, eBay, and Etsy that I liked, so I gave up. I likely would have picked the Rives despite nearly identical results. The Rives just felt better - better grip resulting in more confident snap and release.
On a side note, I have since moved on to the new Cloudbreakers because they too have almost the exact same flight but consistently 5-10 feet longer. Of note, my max golf-line distance is 390-425ish.
Reviving this thread a little bit. I saw a like-new Rive in a used bin for cheap and picked up it. It really surprised me with how reliably overstable and smooth the flight was. Fast forward to a few days ago, my local shop started carrying Westside Worlds and I remember loving them back in the day. How does the Rive compare to the World? Has anyone thrown the two side by side? As much as the plastic is amazing, I'm happy to settle with VIP plastic.
IMO the World is faster and has a tick more turn than a Rive. The Rive also has a dumpier late fade.
Fairly similar flights. I think the World is a little longer. The only trouble I have with Worlds is when they're super flat. Those ones are really overstable and have no glide.
Rive: 13, 4, 0, 4
World: 14, 4, -1, 3
Ballista Pro: 14, 5, -1, 3
Of the 3 I'd take the Ballista Pro.
As for the World, I was all in on them a few years back. I initially wanted to give them a try as an overstable distance driver that I could forehand - that was what the numbers suggested. But after investing in four of them, I could say that the mold did not live up to the online numbers. And then Westside publicly announced a change in their numbers on their website, matching closely what I saw. Instead of forehand, I switched them to backhand and they were awesome - for a year.
And then coming out of the winter (where I put my best two Tournament Worlds away because they were white), like a light switch, they were incredibly flippy. Like -3 flippy. I want to blame it on winter form, but as the spring progressed, at best they were still like -2.5. With better weather and teepads, even the VIP ones I had been using all winter were -2. For reference, most of my Worlds had some mild dome to them.
Seasoning? Slight change in form? I abandoned the mold and switched over to Defenders, and with no change to my form, they were back to what I expected out of that slot in my bag. That began the musical chairs game of Defenders, Corvettes, BioFuzion Enforcers, Wraiths, Destroyers, Rives, and finally the Cloudbreakers.
Thanks for all the info! That's really weird about their flight, but I might check out some other things too. I'm throwing a Wraith, Destroyer, GrymX, and a Rive right now because I like the flight of them all, but can't decide on one. I'm hoping to narrow it down to maybe 2 molds, but based on what you said, I'll pick up a World and test it out in the mix.
The Rive reminds me of a star Destroyer in terms of flight and speed. I just can't make it do what a Ballista Pro does.
World is noticeably faster, and has a shallower rim.
GrymX is more like a Wraith. Slower than a Destroyer.
How beat in are your Ballista Pro's? And which plastics are you throwing?
My beat in Ballista Pro's soar for days. The fresh ones are much more stable.