I decided to buy my first Lat 64 disc to try today. The only slot in my bag that is up for trials right now is my overstable utility disc. In the past 5 years I've only used Firebirds and Preds, and I've been using a FB for all of the past year. My issue with the Firebird is that it is a little too short and overstable as a bh/fh disc. It is also slow which makes its range a little too affected by the wind. So I decided to check out the XXX.
It felt really good in my hand to begin with. It is larger diameter than the FB, just as flat, and it felt a tad bit deeper with a slightly larger wing. The plastic feels great as well. I bought a purple that weighs 175.9 on my scale. Today there was a storm front moving in and it was extremely windy. 20mph base with 30+ gusts, so I really had good testing conditions for the slot this disc is aspiring to fill.
Basically the disc kicked ass. Forehand and backhand it flew on perfect hyzers and flex shots into headwinds and against crosswinds. It didn't get bounced around up and down or side to side. I parked holes like it had been in my bag for years. It flies at FB stability but with upgraded speed and glide. Its movement also seemed smoother than my FB, which has more of a jointed flight. FH I sometimes get a little OAT with my FB, especially into strong headwinds. This didn't happen at all with the XXX. Overall it was unquestionably longer and more effortless than the FB without losing any of the FB's advantages. It seemed slightly shorter than the Z Pred, but definitely more wind resistant and true flying. This disc tested better in it's first day than any other I've tried in the past couple of years, especially considering the conditions (its hard to compare it to the Stalker as it is a disc type of a more predictable nature).
The only shot I didn't really get to test with it because of the wind were thumbers. I love throwing thumbers and if it doesn't perform that would be the only thing that could possibly keep it from replacing my FBs completely. I also don't really want it to break in, but the plastic and mold feel very durable, so I'm not anticipating that. The overall shape of the disc reminds me of a longer winged Xtra. Now its looking like I'm going to have 4 manufacturers in my bag. 8)
It felt really good in my hand to begin with. It is larger diameter than the FB, just as flat, and it felt a tad bit deeper with a slightly larger wing. The plastic feels great as well. I bought a purple that weighs 175.9 on my scale. Today there was a storm front moving in and it was extremely windy. 20mph base with 30+ gusts, so I really had good testing conditions for the slot this disc is aspiring to fill.
Basically the disc kicked ass. Forehand and backhand it flew on perfect hyzers and flex shots into headwinds and against crosswinds. It didn't get bounced around up and down or side to side. I parked holes like it had been in my bag for years. It flies at FB stability but with upgraded speed and glide. Its movement also seemed smoother than my FB, which has more of a jointed flight. FH I sometimes get a little OAT with my FB, especially into strong headwinds. This didn't happen at all with the XXX. Overall it was unquestionably longer and more effortless than the FB without losing any of the FB's advantages. It seemed slightly shorter than the Z Pred, but definitely more wind resistant and true flying. This disc tested better in it's first day than any other I've tried in the past couple of years, especially considering the conditions (its hard to compare it to the Stalker as it is a disc type of a more predictable nature).
The only shot I didn't really get to test with it because of the wind were thumbers. I love throwing thumbers and if it doesn't perform that would be the only thing that could possibly keep it from replacing my FBs completely. I also don't really want it to break in, but the plastic and mold feel very durable, so I'm not anticipating that. The overall shape of the disc reminds me of a longer winged Xtra. Now its looking like I'm going to have 4 manufacturers in my bag. 8)