The Cobra King F7 driver comes in various guises, but at the heart of things it is the same club with a choice of head shapes to deliver different ball flights to suit your game.
The previous Fly Z+ and King F6 drivers used various flipping or sliding mechanisms to move a weight forwards and backwards across the sole. This affects the CG to either add spin by moving it towards the back, or reduce it by moving it forward.
Combine this with varying the loft through 3° over five settings using the now familiar MyFly8 adjustable hosel and you can get the right balance to maximise your distance.
Compared to previous models, the 'standard' King F7 visually looks like it has gone back to basics with three screws in the sole, but this means that more weight can be saved because you don't have to allow for the weight sliding/flipping mechanism, even if it is made of carbon as it was in the King F6. This is shown by the fact that the largest weight is now 12g instead of 10g before.
What it also does is give a third draw option by putting the heavier 12g coloured weight in the Draw position towards the heel and leaving the other two 2g weights in the front Low and back High positions. It's maybe not as much visual eye candy, but the effect creates a greater sugar buzz as you now have more options to play with.
Taking the King F7 on SkyTrak revealed the effect the three settings had on ball trajectory.
Starting with a 10.5° loft and the blue weight in the Draw position, I got a decent amount of distance with a bit of draw bias, but not so much that you would have to worry about it disappearing over your left shoulder.
With the weight in the front Low position, the lower spin and flight were evident. It was the longest total distance, but looking at the detail shows that was because it rolled further with a yard less carry, illustrating the lower flight.
The rear High setting was the Goldilocks one for me, as the higher launch combined with a nice subtle draw to give the best visual flight and feel. It's amazing the effect that moving 10g around a club head travelling at 98 mph can have in terms of how it feels. Sometimes you might be tempted to take the lesser performing setting because it feels better, but thankfully the High setting was just right.
Distance wise there was not much in it for me, but for others they may get more variation from the settings, particularly changing the loft as moving the weights is more about fine tuning.
The King F7 also comes with a Cobra Connect GPS tracking device built into the grip as standard and if you are familiar with the Arccos Driver sensor then it is pretty similar to that.
Basically it uses the phone in your pocket and the Cobra Connect in the grip to mark GPS positions where you hit the driver and then where you hit your next shot from in order to measure the total distance your King F7 has moved you down the course.
Over time it will start to suggest videos from Cobra's tour players like Rickie Fowler on how to correct a fade if you keep missing the fairway to the right and is the start of intelligent golf clubs, so it will be interesting to see if this catches on, but it is great to see Cobra thinking a little outside the box.
The rest of the head is as you were with the Smart Pad on the sole to allow it to pivot as you change the loft to keep the face square which is a good feature.
The crown is still made from TeXtreme Carbon Fibre that is 20% lighter than titanium to allow weight to be saved and moved to the sole to lower the CG.
The face continues the fine tradition of the E9 face that is renowned for its forgiveness as the variable face thickness does a good job of reduce any loss of ball speed on off centre hits.
There is a choice of three head colours aligned with their players from Blue with subtle checks for Bryson DeChambeau, Black with Orange for Rickie Fowler and Silver for everyone else.
Cobra says that the F7 shape is larger at address with a 5% bigger face than the King F6 and also bigger than the King LTD.
Cobra King F7+ Driver Review
However if Space Ports aren't for you then there is also the King F7+ model that is aimed at higher swing speed players who want to lower spin a little.
The head is fractionally smaller at 455cc, is taller in the crown and shorter back to front to move the CG forward in order to get that lower spinning profile.
The difference looks greater than 5cc at address and the matte finish to the crown of the F7+ is a cool alternative to the gloss look of the F7 and even the coloured weight has it's own style too.
The other change is that the MyFly 8 hosel has a lower loft range from 8° to 11° to blend in with the low spin, high swing speed player profile it is aimed at.
Pitting the two King F7 drivers head to head on SkyTrak revealed the effect each head has on ball trajectory. To make it a fair fight I set them both at 10.5° with the heavy weight in the High setting at the back, so this may not be the optimum for me on either driver, but it will show you the differences in the head performance.
The King F7+ span significantly less resulting in less carry and more roll, but it did achieve pretty much the same distance. This illustrates the options availble to you with both drivers and that you will probably need a 100mph+ swing to get the most out of the King F7+, as I used one of the higher launching settings at 97mph and it really needed more speed to launch it correctly.
Therefore despite my preference for the shape and finish, the King F7+ is not really a conscious choice, more a fitting option that is there for those who find the other heads in the Cobra range create too much ball spin.
Cobra King F7 Ti Driver Review
If you don't want or need to fiddle with weights there is also an all 811 titanium version of the King F7 that has one fixed weight in the sole.
The King F7 Ti has normal grip on a 45 inch shaft, which I prefer as it is more manageable provided a good level of distance speed in the SkyTrak test.
On SkyTrak, it was only a couple of yards behind its all singing, all dancing brother for me with similar spin and a slightly higher launch, so it would be worth trying both to see whether the extra distance is worth the extra £50 for the moveable weights and the Cobra Connect in the grip to prove it.
If not, you will be rewarded with a good looking, no-nonsense driver that has a slightly more rounded look and a slightly more closed looking face at address than the standard King F7.
If you don't like the draw profile, you can use the MyFly8 hosel to change this as the F7 Ti launches a little higher than the F7. Just de-loft the club which will open the silver face a little to square it up and it will give a similar flight to a higher lofted F7.
Of the two I would probably still splash out for the standard King F7 over the King F7 Ti as the pear shape was more my style and it provides that extra level of fine tuning with a slightly nicer sound and the Cobra Connect option.
Overall the King F7 is another fine evolution from Cobra of a head that delivers easy playing and high levels of forgiveness with the option of fine tuning the flight if you need it.