Hello all and welcome to MINT discs, my name is Rick and i will be your server today. Todays special is, BEEF!
(where's a longhorn emoji when you need one
)
I know many of you have been curious about the next release and the guys @ MINT have blessed us with a tasty new morsel! The Longhorn is a distance driver with enough high speed stability to handle power but not so much that its a 1 trick pony. While this bad boy isn't all beef, it has just enough of high speed turn to help shape the most beautiful lines your arm can muster. If you like the way the freetail feels, then the longhorn will feel right at home to you. If you were reading the specs and trying to figure out its shallow, I can attest that it is not as shallow as some may think.
For disc comparisons id say if you're familiar with old school star wraiths or early run teerex, then this should be a familiar flight to you. As much as i try to think of other discs to compare, I always end up comparing it to the wraith/Teerex. Another comparison that came to mind was the early runs of the s line DD, which is basically an overstable wraith. The estimated flight numbers for the longhorn are 11/4/-1/3.
On to the drive portion!
Thrown back hand rh at 70% on a flat line, the longhorn holds straight for the majority of its flight while penetrating forward as it fades , think faster alpha
i was impressed by how workable the stability is even while my finger wasn't 100% healed. If you bump the power up, you'll see the -1 turn and some beautiful flex shots unfold before your
These types of shots are what reminded me of the old teerex/pfn wraiths I used to throw. On lower powered shots you're going to see more of an overstable flight that can prove to be useful in certain situations.
Throw it on an anhyzer and you will see a controlled turn over that gradually tracks right until the stability kicks in to flatten it out and then starts to reel itself back in. For the stability it has a good amount of glide to take the spot as your primary distance driver while still being controllable. (Again, longer alpha)
On sweeping hyzers or spike hyzers, the longhorn holds firm on its intended line. Once you get it up to speed, you'll see that it still penetrates forward as the low speed fade kicks in. Back off on the power and the longhorn can subsequently take on the shots one would use a utility disc for. Hyzer flips? Just as juicy as as any other shots with this beauty. Hyzer flip it and it'll pop up to flat and lock in for a frozen rope til the last
Forehand shots! I'll be honest, I don't have a good forehand and have been known to over torque them
so throwing this on a fh reminds me that I have to focus on throwing it cleanly but aside from that ive had good results with learning to us it for fh. Im getting some seemingly EASY distance on fh shots once I tell myself to stop trying to crush it. Its very comfortable in the hand with only a slight rise in the dome making it great for FH or BH.
Final thoughts:
Over all im enjoying this mold a lot, ive taken out all of my distance drivers to give this a fair testing and so far i really like what MINT has created here. The glide and turn are all speed based so if you do not get it up to speed, it may not seem like a 4 glide or 3 fade but when you do, prepare to be amazed. The nocturnal longhorns are a little more high speed stable and flatter than the other plastics we are testing but they paired well with the others for a little more beef. Out all of the samples of plastics we tested there wasn't much difference from the et proto other than the nocturnal and sublime.
In case you're wondering where they rank in stability :
most os to least os
Nocturnal
eternal & apex
sublime
Thanks for coming to MINT story time! I feel like im forcing you guys and gals to read a book with these reviews
We look forward to getting these into your hands soon, stay tuned for release dates etc!
As always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask and I'll answer to the best of my ability.
thanks MINT fam!