Best Kept Secrets in Disc Golf: The Latitude 64 Fuse
Today we’re taking a look at one of the greatest midrange discs of all time; the Fuse, from Latitude 64. Released in April 2010, Fuse has what many discs claim to have, plus a few other outstanding features which make it hard-to-say-no-to.
The Fuse is a larger diameter (219mm) midrange disc, which means it is PDGA legal up to 181.8-grams. A bigger diameter, as you learned in a previous article about the Condor, permits greater leverage on the disc. This, along with higher weight allows a thrower to generate more angular momentum, which maintains a disc’s flight path, yielding more distance, and more consistent and more reliable flight shapes.
Fuse is perfect for all levels of player
Fuse is a very rare disc, in that it will improve your game no matter your skill level. From first-timer to professional disc golfer, a Fuse will reduce your score. Now, this is a very bold claim to make, and it requires some pretty good evidence to back it up.
Understable Flight Rating
Fuse has an Innova Flight Rating of 5 6 -1 0. The Glide of 6 makes Fuse one of the longest and most effortless midrange discs to throw. It makes new players feel good about themselves, and it feels good in the hand, with its rounded bottom rim – more on that below.
6-Glide also means less effort is required, which increases control.
For beginners, the Turn of -1 means the disc will still fade gently at the end of its flight, while intermediates will easily produce dead-flat and dead-straight throws with no fade at all.
And, absolute beginners will love the Fuse’s gentle fade to begin with, and as their skills increase, Fuse will progressively become longer and straighter, yielding great distance at the same time.
And for experts, Fuse turns beautifully and holds an anhyzer line like almost nothing else; its extremely gentle fade means the disc is easy to land flat, or only on a gentle anhyzer angle. And, due to the rounded bottom rim, Fuse tends to come out of the hand reliably and consistently and doesn’t tend to cut roll when the landing angle suggests it might - which is a major bonus for the budding anhyzer thrower.
Utility
As an understable disc, Fuse has trouble into a headwind, and will tend to turn more than is desirable unless considerable skill is used in selecting a release angle to compensate for it.
As a higher-diameter disc, Fuse benefits from increased spin rate, and this greatly assists in increasing the ability of the disc to hold its line. Of course, this is true for ALL discs, but for larger discs the effect is more pronounced. It's why the Condor is so amazing.
Longevity
Gold Line and Opto(-X) plastics are arguably the industry standards in terms of longevity, grip, feel and overall durability. Personally, I like the feeling of Gold Line better, and you'd have to pry my GL Fuse from my cold dead hands!
So - what are you waiting for? Go grab one!
We've currently got good stocks of Fuses in both Wanaka and Christchurch, in Gold Line, and the stunning new shimmering and colour-changing Opto-X.
