The driver from this year’s Trilogy Challenge was provided by Westside Discs. After making its debut this summer at the Trilogy Challenge, the Westside Discs Sampo is now out in VIP plastic. With above average glide, a very manageable rim size, and controllable flight, the Sampo is making a strong case to be your go-to driver.

Westside Discs says this about their new driver:

The fairway driver that you have been looking for and the one that will instantly find a spot in your bag. The Sampo gets great distance with minimal effort due to how smoothly it comes out of the hand and it’s great glide. The flight path is very neutral which makes it great for long, straight, low shots. Pick up the Sampo today and pick up strokes on your competition tomorrow.

Westside Discs sent us a VIP Sampo to test out and we took it along side a few others for a comparison including the Dynamic Discs Escape and Innova Thunderbird.

When we first got our hands on Sampo it did remind us of the Escape when it came to the feel. It isn’t really domey, but has a very rounded shoulder and nose. If you’ve thrown the Escape or other drivers from Westside Discs, Latitude 64 or Dynamic Discs, this should feel very familiar. They clearly found a style they like and have stuck with it. A familiar feel is never a bad thing.

The depth of the rim is almost refreshing in a sense. So many drivers today are very shallow to try and help squeeze out any extra speed and help the aerodynamic shape. The Sampo has a very comfortable rim that nearly any hand size should find welcoming. There is enough to hold onto, but it isn’t too deep at the same time. This depth also helps with the glide, which we’ll touch on later.

When it comes to speed, the Sampo just breaks into that Speed 10 category. You can feel the slightly added speed, but you won’t feel like it is so wide you need a cannon to get it up to speed. A strong throw for anyone who can reach that 300-350 foot range can get great results from the Sampo. Stronger arms will welcome the high speed stability the Sampo brings too. Even with much greater levels of power behind it, it won’t turn much at all.

You’ll often find yourselves on a hole that requires a little more than a Speed 7-9 driver, but you can’t sacrifice the lower amounts of control with Speed 12-13 drivers. The Sampo hits this in the sweet spot. You get plenty of speed and distance, but the control remains.

Speaking of distance, the glide on the Sampo is what really helps it become that go-to driver. Give it some speed and a line to fly on and it will certainly glide. We had someone asked us what the difference between a Glide 4 rating and a Glide 5 rating looks like. The Sampo was a great way to showcase that. You can tell a difference and the results speak for themselves. It has an extra gear it in and remains in the air a little longer than you’d expect.

The Sampo showed a little bit of turn on our strongest throws, but even then it wasn’t much. It isn’t a rock-hard 0 rating for turn, and will show just a bit of movement. This also helps when it comes to distance since it creates a little added time aloft with the glide. We never felt like the Sampo was going to turn too much and after many throws, you could really trust it to fly on a pretty straight line.

We gave the Sampo a few throws on big hyzer releases and it would flip up a hair, but would hold the line for most of the flight. You won’t get a very big fade out of the Sampo so the angle you give it out of your hand will help determine just how strong the fade is. This helps with the accuracy, but takes some time to fine tune.

When thrown on a little anhyzer, the Sampo will hold that initial release angle for most of the flight. We did see it break out of it a little early a few times, but that came when we didn’t quite have full power behind it. You can trust it on most anhyzer shots though. You just need to help it since it won’t naturally want to turn too much.

At the end of the flight, the Sampo always showed a fade, but it was soft. Some discs want to fade really hard once it starts to slow down, while others hang in the air and fade late with more forward movement. The Sampo is a little mix of both. It begins the fade earlier than you’d expect, but it won’t do it with a lot of power. It will finish left, but won’t dive in. We were able to place the Sampo nicely on a few shots thanks to the small fade. In reality, it fades closer to a Speed 7 disc than a Speed 10. It was similar to an Innova Thunderbird in terms of fade, especially the G-Star version.

Overall, we’d rate the Westside Discs Sampo at 10, 5, -0.25, 2. You’ll get a little bit of turn out of it if you have power to reach 300-350 feet, but it won’t dance too much. The fade is soft and we’d expect it to mellow out as it beats in as well.

The flight chart from inbounds Disc Golf shows a flight very close to what we were seeing. There is just that hint of turn with a soft fade at the end. Plenty of distance in between gives you a nice straight throw.

The Westside Discs Sampo puts up a great case for being that go-to driver. If you aren’t faced with a strong headwind and you don’t need the disc to do much beyond flying straight, the Sampo fits the bill. There are other options out there for those times when you do need a big fade or you do need it to fight some wind.

The Sampo is one disc that could easily live in your bag in various stages of wear. The fresh one will have that subtle fade while you’ll soon have some with even more turn and less fade. Rotate those through and you’ll be in business.

Win your own Westside Discs Sampo

Westside Discs sent us an extra Sampo and we’ll throw in the one we used in testing for our latest giveaway! We’ll take entries through Tuesday, November 3 at 11:59 p.m. Central Time. There are three ways to enter.

1. Leave a comment on this post using the form below. Be sure to use a valid name and email address so we can contact you if you are the winner.
2. Like the ATDG and Westside Discs Facebook pages and leave a comment on the ATDG post first announcing this review.
3. Follow @ATDiscGolf and @WestsideDiscs on Twitter and tweet the following message:

The @WestsideDiscs Sampo is now out in VIP plastic and @ATDiscGolf is giving a pair away! http://is.gd/ATDG_Sampo #DiscGolf

Two winners will be selected at random. We’ll giveaway the Sampo we used in our review to the entries in the post comments and the other Sampo will go to someone selected at random through our social media entries. Winners will be emailed or contacted through the appropriate social network.

Thanks to Westside Discs for the chance to review the Sampo and the extras to giveaway!

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