Beware of the Groove

[Wabbajack]

so i found this disc last week and decided to read up on it. it was a champ groove and the internet hates it. i was going to get rid of it but i threw it a bit on the open holes on the course and man this thing bombs. it's got a lot of turn and is only good on a few wide holes but i can't believe how far it goes, i can hit 450 easier than with my destroyers. i know grooves are inconsistent, has anyone else gotten a good groove?

 

[jubuttib]

I had an "okay" Groove. It was nose sensitive (like all Grooves) and didn't have a spectacular glide, but the stability seemed very controllable. It was long, but nothing special.

 

[Mike C]

I've found two, and from the few times I threw them they were pretty easy to make them finish straight, and felt pretty controllable for how fast they were. I have never, ever understood the internet hatred of them, I thought they were okay, but not something I wanted to bag. The two I threw flew like one another, though 2 isn't anywhere near a big enough sample size to see how consistent they are / aren't.

 

[HeartlessCynic]

Buying a Groove is like buying a scratch-off lotto ticket. You don't know what you're going to get but you can assume it won't be a winner.

Good ones do exist. I wish you luck in finding them.

 

[discspeed]

I throw a lot of discs and try most new stuff that comes out. I had at least 5 Grooves and one point, and I can attest to their suckiness and inconsistency. They had two main problems...They didn't really fly as advertised and they were very inconsistent disc to disc. I just don't think that wing design works in a disc that fast...I found most Grooves to resist flipping from a hyzer release, but once they got over they became increasingly unstable. So basically it was tougher to get a smooth S turn than with any other high speed disc. The transition from hyzer to flat to anhyzer was never smooth.

My views were reinforced this spring when I played pre-tourney doubles at a ball golf turned disc golf course. My partner was a guy who was there volunteering, so he had not brought his golf bag. Someone had given him a couple discs to use, and the only driver he had was a Groove. This guy is a young gun with a little more power than I have and pretty good form all the way around. Over the 18 holes he tried to work that disc every which way, and no matter how he threw it he just could not get a pretty flight. It either flipped abruptly high up in the air and came diving down, or never got flipped and stalled out. If he applied any power on a low line it was extremely flippy. By the end of the round he was like "thank god I never have to throw that disc again!"

Now that the Nuke, Katana, and Halo are out there is no reason for anyone to buy a Groove. I expect OOP status at some point in the relatively near future.

 

[JR]

Well Katanas ar epretty different Star vs Pro... My Groove is ok and not more nose angle sensitive than any other wide rimmed disc. And not flippy either.

 

[Wabbajack]

agreed all around, i won't be buying any grooves or trading for any in hopes of finding one like i found. that's the problem with discs, so damn inconsistent. i will keep my good groove in the bag and if i lose it, i won't try to find another.

has there been any disc as inconsistent as the groove or is it pretty much the gold standard for disc lottery?

 

[jubuttib]

Well... Maybe every Gateway disc, if you count plastic variation... Probably not when it comes to how it flies though.

 

[HeartlessCynic]

I think the pre-Groove gold standard for inconsistency was the Flash. Good Flashes are awesome, unfortunately not all are good.

I think the real killer for the Groove is that with most inconsistent discs there is a characteristic that you know to look for (Example: I only look for domey Avengers). Grooves don't seem to have a common noticeable variable, the bad ones just suck and you don't know why.

 

[BrotherDave]

Now that the Nuke, Katana, and Halo are out there is no reason for anyone to buy a Groove. I expect OOP status at some point in the relatively near future.

Nah, they'll roll out the R-pro Groove and the Groove + first. :lol:

Grooves never find a way to not suck.

 

[jubuttib]

... I want a 150 class R-Pro Groove+, now.

 

[KJDog19]

... I want a 150 class R-Pro Groove+, now.

I got me a proto R-Pro 150 class "wood" Groove+ with the clear flightplate and double bead. That thing bombs.

 

[jubuttib]

Oh yeah, on second thought scratch that. I want a 150 class RW-Pro Groove+.

 

[Will Aubrey]

I've only had one Groove, a 175 champion that I bought a couple of weeks ago. It is rated -2/+2 but it is very overstable for me, about like a 175 Predator.

 

[cmlasley]

has there been any disc as inconsistent as the groove or is it pretty much the gold standard for disc lottery?

See also Archangel and Spectra.

 

[Frank Delicious]

I thought the archangel was pretty consistent.

 

[Jesse B 707]

agreed all around, i won't be buying any grooves or trading for any in hopes of finding one like i found. that's the problem with discs, so damn inconsistent. i will keep my good groove in the bag and if i lose it, i won't try to find another.

has there been any disc as inconsistent as the groove or is it pretty much the gold standard for disc lottery?

Crush,flash and rogue are some of the biggest offenders......Spectras just fly different every time you throw em so its tough to say how much variation is there, my vote for shittiest driver of the last 5 years

 

[jubuttib]

I thought the archangel was pretty consistent.

My Banshee-like 150 Class Archangel disagrees with you. There has been at least one run like that.

 

[twmccoy1]

I really wanted to like the groove after loving the boss. Unfortunately it didn't happen. I've thrown 3 different ones including a first run. The first run was incredibly stable and had no glide. The two after it were flippy with no glide. The groove is VERY hard to keep on a good line without flipping and the lack of glide kills it as a viable distance driver.

It isn't the worst disc I've ever thrown, but it falls well below expectations IMO. To me it flew like the spectra, another notable flop that had big expectations.

The monarch kind of falls into this same pattern. If you get it out to cruising speed it just flips over. Keep it below that speed and it'll stall out and die. There are just SO many good alternatives to the groove that I won't even bother listing all of them.

 

[money 21]

i keep giving grooves a try. I don't no why but the rim feels confortable to me. my first groove was very stable and great for tunnel shots. a border collie retreved it for me at the park and it never flew right again. I got a second won the was more stable the my tsunami so i tried a lighter one and it was flippy. just inconsistant mold.