crabapillar
Newbie
I know this has been discussed at varying levels many times; but when will it improve? I started playing going on three years ago and I definitely have bought more than my share of discs in that time and some of the quality issues I've come across are beyond unacceptable and I'm not sure how we as consumer's allow it to pass.
Now I'm not talking about one of the common issues in that a disc flies way more overstable than its flight numbers, I'm talking about the sometimes very visible quality issues. With all the manufacturer's being behind in production over the last year I feel like these issues have become even more frequent. Some of the recent examples I've come across are...
A Teebird that is stamped as GStar but it's clearly Star Plastic.
A Gold Line River that has a massive tooling mark around more than 50% of the rim.
A ESP Hornet that has more humps/bumps on the top than my most beat in midrange.
A Champion Banshee that's penned 160, but on a scale is 171g.
These are the most glaring I've come across lately and I've seen quite a few others that are not as extreme, I'm wondering what everyone's thoughts are on this? These are very obvious issues that should and would be caught if there were any types of quality measures in place to check discs before they leave the factory.
I feel like this is especially an issue today as most physical retailer's are still closed and everything is done through the mail. What do you do when you receive a disc that you would have never bought if you would have seen it in person first? It really isn't the fault of the retailer and returning/exchanging things through the mail can be quite the pain. I just feel like many of the manufacturer's are getting away with one here in that they are not held to any standards. This is a small enough industry still that people really don't have any alternatives to go to another brand if they don't like the product. If this were occurring on some other than disc golf discs I can't see a company surviving today.
I believe for most if not all the production process is manual, no automation, so people are already handling the discs. it wouldn't take a lot to incorporate a quality step into the process. Even the issues with overstability/part lines; after the discs have completed the cooling process, I can't imagine it would be too difficult to check a disc using a fixture or some type of go-no-go gauge before it's tossed into a box to ship. Would it add to the cost of a disc, yes most likely, but personally I would be ok paying $1 or $2 more a disc if that meant I was getting a better product that looks/flies like the disc I'm expecting to receive.
Now I'm not talking about one of the common issues in that a disc flies way more overstable than its flight numbers, I'm talking about the sometimes very visible quality issues. With all the manufacturer's being behind in production over the last year I feel like these issues have become even more frequent. Some of the recent examples I've come across are...
A Teebird that is stamped as GStar but it's clearly Star Plastic.
A Gold Line River that has a massive tooling mark around more than 50% of the rim.
A ESP Hornet that has more humps/bumps on the top than my most beat in midrange.
A Champion Banshee that's penned 160, but on a scale is 171g.
These are the most glaring I've come across lately and I've seen quite a few others that are not as extreme, I'm wondering what everyone's thoughts are on this? These are very obvious issues that should and would be caught if there were any types of quality measures in place to check discs before they leave the factory.
I feel like this is especially an issue today as most physical retailer's are still closed and everything is done through the mail. What do you do when you receive a disc that you would have never bought if you would have seen it in person first? It really isn't the fault of the retailer and returning/exchanging things through the mail can be quite the pain. I just feel like many of the manufacturer's are getting away with one here in that they are not held to any standards. This is a small enough industry still that people really don't have any alternatives to go to another brand if they don't like the product. If this were occurring on some other than disc golf discs I can't see a company surviving today.
I believe for most if not all the production process is manual, no automation, so people are already handling the discs. it wouldn't take a lot to incorporate a quality step into the process. Even the issues with overstability/part lines; after the discs have completed the cooling process, I can't imagine it would be too difficult to check a disc using a fixture or some type of go-no-go gauge before it's tossed into a box to ship. Would it add to the cost of a disc, yes most likely, but personally I would be ok paying $1 or $2 more a disc if that meant I was getting a better product that looks/flies like the disc I'm expecting to receive.