As some of you are aware, I recently got an odyssey clutch (v1 because it was cheap).
I briefly had a salt plus trapez a couple of years ago, and really didn't get on with it. Hated the slack, and every time I committed to something, it engaged.
But, I've had 2 rides on this clutch, and I've really enjoyed it so far. It's only engaged on me once or twice, and the slack is barely noticeable as long as you don't crank super hard.
180 sliders have become my new favourite trick.
But, it's definitely not easier. It's a similar feeling to when you first take your brakes off, and you get a bit tense expecting to smack your knee on the stem, or it engage when you land fakie. It's definitely easier for 180 sliders, but how you land a 180 is completely different to with a cassette. You have to land close to perfect, or be really good with correcting yourself. It's not like a cassette, where back pedalling helps with your balance. And turning back from fakie takes some getting used with no pedal pressure.
The lack of cassette drag is really noticeable too, so I found it hard to judge my speed at first, especially with landing fakie.
Another thing with speed is you have to be careful with how you crank. You can't really add a bitch crank, and you have to give enough time to disengage the hub. I usually coast with my front leg straight, pedal down, back leg bent, pedal up. So back cranking a quarter turn to get my cranks level came quite naturally, even with minimum slack. But with a short run up, it takes a few goes just to count cranks and be able to add that back crank to disengage.
Verdict? I can see myself going back to cassette at some point. Sliders are awesome, but there's something that just feels more dialled with a cassette, and hearing that satisfying click. There's a few tricks I tried where the disengagement was a little unpredictable (pedal feeb to 180, which I guess was due to having to push a pedal down? Shouldn't be enough to re-engage it). If I increase the slack, I can imagine me hating it. So, there's things I like about it, but things I don't. And I think I prefer a cassette.
I will give it more time because there's some stuff I want to try with it. If it works, I'll keep it. If it doesn't, I'll go back to cassette. There's some pedal pressure tricks I've been meaning to try too so.....