[Latitude] River

[tmahan]

My 165 GL River reminds me of a longer, faster Roc. I have a rag arm, but I find myself able to throw them 250 -260' on a rope with only a little fade at the end. I'm a believer in the glide for these things.

 

[Technohic]

I used to like this disc more, but today I were not liking mine very much. Both the opto and GL plastic have very crappy grip when wet, worse than just about anything else in my experience. I am also not very consistent with them, sometimes they turn over a lot and sometimes hyzer the whole time. Alot of this is probably due to my own inconsistencies and OAT prolems too though. I really wish they made this same disc without the slanted rim, because I really don't like that very much. I seems to be more nose angle sensitive than other discs in the same speed category (such as teebirds) for me.

Even with all that being said, I still think its a good disc, it has tons of glide and is very long if thrown right. this summer though I may end up ditching the mold eventually if I continue to be inconsistent with it and going to Teebirds.

Thats pretty accurate to what I have seen. The rim hasnt bugged me much recently as I got used to it, but it is just real picky.

Right now, I am throwing just over 300' with the River and Teebird with the Teebird hitting 350' more and more often. I did do a huge hyzer flip with a 150 Avenger SS that I think would have made it to the biggest ~450' hole at the course I was at with a strong tailwind, but at last I ran out of room right and got snagged and swatted down by a tree about 100' out; about as far there as my Teebird would get, and still about 25' high and just flattening out, so there went what would have shattered my longest drive ever. :thmbdown:

Anyway, I will try that again but what Im getting at is I wonder how many of the guys that dont need a huge tailwind to get 400'+, throw the River and what their thoughts are.

 

[skurf]

Anyway, I will try that again but what Im getting at is I wonder how many of the guys that dont need a huge tailwind to get 400'+, throw the River and what their thoughts are.

I'm guessing they don't throw it. Just a guess, but I'd be surprised if they did. The River seems like a good disc for people that throw 300 feet or there abouts, but for those that throw 400'+ I'm guessing it's just not stable enough.

 

[smarkquart]

I'm guessing they don't throw it. Just a guess, but I'd be surprised if they did. The River seems like a good disc for people that throw 300 feet or there abouts, but for those that throw 400'+ I'm guessing it's just not stable enough.

I throw 400 but I think my Opto River is the best disc in my bag. It just is a matter of mind set. I throw it for straight fairway shots where I only need 270 to 330 feet. Anything more than that and I switch to another disc, most likely the Havoc. Of course these are my winter distances. I might try to stretch it out further in the summer depending on the hole.

Basically, when I pull out the River I am not going for distance but placement. Its glide takes care of the distance for me.

 

[Technohic]

That makes some sense. I guess if I was throwing a bit further, I probably wouldnt be trying to use it for my distance disc with the beat DX Teebird.

It always comes down to perspective based on each persons individual ability. I mean, last year, I would use a Pred or a Teebird on a hyzer on a particular 270' hole until I started overthrowing it. Now Im throwing a Hornet and feeling like I could overshoot. If that starts to happen, suddenly carrying a more OS putter to go with my Magics becomes a real option where as of now, Im not so interested. Maybe something similar will happen one day to where I need something like the River.

 

[jrawk]

I don't like how my GL Rivers fly when they are cold, physically cold. GL plastic gets real stiff and the Rivers like to have a slow, but constant fade to them. As soon as the air temp gets about 60 degrees, the GL plastic loosens up and that extra high speed stability goes away. Three weeks ago i was in Charlotte and the Rivers were doing amazing things. Saturday i'm at Patapsco (northern Maryland) and they were fading away faster than Brittany Spears standing in Charley Sheen's shadow.

 

[chickenonabun]

^ I also agree with that, on the few warmer days when i got to throw mine ( a bit over 40) they did fly much nicer, but maybe that was just because i was throwing better due to it being warmer.

 

[khmer]

I gave both my Rivers some shots this morning and I have to say, I just dont know if they want to turn over or not. Sometimes they do, sometimes they dont. Its like everytime I throw them, I just dont know what they are going to do. I mean, I have had some great shots with them in the past, but when thinking about it, there are a lot of them that it hit a line I didnt intend on and somehow turn out amazingly well, to where I would just throw them and hope to get lucky. My Teebirds, on the other hand; tend to just hit the line I choose more often and I deal with the results.

I hate to say it but I just dont trust the Rivers, even in calm conditions. They also seem more highly affected by wind than my beat Teebirds. And they are not flippy, like my Avenger SS which is one flippy SOB, but at least I know its going to be flippy every time.

Its been on my mind but today it just really showed. Its like comming down from a high really loving the disc and then realising I cant just toss it an hope to get lucky all the time. Will be putting mine up for sale later.

I don't believe comparing a teebird and river is an accurate comparison. Teebirds are stable disc (zero hss and 2 lss) while the river is not (-2 hss and 1 lss). A teebird and striker, ok or leopard and river, that works. It's like comparing a firebird to a beast.

I recently got an Opto River in a trade and have been testing it out. I throw similar distances to you and pretty much feel the exact same about the River. You keep comparing it to a Teebird, but I don't think it's anything like my Champ Teebirds. I would say it flies like a TL without the fade of the TL. I've never seen a "stable" (if you want to call it that) driver that has this little fade. I heard a lot of people talking about the amazing glide of the River, but I think they're mistaking glide for lack of fade. I was expecting glide similar to a P PD, but it's really not comparable at all.

If I want to hit the line I'm going for I have to power down, put a little hyzer on it, and it will fly straight. If I don't power down the perfect amount it will get this continuous rightward drift (rhbh) to it. It's also the worst "stable" disc I've ever thrown into a headwind. Into a 5 mph headwind I've got to put about a 20-30 degree hyzer on it. Into a 10 mph headwind I've got to put it on a 45 degree angle and it will still drift right. Anything stronger than 10 mph turns it into a roller. The one thing it did really well was a long sweeping anhyzer. It will hold the anny line till almost the very end, just barely flattening out to give it a soft landing.

Unless your throw a 150 class river, I don't see the need to power down on a river w/slight hyzer to achieve the line you're looking for. I do not consider rivers to be stable drivers even though it says it on the disc. It is bearly stable; it' on the border line of stable to understable. If you consider leopards to be stable then ok, the river is stable. And here's why, stability is nothing more than what a disc is trying to do when it's in the air or flying. A stable disc is trying to reach the reach ground. An understable disc wants to flatten out first then it's trying to reach the ground and as a result will take longer to reach the ground thus accumulating more air time which normally equates to longer distance. And for this reason, teebirds and tl are better in headwind than rivers. So when the river wants to stand up on a headwind, well...that's when it turns over, where as the teebird and tl and is trying to stand up and it may stand up momentarily depending on the strength of the wind but it'll snap out of it and start flying straight for a moment before the fade kicks in. Now with a 5 or 10 mph head wind you should be find using the river, release it with a slight hyzer and keep it low (7 ft-ish) and you should be on target. And I can't believe you don't see the glide on them. It's glide-O-licious. If you're not seeing the glide, perhaps you're not producing enough power or arm speed but don't try to compensate it with OAT, otherwise it'll turn and burn

Teebirds and tl for headwind while the river flows down stream (tailwind drives).

 

[mod1]

anyone ever tried to throw an anheuser with these. once you get them to flip over and turn thyll go further than anything you have. throwing in a tail wind got these out to about 450 well the flow was only going about 420. they do need a lot of room to move though. btw 175 gl river and 171 opto flow 30-40 mph tailwind.

 

[Technohic]

Cant carry beer with you most courses I go to.

 

[Apoth]

I have 375-400 power with no wind. I love the river, but its not a DD for me. Its a long glidey fairway that I use for shots that I want to flip and fly straight with virtually no fade and for long annys (not turnovers). In fact, the river gets most of its use for throwing annys in the 300-330 range.

 

[dgdrifter]

Now that I'm using the GL River as a control driver, with power behind it, instead of as a fairway driver, I'm liking it a lot more. Longer than you'd think of a speed 7, and there's the glide!

 

[dgdrifter]

:thmbup:

Cant carry beer with you most courses I go to.

 

[chuckdisc]

170g GL

 

[yawpstang64]

Like it says: Control Driver
Finesse this thing for great results, I don't see any reason to chuck it for distance unless you have a nice tailwind, but even then I'm not comfortable putting 100% into it.
I'll agree with Apoth that I take this thing out the most for 300'+ annys w/o left fade, and for some tunnel shots where I don't have much room; basically whenever my Fuse feels too short.

 

[dgdrifter]

Smooth power...control driver but can go for distance too. Much more than a fairway driver. Fuse has similar flight, but obviously shorter. GL River in headwinds is dicey. With a tail wind the superior glide makes the difference. My Sabre gets knocked down a lot in a tailwind. And the Flow is definitely a River on steroids. Great disc!