Driver advice: Taylormade Jetspeed vs Cobra Biocell

[James Foster]

I'm looking for a new driver and these two have been heavily reduced. I play off 12 and have a swingspeed of 95 mph. Whatever i  choose I'll go for regular flex and 10.5 loft. What would you choose and why?

[stealthhwk]

Id go with the taylormade jetspeed. Cobra makes nice drivers but i prefer taylormade. The tm is also a slightly better deal if its heavily discounted as it is newer. I have found taylormade drivers easiest to hit and for me they always seem to produce the most distance. Either is a good choice. The tm is just my .02

[dkolo]

I'm looking for a new driver and these two have been heavily reduced. I play off 12 and have a swingspeed of 95 mph. Whatever i  choose I'll go for regular flex and 10.5 loft. What would you choose and why?

Choosing your loft ahead of time is kind of nuts considering how much Taylormade is pushing their high launch / low spin philosophy. The Jetspeeds aren't as extreme with that as the SLDRs but it's still worth trying to see if you can try it out first and get some launch monitor readings

[Tee2Trees]

Id go with the taylormade jetspeed. Cobra makes nice drivers but i prefer taylormade. The tm is also a slightly better deal if its heavily discounted as it is newer. I have found taylormade drivers easiest to hit and for me they always seem to produce the most distance. Either is a good choice. The tm is just my .02

Translation: I haven't hit either of these drivers so you should probably ask someone else.

Speaking as someone who has followed the market and spent time on the range with both models I will offer my perspective.  Taylormade is great but the Jetspeed is a flop.  The tech doesn't work and the feel is off (harsh).  They also over-thought the crown graphics and ended up putting the alignment mark in the wrong spot.  This is why they are cheap and have no resale value.  They were also produced with some corner-cutting evident in the plain face, shaft, headcover, etc.  Even the "story" behind the "tech" is fishy (speed pocket makes it more forgiving because mishits low on the face don't spin and thus hit the ground sooner ).  And, as mentioned before, (alignment mark is over the heel because that puts it in the center from the perspective of the player ).

The Biocell, on the other hand, is cheap because Cobra always continues production of previous year's models and sells them for about half price after the new stuff rolls out.  Cobra got a lot of things right with the Amp Cell Pro and the Bio Cell (non-pro) is very similar.  Expect good forgiveness and a soft, compressive feel/sound when struck anywhere near the center of the face.  These are rear-CG, high MOI heads so they will spin the ball a little bit.  Plays a bit weak to flex as well so if you are at a legit, comfortable 95 mph you might want to consider the stiff shaft.  Loft is adjustable from 9 to 12 degrees.

[dkolo]

Translation: I haven't hit either of these drivers so you should probably ask someone else.

Speaking as someone who has followed the market and spent time on the range with both models I will offer my perspective.  Taylormade is great but the Jetspeed is a flop.  The tech doesn't work and the feel is off (harsh).  They also over-thought the crown graphics and ended up putting the alignment mark in the wrong spot.  This is why they are cheap and have no resale value.  They were also produced with some corner-cutting evident in the plain face, shaft, headcover, etc.  Even the "story" behind the "tech" is fishy (speed pocket makes it more forgiving because mishits low on the face don't spin and thus hit the ground sooner ).  And, as mentioned before, (alignment mark is over the heel because that puts it in the center from the perspective of the player ).

The Biocell, on the other hand, is cheap because Cobra always continues production of previous year's models and sells them for about half price after the new stuff rolls out.  Cobra got a lot of things right with the Amp Cell Pro and the Bio Cell (non-pro) is very similar.  Expect good forgiveness and a soft, compressive feel/sound when struck anywhere near the center of the face.  These are rear-CG, high MOI heads so they will spin the ball a little bit.  Plays a bit weak to flex as well so if you are at a legit, comfortable 95 mph you might want to consider the stiff shaft.  Loft is adjustable from 9 to 12 degrees.

The Jetspeed line was well-reviewed, but it was a flop because the SLDR line was a huge hit and people flocked to that line as well as the hugely successful Callaway X2 Hot, which is the market segment analogue of the Jetspeed, leaving Taylormade with massive Jetspeed inventory. They started aggressively cutting price on Jetspeed which saddled it with a negative perception. The whole Jetspeed fiasco caused huge upheaval at Taylormade as a result, but it was more about bad marketing and inventory management than actual design. The clubs themselves are a fairly standard mass-appeal offering for them.

[Tee2Trees]

The Jetspeed line was well-reviewed, but it was a flop because the SLDR line was a huge hit and people flocked to that line as well as the hugely successful Callaway X2 Hot, which is the market segment analogue of the Jetspeed, leaving Taylormade with massive Jetspeed inventory. They started aggressively cutting price on Jetspeed which saddled it with a negative perception. The whole Jetspeed fiasco caused huge upheaval at Taylormade as a result, but it was more about bad marketing and inventory management than actual design. The clubs themselves are a fairly standard mass-appeal offering for them.

This is an alternate perspective, but I still think there were some design errors in the Jetspeed.  First of all, hearing the Jetspeed line was well-reviewed does nothing for me because I cannot think of a single Taylormade, Callaway, Ping, Titleist, etc driver that has ever received a poor official review from anyone ever.  Can you think of one?  This club was one that taught me how meaningless most official reviews really are.  Secondly, the idea that they started aggressively cutting price on Jetspeed which saddled it with a negative perception is really putting the horse before the cart.  Do you think there was maybe a reason they discounted this particular model so heavily?  Their mass-appeal offering would've been the RBZ 3 offered as a Dick's exclusive, and anyone at TMAG HQ who plays golf probably realized the old RBZ line still outperformed the Jetspeed.  The initial sales numbers likely only confirmed that so they not only issued a fire sale but they pulled the plug on every piece of tech that went into the thing.

[dkolo]

This is an alternate perspective, but I still think there were some design errors in the Jetspeed.  First of all, hearing the Jetspeed line was well-reviewed does nothing for me because I cannot think of a single Taylormade, Callaway, Ping, Titleist, etc driver that has ever received a poor official review from anyone ever.  Can you think of one?  This club was one that taught me how meaningless most official reviews really are.  Secondly, the idea that they started aggressively cutting price on Jetspeed which saddled it with a negative perception is really putting the horse before the cart.  Do you think there was maybe a reason they discounted this particular model so heavily?  Their mass-appeal offering would've been the RBZ 3 offered as a Dick's exclusive, and anyone at TMAG HQ who plays golf probably realized the old RBZ line still outperformed the Jetspeed.  The initial sales numbers likely only confirmed that so they not only issued a fire sale but they pulled the plug on every piece of tech that went into the thing.

A number of reviews pointed out how overly flexible the shafts were in the original X Hot line, which is what led to Callaway implementing free shaft upgrades to non-stock shafts in their 2014 and later lines. The SLDR was criticised for being too low spin for many amateurs, but it was a popular club because that one you nail is going to go a mile on the launch monitor and that's what people assume is their new baseline.

Anyway, the major brands rarely get bad press for their products because they don't really release bad products. There's not a ton of new places they can go with the tech because things like COR and head sizes are tightly regulated by the governing bodies. Reviewers like Mark Crossfield and Rick Shiels have sort of acknowledged this and that's why they don't really go into so much detail in their reviews or treat them with such high stakes, because the conclusion for most of the reviews (with Nike's Vapor a famous exception for Crossfield) was "Yeah, it's fine. Buy it if you like it."

In any event, if you want to read more about the background of the Jetspeed failure, you can find it here:

http://www.mygolfspy.com/taylormade-sldr-s-driver-fairway-rescue/

[cooke119]

I had both the Cobra driver and TM Jetspeed driver. I for one could not hit the TM. But than again I have always hit Cobra drivers (and 3W and hybrids). If you have problems slicing or fading the ball, as I have struggled with, find yourself the Cobra S3 Max on Ebay (10.5 degree, regular flex). I got one new for $89.00 and love the club, it has a built in offset. I sold my JetSpeed driver.