Twmccoy
* Ace Member *
I decided it was time to hit the practice field today and throw these 3 molds head to head. I've thrown Thunderbirds for years, and threw the Vulture for the first time last week. Thunderbirds and Vultures I had thrown before today, so I had a good idea what to expect. Both discs are of unknown weight, but aren't below 170g.
No great surprises there.
Vulture: 10, 5, 0, 2.
Thunderbird: 9, 5, 0, 2.
Vulture and Thunderbird overlap almost perfectly. The Vulture's a speed faster, but I didn't find it any longer than the Thunderbird. The Vulture is a little stubborn. If you don't throw it hard and flat it'll stall out listlessly and fade short. The Thunderbird didn't seem as prone to this. Both discs were doing a steady 350-375'. Straight flights followed by a moderate late fade.
The Anax is where things get interesting. Today was the first time I'd seen or thrown an Anax. Number-wise it seems very similar to the Vulture. The Anax is listed at 10, 6, 0, 3. Nice dome on this disc. Not massive, but definitely not flat. Mine is a big Z of unknown weight. Hand feel is a little strange. Compared to the Vulture the Anax has a deeper rim with a sharper bottom edge. It reminds me quite a bit of an Avenger rim.
Immediately I noticed that despite having similar numbers the Anax and Vulture weren't alike at all. They seem to fly the same speed, but the Anax is way floatier. It also seemed to have noticeable high speed turn. Thrown hard and flat the Anax would slowly start drifting right. Sometimes it would flex out beautifully, and other times it would continue right and die off. The Anax flew well across the wind or downwind, however it did poorly in headwinds. I turned and burned the Anax multiple times trying to hyzerflip it into a headwind (not a really strong one either).
For a disc this slow the Anax is long. It was routinely beating the Thunderbird and Vulture by 20-30'. I figure I was getting it out to about 400' routinely. The Anax has great glide and seems to float merrily along before gently fading. The extra glide seemed to hurt this disc in the wind. It got pushed around a lot.
Conclusion: While the Thunderbird and Vulture are very similar, the Anax is something else entirely. It is much longer and glidier than either of them. The Anax seemed to do better on lower power releases. Every time I really tried to lean into this disc I seemed to either grip lock it or turn and burn it. I found that I needed a little hyzer release to maximize the Anax's performance. The Anax is a nice disc, but almost an awkward one. I didn't feel very consistent or accurate with it. It flips randomly and often won't come back. Distance is there though.
My Anax numbers (based on a sample size of 1): 10, 6, -1, 2.
Despite me only giving it -1 turn this disc will definitely flip over hard if you get too assertive with it. The glide rating is legit. Much floatier than I was expecting. Not a good disc for windy conditions. I need to pick a calmer day and go try it again. Honestly, the Anax almost reminded me of a somewhat faster Undertaker. The Anax seems to be a "touch" disc. By that I mean you need to finesse it to get maximum performance. Trying to rip the Anax at 100% power for max distance produced a lot of griplocks and hard flips. The late fade is gradual and prolonged. It isn't really enough to bring a flipped drive back to center. The Anax isn't a bad driver at all, but I don't have a need for it in the bag. I found it almost a bit finicky.
No great surprises there.
Vulture: 10, 5, 0, 2.
Thunderbird: 9, 5, 0, 2.
Vulture and Thunderbird overlap almost perfectly. The Vulture's a speed faster, but I didn't find it any longer than the Thunderbird. The Vulture is a little stubborn. If you don't throw it hard and flat it'll stall out listlessly and fade short. The Thunderbird didn't seem as prone to this. Both discs were doing a steady 350-375'. Straight flights followed by a moderate late fade.
The Anax is where things get interesting. Today was the first time I'd seen or thrown an Anax. Number-wise it seems very similar to the Vulture. The Anax is listed at 10, 6, 0, 3. Nice dome on this disc. Not massive, but definitely not flat. Mine is a big Z of unknown weight. Hand feel is a little strange. Compared to the Vulture the Anax has a deeper rim with a sharper bottom edge. It reminds me quite a bit of an Avenger rim.
Immediately I noticed that despite having similar numbers the Anax and Vulture weren't alike at all. They seem to fly the same speed, but the Anax is way floatier. It also seemed to have noticeable high speed turn. Thrown hard and flat the Anax would slowly start drifting right. Sometimes it would flex out beautifully, and other times it would continue right and die off. The Anax flew well across the wind or downwind, however it did poorly in headwinds. I turned and burned the Anax multiple times trying to hyzerflip it into a headwind (not a really strong one either).
For a disc this slow the Anax is long. It was routinely beating the Thunderbird and Vulture by 20-30'. I figure I was getting it out to about 400' routinely. The Anax has great glide and seems to float merrily along before gently fading. The extra glide seemed to hurt this disc in the wind. It got pushed around a lot.
Conclusion: While the Thunderbird and Vulture are very similar, the Anax is something else entirely. It is much longer and glidier than either of them. The Anax seemed to do better on lower power releases. Every time I really tried to lean into this disc I seemed to either grip lock it or turn and burn it. I found that I needed a little hyzer release to maximize the Anax's performance. The Anax is a nice disc, but almost an awkward one. I didn't feel very consistent or accurate with it. It flips randomly and often won't come back. Distance is there though.
My Anax numbers (based on a sample size of 1): 10, 6, -1, 2.
Despite me only giving it -1 turn this disc will definitely flip over hard if you get too assertive with it. The glide rating is legit. Much floatier than I was expecting. Not a good disc for windy conditions. I need to pick a calmer day and go try it again. Honestly, the Anax almost reminded me of a somewhat faster Undertaker. The Anax seems to be a "touch" disc. By that I mean you need to finesse it to get maximum performance. Trying to rip the Anax at 100% power for max distance produced a lot of griplocks and hard flips. The late fade is gradual and prolonged. It isn't really enough to bring a flipped drive back to center. The Anax isn't a bad driver at all, but I don't have a need for it in the bag. I found it almost a bit finicky.
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