Well, I'm a little late to the party, but today I picked up an ESP Cyclone to test out. We haven't gotten anything new or interesting in for a while and I was bored. Lately I've heard some talk again about these, so I decided that I'd pick one up.
I grabbed a green, stiff, and domey 175. I didn't have real high expectations since I haven't really been using slow drivers since I dropped the Stalker, and I figured that at best it would be a lot like the Stalker. After throwing it some on the course today, I must say I was pretty impressed.
I was surprised by it's HSS...I always viewed the Cyclone as a flippy disc. When I threw mine really hard it straightened and didn't really come back, but with any hyzer it always faded. I didn't get to test it much due to the course I was playing, but the thing I was most impressed with was it's ability to hold a long, gradual, hyzer all the way shot. I don't really have this shot in my bag right now. I also was impressed by how much forward glide it got while on a hyzer or anhyzer. It really reminded me of a mini PD, and that is something I'm very interested in. The final surprise that the ESP clone had in store for me was that it actually did fly quite a bit farther, quite a bit easier than my Buzzz. On the couple of holes where I really nut on the Buzzz, the Clone did the job better and easier. Hole "A" at Cliff Stephens is basically an island hole, wide open and surrounded on all sides by water with one little strip of land to walk out on. It is probably about 330-340', a really tweener distance no matter how you look at it. It is also manufactured, so it has spots of gravel in front and to the right of the basket, so if you throw a fast hyzer it can skip big into the water. You kind of throw out of a tunnel, so there are limits to how wide a hyzer you can take. The wider you go at it, the more time your disc spends over water and subject to strange air currents that can lift you up or drop you right out of the air. The pad is a short rubber mat on an uneven surface, so a fast/powerful runup is not possible. Anyway, I usually throw a strong Buzzz shot, but unfortunately I threw my favorite Buzzz in the water there a month ago, and I've not gotten it back. It straightened out a little on me and went too far. So my other option is a C-PD hyzer, but I often don't get enough power on this shot and end up short. I did a nice gradual hyzer with the Clone that looked like it faded too much and would be short. When I got up there it was pin high about 20' to the right of the basket. I threw it very smoothly. I couldn't have done this with anything else in my bag...My S-PD could go long VERY easy, and anything else requires too hard of a throw.
Anyway, the ESP Clone maybe a keeper for me. I think it's going to be more versatile than my River, but I've got to get some more stable Rivers to compare, and I also need to throw the Clone more on different lines. It's definitely a good disc.
