SkaBob said:
I think at best lids are about as fast as some putters, slower than others. I know I've seen an ultrastar fly faster than a rattler or an APX, but I think it's probably about as fast as a challenger or banger...
The sports field near where I bought my 175 Discraft Ultra Star wasn't lit but ambient light close to the field allowed throwing. I was stiff from working and I definitely suffered from it. That's not an excuse I'm still not mr. finesse when it comes to throwing form. It seems that since I'm not perfect yet I need to tone down my afflictions as much as possible to see what I can gain. That means I will have to do something about my locked ribs that don't allow ful range of motion and natural loose relaxed throwing in the latter parts of the throw. I'm always awkward at around where the disc passes my chest and towards the hit. Throwing the Ultra Star really highlighted the difficulties much better than I've ever noticed before. It's a great diagnostic tool of throwing form.
I got one throw with steps as far as the longest stand still throws. That indicates how stiff I was today and how off my form was. I'm zombified from work. I wanna see what I can gain when I'm rested and not stiff like a... well stiff
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The longest throws were 200' but I kept hitting my mp3 player which kicked the disc into flipping over all too often. When I moved my hand farther away from my chest I avoided hitting the player and managed to throw some throws that were hyzer all the way. I had lousy snap because I was so stiff. Because I had no expectations I wasn't too anl about trying to throw with good snap so I didin't concentrate on it much. The few times I tried to snap and got for me good snap the disc flipped less. I still don't know the disc well enough to be able to throw it consistently hyzer flip to flat at all power levels to optimal apex heights. I got maybe 90 % successes with the limitations of being tired and stiff.
I was really surprised at the low speed needed to get the disc to go to 200'. I had to take a couple of iterations at taking off arm speed and increasing snap for best results. I ran and yanked really hard and usually got less distance than with for me unbelievably low sped and mild snap.
Compared to DG dics this baby glides like very few or none depending on which part of flight one looks at. The closest relative is Snap Whitler. I'd say that when throwing low and flat it does fade and does so more than the Whitler. It's realy easy to make the Ultra Star to fly annied to the ground. Much easier than the Whitler. So I'd say that the Ultra Star is less HSS and more LSS than the Whitler.
What I am disappointed about is the rate of falling compared to some lids I've seen thrown. I saw some 12x lids so having seen mixed sex teams I think I've seen lighter lids being thrown. The amount of snap really makes a difference here but even for me good level of snap leads to faster dropping than some DG discs at high speeds. Which really perplexes me because at low speeds this baby is insane. Totally crazy I tell you. I need to do shoot outs but from what I've seen only my Wizard 105 grams and Whitler can compete at height keeping ability at low speeds for normal putting ranges. I don't know at which range QMS and X Stratus, Z Putt'r and 150 S Wizard start to approach or match height keeping ability. For each of these discs the range is beyond typical putting range for all but the best putters.
I had heard that people who have used lids on wooded courses in one disc tournaments have shone in tunnels and bled hard at putts. Imagine my surprise having had less than stellar performance with drives being able to putt well. For any given putting distance I put less power in the throw than with any disc I've ever tried. Including 105 Wizard. I really don't seem to need to adjust aiming for height at all at normal putting ranges.
Ultra Star is wicked for throwing around bends at moderate to low apexes. It really moves far to the side whether it's hyzer or anhyzer. With anny being farther to the side. That can be poisonous or great depending on whether the large sideways movements were wanted or not. This baby really requires you to know your abilities and not exceed them. But that's not s simple as that. Even slight winds from front quarter can cause havoc quickly.
I used between 35-45 degrees of initial hyzer for flat flights depending on wind direction. Wind speed was slight to moderate.
I'm not so sure about the speed of the Ultra Star compared to the discs Skabob mentioned. I haven't thrown a Challenger or a Banger. My 17x glow APX is definitely faster than the Ultra Star for me. And I can put much more speed on the APX without flipping it over whereas I need to seriously limit speed on the Ultrastar or it'll flip up from 50+ degrees of initial hyzer. Tried that and succeeded. The Rattler and the Ultra Star are close. I've gotten some good rips inconsistently with the Rattler pushing the power. Those are around the same speed or faster than I can throw the Ultra Star without flipping it over more than 5 degrees from 50+ degrees of initial hyzer.
I need to try looser slow throws with the best snap I can produce. Didn't do those today. I think that Bradley's snap exercise would be ideal for this disc. This baby rally shows in the flight line whether you've succeeded in snapping hard or not.