The Gator is such an interesting disc. Like other reviews mention, the ones with a flat top are the best. Some of them have bulbous, popper like tops and it takes away from its full potential. I have a Star and now a Metal Flake Gator, both the same weight and with extremely flat tops (MF is board flat). Unlike other discs that start leaning into its fade, flat top Gators are like little UFOs. They'll more or less stay perfectly parallel to the ground while still having a great magnitude of fade. The popper top Gators don't have this quality. This really is just a "range" disc because they will go as far as you can throw them. Extremely point and shoot, reliable, indestructible, comfortably bulky discs. It just does what you tell it to.

One thing to note is that they ABSOLUTELY LOVE spin. Throw them hard with a lot of spin and they will do great things for you.

For my money this is the best overstable forehand/utility midrange that Innova makes. Spike hyzers, hard fading approaches, and forehand shots within 250 feet are my favorite uses for this disc. It's not as deep as a harp and the blocky shape feels more solid and comfortable in my hand than a zone. It can also take more power than those discs imo. Money forehand off the tee. I call it my rescue club too for how great it is at getting out of jams when you need to scramble in the woods. In premium plastic this thing is a beefcake and a wind fighter. Will easily flex out of an anny. Can handle a ton of OAT and power. The 2 glide means it will fly exactly as far as you can throw it. There's really no thinking with this disc - you just throw it. Two caveats: this is all for premium plastic. In DX, it's a completely different disc. I have a DX and a star. In DX this disc is much straighter, much less resistant to torque. It does beat into kind of an interesting disc, that is a straight but glideless approach disc. Still, I much prefer it in premium. The other issue is you want one that's flat and not all of them are. I suggest feeling the disc before you buy it if possible. Some people also don't like the bead, I find I get better releases on beaded discs. Somewhat of I love it or hate it mold. I love it. 

This and the Shark were my first midrange disc. Both in DX but I got a star gator later on. Love the disc, it does have a bead on the bottom but never really noticed it. I usually recommend the Gator, Shark, and Mako3 to people starting out and the tend to love them. The Gator allows new player to work with disc that is overstable but a slower speed, gets their arm ready for faster OS discs in my mind.

Disc: 175g Star Gator (yellow)

The Gator is a very overstable mid that ALWAYS fades. You just can't turn this brick over.

Flight: Throw this RHBH and it's going to go LEFT. This disc doesn't know what turn is. It only knows fade. Try and throw this far but it won't. Least glide of any disc I've thrown.

Use: The Gator is a great utility disc for getting around corners because it hooks up so well. Also great for approach shots that you need to just drop down. It's also a good mid range for forehand due to it's stability and flat top. Some use it for super windy days as a putter too.

Summary: The Gator is still in my bag, but I just don't use it as often as I thought I would. I'm more of a straight thrower when I can, so this disc just has too much lateral movement for my taste. Just a utility disc for me

Forehand upshots. This disc is a great forehand disc, but I also throw this disc backhand quite a lot too. This disc will never turn over and will always fade hard at the end. The one that I have is a little domey but it has almost no glide. The fade on this disc makes it a great utility disc and great for hyzer shots, but I would also not recommend this to beginners for that very reason. Another disc that will always be in my bag

Reliable disc. Just rip it out and watch it fade back every time

This disc is a great utility disc, good for hyzer up shots with the consistent fade. This disc is also really good to putt with on a windy day.

The Innova Gator, one of the few non-bird/avian named discs in the line up but has more in common with its stable mate the Roc3 than you think. This disc is a pretty wide diameter with a very rounded Rim. It has a protruding and oddly low Bead that receives mixed feelings, it would probably feel better being beadless but the bead will help maintain that overstability longer and I feel as though it helps the disc to "stick" when it hits.The rim is workable for most size hands and this disc has plenty of stability making it great for both backhand and forehand shots alike although grip with that bead may take some acclimating to for forehand shots.

The Gator is a utility disc, it is pretty overstable and has very little glide making it a champ for headwinds (especially the glide part of it, you don't just need to throw more overstability at the wind), Forehand Rollers (see: big rounded rim), and shorter thumbers/tomahawks. Control is the name of the game and to use a term I abhor (due to its mass overuse by pro's during "in the bags") it is reliable in the truest sense of the word. Rip on this disc with max power and watch it just iron out to flat, carry a way down the fairway and then reliably fade to the ground. Throw this disc on a spike hyzer and watch it summersault on impact directly next to your target. Give the disc some nose angle and throw it low to ride the skip (assuming you have hard pan to work with). Walk up to the tee with galeforce headwinds and throw your normal line and let the Gator do its thing. This disc doesn't do a whole lot but what it does to it does admirably.

This disc being a utility disc it goes without saying that it probably is not a good choice for beginners. While it is very useful in what it does well without the skill and knowledge to know when to use it this disc will probably cause more frustration than its worth. 

Overall, the Gator performs very well for its intended purpose as a high control mid-range driver/approach and continues to be up there for best in class. It's odd feel in the hand will require some acclimating and in this case makes a strong case for getting one in your hand at the same time as some of its competitors to see how it feels. At the end of the day this is a disc that you need at most 2 (1 of those in your bag) of for the average player and the number of times you will need it in a round will largely be impacted by just how windy it is that day. As a result a strong 3/5 stars suits this disc well and is an excellent candidate if you are searching for that windy day/side arm midrange.

This disc is great!  Gets me out of trouble so much  the trick shots you can do with this disc to get near the basket its insane.  Love the over stability low glide and fade.  Perfect.  even makes for really nice forehands also .  It is the only Innova disc i bag.  Not because they don't have rad discs, i just throw other stuff. Mostly Legacy, some trilogy and minute discraft. Gotta have a Gator though! If not in your bag you are missing out like a lot.

This is a disc that I've used since almost the beginning of my disc golf life, and I doubt I'll ever carry a bag without it. Even as I grow the amount of different brands in my bag, this one will probably always be there. 

The fade on this disc - which is probably a bit higher than advertised - is useful when you use it the right way. You can park it right where you need to, or throw it around a dogleg. The low glide makes it want to sit quickly, even in high winds. 

I've learned through the years that this disc will need some room to fade, so you can't throw it on tight fairways/approaches. However, if you have the room, it will fly reliably for you, and set you up more often than not. 

I have Star plastic now, and have had Champion in the past. The Star seems to have a bit more fade, but can be thrown a bit harder initially. 

I actually own a champion glow gator that is board flat on the top. I keep one in the bag that i use for all FH mid range approaches, and for BH spike hyzers that i don't want to skip like a roc might do at impact. This disc can fight head winds really well and will Fade to left at the end every time. (RHBH). The gator doesn't have much glide which is handy for measuring technical lines,  I feel confident in throwing my gator knowing that i don't need to calculate the glide it may pick up in flight, I can power up accordingly and throw and get a reliable result time after time.Once you become more familar with its flight qualities you can also use it for some smaller anny flex and S curve situations that come up when your on a narrow fairway or need to get out of trouble. 

This disc needs an honorable mention for Tomahawks. This is a great overhead thrower you can give decent power to and clear its way back to the fairway. 

If given the opportunity to have a signature disc for Innova, it would be the Gator. Consistency is it's calling card, and it lives to do just that. It is my go-to midrange for placement, or for any situation in which the wind is an unknown factor. Different levels of wear will change the initial flight and may add a bit of straight glide, but like a loyal dog, it always comes back. Until somebody pays me not to, a Gator will be in my bag.

Not for beginners or noodle arms. Since I'm a trilogy thrower the Gator isn't ITB, but if I switched it definitely would be. As for all the comments as this being the beefiest, meatiest, mid range out there, I call bullchivic!!!! 

I found that I needed an overstable disc for certain shots, and the Roc3 was not overstable enough to meet those needs.  So I picked up a 168g Star Gator and I have to say I'm very pleased with it.

I was expecting an overstable meathook, but the Gator, the Star Gator anyway, is not really that.  It has a decent, fairly straight flight before fading to the left.  As I was throwing it around, it acted like it would go straight, then "remember" that it was supposed to fade left (RHBH throw), and it would then break left and head for the ground.

My Star Gator made some really good helix/flex shots when I threw with an anny touch on the disc.  The distance was more then I expected, and the glide is MUCH more than the labelled "2" would suggest.

I'd gotten the disc for certain uses, but now I think I'll be able to apply the Gator in more situations than I originally thought, which is a good thing.  When you're ready for an overstable disc, take a look at the Star Gator.

The Gator is a fantastic disc. Let me begin by saying there are many types of Gators, and they all perform very differently. Every Gator is fantastic, and they differ mostly in their stability, and glide. There are flat top Jolly Launcher Gators, which are somewhat of a special release. They have less glide, and are way more stable. Then there are the Star plastic, and Champion metal flake gators that have much more of a dome; so they glide more, and are less stable (less stable being a very relative term, as all Gators are stable/over-stable). I would rate most Glow Gators somewhere in between these two. 

This rating is for the more available "standard" domey Gator in either Star or Champion metal flake plastic. I first picked up a Gator a few months into playing disc golf and immediately fell in love with it. There are a few discs that I consider to be game changing discs, that I know immediately will have a place in my bag, and the Gator is one of them. 

Gators are not extremely versatile, more of a dependable niche disc. They are stable and great for wind, hyzers, and huge sky spike hyzers. After using my Gator for a few weeks I had dialed in distances and was able to consistently park many of the baskets at my local course 300 feet and in. Playing with the angle of release, I could also depend on a large skip, or a spike landing which would often come to rest close to where it first hit. The Gator helped me develop a very important, and fun, part of my game. I can now rely on my Gator's consistency, and my own confidence in the shots I have developed with it, to get me close to the basket in a variety of conditions. 

If in an alternate universe I was pro, and given the opporunity to choose any disc to have my signature on, I would choose the Gator. 

My gator is in my bag and it not really broken it yet still have alot of bite to it (hard curve), this is a must have in anyones bag for those tight fairways that you realy need to to have a disc that will do exactly want you want it too. unless you hit a tree 

The star gator is a relatively predictable disc if you can control your release angle. Being a midrange and only having 2 glide, it's almost more about your release angle than the characteristics of the disc. I wouldn't say it necessarily has 3 fade though. If you throw it on an anhyzer, it doesn't necessarily come back right away. I keep this in my bag for windy days and big hyzer approaches, but I don't think I've ever thrown this disc not on a hyzer. I'll throw a roc3 or some other midrange that can actually get some distance if I need to release it level. It keeps its spot in my bag because it's reliable and does what I need it to do, but I wouldn't call it a great disc.

I don't really know what to think about the gator. Sometimes it does what its told and other times just has a mind of its own. It has been inconsistent for me. I hate to say it but I switched to the Drone and have had much better results and more predictability.