Salient Discs enters the market with discs, bags, & shoes

A few months ago, All Things Disc Golf was introduced to Salient Discs. We started a conversation with owner Christopher Kilgus. It was clear that the Salient Discs team had big ideas. They weren’t joining just the disc manufacturing business. They also talked about plans for a backpack and a disc golf shoe.

Salient Discs calls themselves the “First Premium Disc Golf Brand focusing on consistency & advancements in disc golf technology.” You’re likely asking, “What does that mean?”

We’ve been anxious to share these details with you for quite some time and today is finally the day we can finally showcase Salient Discs. We talked with Kilgus to get the details on their coming discs, backpack, and shoe, along with details on prices and when you can get your hands on some of their products.

---

All Things Disc Golf: How did Salient Discs start and how long have you been working on the new line of discs?

Christopher Kilgus: Salient Discs started in early 2012 as a concept between my self and business partner Steve Boucher to develop a line of discs that would be uniquely different in their own way compared to what was already on the market. As our vision started taking form we quickly took a hard look at all of the companies currently making discs and wanted to know what we could differently. We decided to make a place for ourselves in the market by engineering discs that would fill gaps in each player’s bag.

All Things Disc Golf: Are the plastic types expected to be similar to Champion/Z, Star/ESP, etc.

Christopher Kilgus: Salient will begin by releasing our premium grade plastic called Liquid Line which is a blend of grippy, flexible, and durable resins with properties of wet tack and pressure sensitive tack giving you good grip in many conditions. Our middle grade plastic is called Cryo and our standard plastic is called Karbon.

All Things Disc Golf: What is your estimated price point?

Christopher Kilgus: Liquid Line will retail for $17.00 — Cryo Line will retail for $14.00 — Karbon Line will retail for $11.00.

All Things Disc Golf: Now I saw from the website that you have one called Prometheus. This is a large diameter driver. What makes your disc different?

Christopher Kilgus: Prometheus will be our flagship driver and will undoubtedly be one of the best drivers on the market. The difference between our drivers and other drivers is primarily the engineering that was put into it. Our lead engineer, who is also a partner, received a scholarship from MIT and has the “know how” of what it takes to build an aerodynamically superior product to anything else out on the market.

We decided to build our driver on the platform of discs of the past which featured larger diameters and increased glide instead of the standard smaller diameter discs which use speed as a measuring stick for success. With a larger diameter disc like Prometheus, players that have difficulty gripping distance drivers because of the size of the wing can now grip our driver without difficulty due to the increased radius of the rim, which means the rim feels smaller in your hand giving players a better feel for the disc. Not only does the larger diameter make the disc easier to throw it also allows for increased angular momentum on the outer edges of the disc with increased lift due to more surface area.

You are probably asking what all the means? Basically the disc will now spin faster keeping the disc flight straight and have less resistance to turn with more glide. Therefore; Prometheus will be the first DISTANCE CONTROL DRIVER made for all arm speeds.

All Things Disc Golf: What is the timeline for the company?

Christopher Kilgus: We will begin with releasing our fist disc this summer followed by a midrange and fairway driver this calendar year. We will also be releasing our first disc golf shoe in the Fall of 2013 along with Salient Discs brand bags.

All Things Disc Golf: Let’s talk about the shoe. Is this being made with another company or are you getting into the shoe manufacturing business too?

Christopher Kilgus: Salient Discs will be working independently to make our own disc golf shoe. To this point there has never been a DG specific company that has developed their own line of shoes, therefore we decided that it would be a good move to cater to the DG community and hopefully they will support one of their own to help bring better products along the way. The DG Spec 1™ will be released this fall for golfers to enjoy.

All Things Disc Golf: The disc golf backpack market seems to grow every few months. What makes the Salient Discs bag stand out? Do you have an estimated price point?

Christopher Kilgus: Salient Discs first bag will stand out due to the fact that it will be the first medium size disc golf bag (13-18 disc capacity) with vertical and horizontal storage which will allow you to carry discs more comfortably and also have access to your most thrown discs without having to bend over and reach into the bottom of your bag. The bag will be priced at approximately $125 and be the first true backpack at this price point made of premium materials.

All Things Disc Golf: You are also big on consistency. Does this added effort cause the production to be slower than other companies?

Christopher Kilgus: That is a very good question and to be honest consistency is one of our top goals but should not slow down the process of production at all. We have an ISO certification for small manufacturing and injection molding which means we have checks and measures in place to make sure every piece of equipment, material, and product is as perfect as possible before items get to consumers. Our injection molding space is humidity and temperature controlled as well as many processes are automated taking the human error out of the equation which affect parting line height, dome, and disc weight. We want to be the forerunner in disc golf disc consistency which has been lacking for many years.

---

Thanks to Kilgus and the Salient Discs team for working with us over the last few months. We’ll have a review of the Prometheus and their backpack soon.

Until then, be sure to follow Salient Discs on Facebook and Twitter.