After not getting to play much this week due to a sick child, I just got in a long practice round and some great final testing of my Axis (I'm going with Leopard's spelling). I think I'm a bit beyond my "disc crush" phase at this point and I'm boiling down exactly how the Axis is going to fit into my game/bag. Today I was using my original green 179, a new green 179, and a red/orange 178. All have slight domes.
My original seems to have broken in a little over the last couple of weeks (which has implications on the effect of flash vs. other factors on the initial break-in of premium plastic discs). This is most noticeable on powered down shots which were fading out earlier with the new green Axis. I also noticed that at high speeds my original Axis was flipping up/over more than the new green one. I agree with Jubuttib that the Axis in general does not take power as well as the CMD2 or even the Buzzz. I would notice more difference in the Buzzz's distance when I threw it hard vs. harder than I do with the Axis. When I give it a smooth 85% it goes just about as far as it's going to go when I rip it 100% on the same line. To get more D it needs more height rather than more muscle. It will also handle a little wind fairly well, but I would not trust it on gusty days to hold a line and not flip at the upper half of it's range. My broken in Axis also powers down awesome for approaches. I've never had a disc that held low lines so well regardless of hyzer/flat/anny angle, and this has been very useful in my game already, negotiating ceilings too low for my Ion. It is a disc that does exactly what you tell it to, for better or for worse. If you turn it more than intended there is little in terms of forgiveness as it will hold to the ground.
I also had some interesting results with the Axis in different wind directions today...I was throwing a long anny shot with a right to left wind that was slightly from the rear. I first threw my Fuse, which in normal conditions is much less stable than my Axis. Due to the wind it did not flip as much as I intended from it's slight anhyzer release, rather it just kind of pushed straight on it's angle and dropped. I threw the Axis the same way and it held it's slight anny line much truer rather than getting pushed by the wind and faded out later as well.
The red/orange 178 Axis I have it noticeable more stable/overstable than the new green one I was comparing it to. It is still nowhere near a Vector, but I could not flip it from flat and it was hooking up slightly earlier on the fade. It still holds slight anny angles like the other Axis, rather than fighting them like the Vector does.
In conclusion, I really feel that the Axis is a new flavor of mid. People can compare it to anything they want, but it really does not fly like a Buzzz, Roc, Comet, or any other mid that I've spent much time with on the course. It's useful for a variety of things and I think it is by far MVP's most widely marketable disc yet. I'm not sure it will be as big with power players as the Roc or Buzzz, but I think for the vast majority of players it may work better than those for midrange drives and approaches.
