Snow in Rancho Cucamonga? (Innova Blizzard Technology)

[steven]

got mine today. huge dome, almost silly. feels weird in the hand. looking forward to seeing how they fly. they all seem the same except for the rim width.

[JHern]

OK, here are some photos:

New Glow Champion CFR Katana (175 g) vs. Blizzard Katana (150 g)...



Beat Pro Wraith (171 g) vs. Blizzard Wraith (140 g)...



Note that this particular Blizzard Katana is not super domey, however, the Wraith has a huge bubble dome. I checked my Wraith collection, and I couldn't find any that had a bubble dome like this blizzard Wraith, all of them have a flat region in the center half of the disc top, with gentle shoulders.

This Blizzard Katana has a slightly lower PLH than the Champ Glow, but the Wraiths have a similar PLH. The curvature under the nose of the Wraith seems to be almost inverted at the bottom...seems strange.

I'm going to go throw them right now, and see how they fly. Will post the results here later.

[swel304]

that wraith looks jacked up.

[JHern]

Fun coincidence...a good friend had also ordered some of these, also from Hero Discs with the cool stamps, also got them in the mail yesterday, and also had the urge to throw...I ran into him at hole 1. He had the Wraith, Katana, Teedevil, Destroyer, and Boss, with weights from 150-154g. My Katana and Wraith were the same color as his Katana and Wraith. In any case, I got to try them all.

My over all impression: Very nice! I was concentrating on making ultra-clean throws, I didn't ever grip it and rip it (need to go to a field). I had no problems getting any of these to 350' with very little effort. My buddy had some of his longest ever throws with the Wraith. The Boss and Destroyer both flew very over-stable, just like you'd expect these to fly when new in Champion plastic. The Teedevil flew straight at high speed, but became highly LSS as it slowed down (as much as the Boss and Destroyer). The Wraith and Katana were both very straight, the Wraith had a nice tight fade at the end of the flight, reliably coming back each time. Big skips from the Katana, but a gentle fade. The biggest advantage I noticed is the ability to get these discs very high in the air with very little effort. Good for steep uphill, or going over tree lines.

I will be very curious to see how these discs beat in over time. That will really show whether they share the advantage of Champion plastic.

[JR]

Jhern did the Destros and Bosses fly farther than max weight ones and did the LSS kick in at the same distance or the same percentage of total flight distance?

In other plastics Katanas need a lot of dome so blizzard does it good. I have a different kind of super domed champ Wraith that is a hog. But there's no bubble and its domey closer to the outside edge and the increase in dome height toward the center is more gradual. I have no idea how that blizzard Wraith would behave so it's wait and see but i'm not too confident about it after seeing the pic. I think it can help with the HSS not flipping as easily as 150 DX Wraith. But that may be it. Not so good for winds with less than full glide addition with the dome covering only a portion of the flight plate. Wait and see is my attitude toward this.

As an idea a light durable Wraith sounds good but the execution has so many ifs and buts that i need to hear more detailed descriptions to form an idea about the need to test that disc. Katana sounded more interesting than the heavier brethren so the interest in this disc went up At least half a victory for me because those two were the most interesting ones to me and Boss could be ok if it behaves and is longer than regular ones:-D Although i have three Legacy drivers enroute so there's competition in the long distance land with Kings and Nukes occupying the role now. If the Boss strikes back i'm more than happy to put it to the bag. One of the reasons i picked the Nuke over the Boss for general use at long distances was that in the winds the flight differences vs calm weather were a lot smaller with the Nukes. So i'm wary about lighter Bosses. They may not add wind neutrality vs max weight Bosses...

[swel304]

Fun coincidence...a good friend had also ordered some of these, also from Hero Discs with the cool stamps, also got them in the mail yesterday, and also had the urge to throw...I ran into him at hole 1. He had the Wraith, Katana, Teedevil, Destroyer, and Boss, with weights from 150-154g. My Katana and Wraith were the same color as his Katana and Wraith. In any case, I got to try them all.

My over all impression: Very nice! I was concentrating on making ultra-clean throws, I didn't ever grip it and rip it (need to go to a field). I had no problems getting any of these to 350' with very little effort. My buddy had some of his longest ever throws with the Wraith. The Boss and Destroyer both flew very over-stable, just like you'd expect these to fly when new in Champion plastic. The Teedevil flew straight at high speed, but became highly LSS as it slowed down (as much as the Boss and Destroyer). The Wraith and Katana were both very straight, the Wraith had a nice tight fade at the end of the flight, reliably coming back each time. Big skips from the Katana, but a gentle fade. The biggest advantage I noticed is the ability to get these discs very high in the air with very little effort. Good for steep uphill, or going over tree lines.

I will be very curious to see how these discs beat in over time. That will really show whether they share the advantage of Champion plastic.

did his wraith look like the one you posted above with the funny dome and puffed out wing?

[steven]

mine (tdevil,wraith,desto,tana) all have the bubble dome. wish they were a little less dome. do you guys think this (blizzard) happened by accident when innova was trying to make light champ drivers, and they just put a marketing spin on it, as if they intended to do it? that's my theory. I love light drivers, and will be able to test them next week in orlando, with a report following.

[discspeed]

mine (tdevil,wraith,desto,tana) do you guys think this (blizzard) happened by accident when innova was trying to make light champ drivers, and they just put a marketing spin on it, as if they intended to do it? that's my theory.

I think the bubbles were done on purpose...Innova has not been able to make their faster drivers in light weights by conventional means, so I have no doubt they were tinkering around trying to figure something out. The marketing spin comes when they sell these prototypes for the same $$ as their actual production discs go for...passing on the R & D bill straight to us. This is fine with me though, I'm just happy to see them doing something new that could really end up benefiting DG as a whole. Hopefully they can get their processes down and start doing Blizzard production runs.

[x-out]

Hopefully they can get their processes down and start doing Blizzard production runs.

where do you think the blems come from? if the production release is around the corner you would think that the blems are from that same run.

[discspeed]

Hopefully they can get their processes down and start doing Blizzard production runs.

where do you think the blems come from? if the production release is around the corner you would think that the blems are from that same run.

Good point...that is a very distinct possibility. They have done a lot of small run experimental stuff in the last couple of years though (wavy top Bosses, early XG discs, Bubble Bosses, etc) and sold it on DGV and now the factory store.

[Spinthrift]

where do you think the blems come from?

Likely from the run done for the Taiwan Championship Blizzard fundraiser discs. DGV is selling them for $15.95.

[steven]

had to get out and throw these today. i have roughly 450' in me when things are good, fwiw. my findings:

katana- the farthest of the bunch when hit right. understable obviously, but with a clean release and a slight tailwind, these things went longest with a decent fade.

wraith- the "cleanest" flight of the bunch. more hss than the katana, and less low speed fade. probably the most usable of the bunch. almost as long as the katana due to it having less low speed fade.

destroyer- i won't say is was overstable, as i was in cold conditions at 8500 ft altitude, but it was hard to turn unless i forced it. massive low speed fade.

teedevil- slightly less stable hi speed and low speed vs. the destroyer.


no surprises, as my discs seemed to coincide with what i expected and with innova's ratings. when playing at hi altitude, i throw light dx destroyers and r-pro bosses for distance. these blizzard discs compare to those, but with a harsher low speed fade, which could help them come out of a turn better than dx/r-pro. I will try them more up at altitude (8500+) this summer, unless someone wants them and has yellow pd's (c, s, or p) 158-162, that they would trade me for them.

[JHern]

Both Wraiths had enormous domes. Both Katanas were relatively flat. So...if you're looking for less domey Katanas, get some from Hero Disc. Both of our's were 150g.

I honestly can't judge the Destroyer or Boss more without beating them in a bit. IMVHO, both of these discs reveal their character with age, their new versions are always vastly more over-stable than their beat/mature versions.

The bubbles are on purpose. This is what they mean by "blizzard." The idea is to make a Champion disc, but lighter, by adding bubbles. The discs

[Spinthrift]

Had a chance to throw my 158 and 155 Bliz Destroyers and two 150 Bliz Katanas, though I can only throw them FH pretty much from standstill until my leg heals from surgery. Most throws were 260-300ish. All four are super domey, with the Destroyers having zillions of tiny bubbles and the Katanas having hundreds of bigger bubbles. The Katanas are hyzer-flip machines with a whooooole lot of glide, perhaps the longest FH disc I've thrown. The Destroyers are very stable, even overstable. Pretty much a meathook on a 280' throw. The Destroyers were also thrown FH and BH by Whiz (990+ rated), who said they were more stable than his Star Destroyers. I'll be real interested in how they fly once they get some seasoning.

[swel304]

Just got a katana and wraith (thanks steven) and noticed the difference in the bubbles. My katana also has larger bubbles while the wraith has way more super tiny bubbles. I wonder if this is intentional? The flight plate on the katana does feel a little more stiff but I am not sure if they are even supposed to have the same thickness of flight plate. As excited as I am about these I do kinda feel like innova just found a way to use a broken molding machine to generate business. lol!