[Question] the 'boutique disc' problem

[ray1970]

Visited my favorite shop in Tulsa yesterday and they have Lunas spilling off the shelves but not a JB Roach in sight. Same story at my local shop in OKC. Not seeing any JB Roaches online either.

I bought up most of the JB Roaches that you can't find weeks ago.

Made the switch from P2's to the Roach recently and I finally got a practice basket so I needed a stack of them to hone in my putts.

Back on topic, I just ordered a team Discmania stamped DD3 that I'll never throw. Eagle is going to autograph it before it ships. I think with tax and shipping it set me back about $30. It will look nice in the living room along side my Lizotte signed P2 and my Wysocki signed Compass.

 

[Twmccoy]

boutique discs

I personally don't have a problem with special discs. Sometimes its fun to throw a nicer version of a certain mold.

Glow, metal flake, whatever. That boutique plastic is high quality stuff.

Some people run into problems when they feel like they have to acquire every tour series disc coming out. That gets expensive. You also have to decide whether you're buying the discs to collect or throw.

 

[eyewreck]

I feel like in every walk of life, there's a divide between people who like fancy and people who are as utilitarian as possible. Take myself, for instance. When it comes to transportation, I would drive a cardboard box with a motor if guaranteed me getting safely to my destination. I cannot express how little I think about the car I drive. And with food, some people enjoy fine dining or are particular about where they get their meals, me not so much. But when it comes to my discs, I enjoy the pretty pictures and the swirly plastic. If you ask me if I want to play a round with a full bag of tour series discs or a 162g DX Cobra and end up with the same score, I'm taking the full bag every time because for me personally a lot of the fun of disc golf is watching different flights and the problem solving of what shot shape with which disc is best for this hole. And there's nothing wrong with the opposite approach. And just because the old-timer at the course beats you with 3 discs in a Wal Mart bag, it doesn't mean that your Zuca cart full of premium plastic is an offense against humanity if that fancy Zuca cart with premium plastic brings you joy at the end of the day. I know my Iron Samurai and your four year old Biofuzion Truth may produce similar results, I just like the fancy stamp!

 

[MANBURGARLAR]

Just don't tell the "get freaky" zone buyers that you can get ledgestone cryZtal flx zones for $19.99!

I thought people accidentally added an extra "0" to the end of the price for those things.

 

[Moose33]

How much? A friend gave me one and it's cool but it doesn't crawl into the basket by itself.

 

[Itsnotflipyurjustbad]

I'll happily throw this until I lose it and feel great about it. If it does meet a watery grave, the nice blue Z it replaced will just go back in the bag.

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk

 

[runningDoc]

i learned that if i like a disc enough to bag it for a long time its best to buy many (around 5 extra) backups of the same run.

also make it a rule for myself to buy retail pricing. sometimes you can get those specialty runs for retail though (when you find out early about special discs online).

BUT I also am pragmatic and know if a disc price/value starts to blow up then even the backups aren't safe anymore in the sense where I treat the discs like a rising stock/trade asset on a baseball team.

specific examples in the past where I ended up trading my valuable discs and all their backups and went with normal production/stock runs to make a little money to pay for new disc golf stuff (league/tourney fees, new discs, grip bag, baskets, etc).

from most recent:

- i knew instantly i'd love the echo star DD3 because it flew like a beefy tern/shryke so I traded some money pearly flat 2018 FAF DGU firebirds (that I bought retail $18 each) for. it was a simple swap of three firebirds for three echo DD3. but when the prices for the echo DD3 started blowing up I knew it wasn't worth keeping the echo dd3 because they are a limited run and echo plastic breaks in too fast to the point where with the 4 echo dd3 I had it wouldn't last more than 2-3 seasons (factoring in potential lost discs in the woods/water/etc).

- expensive super overstable FAF firebirds. I'm still using the same 2 FAF firebirds that are almost 5 years old from when I first started playing. I accumulated some nice ones over the years retail from looking around used bins and trades and have never paid more than $20 for the most popular of utility drivers. but by the time I got to 10+ backups i realized that i only use FAF firebirds for certain shots and will never get into using my backups. So i now use my FAF firebirds for trades or will outright sell them when they fetch that $40+ value in return (like the above example where I traded some 2018 pearly FAF DGU firebirds for echo dd3's).

- 3rd run C PD. I LOVE this disc. I got lucky and bought a ton (around 8) when they were re-released on the discmania site for retail $17 each. but it ended up becoming similar to a FAF firebird situation where the 3rd run champion plastic is so durable (its same champion plastic as the legendary 2012-2014 pearly FAF firebird run are made of) that I'm still using the same 2 3rd run c-pd from 2016 i originally bought. I ended up just selling my 6 backups to a friend for $20 each because he loved them so much and I knew he'd actually throw them. Also I know that I can find similar PD's for retail and newer runs.

- 2nd run C FD. these are just overstable champion teebirds people. don't be fooled lol. I had a bunch when you could randomly find them in disc golf stores and through trades with people who had weirdly overstable C FD. I felt guilty doing some trades with people who had 2nd run FD's unknowingly and other times I'd inform them of what they had. but for a time you could show up a a tournament flymart and look through stock C FD's and a random 2nd run would be sitting in there (also random 3rd and 1st run C PD's too!). I had about 8 at one time and didn't even really like the disc for throwing since they flew similar to overstable champion teebirds and eventually sold them all off when they were really hot and expensive (two years ago).

- c line glow MD3. OMG i don't understand why these are so expensive. i know they fly good, but still they fly too similar to a roc3 to warrant being in that $50-$100 range. I bought a lot of backups retail and threw/bagged these at one point and when the pricing blew up I sold them off immediately. I'm perplexed to why these are so expensive and just went back to throwing regular production KC pro rocs on a cycle.

for me certain discs are worth keeping despite their value though. like certain runs of destroyers that I've seasoned over the years. I've got a bunch of seasoned overstable star destroyers that I'll never sell because they are so variable over the years the only way to know what you're getting is to season them yourself and then store them and season some more for backups. that way you know you have money destroyer backups ready and available.

 

[Jacobpaul81]

Disc golf is supposed to be cheap, folks. Disc golfers were cheap. Back in my day when you stopped to get pizza and some beers after a round with disc golfers, you knew the beer would be pitchers of whatever was cheapest and the pizza would be cheese since no one was willing to pay for toppings. You knew it would be like that because we were disc golfers, damn it. The "cheap" part was implied. What the Hell happened?

I carried the same bag of discs from 2008 to 2018. I didn't buy a disc, a bag, or anything for 10 years. I also didn't lose a disc for 10 years. Quad straps and those 50lb pdga bags that never die. Cheap!

In 2018, I sold all those discs - used discs mind you - for like $400 and bought a cart with the proceeds.

Only problem... I've started losing discs. And falling into the stamp game. :thmbdown:

 

[Casey 1988]

Flip side: I had a guy ask me about big bead Aviars from the 90's, and I still have a few. I checked on the price they are going for; $30-$40 a pop. :| Who in the Hell is paying $40 for stock grid stamped Aviars? I realize that particular mold/plastic is OOP, but come on! So what do I do now? Do I look a guy in the eye and ask him to pay me $120 for four $7 frisbees? That's crazy.

Then I turnabout's around and look at the MJ Comets, and they are $25 now. $25! They are Z Comets, I already have a stack of them. When they were $20 it was *gulp* and bought them, but $25? I think I'm over my limit.

Disc golf is supposed to be cheap, folks. Disc golfers were cheap. Back in my day when you stopped to get pizza and some beers after a round with disc golfers, you knew the beer would be pitchers of whatever was cheapest and the pizza would be cheese since no one was willing to pay for toppings. You knew it would be like that because we were disc golfers, damn it. The "cheap" part was implied. What the Hell happened?

Yes we are cheep, back in the 2000's in 2004 I got my first bag for $20-$25 with top bags being $30-$40 with Both Discraft Tournament model at $30 and Innova , then won a at 2007 Discraft Ace Race bag that was worth $27-$30 at the time but at that time I Won the Tournament bag, by that time almost everyone good had a Innova Discarrier or Tournament bag or other similar large bags from other companies that held as many disc, if not the person used the Discraft Tournament or similar bag size at the time. Backpack straps in mid to late 2000's were around $80-$90 including Straps for the bag even if using the DGA brand or other high quality straps were $30-$40. Now we see backpack bags at the quality level that will last a very long time more then 4-5 years of heavy use starting at $100+ USA where as before the quad style bags were at max for 98% of the bags on the market at most $100 USA with high quality Quad style straps only the Gorilla boy Kong was not. I guess a few lucky Pro players had Disc Golf Backpacks near the very end of 2000's 2008-2099 but those were over $200 for a quality of bag from most brands That now sells for about $95-$120.

Now if you want a non Backpack bag only a few brands still make them, Fade with the Crunch, Throwback sports with one they have, the Discraft 2 bags DGA's 2 bags, MVP, and one model from Dynamic Discs that sells only because Dave Feldberg Used that with some Brands Quad Straps for a few years until the Zuca brand made some carts with Dynamic Disc name on them. Innova has stopped all but one bag that is the sucky never buy beginner bag, Dynamic Disc stopped most of the bags except the one that Dave Feldberg used or the brand is having a hard time selling the bag. Disc golf Bags that are not backpacks are nearly gone, something I predicted would happen in early 2016 due to fact the Discraft Trooper and Prodigy similar bags had just come out for the lower end of backpack bags, now at least 3 brands make a beginner disc golf backpack in both size and price being Innova,Dynamic disc, and Infinite with the Sling style single strap backpack bag.

 

[adb83]

I'll say I'm not a fan of boutique plastic. However, certain blends feel better to me than others, and I may pay more for rarer discs.

A perfect example of this is the 1.1 SOF run, more commonly referred to as the zippertop run. When I found a used one of these, I fell in love and needed more. Luckily, these aren't too expensive yet. If they did become outrageously priced, I'd find another option as there are enough overstable control drivers on the market.

However, my biggest grip with boutique plastic is that it seems to take away from manufacturers making viable plastics. I'll give an example. I like Prodigy mids cause of their baseline plastics. However, they are doing all these spectrum runs in every conceivable plastic. When is the next run of 350g M2s coming out? Feels like I'll run through my stack before another run is made.

 

[Casey 1988]

I'll say I'm not a fan of boutique plastic. However, certain blends feel better to me than others, and I may pay more for rarer discs.

A perfect example of this is the 1.1 SOF run, more commonly referred to as the zippertop run. When I found a used one of these, I fell in love and needed more. Luckily, these aren't too expensive yet. If they did become outrageously priced, I'd find another option as there are enough overstable control drivers on the market.

However, my biggest grip with boutique plastic is that it seems to take away from manufacturers making viable plastics. I'll give an example. I like Prodigy mids cause of their baseline plastics. However, they are doing all these spectrum runs in every conceivable plastic. When is the next run of 350g M2s coming out? Feels like I'll run through my stack before another run is made.

Yep I know the deal, plastics for 2 molds I have used for a while have disappeared for the mold, namely the Shark in Star since mid 2016 and I get that as Star Shark discs came out like F2 80% of the time so the online retailers were selling off old plastic that is running out but the XL in Z was a thing of beauty, how you wanted the OS Teebird to fly but not US Firebird type Teebird discs in flight , now just XL in Pro D, knowing that at any moment Discraft could make a limited Z run that sells out before I could get to buying the weight sets I want, 167-169 grams or 170-172 grams.

 

[ArtemisClydFr0g]

If a disc feels good enough to be in my bag, I don't mind paying a premium for it along with a couple back ups. Sometimes the disc I like best is a stock run, sometimes it's a special run. Color glow champ is my favorite feeling plastic overall, but before buying any special run I like to know if it's flat, domey, or molded up in a way that makes it more or less stable than what I'm used to. I was thankfully able to pick up a couple Sky God 3s and they're exactly what I wanted. The good thing about the special runs is that, for the most part, I've been able to get my money back on the ones I didn't like. If I don't like the feel of a stock disc, I'm usually eating 40-50% of the purchase after I sell and ship it to someone else.