Disc Weights

[LewisFlameworks]

The past few discs that I have purchased from various manufactures are mislabeled with the WRONG weight.

With this in mind, I went through the rest of my bag and re-weighed every disc. 9 of 16 were NOT correct.:thmbdown: (Most were Innova) To me, this is absolutely unacceptable!

It is entirely too easy to put a disc on a scale and write the corresponding weight on the disc. WTF? Some are off as much as 4 GRAMS!!!:doh:

So my question is..... have any of you had the similar experiences and what can we do about this?

 

[Vegan Ray]

have any of you had the similar experiences and what can we do about this?

Yes. Either suck it up & realize that that is the status quo that the manufacturers have no incentive to change, or buy from a retailer (such as Marshall Street) that weighs & correctly relabels each disc before selling it.

 

[Frank Delicious]

eh, it's no big deal. Discs absorb moisture after they are weighed or maybe your scale is a little off of what the manufacturers is so it weighs the disc differently. I really don't see why people freak out about this every now and then, your disc lose weight as you throw them so it's not like that 175 orc is going to weigh 175 for it's whole life. Plus there are things that affect the flight of the disc besides a few grams like dome and parting line.

 

[MrFixIt]

I generally just heft a disc in my hand. If it feels right...

 

[LewisFlameworks]

Been sucking it up for many years.... kinda just want what i'm paying for.

I see your points and they are valid, but If I'm spending $18 a pop, I expect it to be what I want, not "close." I hear ya on the disc over time changing weight due to use, but what if ya want a new one that performs like the beat in one did when it was new?

Lets say I want to buy a run of 10 172g Boss', wouldn't I expect to get 10 172g Boss', not some 171 and some 173, a couple 174 and couple 172. Don't think that is good business... to me it seems a little like misrepresentation. I mean, If I order a yellow disc and get a red one, yeah it's close, but not what I wanted.

I realize this isn't a HUGE deal, but come on... you should get what you pay for...and 4GRAMS is alot to me.

 

[leppard]

It is entirely too easy to put a disc on a scale and write the corresponding weight on the disc. WTF? Some are off as much as 4 GRAMS!!!:doh:

Do they actually weigh each disc or just a few in each batch? I would think an operator wouldn't have enough time to weigh every disc.

 

[richardmmill]

Just to throw this out there and give some comparison. A dollar bill weights one grams. If you have a stack of 171 dollar bills and a stack of 172 dollar bills can you tell a difference....

 

[garublador]

4g out of 170g is ~2.3% or 0.141 oz. Check the accuracy claims of your scale. Then consider that the discs can absorb water and what it would take for the manufacturers to accurately estimate how much water will be absorbed and or lost and how much you're willing to pay for them to learn to do that accurately. I'd also suggest weighing them throughout the season or even year to see how much variaion you'll see in different temperatures and humidities.

It seems like a really simple thing, but in reality I'm guessing it's quite a bit more complex than people make it out to be.

 

[Frank Delicious]

Been sucking it up for many years.... kinda just want what i'm paying for.

I see your points and they are valid, but If I'm spending $18 a pop, I expect it to be what I want, not "close." I hear ya on the disc over time changing weight due to use, but what if ya want a new one that performs like the beat in one did when it was new?

Lets say I want to buy a run of 10 172g Boss', wouldn't I expect to get 10 172g Boss', not some 171 and some 173, a couple 174 and couple 172. Don't think that is good business... to me it seems a little like misrepresentation. I mean, If I order a yellow disc and get a red one, yeah it's close, but not what I wanted.

I realize this isn't a HUGE deal, but come on... you should get what you pay for...and 4GRAMS is alot to me.

So the manufacturer has to control for your scale being different from theirs or the disc changing after they send it out?

Trust me, if those 171 and 174 bosses have the same parting line, dome and cooled the same they will fly more alike than two 172 bosses that domed up differently or shrunk differently during cooling.

 

[bikinjack]

I've got a disc that is labeled as a 173, but actually weighs 178. I thought it was weird when it had more fade than another of the same disc that was actually 175, then I weighed it, and then I knew. This particular mold is only approved to 176.8. I wouldn't have cared, and really don't care, but the flight pattern is noticeably different.

 

[Technohic]

I dont want to know cause in my head, the discs I have are just right.

 

[Marmoset]

...Discs absorb moisture after they are weighed... there are things that affect the flight of the disc besides a few grams like dome and parting line.

Discs are hygroscopic which is just a fancy word that means they absorb moisture.
If weight is really that important to you then ignore what is written on the disc. Bring a scale to the store, wiegh the ones you are considering and buy your discs a couple grams lighter than you want. They will absorb moisture.

If your discs are too heavy you can try drying them out by putting them into a warm oven for a period of time. Notice I didn't say a hot oven. Hot ovens will melt and/or distort your discs. ***discalimer- I have never done this with discs but it works perfectly well with raw stock; if you choose to try this, be careful and accept responsibility for your own mistakes***

Like Frank D. mentioned, I think the most important thing to keep into perspective is that overall disc shape is much more important than weight. Yeah, buy your discs in your weight range and expect them to eventually get a couple grams heavier. But make absolutely sure that you are getting the shape you want.

 

[waynewf]

The important thing is to just be aware that this could happen. I know that I, for one, am a little sensitive to disc weights...I have my comfortable range and then everything else kind of sucks
I am lucky to have a local store which will weigh the discs for you...but when ordering online, I can definately relate to ordering a particular disc, and then getting it to realize that it won't work for you. I remember the first Valk I bought was labeled 172...and I hated the thing. After a couple of years, I got it weighed and it was 179.something....I went and got a true 168 and it's now one of my favorite discs...

Here's an annoying story from a disc I had dyed...I wanted a TeeRex 168-170 with a custom dye job...when I got the disc, it's labeled 173 but really weighs 176, which is not in my comfortable throwing range, especially for such an overstable disc...so now I have this TeeRex with a sweet Captain America dye job that I can't even use because it's too heavy....I was very annoyed, but what are you going to do??

 

[crawdad62]

I'm either not good enough or discriminating enough to realize a few grams here or there. I generally grab something in the 170 range or 160, etc. etc. I couldn't tell whether it's 171 or 175.

That being said if they are selling items in such precise measurement (a gram ain't much weight) then you'd think they could get it close..... or at least closer than they do.

 

[PanicKJ]

I actually wish all discs were one legal weight. say 168. That would keep me from having to buy so many of them trying to figure out what my perfect weight is.

 

[Frank Delicious]

I actually wish all discs were one legal weight. say 168. That would keep me from having to buy so many of them trying to figure out what my perfect weight is.

bad idea of the day.

 

[Terry C]

There have been several threads about this same thing happening, weight being off 4,5 or 6 grams, thats ridiculous, and the funny thing I hear some people say is " well how do you expect a company with only 20 employees to weigh each disc accurately, I mean thats not an easy thing to do?". My answer is " put them on a cheap digital scale and do it?" doesn't innova, discraft and other major companies make millions of dollars? Cant they buy a 50 dollar digital scale? It does seem retarded and you probably wont be able to ever justify to me how it happens and why, theres no reason for discs to be off on weight. If innova wants to pay me 15$ an hour ill sit there at the factory and weigh their discs for them since it seems that they cant do it themselves correctly. I dont get how hard it is to weigh a piece of plastic to within 1 gram. Step #1, put disc on scale. Step#2 write the accurate weight on bottom of weighed disc. Is that rocket science, I guess so because they cant do it.

 

[gsw_03]

bad idea of the day.

please expand upon this comment.

 

[CoachQ]

I like having varied weight options in discs. Different weights fly differently and therefore are necessary for players of different levels. With that being said, I generally try to get discs in the 170 - 175 range. I know that there is variance but that is true with most products. I just deal with it and I don't bother reweighing discs so it doesn't mess with my head.

 

[scarpfish]

I actually wish all discs were one legal weight. say 168. That would keep me from having to buy so many of them trying to figure out what my perfect weight is.

What if the one weight they came in wasn't your perfect weight?

As long as golf discs are akin to a recreational product and not a vital component keeping the space shuttle from burning up on reentry, there's not going to be much incentive to improve quality when most disc consumers don't demand such, see this thread regarding baskets.

Correctly weighed or not, some discs are just turds. I try to make fertilizer with my turds, and if that's not possible, I usually end up donating them.