MVP Disc Sports - Official Thread

[what'shisname]

I got my M Ion today and was able to get out in the field tonight to throw it around a bit. It was pretty windy out there tonight and the M held up in the wind a bit better than the softs. Haven't had a chance to putt with it yet though.

 

[Risk]

Well I got a soft Ion in the mail last night and I took all of my Ion's (2 mediums and 1 soft) to the park for some driving practice. First impression is how in the hell is this disc going so damn straight with zero (yes zero) fade. It seems like they just go around 250' then hover slowly straight down to the ground. Also this disc handles bad form and torque better then any other putter I've tried and has some serious glide. They all flew very similar (straight) but I liked the soft better in a tailwind and it seemed a bit faster so it worked better on lower throws. I'm still working on figuring out how to putt with them and the mediums seemed better for my style. So in one word this disc is going to be game changer for me because I won't need to power down on a Buzzz anymore for shorter holes which gave me some trouble in the past.

 

[JR]

I bought two grippers yesterday and the exercise showed. I had three driving mild grip locks when the index finger wouldn't pop cleanly off the disc when I placed my finger tip into the curves part between the flight plate and the rim. I had no such problems when using less index finger inside the disc placing the outermost joint of the index finger under the bead. I had some slips that way both use four finger power grip. The acid test of disc durability Meilahti, Helsinki, Finland proved too much for the medium 175. The bead took all sorts of nasty damage.

It's official it's in the bag. I drive approach and putt with mostly great accuracy with it. I'm surprised at how much confidence I gained so soon with it. I gotta try more of these and I'll get a back up for regular courses and let Meilahti chew my current medium. Every other disc gets torn there too so everyone playing often uses different discs there than on other courses. Hole 17 straight high drive went straight at the pin and at the final moment dropped steeply with 2' of fade including sliding behind the basket in downhill from an apex of around 30-35'. If I saw correctly the disc dropped about an inch or two behind the basket. The hole is a couple of feet downhill and 270'ish long. I had close calls elsewhere on two rounds as well.

Metal and near misses from long approaches and putts all the time. I'm doing better in those on average than with any disc ever. Especially for such a short time of practicing. But my muscle usage has changed to give a better snap and more accuracy. Rhyno did well too. And I need something harder fading than an Ion in many places but the length and low fade of the Ion has opened up some new high percentage lines over other discs I've used. And I've thrown almost every putter out there.

Where Ions shine are low fade fairly good height retention in laser putting and not flipping easily other than in headwinds while being fairly nose angle insensitive and fading very little even on high lines. I need more practice with mild hyzers for accurate placement between straight and 30'+ left. I'm somewhat good with annies at shorter ranges for mild sideways movement. A lot of right motion is superbly easy. I may retain Rhynos and the likes for hyzer finesse and straight then fairly hard fade type of shots.

If I tame the slipping vs grip locking issues I'm a very happy camper. As nice as the extra D of Pro Katanas is it had so many compromises that the Ion is easily the best disc I've tried this year. Nukes aren't bad and the Farting lemon startana is great too. I'm a late comer to Stalkers and Buzzzes and they're in the bag and have elevated my game. And I love ripping Ringers as hard as I can with the easy grip and not flipping them ever while flying far. Only if they were tackier. But the Ion has a good enough grip probably and is about as long without having to nut it and use a full force run up. Although I haven't really done those with the Ion a lot yet. It's so amazingly long as it is!!!

 

[discspeed]

I had my longest neutral wind Ion throw today. I put a 172g soft about 20' past hole 10 at Cliff Stephens park, which is marked as 350'. As much as I like the mediums, the softs bounce. That is the lightest one I have, and when it comes to open D it definitely drops the slowest of all of mine, therefore going the furthest.

 

[jdggna]

I've been happy with my Ions' driving ability, but I never could get them as far as a Voodoo. They would do 200 feet with much more ease and finesse, but if I tried to crank them out over 250' they would turn and burn every time...Until today.

My roommate suggested I try the fork grip for them. He's been crushing his Voodoos off the tee recently and attributed the new distance to it. I've tried it on the Buzzz before, but I didn't like the feel of it at all. It took me a couple tries to get it right, but on the third throw I came up about 40 feet shy of a hole that I usually struggle to reach with my Buzzz consistently (approximately 350 feet). Approaching with them was dead on with the fork grip as well. I'll have to invest some time into it since I don't have any tourneys coming up until the end of July. If the fork grip keeps working this well with the Ion, I'll have to revisit that grip on the Buzzz as well.

 

[discspeed]

I've been happy with my Ions' driving ability, but I never could get them as far as a Voodoo. They would do 200 feet with much more ease and finesse, but if I tried to crank them out over 250' they would turn and burn every time...Until today.

This seems really weird to me as I can easily throw any Ion (maybe not the first runs) further than any Voodoo as they simply don't fly as far. I also find nearly all my Ions to be a little more stable than most Voodoos. What Ions are you throwing again? They shouldn't be turning and burning with a clean throw, and they should even take a dirty throw better than a Voodoo.

 

[jdggna]

This seems really weird to me as I can easily throw any Ion (maybe not the first runs) further than any Voodoo as they simply don't fly as far. I also find nearly all my Ions to be a little more stable than most Voodoos. What Ions are you throwing again? They shouldn't be turning and burning with a clean throw, and they should even take a dirty throw better than a Voodoo.

I'm throwing both mediums and softs. I do drive with the softs more than the mediums so far though. I definitely wouldn't call my form clean, but it is much better than it was a year ago. I guess "turn and burn" isn't quite appropriate to describe what they were doing. I got really comfortable with flipping my Voodoos just past flat. They would come up to flat, fly perfectly straight, and eventually start slowly drifting right, finishing in almost a perfectly straight line. With the Ion I can't get it to lock into flat like that. When I try to put more power behind the Ion it will turn over. Even when I compensate with quite a bit of hyzer, instead of flipping to flat it comes past it much more quickly that the Voodoos would. It then proceeds to do what the Ion excels at...holding the line...all the way to the ground, unless I give it some extreme height. I've tried compensating with more hyzer, but before I get the angle that will flip it to flat is gets to an angle that it won't flip out of and just hyzers the whole way. I have no problems throwing longer hyzers or anhyzers with the Ion, but for distance I don't have it dialed in like I did with the Voodoo.

 

[Ryan C]

I've been crushing mediums out to around 275' and I have yet to turn one over. Sometimes they drift a little bit right, but I can tell its because I'm accidentally releasing them on a slight anhyzer instead of flat as intended.

 

[JR]

I've gotten Ions to just past 300' and they out fly Voodos by a lot. Unity are you gripping the disc so that the index finger is stuck as high as it'll go to the flight plate bottom to rim round corner? My three grip locks yesterday showed that the Ion is not a no brainer to release clean. And going for 300' for me need a full speed run up and a medium so as to not bend in my hand. Which is not easy to do with just the index finger outermost joint under the bead. At least with my short fingers. That needs a tight squeeze and having hurt my finger it's a bit iffy. At times my body gets protected by subconsciously lightening the grip and then the Ion is slip prone. I think I will overcome that. But a bit of index finger strength is really helpful and so is not pushing the index finger as up as it'll go inside the disc.

 

[jdggna]

I think a really clean release is part of it. That is what I attribute most of the success with the fork grip to. For whatever reason it seems to force it out of my hand cleaner than a power grip. If I can dial in the drives to be like the one yesterday then they'll be controlled farther out than my Voodoos ever were.

I'm playing different courses over the summer than I do in the fall and spring. Once I get back to school there will be a couple holes where I can pretty accurately determine if they're going farther or not. I do remember thinking that they were flying farther when I first got them (which would have been while I was still there), but recently I haven't been thinking that is the case,
so it could also be partly me thinking that the Voodoo flew farther than it did coupled with my expectations to throw the Ion farther. I know for a fact that there is one hole there that was consistently short by 30 feet with the Voodoo, which I overthrew for about 2 weeks with the soft Ion...which usually put me in the creek about 30 feet past the basket...

 

[discspeed]

Here is my grip on a medium Ion. I use the same grip for everything but putting, but when I'm driving with the Ion I relax it somewhat. I keep it firm, but I don't clench down like I would on a driver.

JR--If you can get your release right with the softs, they definitely go further than the mediums due to a slower drop rate.

 

[peppermack]

Well, I sold off all my Ions. I love the way they fly and stick to the chains, but I was carrying them around and never really using them. I am going back to carrying an aero for what I was using the ions for. The Ion was still a hair to fast for my taste and I was getting some crazy long comeback shots. Great putter though, and approach disc. I admittedly did not spend enough time learning them, cause I use my VP for 90% of upshots inside of 300'.

 

[jdggna]

Here is my grip on a medium Ion.

Facebook blocked by work...I'll have to check them out later.

 

[discspeed]

Well, I sold off all my Ions. I love the way they fly and stick to the chains, but I was carrying them around and never really using them. I am going back to carrying an aero for what I was using the ions for. The Ion was still a hair to fast for my taste and I was getting some crazy long comeback shots. Great putter though, and approach disc. I admittedly did not spend enough time learning them, cause I use my VP for 90% of upshots inside of 300'.

This was inevitable...Your DGR identity would be in crisis if the Ion starting taking too many shots away from your Vibrams!

 

[peppermack]

very true, very true

 

[Jkosk]

I am going to commit to the ION for a period of time here and see what happens. Took my challengers out completely. (before I would carry them, and if I really wanted to pick up a shot I would grab the challenger instead)

I still have it slipping out a touch early at times because of that satin texture, but I am hoping that once I get familiar with it, that will change.

I think they putt fantastic, it's just the drives and upshots that I have it slipping on.

 

[jubuttib]

Just got my free ION today (thanks Powergrip!) and it is a damn good driving putter. I was having problems throwing everything (throwing my drivers as high as I normally throw my putters and vice versa. Not a good thing.) but when I concentrated and got it right, it was a very good little flyer. I'm going to need to experiment more, the grip is very different from what I'm used to, but so far it seems pretty darn nice.

No idea how well it putts, didn't have a basket to try it on. But I'll see tomorrow, when we put the first baskets up at the new course.

 

[JR]

We played catch with a Zero Pure and mafa's 173 medium Ion today in the wind. We changed sides so that we both threw in all four directions of wind. Pure flips more and fades harder. Especially on higher lines. It's surprisingly long in Zero unlike Grip plastic but the reliability in changing winds is less than with the Ion. Pure seems to flip more consistently in the sense that it requires a hyzer release to a flat flip in calm conditions and more hyzer by gradual addition as the power or headwind grows. Ions for me need flat releases in calm conditions and abruptly more addition of hyzer angle in headwinds. Both need the same hyzer angle in headwinds if they aren't mild.

Discspeed I need to throw the soft Ion more tomorrow since the winds are forecasted to be mild. Too bad we've had winds for a long time and after tomorrow the winds will pick up bad again for at least 4 days. I have to pay attention to a milder grip with the soft while driving so that it won't warp in my hand. I consider that ironic since using grippers I found out that I have strong fingers other than the thumb. Which being the only finger on top of discs can't get help and since my thumb is short I'm screwed with the added difficulty of not getting good enough leverage. Especially on a disc that is this tall. The irony is that I have video evidence of micro slipping so the thumb alone may be the culprit for that. And that's not easy to train with grippers. A ball such as tennis one is too large for me. I can't get similar directions as I'm gripping a disc. Power grip or Jenkins one.

When I threw mine and mafa's medium Ions today in rear or sidewinds with a power grip with the outermost joint of the index finger under the bead not touching the flight plate with the tip of the index finger I had a couple of slips. And they generally flew at the target still. Weird. Those grips were too loose with the index finger pressure so care needs to be taken with gripping. I had off target slips with the index finger pushed to the bottom of the flight plate even with a good grip and I felt that the disc did not rip cleanly off my index finger. YMMV

Jubuttib mafa took his medium so you'll have to wait until you order from abroad, a local shop gets them or I order more for myself or somebody else will order them.

 

[jubuttib]

jubuttib mafa took his medium so you'll have to wait until you order from abroad, a local shop gets them or I order more for myself or somebody else will order them.

PM me if you get around to ordering from a place that sells them, I definitely want my hands on one.

 

[jdggna]

Here is my grip on a medium Ion.

Facebook blocked by work...I'll have to check them out later.

That's almost exactly how I'm holding it based on my roommate's advice.