New Vibram user - thoughts
Howdy folks. I've put a few rounds under my belt with my first couple molds - Lace and Sole and have added a Trak and Summit for testing. I wanted to share my initial thoughts.
I'd recently been on a strictly fairway or slower bag for a few months to build control, but after throwing a friends Sole, I caved into temptation and bought my own plus a Lace, thing looked too cool to pass up. My distance driver coming out party was ticked off with a launch from said Lace, a fresh 163M that turned over and held when thrown flat. This elicited a smile as I'd found DD's in my bag previously barely reached their potential in my hands. Knowing what to expect going forward, I was able to put a slight hyzer angle on release and put some lasers down range, easily out distancing my accustomed lies using the fairway drivers I'd been cycling of late. I'm still tuning in the amount of release angle to achieve consistency, but I'm liking the distance and feel on this thing so far, truly.
The Sole has come at a time where I've been finding my short game form and has been the tool that has helped me find the basket cleanly on all short-medium upshots and a few shorter drives of late. I was put off by the logo stamp on the rim and corresponding bump on the under side of the flight plate, but immediately loved the grip and flight. The grip instantly screamed putter to me and a Summit was ordered to see about straightening out my natural tendency to hyzer putt while a second, firm Sole was added as a goto short driver.
Since I'd been in the market for a straight finishing control driver anyway, I thought I'd slip a Trak into the fray with my early success using Vibram. It too is the firm x-link, though it is notably firmer than my firm Sole.
The big differences I find with Vibram, starting with the material are both good and opportunities to improve. On the plus side, This rubber idea is great. Something unique and proven in use, very capably. I'll look forward to getting some winter rounds under my belt with these. If they succeed in holding some of their 'gum' in the freezing cold, I could become a total convert. Also, the molds - All seem very capable thus far and I look forward to trying them in time. On the negative side - the flashing issue is quite pronounced. Next to my MVPs, which stand tall in how cleanly produced they are, my Vibrams looks quite rough. Perhaps it's down to material manufacturing constraints? Also, the logos don't inspire that everything is being done for the sake of flight consistency in that they create odd shapes in the wind path which can only add variables. It might even be miniscule, but it suggests form over function. How are you all finding consistency from disc to disc within molds? I do find their flight chart system more informative than others, and well done on the underside with the name of the mold. Perhaps that could be enough.
To summarize, as a disc golfer always ready to explore something new to add to my game, I am pleased and impressed by Vibram products, yet also look forward to what the future brings for them in terms of additional molds and - hopefully justified by healthy sales - production advances. I'll be trying all the molds and overlapping where material choices make sense to my game so I'll be back to share more thoughts and learn of others experiences.
Kelly.
