MVP Anode - AKA where's our driver? Seriously!

[discspeed]

So they're like the IONs used to be, only even more so?

This is pretty much exactly what I mean. These are in a way to Ions what Ions were to what I was throwing before (Voodoos/Wizards/Warlocks), though the gap is not quite as big. They are a little faster and a little less HSS/LSS and a little more forward penetration late in flight. The difference between Ion and Anode is similar to the difference between the Vector and a stable Axis...They both essentially fly stable with a late fade, but the Anode/Axis have a small bead design and are a bit faster/more gliding. The difference in more pronounced when you throw the discs turned over. The Ion/Vector will hold a straight flight even when flying on a slight anny where the Axis/Anode will hold a slight anhyzer release with less resistance to lateral movement.

 

[discspeed]

the anode is what the good ions were: fast, neutral driving putters.

I totally agree. The main difference is at higher speeds. The old Ions would become more and more understable very quickly past a certain speed (I think this had to do with the slightly off axis overmolds). When the soft Anodes hit a high enough speed due to the thrower or headwind to start to push or turn they do so in a slower and more controlled manner.

 

[discspeed]

Well if there's one thing discspeed is better known for than his informative, well written reviews, it's crushing on new discs and magnifying their greatness in more well written reviews. He's certainly a good salesman. I still prefer the Ion but I use it strictly as a moderately overstable driving/approach disc and use Aviars in my short game.

I think one of the defining qualities of a good salesman is that they actually get money...By that definition I'd say I'm a rather poor one.

Have you thrown the Anodes yet?

 

[Jeronimo]

So, yeah....... Where's our driver?

 

[JoshEpoo]

Have you thrown the Anodes yet?

Yes. Your description of them is accurate. However, I'm very comfortable with my various Aviars. Isn't that what 99.9% of a short game is all about? I'm not worried about squeaking a little extra glide or distance out of my putters, and for those situations where I do really want to lay into a putter and have a little more stability and durability, I carry an Ion.

As for the salesman comment, I wasn't trying to incriminate you or anything, but don't you work at clearwater and get free discs from MVP? In any event, I realize you do all this stuff just because you like to, and for that I say, Thanks! I love reading about all this new plastic that you try because I rarely buy new discs myself. My bag has been relatively static for several years. The PD and Ion are actually the two discs that managed to sneak in, thanks in no small part to all the hype you've helped to build on the ol' series of tubes.


edit: a funny side note to that last bit; I get a kick out of going out to my courses here in MN and playing with guys who are throwing a bunch of MVP, a Sword, and the PD. You know you found a DGR lurker. You're definitely doing more than your share to move these discs off the shelf. I see discspeed clones with some regularity.

 

[JR]

How is the handling of unclean releases/OAT with the Anode soft and medium vs clear Ions? I will buy a medium Anode soon but the local store doesn't have softs. I am uncertain about the weight/weights and will need to fondle the discs to see about the grip. I will use one for putting and that means a lighter one but i'm undecided about possibly getting a max weight for driving. That depends on the OAT sensitivity and the grip and tallness and susceptibility to unclean releases. I have trouble getting consistently clean releases from tall discs and beads make the issue worse. I have a low power grip that helps but with primo plastic slips are an issue so max D putter drives may be out if i must use that weak grip. Which is a must because unclean releases so far have always messed up Gyro tech discs golfability in the local tight holes. And dependability is a prime concern in tunnels.

 

[discspeed]

Have you thrown the Anodes yet?

Yes. Your description of them is accurate. However, I'm very comfortable with my various Aviars. Isn't that what 99.9% of a short game is all about? I'm not worried about squeaking a little extra glide or distance out of my putters, and for those situations where I do really want to lay into a putter and have a little more stability and durability, I carry an Ion.

As for the salesman comment, I wasn't trying to incriminate you or anything, but don't you work at clearwater and get free discs from MVP? In any event, I realize you do all this stuff just because you like to, and for that I say, Thanks! I love reading about all this new plastic that you try because I rarely buy new discs myself. My bag has been relatively static for several years. The PD and Ion are actually the two discs that managed to sneak in, thanks in no small part to all the hype you've helped to build on the ol' series of tubes.


edit: a funny side note to that last bit; I get a kick out of going out to my courses here in MN and playing with guys who are throwing a bunch of MVP, a Sword, and the PD. You know you found a DGR lurker. You're definitely doing more than your share to move these discs off the shelf. I see discspeed clones with some regularity.

That last bit is funny. The first day I took my soft Anode out for a test someone who was a stranger to me saw me on the tee with it and said "is that the new soft Anode?"...I figured they must be lurking here or DGCR. It's funny though, most of the guys I play with locally have no clue who the hell discspeed is. FL golfers don't spend as much time on the internet I guess...

As for me...I'm a third party disc tester. I don't work for Clearwater, I just test discs and write about them as well as help my internet friends here and at DGCR find something particular in their vast inventory. MVP has a small tester sponsorship deal where I get a couple discs each release to test and use. It's very nice of them, but certainly not enough to keep me throwing the discs if I didn't like them. So I'm open for hire, anyone who wants to send me discs, I will test them and write about it.

 

[money 21]

got to test one of these today had a friend show up for doubles with a few. Didn't care for it while putting seemed had to range on a push putt out around 25'-35' ( (probabley just me). It did throw well and followed the same lines s a magic or my beat to sh!t voodoo. No fade at all, good glide, and didn't bounce around on the landing. Good understable approach disc. that is my 2 cents

 

[discspeed]

Good understable approach disc.

In the dozen or so I've thrown I've yet to find one that is even slightly understable...I can throw them all as hard as I can and flat and they don't turn. I did notice them getting more stable/overstable the more I threw them...I attribute this to figuring out the minutia of the release feel and eliminating a micro amount of OAT that was present before I became comfortable with the grip/release.

 

[Pwingles]

You mean, as hard as you can relative to the disc youre throwing?

 

[discspeed]

You mean, as hard as you can relative to the disc youre throwing?

No, I mean as hard as I can throw. I have to throw them with anhyzer to get a distance line.

 

[Jeronimo]

So I've been using my Anodes for a while now and I think I've come to the conclusion that they're not for me. The flight is great, though I would have liked them to be just a hair less stable, but what has really killed it for me is the feel of these things. I don't know if it's the shallower grip of the Anode compared to the Ion but when I grip an Anode it is PERFECTLY obvious to me that the inner area where the rim wall meets the flight plate is curved like all hell. It's wicked distracting to me for some reason, sort of how some people would complain about how the Riot grips from Latitude 64. I'll keep throwing it for some time I'm sure, but because of that huge radius in there it won't take over my top spot putter/approach disc: The Pure.

I really wanted to like these more than I do. Who knows? Maybe it will grow on me...

 

[JR]

With my smaller hand probably i had no issues with the rim to flight plate curve. I did not even notice it.

Man this thing is beautiful in sight and flight. No turn on each throw i got but it was outside on ice with limited room so a little pulled power which always a good idea for putter drives anyway. I had a high percentage of perfect lasers with these with fairly high apexes as well when i concentrated on trying to stop my wrist. Flat release and flat landing. Power grip didn't cause problems although i mostly used the fork grip. Sweet!

The flight seemed to hold the given angle perfectly without change. When i said a perfect i mean i could not detect any turn or fade. I didn't throw so many times but if i had to estimate apex heights for the tallest laser it would be around 13-15'. Taller throws had some minimal fade that wouldn't usually come in shot planning even in tunnels. I was not having throws that didn't mimick my arm plane at all. Misplanting the final step produced exactly a corresponding flight angle. I had winds mostly from rear left and no problems even with some headwind.

If i had to estimate a weakness to this disc based on the few first throws going for flat shots only missing a couple unintentionally it may need a way different speed than you usually use to have it bend anny. I think this disc could be the king of pushing through straight hyzer or anny. So it may have issues moving sideways out to different distances. It glides nicely when hyzered and annied but i'm not sure about the ability to fine control the amount of sideways movement with two feet increments out to every distance. Distance is big indeed with this baby so some may not like the wide distance range if they want to use one disc for putter drives with fine control in sideways positioning and distance control. Only time will tell if i can pull off that demanding requirement. Lucky me i'm not a minimalist when it comes to driving putters because so far this baby seems to be the perfect straight line long putter driver pushing mid distances.

Because the Anode is so long it may well overlap with Rocs that have been broken into straight in D and will beat the Rocs in the straightness of the late flight. Being so long those that want to avoid overlap are better off using longer mids than the Rocs.

I did not notice difference between my medium 175 and 171. This was my first session after a hiatus of 4 months and i haven't putted from beyond 8' so far. So checking out the putting is a later project.

I thought that on non OAT drives Vibram Sole soft was a home run in around 42F grip wise and flight wise. I thought it was straight and long. Boy was i impressed about the Anode beating that performance without the fear of bending the disc with too tight a grip or a little OAT. I didn't get bad enough OAT even when slipping to see wobble so i don't know how the Anode handles that.

 

[discspeed]

I think this disc could be the king of pushing through straight hyzer or anny. So it may have issues moving sideways out to different distances. It glides nicely when hyzered and annied but i'm not sure about the ability to fine control the amount of sideways movement with two feet increments out to every distance. Distance is big indeed with this baby so some may not like the wide distance range if they want to use one disc for putter drives with fine control in sideways positioning and distance control.

You are not kidding here...It takes some real exaggeration in angle to get much movement either way...I've had more luck with annies than hyzers when it comes to the regs. The softs get a little more movement, but are similar in this regard. They are easier to get stronger fade/hyzers with, and hopefully I can get one broken in to make annies easier. Or maybe MVP will release an understable putter one of these days...

 

[JR]

I'm so impressed initially with the Anode that i don't care about understable or fine tuning the sideways landing. There are plenty of those kind of putters to go around as it is and i don't fear carrying multiple putter molds.

The Anode will not go too far off line with a two degree miss from a flat throw on medium wide tight fairways. So that can be a bonus. Tunnels still need a one degree or better accuracy but it would seem that the Anode is the most forgiving Gyro disc produced so far for slight angle errors. It is always good to have a margin of error in the user error department and so far that looks like a big plus for the Anode. I think that comes from the minimal to non existing fade without added turn on unintentionally turned over throws. Not exaggerating user error by changing angles in mid flight from the initial angle was the theoretical advantage i had in mind when i heard of overmold technology. This is the first disc that would seem to comply with that theory. So it is an immense boon to my game if the results continue to be like that. Because the Anode is easy to drive with. Now an Innova speed scale 6 similar flight to the Anode fairway driver please.

I love a Star Aviar P&A for annied releases and it curves well hyzer too so i'm set there and a Pig is even better for trick shots than a Rhyno. And i've never been as in sync with a disc than the Rhyno for spike hyzer putts from around 100' and in. I have a couple of spiked 100' Rhyno tosses that have gone in. And one 140'. Still i almost never carried the Rhyno last season because usually Ion/P&A combo was enough on the local courses and Gator for spikes did well enough and covered winds and hooking trick shots. It is a tough line up to break and the Anode most probably will.

If i didn't have to account for getting out of trouble after bad drives the local holes could probably be covered with the Anode and something beefy. But as i'm not tying myself up with absolute minimalism in putters i think my setup will be the Anode, P&A and Gator. With the Pig going in on windier days as a just in case filler in between the Gator and the Anode. The thing is that i'm not progressing in breaking in my D Zone to see if it could improve the setup because i've been so content with it. I think i'll be even happier switching the Ion to the Anode.

Straight lines are nice and curves are a necessity so the Anode handles the first and a part of the second need in medium plastic but needs help with some annies and hyzers. Hyzers with discs that turn hard will be problematic on windy days and especially in headwinds so you'd have to pick a mid or a driver for those hyzers or carry a third putter. Thus the Anode may not be a disc for those that are hard core minimalists unless their Roc spectrum doesn't cover each stability from more OS than a new DX Ranchero to beat to snot.

 

[New013]

got my first s anode a couple days ago, played my first round with it yesterday.



it holds hyzers like a dream, holds shorter anny lines so much better than the ion, has umbillion amounts of glide, much better putter outside of the circle than the ion. and.... i hit chains twice in my first round with it.

 

[Mike C]

i like them.

 

[discspeed]

Missing your last putt gives the vid good indie cred. :lol:

Seriously awesome vid...I thought I was throwing my Anodes far, but seeing you sky some of those out...It's really interesting to see how much anny the Anode needs on the release for a max D flight, even with the power you are putting on it. They really are VERY HSS.

 

[Mike C]

Yeah I was really surprised to see how HSS they are. When I tried out my friends 2nd run soft Ions this past summer I was able to get some awesome putter drives with them...very long and minimal fade...but they needed some hyzer because those had high speed turn. These don't see to have any turn at all so it makes for less things to worry about when I power them. They're a blast to just air out like that, and a pleasure to putt with.

 

[JR]

Mike C should compete go out there and smoke people already will you? You don't need to wait for a Gyro FW to kill in competitions With your power you'll get as much distance as much of the competition gets with FWs. With insane control and getting that many putts from those distances per round won't hurt unless you filmed Cubby style.

I had a totally false pre conception about the Anode based on how touchy the Ions were for me having clean release issues. I thought MVP was all about supersizing beads when they called to almost big bead in the Ion a micro bead I was thinking ok a little height off of the Ion with maybe a hair smaller bead isn't likely to erase all my release issues away and since this is supposed to be the understable brother to the Ion it's gonna be flipping too often and never coming back. Boy was i wrong and i'm thrilled that i was! Initial results indicate that this is the best tunnel piercing disc ever out of any category. Loving straight shots this is even better. The HSS is GREAT!!! Yummy. Makes me wanna band in putts in the middle of the night disturbing everyone just to see how it putts :-D I think i will have to wait a few hours. Antsy in the pantsy for seeing the putting performance because putts were my intention with the Anodes initially. It's great to get much more than you bargained for. This much is unheard of :-D I'm a raving fan even after the initial session and it's on objective grounds not the new disc thrill. I'll wait and see if i can find negatives over time. Now if we could get a grippy core for cold weather and rain this disc would be a perfect main putter.