[Help] Daredevil Discs: Fire Away

[Blobfish]

The pandemic brought a huge influx of players to the game, but it also saw major supply chain problems from some companies as well as the formation of many new disc brands.
As of this post, Infinite Discs has 57 Varieties of disc brands on their page:

Daredevil Discs isn't a new face around town, but few casual players (especially new ones) have heard of them, and few local stores carry their models. I hope to use this thread to explain some details about their discs.

What gives me the audacity to pose as a knowledge expert on this brand?

I'm not an expert, but I do exchange emails with the owners kind of regularly and they graciously answer my questions, which I will pass on to you here.

As many of you already know, Daredevil submitted different plastic/mould combinations for PDGA approval as unique discs. This is very different than all? other manufacturers. For example, you can get a buzzz in a wide assortment of plastics. With Daredevil, the disc is specific to the plastic. A timberwolf will always be a flex performance plastic.

Daredevil has 23 models of discs and they use nine moulds to make them:

Mould 1: Beaver, Owl

Mould 2: Woodchuck, Polar Bear, Bighorn

Mould 3: Grizzly, Moose

Mould 4: Caribou, Walrus, Pteranodon

Mould 5: Tmberwolf, Wolverine, Swift-fox

Mould 6: Sabertooth, Mammoth, Buffalo

Mould 7: Ogopogo

Mould 8: Albatross, Merlin, Gray Jay

Mould 9: Sasquatch, Yeti, Bigfoot​

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Plastics:

Their discs are stamped with either "Elastic Performance", "Grip Performance", "Flex Performance", or "High Performance"

While Elastic, Flex, and High Performance plastic blends have stayed mostly consistent over the years, "Grip Performance" has undergone some changes and actually consists of three subcategories:

Grip Performance (as was originally intended): Rigid grippy rubber compound (Bighorn and Caribou)
Extra Grip Performance: not as rigid, but not as floppy as elastic performance (Polar Bear)
Ultra Performance: a little bit more like Innova Star... it was made because of customer complaints about the Grip Performance getting chewed up too easily on higher speed discs. (Pteranodon, swift fox, big foot, gray jay, and buffalo.)

***********

There are a lot of discs out there and everyone has their favorite "this is the best disc in the world".

I will say this for Daredevil:

No other manufacturer that I know of makes anything similar to an Ogopogo. It's like... think of a firebird that lands like a blowfly. Absolutely one of the gnarliest discs out there.

The caribou is very easy to snap off. Folks learning to generate snap will find the caribou very rewarding.

Anyway, that's it for this initial post. I just wanted to get this information out there in a yet uncluttered thread.

 

[Moose33]

I always thought the Ogo was the same mold as the Sabertooth ETC, that's interesting to see that it's not.

I really like the Sabertooth, very nice glidy OS fairway.

 

[Ash435]

Just ordered two more Timberwolves before I saw this thread. Such a great woods disc. I already owned 5 (lost one on a rare hyzer out).

So you're saying that they use the same mould to make other discs, but just use a different plastic and sell it under a different name? That is kind of mind blowing. Especially when you compare the stats of the other 'Timberwolves'. (Mould 5: Tmberwolf, Wolverine, Swift-fox). Not only are the flight numbers wildly different, but the heights are too. The best thing about the Timberwolf is how indestructible it is. I did recently get a surprisingly flippy one, so I'm able to carry two in the bag for different needs.

 

[Blobfish]

er I need to edit what I just said here so I deleted it...

 

[Blobfish]

Just ordered two more Timberwolves before I saw this thread. Such a great woods disc. I already owned 5 (lost one on a rare hyzer out).

So you're saying that they use the same mould to make other discs, but just use a different plastic and sell it under a different name? That is kind of mind blowing. Especially when you compare the stats of the other 'Timberwolves'. (Mould 5: Tmberwolf, Wolverine, Swift-fox). Not only are the flight numbers wildly different, but the heights are too. The best thing about the Timberwolf is how indestructible it is. I did recently get a surprisingly flippy one, so I'm able to carry two in the bag for different needs.

I initially responded to this in a way that I didn't like so I'm sorry for the blank post above.

Take the flight numbers with a grain of salt.
Wolverine is HP plastic (like Discraft Z) and is listed at 9/5/-2/2
Timberwolf is FP plastic and is 9/6/-1/0
Swift Fox is UP plastic (kind of like a cross between Innova star and pro) and is 9/5/-3/1

That means that according to numbers alone, the wolverine should be very similar to a valkyrie (9/4/-2/2) while the swift fox should be a sidewinder clone (9/5/-3/1) and according to Infinite Discs' matrix, there aren't any 9/6/-1/0 discs out there and instead give the timberwolf an 8/5/-1/1 rating very similar to the Innova TL3 8/4/-1/1

Understanding that the wolverine, timberwolf, and swift fox all pop out of the same mould should temper some expectations of wild variation between them.

 

[BruisedOoze]

I initially responded to this in a way that I didn't like so I'm sorry for the blank post above.

Take the flight numbers with a grain of salt.
Wolverine is HP plastic (like Discraft Z) and is listed at 9/5/-2/2
Timberwolf is FP plastic and is 9/6/-1/0
Swift Fox is UP plastic (kind of like a cross between Innova star and pro) and is 9/5/-3/1

That means that according to numbers alone, the wolverine should be very similar to a valkyrie (9/4/-2/2) while the swift fox should be a sidewinder clone (9/5/-3/1) and according to Infinite Discs' matrix, there aren't any 9/6/-1/0 discs out there and instead give the timberwolf an 8/5/-1/1 rating very similar to the Innova TL3 8/4/-1/1

Understanding that the wolverine, timberwolf, and swift fox all pop out of the same mould should temper some expectations of wild variation between them.

I didn't know about the DareDevil plastic naming scheme. Have to say I like it in a way after seeing how much of an influence plastics can have on stability.

It's pretty hard to spot the physical differences between a Timberwolf and a Swiftfox, but the Swiftfox is a far more understable disc in my experience. Loves to flip, more so than a Jade I have, whereas the Timberwolf likes to stick to whatever I put it on. 1km elevation here for reference, and the 2 timberwolves/3 swiftfoxes I own.

The Wolverine I only just received before Christmas and thrown only twice, but what immediately jumps out about it is that the edge has been worked compared to the other 2. It's like the edge was taken to a beltsander to remove the parting line (with a coarse texture), so it's a flat rather than round edge that is 3mm wide or so. Like a coin edge if that makes sense. Bizarre.

 

[Blobfish]

I didn't know about the DareDevil plastic naming scheme. Have to say I like it in a way after seeing how much of an influence plastics can have on stability.

It's pretty hard to spot the physical differences between a Timberwolf and a Swiftfox, but the Swiftfox is a far more understable disc in my experience. Loves to flip, more so than a Jade I have, whereas the Timberwolf likes to stick to whatever I put it on. 1km elevation here for reference, and the 2 timberwolves/3 swiftfoxes I own.

The Wolverine I only just received before Christmas and thrown only twice, but what immediately jumps out about it is that the edge has been worked compared to the other 2. It's like the edge was taken to a beltsander to remove the parting line (with a coarse texture), so it's a flat rather than round edge that is 3mm wide or so. Like a coin edge if that makes sense. Bizarre.

How long have you had those swift foxes? A long time ago, they were made in the grip performance plastic and they were also very lightweight (150s) but negative feedback on the durability spawned a change in plastic to the Ultra Performance (despite it still saying Grip Performance on the disc itself). If you've thrown a polar bear or a caribou you know what the GP plastic feels like.

Recent swift foxes are heavier and while I like the feel of them as a slightly stiffer timberwolf, I personally don't see much else that's different in their flights. That might just be me though.

 

[elmexdela]

i had a timberwolf about 10 years ago

it was a great mold it was just the teebird was/is better

i hit pin with first round i played with it but that wasnt enough to keep it in the bag

too difficult to find replacements and too limited plastic variety at that time

 

[elmexdela]

so basically my above post is obsolete

well actually it never was anything so what does that make it

 

[thatdirtykid]

Can you update the original post, or quote and edit below to describe each mold shape a little?

IE the only one I am familiar with:

"Mold 1 Beaver, Owl: Stable Beaded Putter"

 

[thatdirtykid]

I love the naming different blends different discs. A lot of discs fly completely different plastic to plastic, so this may make more sense to newer players.
FWIW Gateway did mess with this naming convention in the early 2000s. Only example I can remember is the original "Chief" was a H blend Wizard. G9i was another.

 

[BruisedOoze]

How long have you had those swift foxes? A long time ago, they were made in the grip performance plastic and they were also very lightweight (150s) but negative feedback on the durability spawned a change in plastic to the Ultra Performance (despite it still saying Grip Performance on the disc itself). If you've thrown a polar bear or a caribou you know what the GP plastic feels like.

Recent swift foxes are heavier and while I like the feel of them as a slightly stiffer timberwolf, I personally don't see much else that's different in their flights. That might just be me though.

Certainly not a Caribou plastic, which I retired one after a cold day late tree hit a few months ago. As you say stiffer than the Timberwolf. First Fox was Summer 2020, then picked up 3 over the following winter. One of those I passed on as they gave me a lightweight one (158g) by mistake. A cool greenish yellow disc with purple stamp combo though. The three I currently own are 175ish hot pink swift foxes.

One is heavily used and was using a second only during field work, although I'll be rotating the second in here soon. One is sitting as a backup and barely thrown. I can pull that one out and see if I'm misremembering, but what stood out when I started throwing one was it was easy to throw and liked to push right, whereas the Timberwolf I had didn't seem to want to and liked to fade out.

I picked up the second Timberwolf as the first one is a horrible colour for this area in retrospect (burnt yellow), so I barely used it.

Not sure what explains the differences in experience? I don't have a big arm, where a solid throw for me with the Swiftfox is about 340' on the course.

I know flight guide Marshall Street have the Swiftfox as both slower and more understable, but not sure what metrics they use or how they test that.

 

[Twmccoy]

Yeti is the only Daredevil disc I've ever seen or thrown. Very fast, wide rimmed, understable driver. Comparable to a Relativity or Knight. Nice dome, good glide, and a long bomber.

 

[Monkeypaws]

I got 2 Daredevil discs last season: a Walrus in rubbery fold-able soft plastic. and a Moose in fairly soft plastic.
They are fun as hell to throw up in the frozen North, grip is excellent. The flight numbers aren't entirely exact imo: Walrus is advertised as 4-5-0-3, um no. Much less stable than that. Moose is a bit closer to its advertised 4-5-0-2, but it is also less stable than the numbers would suggest.
Cool discs to be sure.

 

[Blobfish]

I got 2 Daredevil discs last season: a Walrus in rubbery fold-able soft plastic. and a Moose in fairly soft plastic.
They are fun as hell to throw up in the frozen North, grip is excellent. The flight numbers aren't entirely exact imo: Walrus is advertised as 4-5-0-3, um no. Much less stable than that. Moose is a bit closer to its advertised 4-5-0-2, but it is also less stable than the numbers would suggest.
Cool discs to be sure.

So yeah... the walrus, caribou, and pteranodon all pop out of the same mold; the walrus is in the as-you-put-it foldable Elastic Performance, the Caribou in the true "grip performance" and the Pteranodon in the Ultra Performance. Despite the numbers, none of them actually have a hard fade at all. The moose does fade harder, but it's actually a different mold (same as the grizzly). The caribou is easily my favorite disc because it is so easy to control. They are kind of easy to warp though. In cold weather, I replace a caribou with a walrus.

 

[BruisedOoze]

Pulled out the fresh Swift Fox out of the box and used it for a few rounds. While I do find the Timber Wolf to still be a bit more overstable, as I found the Swift Fox faded less and didn't handle the headwinds as well as a Timber Wolf, it's far closer than what I originally remembered. Part of it may just be the plastic grip and temperatures?

 

[raceface59]

It gets pretty cold here and I put away my summer bag and bring out my winter bag once the temps drop in the fall. It's pretty simple. Ogopogo, Walrus and Woodchuck (along with an SSSS Voodoo). The Daredevil discs are warped, filthy and beat, but that's the whole idea. They don't break on frozen tree kicks. The Ogopogo was actually the disc that taught me a serviceable forehand. The Walrus is my favorite mid. I'd use it all year long, but it feels "melty" in our summer heat and humidity. My Woodchuck resembles a lumpy uncooked pizza. I'll have them forever.

 

[GladeScentedMandle]

Despite the numbers, none of them actually have a hard fade at all. The moose does fade harder, but it's actually a different mold (same as the grizzly).

Is the Moose worth testing out as a straight mid? My dog's name is Moose and when I found out there was a Moose disc I have been tempted to buy it. Lol I know it's stupid.

 

[thatdirtykid]

If it makes you think of the dog and that makes you happy than its not dumb at all. If you don't mind softer plastic I would go for it. I remember it being a roc type flight, a touch more stable than a lot of people would want for a straight mid.

 

[GladeScentedMandle]

If it makes you think of the dog and that makes you happy than its not dumb at all. If you don't mind softer plastic I would go for it. I remember it being a roc type flight, a touch more stable than a lot of people would want for a straight mid.

I have 2 coming in Tuesday! If they are Roc like then I am really looking forward to beating one up.