Discmania (FD) Jackal

[x-out1]

why would they want to create hype for the couple hundred of people online? doesn't sound like a smart business choice to me. not to mention the fact that people online seem to bash more than anything.

video game testers and gadget reviews are reaching tens of thousands of people per vlog/blog...easily. those industries actually have public interest as well. FYI iphone5(4s) was in the top 10 searched topics this year.

until there is a disc in every home or almost every home like there is a skateboard, basketball, or heck even a snowboard i cannot see testers being sent out to create public hype.

it sounds like a great dream, but i think it is far from a probable reality at this stage of the sport.


BTW i threw a very seasoned 170 FD and it was very nice! it was a turning dream.

 

[zj10021]

why would they want to create hype for the couple hundred of people online? doesn't sound like a smart business choice to me. not to mention the fact that people online seem to bash more than anything.

video game testers and gadget reviews are reaching tens of thousands of people per vlog/blog...easily. those industries actually have public interest as well. FYI iphone5(4s) was in the top 10 searched topics this year.

until there is a disc in every home or almost every home like there is a skateboard, basketball, or heck even a snowboard i cannot see testers being sent out to create public hype.

it sounds like a great dream, but i think it is far from a probable reality at this stage of the sport.


BTW i threw a very seasoned 170 FD and it was very nice! it was a turning dream.

Vibram created a shit ton of followers by launching a tester program. you could say the same for some the MVP testers like Discspeed and MikeC. I don't think anyone sees it as a reality at this point especially since DGR will probably never have a new homepage. most people never find the forums. the forums at DGCR are pretty much in your face the second you go to the sites homepage

 

[discspeed]

The getting testers to hype on works well until we get a disc that the community thinks is a dud. What manufacturer is going to send out discs to get some viral marketing hype going after their last one was called out by the online community? That leaves us in the same getting free stuff vs giving an objective review that so many video game reviewers are struggling with.

Make a quality product or gtfo.

Reputable video game reviewers do that shit for a living. DGR testers review discs for kicks. I don't think you'll have much problem getting objective reviews as long as you don't give the testers [exclusively] to sponsored players and fanboys.

This. The operative word is testers. If they don't want accurate feedback, be it positive or negative, they aren't going to bother testing the disc in the first place.

There is some responsibility on the part of the tester to be professional as possible as well. When you are given a disc to test it is different than buying a disc and testing it because you have not had to make an investment with the expectation that the disc is going to be useful to you...This is where most negative reviews come from...Someone has some sort of expectation, spends some of their money, and then is disappointed. When you are testing this disappointment/feeling of wasted funds doesn't factor in, so the reviews should not be negative in most cases. When I test discs from an interested party (MVP, CDGS, DGR) I lump them into 2 categories...The first category describes discs that I get interested in because they somehow work for me and I can imagine using them, the second category are discs that I never get interested in...maybe because I think they are similar to other discs out there, maybe because they don't fit my style. The important thing is that I don't bash the discs because they are not for me...I usually then leave those for others who do have interest in the disc to review and comment on. I don't just do this to schmooze my sponsors, I do it because I honestly believe just about every disc in production is good for someone to do something with.

 

[discspeed]

why would they want to create hype for the couple hundred of people online? doesn't sound like a smart business choice to me. not to mention the fact that people online seem to bash more than anything.

video game testers and gadget reviews are reaching tens of thousands of people per vlog/blog...easily. those industries actually have public interest as well. FYI iphone5(4s) was in the top 10 searched topics this year.

until there is a disc in every home or almost every home like there is a skateboard, basketball, or heck even a snowboard i cannot see testers being sent out to create public hype.

it sounds like a great dream, but i think it is far from a probable reality at this stage of the sport.


BTW i threw a very seasoned 170 FD and it was very nice! it was a turning dream.

From this perspective, why would anyone bother making or selling discs to begin with? It's such a small sport, much more money to be made elsewhere...

We are exactly like the larger hobby/sport industries, just on a smaller scale. If it is beneficial to the larger industries to market on social media by giving out products for testing, then it is beneficial for the the DG industry as well. It's a lot cheaper than most other forms of marketing.

 

[JoshEpoo]

why would they want to create hype for the couple hundred of people online? doesn't sound like a smart business choice to me. not to mention the fact that people online seem to bash more than anything.

Sending a handful of test discs out can't cost more than thirty or forty bucks. Generating hype for a couple hundred people online will offset that and much, much more. Those couple hundred people then bring their discs out and show them to their golfer buddies who don't lurk on internet forums, and now you have word of mouth advertising and live product demonstrations out on the courses, where you can reach your entire customer base.

The people who go online with nonsensical illiterate tirades about this-or-that won't be the ones doing the initial testing and reviewing. Those people will have a chance to go online and bash whatever discs they want, after they're released.

 

[x-out1]

From this perspective, why would anyone bother making or selling discs to begin with? It's such a small sport, much more money to be made elsewhere...

i imagine that as a manufacturer there are plenty of motivating factors to sell discs, number one being $$$. just because something is relatively small doesn't mean there isn't a profit to be made.

my previous post was referencing the small online following and how much of an impact it would have on a release. if i were a big company i wouldn't be worried about hyping up discs to a small cult following. even if you had a great review on DGR and DGCR, and you told every single person at every single course you visited, and everyone one of those people bought a disc i'm not sure it would have a huge impact. don't get me wrong, they would probably sell a few more discs, but probably only a small fraction of what is sold to the WALMART'S, REI'S, & PIAS', etc.


i'd be busy worrying about how to get the 99% of people who aren't playing disc golf to use or become aware of my products. i don't think this can be achieved by sending out discs to people who already have stacks of discs and will continue to buy stacks regardless of tester releases or any promotion.

 

[money 21]

The only company that i don't think would benifit from the online hype is Innova. All the other would. Word of mouth is big with smaller sporting goods stores. 2 examples I live in a small town (13,000) about 90 miles from Portland OR. The local sporting goods shop has carried Innova and Discraft for years. They recently got approached by Gateway to sell discs. The owners son plays sometime but knows the guy who play alot and gave me a call say hey would gateway sell. I told him the putter sure would so he started selling the gateway putters. they went so well he now has started carrying the mids as well. They local store helped sponcer a tourney and help provide a gateway putter and mid for the players pack and they sell as much gateway as discraft (mids and putter).

Second story i kid i taught left for college this year and the local shop where he is at carried lat 64 but no westside. The id loves the BSword and boatman so he asked them about carrying it. He let some of the local players at school throw his westside stuff they went in and asked and now they have westside at the local shop.

This is still a grass roots sport so this is how it gets built up.

 

[zj10021]

That 99% isn't investing in new discs. They buy a starter Dx kit which lasts until they lose them. I meet people all the time at Disc Nation who talk to me about stuff they read about on DGR(not knowing who I am). If we took DGR to facebook with a team of reviewers I think the impact would be considerable.

 

[JoshEpoo]

if i were a big company i wouldn't be worried about hyping up discs to a small cult following.

For the most part, these aren't big companies. They're still forging connections with distributors and the disc golf community at large. Lots of people aren't yet familiar with MVP, Discmania, Lat64, Vibram, etc. Even the biggest manufacturers of discs take time to listen to and interact with the community in forums like this.

Giving discs to DGR won't take disc golf, as a sport, to the next level or anything, but it seems like a logical thing to do. Guys who start up small companies are salesmen and entrepreneurs and want to make sales.

 

[Trey1331]

Hype or no hype,

I feel like many of the people here are pretty transparent, we all know each others capabilities and are all making an attempt at playing disc golf w/ proper form. Regardless of hype/marketing/gimics I think it is probably the second smartest idea to get good DGR reviews and detailed insight on a new disc on this forum. (second only to getting those same experienced posters on this forum, to go do it on DGCR because then there would actually be some large scale hype built).

 

[Timko]

Well, that's pretty much what happens.

1. Give DGR folks who are on DGCR tester discs.
2. Talk about it on DGR
3. Talk about it on DGCR
4. ???
5. Profit

 

[Trey1331]

Well, that's pretty much what happens.

1. Give DGR folks who are on DGCR tester discs.
2. Talk about it on DGR
3. Talk about it on DGCR
4. ???
5. Profit

Very true!

 

[jtbingster2]

Well, that's pretty much what happens.

1. Give DGR folks who are on DGCR tester discs.
2. Talk about it on DGR
3. Talk about it on DGCR
4. ???
5. Profit

This sounds like a really great idea. Copy and paste this to the MVP thread for whenever they come out with a driver... :wink:

 

[Timko]

I played an entire round with this thing today off of every tee, and finally got to air it out. I threw some monster anhyzers, and found it very easy to throw in the 350' range. It's amazing how slow and controlled the turn is. So far, I'm really liking this in my bag. I'm still trying to get the hang of the 250' control shot, but with time I'm sure it will come.

 

[Rogue9]

Do we know when these are supposed to release yet?

 

[Crimson75]

we can go in one of two directions: Start moving in the aforementioned direction of being a site that gives THOROUGH, HONEST reviews (I love the idea of video reviews) that is respected throughout the dg community OR we can focus on posting pictures of women defecating on themselves in bathtubs. I prefer the former although one might argue that they are not mutually exclusive.

...If a product is reviewed that is "below par", a video review showing its faults is fine AS LONG AS suggestions for improvement are provided. In other words, "This is a piece of shit" would be a bad review. "This disc would not play well for those w muscle and doesnt like to stay neutral after about 200' of power" would be reasonable.

 

[money 21]

I agree doing some more of what the name of the site suggests would be nice. also we have enough people who play consistantly at differt skill levels that the reviews could cover a bigg protion of the market.

 

[Timko]

No, Discmania hasn't announced it yet.

 

[zj10021]

I agree doing some more of what the name of the site suggests would be nice. also we have enough people who play consistantly at differt skill levels that the reviews could cover a bigg protion of the market.

I am going to make an effort to do more legit disc reviews for every new disc. I have a unique job situation where I am encouraged to do this, so I might as well embrace it. Who knows you might see some disc nation disc review videos from yours truly...

 

[Trey1331]

So after a long weekend of golf I'm ready for a full second review. (it might get long..)

I wanted to test this disc in golf situations where I have normally pulled out my TD or PPD on a slower control drive. My first post was all about throwing this thing hard on a variety of lines but I really wanted to pull this disc out on control hyzers, straight shots that ended straight w/ some fade in the 350 - 380 range, and controlled turnovers uphill and downhill.

Control Hyzers - I throw MD2s for controlled hyzers at 300 - 330 but for a longer 350ish to 360ish range I wanted to test out the FD. I tested it against my beaten PPD as a disc I use to pop up from hyzer and then gently fade out again. The FD thrown at around 80% on a good hyzer line will not want to stand up but will hold hyzer and altitude for quite some time. It surpassed my PPD on some hyzers where purposefully gave it enough height to milk the glide and less stable fade the FD has over the PD mold. I am confident in 0 - 5mph wind situations throwing the FD on a hyzer and expecting it to do just that.

Straight shots that ended straight w/ some fade in the 350-380 range - Granted, at 380 I'm giving her all shes got. I can't get this disc out to 400 yet but i'm blaming my form on that becasue the potential is definitely there. I tested the FD against my trusty STD for this shot because I had mentioned earlier that the TD might get the boot if I fall in love with the FD. I personally like the FD better because there is more turn out of the box. Coming from a hyzerflip background, I feel more comfortable popping this thing up from hyzer and letting it ride flat. Throwing this disc flat will yeild turn and if given enough height it will "S" itself back out and land pretty neutral. This is of course different from the TD in that the TD really should be an SD (straight driver), where there is more side to side movement with the FD. The slower speed of the FD is nice to for these shots as I just generally trust the slower disc more.

Controlled turnovers uphill and downhill - Uphill: I had to purposefully give the disc anhyzer while throwing uphill to let it hold the turn. I'm still not comfortable with the FD for this shot and it showed, several times I put too much anhyzer on the disc and turned early or didn't put enough on it and turned too late. One thing is for sure though, if you throw it hard with the intention of turning its going to turn, and keep turning. I wish I could give more info on this, but atm I just feel more comfortable with my PPD thrown on anhyzer for the shot.

Notable mentions -
Neutral flight - Its not comet neutral. But again, mimics a seasoned roc soooooo much. Its uncanny how "seasoned roc" this thing acts. Especially in the hyzer flip department. Thats just where I fall in pure love with it. Its such a Leopard/Eagle L its not even funny.
Distance Potential - On all side by side throws with the TD and the PPD the FD was either right next to them for the controlled shots or slightly ahead (of my PPD for powered down shots) of them sometimes. Given the correct height this thing can GO.
Comfortable Grip - I let some Charlotte folk throw this disc yesterday at the Beaver and they loved it. Things they mentioned right off the bat:
1) Comfortable dome, grip, and rim
2) "give it a few tree hits and it will be a turnover dream"
3) Great glide, good for powered down shots

All in all, I stopped pulling out my TD first for shots that I used to pull it out on. I think the FD is a better disc for what I wanted the TD to be, and I have an unholy allegiance to the PD so it goes nowhere.