[Innova] Thunderbird

[hugheshilton]

Kinda disappointed to hear that. Got a gstar thundy and either its a freak, or its me, but its pretty darn OS. It starts fading after about 100-150 ft. Was hoping to pair a pro with it as my high end. From what you've seen Hughes, is star the least stable?

From the ones I've thrown, the GStar is probably the least stable out of the box followed closely by the champs. Maybe the GStar you got is a freak OS one, but I've only thrown one so I can't say how consistent they are. The Stars I've thrown were a little more OS than the champs, followed by the Pro and DX. I haven't thrown a glow so I don't know where those fit in, but from what I've heard, they are maybe similar to the Stars.

Now all that said, the Pro and DX will probably beat up faster than the rest of those, so even though they might start more OS, you could probably get them to the flippy stage faster than a champ or Star. I'd say either buy a light GStar or try to beat up a light pro or DX. Or if you really want something a little more flippy in the speed 9 class, get a Star Valkyrie.

 

[ilmcgee]

Yeah, the Valk has been suggested many times. I have one that I recently found with no #, guess I should take it for a spin. Still might look for a pro thundy, as I used to love pro plastic and really want to try a newer run.

 

[hugheshilton]

Yeah, the Valk has been suggested many times. I have one that I recently found with no #, guess I should take it for a spin. Still might look for a pro thundy, as I used to love pro plastic and really want to try a newer run.

You never know, maybe my pro is a freak OS one like your GStar. The pro blend is pretty decent in these, very similar to star, maybe just a little more flexible. The Thunderbird is definitely a great mold, seems to fit the definition of "faster teebird" perfectly.

 

[thunder3boy]

I agree. My new pro is flying just as stable as my year old champ thunderbird. Definitely true to the flight numbers out of the box. I'm excited to see how it will break in.

 

[ChaseTheAce]

I took a new Pro Thunderbird and a new Star Thunderbird out for field work today. I threw them next to a worked in Star and a new-ish DX. The Pro is noticeably more flat-topped than the Stars, although not as pancake flat as the DX. My initial impression is that the Pro is actually a tick more OS than the new Star. I was throwing all of them on regular golf lines in the 325-350 foot range. None of them really had any turn, but the Pro seemed to have the earliest, dumpiest fade of the lot. I was hoping the Pro Thundy would be the TL to my Star Thunderbird's Teebird, but such is not the case (at least not yet). I'm going to have to throw this one a lot more to see how quickly it beats in, but my early impression is much more overstable than expected.

So I had quite the opposite experience. After a round or two, my Pro Thunderbird filled that faster TL slot pretty quickly. I'm getting a noticeable turn, but nothing dumpy. I definitely can't throw it into a 10+mph headwind though. Give yours a round or two to break in and I would imagine you will see the results you were hoping for.

Right now I'm carrying:
Pro Thunderbird (least stable)
Champ Thunderbird (seasoned to flip up, but still more stable than Pro)
Swirly S-PD (straight stable, slightly overstable)
S-PD/Champ Thunderbird (overstable slot)

It only took a round or two and a couple of tree hits for the Pro to fly less stable than the seasoned champ that has been in my bag for roughly a year now. The Pro plastic seems to be holding up great too. I don't have any cuts or gouges in mine yet.

 

[JamesXC]

I am curious to know if anyone has completely thrashed one of the DX/Pro Thunderbirds yet. I used to adore carrying a thrashed up DX Teebird as a hyzer-flip to anny and controlled roller disc and I was wondering if the Thunderbird had the same wear pattern.

Teebirds always seemed to lose fade first until they ended pretty straight and then they would start to get a little bit of extra HS turn. Is that what I can expect out of a baseline Thunderbird or do they go from straight to turn and burn pretty quickly?

 

[ranger]

These dx thunders are pretty tough. I've been throwing one for water holes and off and on since release and it's still not flippy. I'm thinking about cycling these.

 

[DiscinFiend]

To everyone who has thrown PDs & Thunderbirds. Why do you prefer one mold over the other? I know there's an old thread "PD vs Thunderbird" but it was started right when the Thunderbird was released. I want some opinions on this topic now that the Thunderbird has been out for awhile.

 

[onemilemore]

To everyone who has thrown PDs & Thunderbirds. Why do you prefer one mold over the other? I know there's an old thread "PD vs Thunderbird" but it was started right when the Thunderbird was released. I want some opinions on this topic now that the Thunderbird has been out for awhile.

This is when the ability to tag users would come in handy. I really hope Um... chimes in here, because we were just talking about this yesterday.

 

[DanJon]

To everyone who has thrown PDs & Thunderbirds. Why do you prefer one mold over the other? I know there's an old thread "PD vs Thunderbird" but it was started right when the Thunderbird was released. I want some opinions on this topic now that the Thunderbird has been out for awhile.

Depends on what plastic.

I've only thrown Champ and Star versions of each, not the pro.

I prefer the PD because it has a reliable fade.

I couldn't always count on the Thunderbird to come back when I wanted it to.

 

[Sooner34]

I've bagged Star and Champ PDs for about 2 years now. For me the Thunderbird flies closer to a fairway style flight, whereas the PD def feels like a mini distance driver.

The PD takes more power for me to get it to fly. And the ThBird just flies straighter for longer.

YMMV

 

[Dr.Smooth]

The wing on the pd is unique. Look at it! The thunderbird is almost perfect in terms of aerodynamics so it should go longer.

The pd actually is a revised version of the xclone.

 

[King K]

To me a PD is much more workable than the Thunderbird. A PD will go further and is much better at fighting the wind. This allows it to be used for a wider variety of shots. Its stability really allows it to be trusted for shots where sometimes a Thunderbird will not flex back from backhand or forehand flex shots.

Another thing that really makes me like the PD more than the Thunderbird is that the variation between plastics isn't as crazy. The difference between a champion and star Thunderbird is very drastic, where as a PD in s-line and c-line are not as big of a difference.

When it really comes down to it though its all just preference. Both of these molds are really good and you cant go wrong with either. Its just a matter of which one you like and which one is better for your style of play.

 

[DanJon]

The wing on the pd is unique. Look at it! The thunderbird is almost perfect in terms of aerodynamics so it should go longer.

The pd actually is a revised version of the xclone.

The PD has the Innova Firebird wing with the Discmania Anhyzer top.

 

[slowplastic]

PD flies faster, requires more power, and is very HSS. It feels like it needs to be thrown hard/fast and gets out there on speed. The Thunderbird has a similar flight path (champ), although I have never thrown a beat champ one, but it feels more glidey or "softer" in flight. I feel like if a Thunderbird is powered down it has a glidey OS flight, whereas a PD is more dumpy/beefy. With a PD I feel like I have to throw it nearly full power, while the Thunderbird is more like a faster stable/OS fairway driver.

 

[scunham]

Just got this thunderbird Friday. Good things happen when you find/return one of Paul mcbeths Mcpro airforce stamped swirly destroyers . He gave me this ice clear champ thunderbird .

 

[hugheshilton]

Anyone throw any of the lighter DX Thunderbirds? I have seen them down in the 140s and 150s, but I haven't thrown one lighter than 166g. Considering how overstable the DX's I've thrown are (even the 166 was super overstable before I lost it), I'm thinking these could be pretty fun to throw. I've never even owned a disc below the 150's, but I might get one or 2 of these to try....

 

[ilmcgee]

Nope, I picked up a 167 (I think, I can't remember right now), but I'd like to hear what the 150's fly like as well.

 

[hugheshilton]

So I've picked up a few more Thunderbirds. My collection looks like this:

175 Star
175 Pro
175 DX (x 2)
171 DX
168 GStar
159 DX
150 DX
143 DX

I took all of those out for field practice today. The 175 Star and Pro are basically interchangeable, so if I talk about 1 it applies to the other. Similarly with the 175 and 171 DX's.

I was throwing these out to about 350 max on flat rips and 380 max on flex lines/hyzer flips. The longest consistent fliers were the Star/Pro on flex lines. I think that's because they don't have as aggressive of a fade as the DX's. They tend to fade forward more gradually whereas the DX's dump left. So when I threw a max weight DX on a flex line it would take a similar path to the Star but end up 20-30 feet shorter.

All that said, the 143 DX still had the longest throws; I just wasn't quite as consistent with it, probably because I'm not used to this light of a disc. I was able to hyzer flip it and get a nice, long turnover shot which always faded out at the end, even on low lines. When winter comes and it's super wet and slippery around here I may bag this disc as my primary "distance driver."

The 150 DX and the 168 GStar tended to end up in similar places. They both have just a little flip so If I throw them flat they track right a bit and then glide before fading back left. The DX glides a little longer, but then fades more aggressively whereas the GStar starts fading a little earlier but does so more gradually so they both end up in about the same spot although taking slightly different lines to get there.

The 159 DX doesn't fly very differently from the max weight DX's. At least, it's not different enough to be noticeable to me. I used to have a 166 DX (that I lost), and I remember it flew pretty identically to my max weights too. This one seems the most redundant in my stack since the lighter weight will probably get kicked around by the wind more without giving me the benefit of any extra distance, so it's going to sit in the closet for now.

Anyway, that's my review, hopefully it's helpful to someone.

 

[thechamp]

Good stuff. I'm over my gstar phobia so I'm going to pick up a high 160's Gstar Thunderbird.