SuperAero Field Test and Disc Review

A few weeks ago I got the news via Facebook that Hero was releasing a light plastic, “indestructible” disc. Needless to say, I found that very interesting. Those of you who know me or have worked with PVybe online or at camps, comps and seminars and such, know that I am all about light plastic.

Problem Solved?

I really like the indestructible discs like Jawz and Superheros, but their flight principles are not ideal for making it easy to make dogs leap for their targets. The discs are too heavy per their diameter to float well. Given the serious chompers on many dogs out there, sometimes using heavy plastic is a tradeoff that must be made.

Abby Cline of PVybe Fargo has this problem with many of her dogs, as do many discdoggers with Cattle Dogs. We have our own resident rim cracker here at PVybe HQ – Prima, aka: Muffin. Now, Prima might look all soft and cuddly and Muffin-esque, but under that layer of cotton candy is a stone cold killer.

Apryl has had a real hard time getting a Drop on cue during freestyle with Prima because light plastic (Airs, Extras & K10s) all get stuck on her canines after every catch. She most often has to pry the disc off her teeth with her paws as she gets back to her handler on the retrieve. It’s been a real pain to deal with.

When we got news from Hero that they had a super durable light plastic disc, the SuperAero, it took
me all of 5 minutes to make the decision to purchase 5 for testing and to start planning a Prima Test.

Arrival and Appearance

The discs arrived on Friday of last week and came packaged with a real nice Happy Hero Holidays disc. Apryl and I tore into the packaging to check them out. They are light and the plastic is soft – the disc is a bit floppy – a bit too floppy?

The plastic is filled with little tiny bubbles, and the rims are smooth and soft. You can see light through the discs, but they are not transparent. For those of you in the know, they remind me of the Hero “Woody” discs. We popped them out tossed them around a bit then promptly did some multiple dog bitework. The discs held up and were dented but not cut in any way. I don’t think the damage was at all permanent.

Leilani Flight Plate Test

Leilani has this interesting little move she does where she stands the disc on end and puts a canine through the flight plate of the disc. When we threw the discs out into our moshing pack, Leilani grabbed the Happy Holidays disc and put a gouging hole in the disc. She tried to replicate it with the SuperAeros and could not. Score one for the indestructible light plastic.

Prima Rim Cracking Test

On Sunday we headed to to our friend’s, the Curran’s, new place across the Hudson for some jamming. Offleash training at HQ is not very frequent – we jam and all, but it’s hard to work the dogs appropriately on lead in a live, urban environment. Anyway, point is, our dogs were really fired up to run and tear it up. Which they did.

After they got their yayas out, we went to work on the SuperAero Test.

It Floats just like light plastic and has durability far closer to Jawz or SuperHeros than to Fastbacks or HeroAirs.

Eight Dog Jam

Prima, Si, Hops, Leilani, Ska, EZ Ryder, Juicy and Kiva all worked with the 5 SuperAeros that we had. It was a major jam session.

The discs performed extremely well from a throwing standpoint. The 45 degree weather firmed up the discs and they were not nearly as floppy as at room temperature. They were just like throwing any normal fastback shaped discs – no appreciable difference.

On the performance end with the dogs, they were spectacular. After 8 dogs for more than an hour’s worth of jamming all of the discs save for one were totally free of any damage. One disc had two tiny little holes, slightly more than dimples, where it looks as if the Mighty jaws of Muffin managed to put a ding on this phenomenal piece of light plastic.

Needless to say, we were quite impressed. 1 Hour of jamming with very little wear on the discs.

Final Thoughts

We will be getting some SuperAeros with the PVybe Logo on them as soon as possible to further test them out. The only thing that concerns me about the discs in terms of performance is the heat. I’m not sure what these would feel like on 90+ degree days. We’ll find out this summer and do a recap.

Right now I throw Extras for the most part, an Air here and there, but I could totally see the SuperAero becoming my disc of choice.

Heavy plastic durability at 105g? That’s nothing short of spectacular!

Prima Super Aero Test

Related Articles

Throwing With Intent

Throwing with Intent is throwing a disc to your dog with the intent to make them look good. Throwing the disc to promote a big leap, to hit the dog in stride on the run or throwing a disc that your dog is going to flip for 10 yards away, is the sign of a mature handler.

Responses

  1. Thanks Ron. I currently use Jawz because my 2 guys shred Fastbacks and cut their mouths. I like the Jawz but wish they floated better. These might just be the ticket.

    Just ordered up 5.

  2. Interesting, Ron. I’ve got sort of the opposite problem, which is that Sam has a very soft bite and tends to prefer a floppy rubber disc like those Ruff Dawg ones or a Kong flyer– which are great for hard core tugging, but totally suck to throw. So we compromise with Hyperflite Sofflites or sometimes K-10s.

    But these seem softer and floppier than the Hyperflites, yes? They might be perfect for us…

  3. is the material just like a super but with air bubbles you think (to lower the density/make it lighter)? or is there another modification to the material? do the surfaces have are bubble pockets on them?

    i’ll have to take a ride out to hero some time to check them out, but it’s about an hour drive. not that bad, but i don’t really need any discs – just bought 600 from dtworld. i am curious though.

  4. I believe it is a new material, Jeff. The disc is smooth, the bubbles are inside the plastic.

    Peace

    1. nice. i’ll probably get 1-2 as i normally keep stock on at least a couple of every type of disc… just in case i need it for some reason. or to show to students, etc.

  5. I don’t think you mentioned where to buy them? I’d be happy to try some out, i too look for lighter and a longer life span would be helpful. Being in Texas it will be a great place to test out the heat.
    enjoyed reading your experience.
    Pam

    1. They are pretty nice, Jeff. Kind of a must for someone who has a tough biting dog who wants to throw light plastic.
      Peace~

  6. Can’t wait to try these out Ron. Saw they were coming out but haven’t ordered any yet. Super stoked to hear your review of them – sounds like a great solution for our freestyle AND upcoming quad needs! We need to order more discs anyway, right?

    1. Right on Dre! I’m excited to get my hands on some more of them.

      Of course we need more discs! Just ask Moxie or LeiLei…
      Peace~

  7. Hey lemme know when you order the custom logo discs – I’ll go in on an order with you if our cattle dog test goes well! I’m getting 20 to test them out right now.

  8. Hi Ron, Ilene (at Hero Disc) mentioned these were available last time I went down to pick up discs so I purchased 3 of each color. They are a lot lighter in color than their normal discs (kinda strange when the competition is offering and extra dark colors as the newest thing) In So Cal it’s almost always summertime so it was warm (70-deg) out when I went to test them. I thought they were a good Freestyle option. They made throwing an air bounce a little tougher as they are really flexy it didn’t seem to hold the air underneath. Throwing Skips was a challenge too. Didn’t care for the flight characteristics for throwing Distance but I usually throw with Hero SuperSonics so take that for what it’s worth. None of my gang did any damage to them. They will be in my arsenal of available Frisbees for my students when teaching Disc Dog Classes.

    1. Right on David…
      They are a great option for hard mouthed dogs.

      I have gotten some reports of MAJOR chomper’s doing damage to the discs, but it passed our rim crackers, and canine puncture specialists tests.

      Thanks for sharing. Good luck out there.
      Peace~

  9. I got a few from dave this weekend and my initial thoughts before I even threw them was that i wouldn’t like them for toss/fetch distances. I could tell they are not perfectly flat like a more rigid disc (ie an xtra). Like other soft plastic discs, they are a bit irregular, for lack of a better term. When I threw them, sure enough, with a moderate cross-wind they were rolling over pretty badly, while my xtra flew straight as an arrow. Even a fastback wouldn’t have rolled that much. Yeah, I could put more hyzer on the disc, but I don’t see any advantage to switch for my purposes.

    Anyways, for freestyle, it may be interesting, but I doubt I’ll switch from the fastback as the fastback currently doesn’t demonstrate any problems for me – I don’t care that I go through a few hundred discs a year. I do, however, like the aero for in-the-house training sessions, tugging, etc. I found them to be even more durable than a jawz in my short session. Enzo snaps rims on fastbacks like it’s an egg shell, but these things came out looking basically new after a pretty heavy tug session. The Jawz will get some pretty nasty dings around the outside and I have a feeling these discs won’t have that issue because of how soft they are.

    I use lots of jawz around the house for some short-distance tricks, tugging, etc. I have a feeling the aero will replace the jawz in those situations since it will be more like the weight of the discs I typically use. I don’t really have a problem transitioning tricks from a Jawz to fastback (which surprises even me), I figure this disc is at least closer to what I normally use so it could help in some way that I don’t realize at this point.

    The bubbles inside are a real trip. It blows my mind how they made this disc. My engineering mind is doing flips trying to understand what they did to get this lower density by inserting bubbles somehow.

  10. FYI, my discs NEVER roll over. I always put at least enough hyzer on the disc and typically I put more. All of my dogs are conditioned for a left turning disc and has worked out well for me. When this disc rolled over, I couldn’t believe it. I was shocked even after making adjustments, I could only get it to go straight after 3-4 throws (instead of a normal left curve I would see). Even a bent up xtra would fly more straight for me. Just my 2 cents 🙂

  11. Interestingly enough Jeff – I can’t throw a fastback for distance to save my life. I’m used to throwing Super Heros and Super Sonics most of the time and Xtras for the QUAD.

    Fastbacks, with hyzer, without, brand new, chewed up, whatever – can’t get the 40+ yarders to sit straight. First throw out with the Aeros I got 10 yards further on my throw and perfectly flat – no dip off to either side. Maybe it’s that I’m used to Hero discs for distance – who knows – but I thought it was really interesting that you stated exactly the opposite of what I’ve experienced. Wonder if it’s a throw style thing or what we’re most accustomed to throwing…

    I think the bubbles are SUPER COOL too!

    Andrea

    1. That is very interesting what you have found. I throw xtras for t/f and distance. I use fastbacks for freestyle. However, when I go out and practice distance, I take about 10 fastbacks and about 5 xtras, so I end up practicing distance more with fastbacks. I need to put just slightly more hyzer on a fastback than I do an xtra. Similarly, I can throw a hero air 235 pretty similarly to an xtra. I get about 5-10 more yards with an xtra over an air or fastback probably. In practice I throw 40-50 yards.

      The only thing that was interesting about my experience yesterday was I had a fairly strong cross/slight head wind when I was throwing. Honestly, the conditions were pretty good for my liking, which is why I was so surprised with the results!

  12. This is a pricey disc–$13.99 at Hero. But they also have blemished discs for just $6.00! I just ordered a half-dozen of those to check them out. Our Jawz discs have lasted forever and were definitely worth the expense. But they aren’t very good general-purpose discs because of their weight. On the other hand, our Hero Xtras get chewed up in short order. I’m hopeful about these new discs and will follow up once we get some experience with them. Thanks, Ron, for the review!

    David

    1. It is a bit pricey, but the blems are totally priced right.

      And, if Dodger is like Prima, rim cracker, but not so serious, then it’s a great investment, even @ $13.99. Some dogs are just true beasts though and these discs don’t fare much better than extras.

      Good luck, let us know how it works out for you guys.
      Peace~

      1. Ron,

        I am totally impressed by how these things hold up. I think they are better than a Jawz, at least with my dogs. Maybe a real thrasher can rip them, but my dogs can’t seem to do anything to them. I think because they are pretty soft, they just give instead of break.

        Jeff

        1. I have the same opinion, but I have talked to and seen people who have dogs that just crush them.

          Thanks for posting some West Coast confirmation.

          Peace~

  13. Our SuperAeros arrived today and they are GREAT! We just spent an hour at the park and worked these discs A LOT. I am hard pressed to find any sign of use afterward. There are just a few nicks and I hesitate to even call them that–they are teeny-tiny, have no sharp edges and are not likely to get worse over time.

    And get this: I would NEVER tug a disc with Dodger unless it was an old reject (and then I worried about his mouth) but I threw caution to the wind with these and did some bite work. No damage to the discs and great communication ‘tween me and Dodge.

    And these discs throw great! That is, I find them very easy to throw. We did not do any DA work out there but when I threw a long one during freestyle it looked as if we were throwing DA: very long, straight and flat.

    If there is any down side, Dodger did not catch these discs quite as reliably as others. Several times I saw the disc bouncing out of his mouth on a catch. But I am figuring that he just needs to learn how these discs behave differently on the bite.

    Bottom Line: I love them and want more.

    D

  14. Hi everyone,

    I picked one up a SuperAero in the dark red color for Crypto. I think its a very good disc and as durable as the Jawz line. I do think the disc tends to rollover though. I try to throw with lots of spin and hyzer and I can control the jawz discs but the SuperAero tends to rollover on me. With extreme spin and hyzer I can control it.

    I find the disc hits the breaks when thrown and the Jawz just keep going. Perhaps I’m throwing the disc harder to compensate for its natural breaking and that’s causing it to rollover. I’m still investigating it and I think Hero should put out a 215 in the SuperAero since I do find it too large.

    Thanks,
    Prem 🙂

    1. Hey Prem –
      Jawz Discs are a different aerodynamic shape – Jawz Discs are Stable – fastback shaped discs are overstable. Meaning that, naturally, they will curve or break in the direction of rotation.

      Fastback shaped discs require a different release point than Jawz.

      Peace~

  15. Hmm, I’ve not had any problems throwing these discs but I will mention that you might want to keep them out of the dishwasher. I had one get a little distorted. Otherwise, we are still loving these. Dodger has adjusted to them and is catching fine.

    On another note, we seem to finally be starting to dial in the back vault. Yippee!

Comments are closed.