Review: The Discmania Tilt

I’ve spent the better part of a year trashing the Discmania Tilt …

As one recently came into my possession, it was time to put up or shut-up.

I came. I saw. I bagged.

Here’s what I discovered …

The feel of the Tilt

The Tilt feels rock-solid.

If you’ve ever held a flat-top Lucid Felon or a FAF Champion Firebird, it’s like that – just WAY more aggressive. Without any knowledge of the disc’s flight, on feel alone, the disc seems like it’d be a forehander’s delight. The edges are (really) sharp, well-defined and empowering.

Also, this is my first experience with Lux Vapor plastic. The Discmania website uses a bunch of clever copywriting to spice this stuff up, but it’s a premium, durable plastic. It’s firm and smooth, yet grippy. I’ve only thrown my Tilt for a month, but I can tell this stuff doesn’t beat in much …

What you get out of the box is what you get for good.

The flight of the Tilt

The Tilt doesn’t fly.

It looks like a speed-nine; it feels like a speed-nine.

But it does NOT fly like a speed-nine.

Simon Lizotte has described the Tilt as an “off-the-fairway” driver – he’s right about that. The Tilt is a utility disc. Though marketed for its insane overstability, I’m not sure that’s its most defining characteristic, as the disc’s propensity to instantly get vertical robs it of that flight.

Allow me to explain …

When you want to throw a hyzer, during your reachback, you set the disc on a hyzer angle and pull through. With an overstable disc, on a right-hand, backhand throw, the disc works from right to left and lands. Do the same thing with a Tilt, and you WON’T get that kind of movement …

Instead, it’ll immediately flip to vertical and plummet towards the earth. If you’re wanting a right-to-left, hyzer-type flight, you’ll have to throw it flat and let it do its thing – which isn’t fly all that far. Again, mega-weird for an “overstable” disc, but not entirely useless, as I see it …

The Tilt is a cheat-code grenade.

Thanks to Kevin Jones, amateur disc golfers have become enamored with the grenade. Jones uses this grip. It makes throwing a grenade less painful – it’s still a bit awkward, though. With the Tilt, using a NORMAL power grip, throw a short spike-hyzer directly at your target …

It’ll tombstone every time.

Furthermore, here’s a bit more the Tilt does well:

Use No. 1 – It’s good for overhand throws.
Use No. 2 – It’s good for tricky forehand rollers.
Use No. 3 – It’s good for skipping around corners.
Use No. 4 – It’s good for flex-line scrambles in the woods.

* Note #1: The Tilt is a strong putter in gale-force winds, too – didn’t see that one coming.

* Note #2: Also, it’s great for learning to spin a disc on your finger while watching television.

Lastly, a quick (literal) word about throwing the Tilt upside-down …

Don’t.

If you have to resort to rodeo-clownsmanship to get a disc to do what virtually EVERY disc on the planet does, you’re knee-deep in Kool-Aid, friend. Take a good, hard look at your life …

Then seek professional help.

The aesthetic of the Tilt

The Tilt is a beautiful disc.

Before acquiring this thing, I’d seen images of the Lux Vapor Tilt online – it’s better in-person. Also, Lux Vapor plastic has a Dynamic Discs Prime-Burst look about it, as well. Everything comes together to form an ideal canvas for the Lizotte-inspired artwork on the flight plate.

I’m no ornithologist, but I’m 95% sure the bird on the Full Tilt’s flight plate is a dive-bombing peregrine falcon – it’s sick. As for my part, if I’d been given full creative control of the disc’s name and design, I would’ve gone with “Kamikaze,” though the artwork would’ve been …

Messy.

Good judgment call (wink-wink), Jussi Meresmaa.

Did the Discmania Tilt make my bag?

No, and I didn’t expect it to …

I was pleasantly surprised, though: It wasn’t a total suck-fest.

The Tilt is what Discmania claims it is – an incredibly niche disc with an incredibly finite skill set. Oddly enough, it’s NOT beef – it’s the up-and-over grenade without pain. If you’ve got a ZÜCA cart capable of holding 30-plus discs, making room for the Tilt isn’t the most idiotic move you could make. There are, however, WAY more practical disc options out there …

Ultimately, that’s what proves to be the Tilt’s undoing.

The Final Green Splatter Grade: D+

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