New Brands

[Monkeypaws]

Went to Infinite Discs tonight to poke around. They certainly sell from a large number of manufacturers.

These are the ones I'd never heard of until tonight. No offense intended to these companies, not the DG geek I once was.

Above Ground Level
Aqua Flight
Arsenal Discs
Birdie Disc Golf Supply
Cheengz
Crosslap
Disctroyer
Divergent Discs
Elevation
Finish Line Discs
Fourth Circle Discs
Full Turn
Galaxy
Guru
Kaufinator
Launch
Lone Star
Momentum
Mite Ize
Sky Quest
Storm
Sune
Terminal Velocity
XCom

Lots of discs. Some other countries. I used to want to have a feel for most of the discs out there, no longer possible.

The sport has been grown. Wonder how many brands the sport can support.

 

[wolfhaley]

I buy the majority of the discs I need (or in reality, don't need) from infinite. I've seen the majority of these names before, but there are actually a number of them you listed I don't recognize. I think I own an Aqua Flight disc...maybe. Might be Skyquest or something though. AGL is the only one I have really heard anything about, but I don't own any.

 

[Hampstead]

"Good night and welcome to another round of " What Are They Doing?" the slow paced in no hurry to post game show where a question gets asked with no expectation of a response. Tonight's question:

"Above Ground Level
Cheengz
Kaufinator
Momentum
Mite Ize
Sky Quest
Sune
XCom"


What Are They Doing?

 

[EllEstar]

Nite Ize (night eyes) makes discs with LED lights built in for night rounds. Finish Line is Drew Gibson's new thing. Disctroyer is Estonian and I know some of these are Asian.

 

[Moose33]

I know some things about many of these could be helpful;

Above Ground Level- mainly the old element discs molds with a few new ones added, all molded by Gateway as far as I can tell.
Aqua Flight- owned by Sun King, molded by gateway. All light weight to float.
Birdie Disc Golf Supply- new company just one mold so far
Cheengz- from GA, mainly catch/dog looking discs in heavier weights.
Crosslap-German company went slide the for a while but is now back at it.
Disctroyer-from Estonia, pretty good quality I've tried their Skylark mid. It smells like silly putty but throws well.
Divergent Discs- from the Philippines, targeted to new and lower powered players.their silicone Alpas putter is interesting.
Elevation-compression molded rubber discs, WAY floppier than vibram
Finish Line Discs- Drew Gibson's new venture
Fourth Circle Discs- from Australia, I think Innova molds them though
Full Turn- I think they have shut down but had a couple of cool molds
Galaxy- from China, quality is decent.
Guru- from Norway I think, mainly aimed at new players
Kaufinator- Legacy discs with coffins on them. I think you get a prize if you ace with them and can prove it.
Launch- from the UK and they have awesome glow plastic rhatton is involved.
Lone Star- my sponsor! Making high quality discs in Houston, they do other injection molding and got into DG a couple of years ago. Pretty strong growing lineup.
Nite Ize- discs with lights built in, I don't think they have ran any in a few years.
Sky Quest- makes a few interesting discs, but I think they might be shut down.
Storm- another one molded by gateway.
XCom- Chinese manufacturer aiming at newer and low powered players

 

[DeanMoriarty]

All these new brands need a lesson on brand naming.. Terrible names besides the Texas company.

 

[autocrosscrx]

I pulled an XCOM Zion out of a pond. Distance driver, board flat, massive bead (though Infinite says beadless). It is dumpy, glideless, and has a remarkable mix of low speed stability and lack of high speed stability. It also has the durability of an exhaust hanger made out of solder. Anyone who ever says "it is the archer and not the arrow" hasn't thrown an XCOM Zion.

 

[Moose33]

I pulled an XCOM Zion out of a pond. Distance driver, board flat, massive bead (though Infinite says beadless). It is dumpy, glideless, and has a remarkable mix of low speed stability and lack of high speed stability. It also has the durability of an exhaust hanger made out of solder. Anyone who ever says "it is the archer and not the arrow" hasn't thrown an XCOM Zion.

I got their Helios fairway in a mystery box and it was incredibly understable but didn't have a ton of glide.

 

[WD09]

I know some things about many of these could be helpful...

Thanks, that WAS very helpful!

I had only heard of 3 of these, have only thrown discs from 2 of them, and only bag a disc from 1.

 

[ballgolfconvert]

No Wild brand discs?

 

[Monkeypaws]

Thanks Moose - like I said, I used to have a feel for what was out there. Nice to see someone is still keeping track.

Actually of all the brands out there, the one I'm interested in checking out is RPM - I like New Zealand, and they look cool. Kind of a year ago when I said, "I like Canada, and Daredevil discs look cool."

 

[nothinbuttree]

So...all these smaller players have disc making equipment, or are leasing the equipment/capacity from other manufacturers? Maybe Innova or Discraft needs to buy these companies just for their plastic making machines. Or lease them out? IDK if they are all the same or not.

It does kind of beg the question where these startups/smaller/younger companies are getting the cash for the equipment, not to mention the actual machines, doesn't it? And why the big players cannot add capacity?

 

[Dthunderchicken]

IMO, the market's been oversaturated for a while now.

 

[BillFleming]

Before buying a disc from a "new" brand on Infinite, check if it is approved or not. For example, they sell Dino Discs. Those are made mainly by ABC and Gateway, but are super lightweight (100 to 120 grams I believe) and are not PDGA approved. But they are intended to help get kids into the sport.

There may be others listed that are not actually PDGA approved discs. I don't think the ones with lights built-in are approved, or at least not for regular tournament play.

 

[WD09]

Actually of all the brands out there, the one I'm interested in checking out is RPM - I like New Zealand, and they look cool.

The first time I saw and heard of RPM was in a local shop a couple of years ago.

Since then I have started throwing the Piwakawaka, a neutral midrange, and the Pekapeka, an understable fairway driver. They feel great and fly great, but my favorite thing about them is the conversation that follows when someone asks, "What disc did you throw there?"

 

[ray1970]

IMO, the market's been oversaturated for a while now.

Heck, I think there's about a hundred or more molds just from Innova that I haven't even tried.

 

[nothinbuttree]

The first time I saw and heard of RPM was in a local shop a couple of years ago.

Since then I have started throwing the Piwakawaka, a neutral midrange, and the Pekapeka, an understable fairway driver.

Makes the C-line 400G H3V2max type names seem good. I guess their putter is called the Peutterutter?

 

[autocrosscrx]

If I were playing with someone and asked them what disk they threw and they said "Piwakawaka", I'd either think they were mocking me or they didn't know how to socialize with others. And I wouldn't try to talk to them again.

 

[Streets]

Give me cool New Zealand themed names over randomly generated number/alphabet soup any day.

 

[ray1970]

A Piwakawaka needs a Fozzie Bear stamped on it. Just saying.