[Latitude] Ignite the SPARK

[Spike Hyzer]

I am going to try and throw the Spark as my only fairway mold for a while and see how it goes. I need to beat up the reprocessed a good bit more for good turnover shots though.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk

 

[wims]

I picked up a Gold Line Spark today in my quest to find a more comfortable Teebird replacement. The one I got was a pink 174g. It looked pretty typical when I compared it to the other gold sparks the shop had in store. The Gold line has a lot more dome than my first run Opto and a slightly lower PLH has well

GL - Opto

GL - Opto


I'm adding a profile comparison of the Teebird as well, just for completeness sake

Spark - Teebird

Spark - Teebird

These Gold line Sparks are domier than the first run optos, but they are by no means very domey discs. They are pretty flat in my opinion, similar tallness to the dome as a flat Star Thunderbird.

I was throwing this GL Spark against an Opto Spark, a champ Teebird and a g* Teebird. The opto has been in my bag since its release and has been used for violent utility type shots. It still has amazing stability, even tho it has hit a lot of stuff hard. Both of the Teebirds were slightly seasoned, or just had the new knocked out of them. Not beat, but not brand new either.

I was quite windy today with sustained winds of about 12-15mph, the gusts were a bit stronger. The opto Spark was unsurprisingly the most overstable of the bunch, it was *a lot* more overstable than the gold line spark. The gold line Spark was the second most overstable, it held the release angle without a hint of turn even in the strongest of the headwind gusts. The Teebirds both had a tiny bit of turn on flat releases and would flip flat on slight hyzer releases. When the winds were lulling the GL and the Teebirds flew very similar lines, I'd say the Spark wanted to start fading slightly earlier the the very late fade of the Teebirds. The fade was a bit stronger than Teebirds fade as well, but not hugely so. I didn't have any Brinster Teebirds at hand, but if my memory serves me right I'd say that the goldline Spark is not quite as hoggy as the Brinster Teebird. It's pretty much right between the Brinster Teebird and 12x stamped, normally domed Teebirds when it comes to stability. I think latitude's flight numbers of 7/4/0/3 is spot on for the GL Spark, I'd rate the first run opto as 7/3/0/4

It will be interesting to see how these gold line sparks fly once they start breaking in, but as they are now they are pretty much exactly what I was hoping for. Flies very similar to Teebirds, but they just feel that much better in the hand. If you're looking for a "Trilogy Teebird" then look no further, the Gold Line spark will give you a workable overstable fairway driver that feels amazing in the hand.

 

[Nenja]

That's the beauty of the Spark. One mold that has my fairway slot locked down. From Frost Moonshine, Opto, and Reprocessed. I love em! That's why I stuck with the R. Sparks. Excited to get my cycle in full swing this summer.

I might get my hands on a used Frost moon, how do they compare to the other plastics in stability? Normal frost usually are half a tick more stable on the molds I've tried.

 

[wims]

Moonshine Sparks are super super overstable, very similar to the XXX. Like a FAF Firebird really

 

[Nenja]

Moonshine Sparks are super super overstable, very similar to the XXX. Like a FAF Firebird really

Oh really, so practically like the pre retooled opto? I have both available and now the choice got even harder haha.

 

[wims]

More OS than the flat first run Optos

 

[mentos]

Oh really, so practically like the pre retooled opto? I have both available and now the choice got even harder haha.

frost plastic is typically more os. add the glow compound and now you have this utility disc that is suuuuuuper os. my xxx's were scared of how they flew. (174 opto xxx, flat)

honestly the spark has all the stabilities new from one mold with out having to cycle them.

from most to least
frost moonshine - only comes out when there are 30+mph (50+kmh) winds. usually in the spring and sees less time in the summer.
early run opto - my personal fave, does everything fairway for me. it is teamed up with an elasto underworld for a more understable flight.
newer run opto - same flight as the gold line, maybe a bit more fade.
gold line - lost mine before i had a chance to season it
recycled/reprocessed. (beats in to a longer emac truth)


if you can find a light weight repro it flies like my 11x teebird at half the price.

this is probably the single most underrated mold that came out from lat in the past 3 years.

 

[pjhayes7]

Is there any way of identifying the early Optos from the retooled ones? I got a super flat Opto from tournament winnings, but it was early this year (who knows how long the vendor had it though). I got it with plan to trade it, but don't want to misrepresent it.

 

[august dupree]

Is there any way of identifying the early Optos from the retooled ones? I got a super flat Opto from tournament winnings, but it was early this year (who knows how long the vendor had it though). I got it with plan to trade it, but don't want to misrepresent it.

Forehand it in a grass field. If it refuses to turn and dumps hardcore, it's a pre.

 

[mentos]

Is there any way of identifying the early Optos from the retooled ones? I got a super flat Opto from tournament winnings, but it was early this year (who knows how long the vendor had it though). I got it with plan to trade it, but don't want to misrepresent it.

older runs do not have any dome, or rise from the rim to flight plate. if you dont know what i mean loom at a resistor, or an faf fire bird.


the first photo is an early run spark

the second is the dome against a repro spark.

 

[Nenja]

This is interesting, my local toy store who sells Latitude discs have a few opto at home. I thought they where incredibly flat, more likely slightly concave than having any dome, did they just get handed some old Sparks from Dynamic?

Today the mailman should bring me a decodye Spark, so excited to finally try this mold.
Anyone threw one of these? Exactly the same as std gold?

 

[Nenja]

Interesting, very flat, 1-2mm shoulder and then completely flat.

Can't wait to compare it to a normal Gold or Recycled.

 

[Nenja]

God Damn that's stable, close to the XXX.

I seem to see a trend where Latitude let's the decodye versions of their discs fly more overstable? Both the Saint Pro and this Spark seems they're closer to those OS first gens than today's retooled versions of the discs.

Dome and PLH difference if I want to find a less OS one? This one I can barely park the short hyzerbomb hole on the home course. About 270' and if I rip this Spark full power flat I still need to get lucky with the skip to not have a 30'+ putt.

 

[ManU]

I think the Decodyes are from the original run...super flat and really quite OS
by original run I assume that they made something in the 1000s some of which got the Feldberg Decodye and others which got a plain Spark Decodye

Really a different beast to the "retooled" GL that have dome.

The GL is nicely HSS and has good LSS. Nice fairway driver in the (very stable) Teebird or EX mode.

The flat Deco are more like a Firebird or XXX. Low glide, wind resistant.

Makes a great fairway combination.

For fairways I'm currently running 3 Visions and 5 Sparks (165 GL, 170GL, 174 GL and 1 flat 175 Opto and 1 flat 175 Deco)

The 165 is nice in that at that weight it's just a bit less stable and gets out further than the heavy ones (also what I get from the 170). The 174 would be my "workhorse" type fairway. Consistent. Straight. Fade.

The flat Opto and Deco are for winds, spikes etc

 

[freakinwizzz]

Anyone else digging the gold lines? They really seem like a slower teebird. Great for side arms and backhands alike

 

[wims]

I love them. They fly like overstable Teebirds to me. Very predictable, holds up well in a headwind, but still workable

 

[freakinwizzz]

Spark and explorer

How do you guys feel about this disc compared to the explorer? Similar distance thatcan handle a bit more power? Having a hard time between the 2.

 

[wims]

I think I get slightly more distance out of the Explorer. I would say that the Spark has more HSS and more LSS as well as slightly worse glide. For me the (gold) Spark flies 7/4/0/3 while the Explorer is more like 7/5/-0.5/1.5

 

[Timesby]

Which disc is close to those old opto sparks? I'm having trouble to find a similiar disc and it's hard to find those old sparks before the retooling. The old one I have is one of my most thrown fairway in last few years. And it is still as stable as before or it just wears so slowly that I have not noticed it. I throw it FH and really hard but it doesn't turn at all if there isn't strong head wind. I throw distance drivers FH around 420-450 feet just to get a picture of the power I throw my spark with.
I'm afraid that I lose it and I don't have any replacement...

 

[swhite]

Which disc is close to those old opto sparks? I'm having trouble to find a similiar disc and it's hard to find those old sparks before the retooling. The old one I have is one of my most thrown fairway in last few years. And it is still as stable as before or it just wears so slowly that I have not noticed it. I throw it FH and really hard but it doesn't turn at all if there isn't strong head wind. I throw distance drivers FH around 420-450 feet just to get a picture of the power I throw my spark with.
I'm afraid that I lose it and I don't have any replacement...

The original Opto Sparks came out very overstable as you know. Mine were flying pretty much just like a XXX. Try one of those.