The Official Discontinuum Consumer Reports Thread

[whofarted]

For listing those goods and services that are worth the dollars spent...



Here's three that I'll sware by...

Seafoam $5 - i am not a mechanic so i am not sure if i am treating my car to the equivilent of a good meal or new jersey biker crank but i add about 3/4's of a can to my full tank every 5000 miles or so and my car runs great thereafter.  i took a business trip to des moines a few weeks back and loaded up on some 93 octance and this stuff and in my 96 VW Golf i got 440 to the tank which is about 40 to 50 miles better than not having the seafoam in there.  it is supposed to clean out all the gunk that dirty gas will give ya, clean out the fuel injectors, improve gas mileage, and all that good stuff.  give it a try...



IPODs $75 to 450 - basically you wont be dissatissfied with one.  there are a few drawbacks like 2 second gaps between tracks, the only m4a format, and the copyright protection measures but if you have a large catalog and like it this is a no brianer - you can have it all at the tip of yo' finger.  one word of advice - if you dont need 60gigs of music with you at all times and would rather have a smaller, more recreatinoal freindly unit go buy a 1g shuffle or a nano and get an external hard drive for storing your music.  use the hard drive like a 60g (for about 60 bucks instead of 450) and use the shuffle or nano for use outside the house.



Z Buzz $14 - bascially this is a straighter ce roc that is third of the price.  nuff said.

[Adam R]

Following the formula of spray can, electronic equipment, golf disc, here are my recommendations:

WD-40 removes any kind of stickiness.  This means that when you get a Discraft disc that has a 170-172g sticker that leaves a bunch of sticky residue behind, you can spray some WD-40 on it, and the stickiness will rub right off.  You can then remove the leftover oily residue with some dishsoap.

The iRiver H20--Yes, there are other mp3 players out there that are just as good as the trendy Mac marketing machines, and you don't have to convert your audio to Apple's format.  Oh, and unlike iPods, you can use these devices just like portable hard drives.  Anything iRiver is good.  Sony's PSP is pretty sweet as well.


The ESP Surge is my favorite driver in my favorite plastic.  It goes far, and it (usually) goes where I want it to.

[paultimore]

spray can, electronics, frisbee... hmmmmmmmmmm


a disc golfers best friend, this nifty use of aerosol will prevent you from getting slimy sun block lotion all over your hands and discs.  just a couple quick swipes of spray and you're good to go.  i normally don't wear sun screen myself, but had to because of some antibiotics that made me extra photosensitve.  at $10-12 at any grocery store, it's worth the premium.


these are handy to have if you can remember to pack them.  i bring them to WVO at paw paw so when i'm camping over by the whippin' post and have to start my next round there, i can send someone who is playing the woodshed down to tourney central to tell me what hole i'm starting on.  it's only about a 1/4 mile down a hill (then back up it depending where you are starting), but i'd rather have that extra time to finish my coffee and flapjacks.  lazy?  yeah... but these are cheap.  cell phones don't often work that far out in the sticks ($50 or so).


starwinders are $$$$.  i can throw these farther than anything in my bag.  with less turn than the champion model, these are straight/slightly understable out of the box.  to me, these are interchangeable with the old CE valk.  i'm not sure how to translate that to discraft speak.  $12-15.

[Jon Brakel]

Just an FYI, you can use an iPod as a portable hard drive just as easy as most of those other mp3 players.

[whofarted]

Just an FYI, you can use an iPod as a portable hard drive just as easy as most of those other mp3 players.

true dat.  my point was that an external hard drive is considerably cheaper than an mp3 player.  so if you are just looking for means of storing music files that would be the route to go.  basically the only real difference that i see between a large ipod and a hard drive is that an ipod can play the music on the go and is a bit smaller.  but is that worth the extra 350 bucks?  that is up to the consumer.  one thing to consider is that the large ipods have moving parts that arent made for constant jarring that a trip down a ski hill could give it, so you risk damaging your whole collection in one move if you are rough with it.

[whofarted]

speaking of skiing - this is by far the best value of any skiing out in colorado.  it is Berthoud Pass Ski Resort.  they get about 500 inches per year of the best snow there is and base their lift tickets on how much snow they got the night before.  what you are looking at above is the way they operate the lifts.  basically there are two lifts on the mountain.  both are located at the top of the hill and people ski to these highway pit stops and get shuttled up to the lift for another 500 feet of ascent, then back down again.  they also have the highest evelvation bar in the 48 states, they limit the crowd to 400 per day, and it is bad enough skiing to have Glenn Miller shoot a film exclusively there.  more on the value - nowadays most ski resorts are charging upwards of 70 per day for lift tickets.  berthoud pass is keeping it really real at a price between 26 and 40 perday, based on the recent snowfall.  so if you find yourself on route 40, west of denver, make the stop.

[WkeBrd3]

Just an FYI, you can use an iPod as a portable hard drive just as easy as most of those other mp3 players.

I got my 160GB external filled with music files. My head unit has an MP3 player in it, so I can fit quiet a bit on one CD. I also have an XM direct tuner hooked up to it, so music in my truck is never a concern. I just haven't broken down and got an IPos yet. I don't think I will either.

[Mike S]

speaking of skiing - this is by far the best value of any skiing out in colorado.  it is Berthoud Pass Ski Resort.  they get about 500 inches per year of the best snow there is and base their lift tickets on how much snow they got the night before.  what you are looking at above is the way they operate the lifts.  basically there are two lifts on the mountain.  both are located at the top of the hill and people ski to these highway pit stops and get shuttled up to the lift for another 500 feet of ascent, then back down again.  they also have the highest evelvation bar in the 48 states, they limit the crowd to 400 per day, and it is bad enough skiing to have Glenn Miller shoot a film exclusively there.  more on the value - nowadays most ski resorts are charging upwards of 70 per day for lift tickets.  berthoud pass is keeping it really real at a price between 26 and 40 perday, based on the recent snowfall.  so if you find yourself on route 40, west of denver, make the stop.

I've been by there before but never stopped.  It looks SICK.

[whofarted]

I've been by there before but never stopped.

driven by - probably on the way winter park ski resort? 

It looks SICK.

aaooooh man....  80% of the mountain is black diamonds or doubles and there is so much terrain there that even on a full capacity day every skiier has nearlly 4 acres to themsleves.   and since it is one of those local secrets, everybody that is there wants to be there and is enjoying the hell out of themsleves - this is very evident in the sounds and smells near the shuttle stops.  i'll try to scan some of my pics from there and post them up - nothing but fond memories of that place....

[Adam R]

I was told by an iPod user that Windows did not automatically recognize the device as a portable drive, but he was probably just doing something wrong.  My main reason for going with iRiver was the fact that they support wma.  I also had a good experience with one of their older products.  Definitely more practical to just go with a portable hard drive or a big flash drive for file transfers.  iPod nano as music player + flash drive is an appealing option.  A telescoping USB connection would make it even better, but then I guess they would have to make the thing bigger.  Any disc golf baskets on that mountain?

-Adam

[ninjaboy076]

problem with the ipod nano is that they scratch really easy and break often