Also, what's the difference in how the various plastics fly for the TL? And while we're at it maybe someone could describe the differences in the TL, TL3, and TL+?
The TL is one of my two or three all-time favorite discs. I mostly bag Star TLs, but I do have Champ TLs and a Plus-Mold Champ TL, and a GStar TL and GStar TL3.
The Innova "3" series are various mold bottoms with flat tops. The Roc3 is a flat-topped Roc, the Mako3 is a flat-topped Mako, and so on. The TL3 is meant to be the same: faster speed, less glide. I'd love to have a Star TL3, but they only come out in GStar. The GStar TL3 was a tad faster than the TL, but the differences vs. a regular TL were not significant.
The Plus-Mold is a 'relaxed' angle of the rim underneath. Some like it and some don't. I like the Plus-Mold Teebird; the Plus-Mold TL is okay but I prefer the original.
Champion TLs have a little more fade fresh-out-of-the-box than Star TLs, and Champion discs seem to last forever before breaking in. I'll bag my Champion TL when I need that fade to be certain, and maybe if the wind is up; otherwise, I'm bagging a Star TL.
I had a nicely seasoned Champion 12x Teebird that I recently lost. It took years to get that Teebird seasoned to the point that I liked the most. I could hyzer-flip it on about a 30 degree angle, have it flatten out, and it just seemed to glide straight forever with an easy fade at the end. The only bad thing about it was that it was horribly flippy into a headwind, unlike when it was new.
So would a fresh out-of-the-box Champion TL fly similar to the way I've described my seasoned Teebird? Would a Champ TL be a good replacement for it or is there something better out there?
IMHO, a fresh Champion TL likely will not be
exactly like your beat-in Teebird; It won't be as flippy as you're describing your Teebird to (now) be, and it probably will need some use to get where hyzer-flipping it will produce the same result as your Teebird. For the record, I don't hyzerflip my TLs; I usually am anny-flexing them or throwing them straight.
But, hey! Try a fresh Champ TL and see.
Another suggestion is to get a DX Teebird... my DX Teebird seasoned in quickly to fly a lot like my Star TLs. So in a pinch, you might try getting a DX Teebird while you work on beating a new Teebird against trees, brick walls, pavement, whatever works to get it beat in...