[Latitude] Latitude 64 Opto Air

[alcstradamus]

Got my discs in the mail today, orange King and Saint, and red Halo. They look beautiful, very small bubbles throughout the flight plate and a sturdy looking rim. Definitely doesn't appear to be as fragile as Blizzard, however until I hit a few trees I won't really know obviously.

Unfortunately it is dark and wet out so I have nowhere to throw them tonight. Supposed to thunderstorm tomorrow so I'm not sure if I will be able to get out then either. Going to try though! Gonna be a long day at work waiting! Will have a full writeup tomorrow if I can.

 

[AndyJB]

I think you'll really like the King. I have no S.A. on the Saint or Halo, but I found the King to be much better than Blizzard plastic. Less flippy and much more durable. Plus I set my personal all-time distance record with it...flat ground, no wind, 467 feet on the dot. That is a HUGE drive for me, and it was accurate as well. I can only imagine that the Halo and Saint will work well for you.

 

[alcstradamus]

OK, time for my write-up on these discs. I do not have full weight versions of the Halo or King for comparison, since my arm is not near big enough for them. My write ups really won't apply for the 400+ ft thrower.

Here are my normal RHBH distances on flat, measured ground without significant wind. All of these are true golf lines released flat, and are average throws when I feel like I actually threw with good form. I go much shorter or slightly longer depending on the day:

Champ Leopard: 290
Opto Saint 167g: 300
Star Roadrunner: 310
Bilzzard Boss 148g: 340

Today, there was an 8-10mph fairly mild wind, I threw in both a straight headwind and straight tailwind on a football field. I was already pretty exhausted after 18 holes of golfing beforehand, and didn't really feel like I was throwing to my full potential today, but did get a couple decent rips.

Now, here is my breakdown of the 3 Air discs:

Air Saint 148g
Top Distance: 335 ft. with tailwind
Stability: Similar to an Opto River
Overall Impression: Didn't perform well in a headwind, but wasn't unusable either. Just tracked a bit too far to the right. In a tailwind this flew the best of the bunch today. Unfortunately, I didn't get a single good side-by-side throw with my 167g Saint so I can't really give a good comparison. They definitely were different discs though, as the Air version was noticeably less stable and seemed to have more glide. Going to need to get more field work to really see how they compare.

Air Halo 152g:
Top Distance: 305 ft. on a laser line drive about 10 ft. off the ground
Stability: Similar to Blizzard Boss (middle of the road stable)
Overall Impression: Unfortunately, I didn't get a good rip with enough height to unlock the potential of this disc, but the stability seemed to be quite good. I was throwing my Blizzard Boss equally as bad today and they seemed to both fly nearly identical on my poor throws. The one throw over 300 I got was an absolute bullet that showed a lot of potential. If I can get a bit more height and a slight S-curve on this I think it could equal the Boss. Need more time to feel it out.

Air King 150g:
Top Distance: 310 ft. with tailwind, tracked to the right
Stability: Similar to Blizzard Wraith (understable)
Overall Impression: This was the flippiest of the bunch. Even in a tailwind I had a tough time straightening it out. I tried to hyzer-flip it once to see how that worked but I didn't perform it correctly. This was completely useless in a headwind. I saw some potential in the disc if I can learn to harness it. I have a lot of the same complaints about the Blizzard Wraith as I do about the King, however the Wraith does have a spot in my bag for max distance shots with room to work to the right. Not sure if the King can replace it quite yet, I did not have a good feel for this disc with just the 8-9 throws I got in today.


Basically, I am up in the air (no pun intended) right now as to whether I will be able to bag these discs. I have 2 spots for max distance lightweights, so the Halo will be battling the Boss for the stable spot and the King/Saint will be battling the Wraith for the understable spot. I would say it was a virtual tie today. That is actually good news for the Latitude discs, since these lightweight molds are touchy and require time to feel them out. A day 1 tie is a day 1 victory for L64. Unfortunately, these are not going to be magic discs if you already throw Blizzards. I will not be getting the Bolt because I wouldn't want something even more understable than the King.

 

[HiFi]

I think you'll really like the King. I have no S.A. on the Saint or Halo, but I found the King to be much better than Blizzard plastic. Less flippy and much more durable. Plus I set my personal all-time distance record with it...flat ground, no wind, 467 feet on the dot. That is a HUGE drive for me, and it was accurate as well. I can only imagine that the Halo and Saint will work well for you.

How did you measure that? I don't doubt you I'm just looking for an accurate way of measuring what I'm getting out of each disc. Phone app?

 

[AndyJB]

How did you measure that? I don't doubt you I'm just looking for an accurate way of measuring what I'm getting out of each disc. Phone app?

There's a couple different phone apps. Some are horrible, some are right on. My friend has a laser range finder and I usually use that (start from where you released and aim at the disc, or someone standing right over the disc)

 

[Todd Wiley]

I normally head out to a longer hole on my local course that I trust is correctly measured (cause I measured it) and toss practice drives on that and "guesstimate" my thrown distances. I plan on installing an actual driving range with markers every 50 feet out to 600 in the spring.

 

[AndyJB]

Just be careful with the phone apps. My buddy had one that was always about 30 feet longer than actual. He was very dissapointed when he thought he was getting close to 400, but was really only about 350. Laser Range Finders are the best, but unless you're also a hunter it's not really worth the investment.

On another note, the VIP Air King is awesome. Just reiterating that.

 

[alcstradamus]

Got another update to add to my essay above

Brought all 3 discs out again today into the field along with some familiar discs for comparison. Today there was a fairly steady 13 mph wind with some big gusts to go along with it.

The Halo actually performed fairly well into the headwind, giving me my longest headwind throw of the day at 300 ft. When the gusts really picked up it carried about 100 ft. in the wrong direction, but never completely flipped. This isn't really a knock on the disc, because during those same gusts even my 175g DX Firebird flipped so obviously they were pretty strong. Strong enough where if I was on the course, I would be throwing my XXX on drives.

In a tailwind, the Air Saint did NOT outperform my 167g Saint today. They were pretty much equal. The King did not perform well in even in a tailwind. The Halo and Blizzard Boss provided me my two longest throws of the day...I threw the Halo on a frozen rope about 8 ft off the ground for a full 330 ft.

So based on my first two days of throwing (both days in wind), I would say that the Halo is the winner of the bunch easily, and the King is the loser. The Saint I'm not sure on yet. Still wouldn't place any of them above the Boss in my bag yet, but the Halo is coming close.

I probably won't decide on what to bag until next Spring. Not going to get enough good weather the rest of the year to have the time for enough field work.

 

[love2dg]

I thrown my wife's Air Saint 152 twice. First one was bad throw with hyzer then 2nd throw ripped perfectly that went straight laser over 350+ Hard to believe the light weight could do laser line with great control.

I'm already settled with heavy Opto Saint but maybe I could get Air Saint for long easy throws in the woods when I need to.

Was there any Opaque Air Saints?

 

[whiplash]

OMFG!!! Just picked up a matching pair at 148 and cranked 275 and 300 on my first two throws. My normal distance is 225 to 250(perfect throw to hit 250). My noodle arm loves the new air saints. Played a round and was consistently out distancing my heavier gl saint.:clap::thmbup:

 

[alcstradamus]

After spending a few weeks with these dics, I have changed my mind about the King. I love it now.

Still has zero use in a headwind stronger than 6 or 7 MPH, but in calm conditions I was able to get a nice s-curve out of it and produced some of my longest throws since the temperatures have dropped. I didn't take it onto the field so I don't know the distances, but I was outthrowing my Air Halo by 10-15 ft which has been my main distance driver since I got it.

The key, unsurprisingly, is smootheness. Any OAT or muscling with turn and burn this disc. It also needs a bit more height than I generally tee off with, just so it has room to flex.

I am hoping I can continue to throw this disc like I did yesterday, because it will be my new calm conditions distance driver from here on out. Well...at least until the Air Sword comes out

 

[alcstradamus]

Great. Only a few days after I finally start to harness the Air King into a magical disc, I lose it in the woods:wall:

On a positive note, when I ordered my replacement I also order an Air Bolt, so I will be able to do some comparisons between the two. I was originally going to skip the Bolt since the King was flippy enough already, but since I had to place an order anyway I just threw one in there.

Review coming in a week or so.

 

[joshuajames]

yeah i recently ordered the Air Bolt...should be here Monday. Hopefully it is not uber-flippy!

 

[Todd Wiley]

I have an air bolt... I forehand it flat... flips into a roller every time. In order to achieve a non-roller, I have to send it out on a hyzer flip... and even then it may flip into a roller.

 

[Monkeypaws]

Just took shipment on an Air Saint. Haven't had a chance to throw it yet, but like how it feels in the hand.

 

[Huk Finn]

I like my 153 and 160 Halo. Big aired out Skyzer bombs.

 

[SteezeOG]

I'm still working with my Air Saint when the wind isn't gusting here but I picked up a lighter TM River recently and that thing is getting all the action. I hope they do some opto air rivers around 155g those will sell like crazy if they aren't too flippy.

 

[Wanderer]

I have 2 new Air Bolts and have field tested them. The 157g is workable and bombs, the 154g is much more understable and is hard to keep from flipping over too far. Both have the same PLH, but the 154g is flatter, while the 157g has a moderate dome.

I'm able to get nice long turnover drives with the heavier one on a flat release, pretty straight drives on hyzer-flip, and very long anhyzer drives. The interesting thing is there is always some fade at the end of flight, no matter the type of throw. For example: while a Roadrunner will track right the whole way on an anhyzer drive, the Bolt will fade out softly at the very end.

No OAT/over-torquing, get the release angles right, and the Air Bolt is an easy to throw max distance bomber. I also have a Blizzard DD2, and while similar, the Air Bolt is more controllable for me. It gets cleaner lines.

I would put it's numbers at 13,6,-3,2...vs the 13,6,-2,3 of the regular Bolt.

 

[alcstradamus]

Threw the Air Bolt a few times this weekend. About equal flippiness to the Air King, so I just sold it off to a friend since I already am using the King.

My friend is low power (250-270 ft average D) and he was able to throw the Bolt quite well when he kept the nose down. Definitely too flippy for a bigger arm though.

On a side note, I have come to the conclusion that cold discs (not cold air) make the disc fly too understable. I was flipping the King and Bolt into rollers even when powering down on Saturday, the day after they had sat in my cold car all night. I kept them in my house that night and the next morning they were holding their line without flipping even when powering back up.

 

[steve a]

Threw the Air Bolt a few times this weekend. About equal flippiness to the Air King, so I just sold it off to a friend since I already am using the King.

My friend is low power (250-270 ft average D) and he was able to throw the Bolt quite well when he kept the nose down. Definitely too flippy for a bigger arm though.

On a side note, I have come to the conclusion that cold discs (not cold air) make the disc fly too understable. I was flipping the King and Bolt into rollers even when powering down on Saturday, the day after they had sat in my cold car all night. I kept them in my house that night and the next morning they were holding their line without flipping even when powering back up.

Could possibly have been the layers of clothing you had on that day too. Did you wear the same layers both days?