Digital Innovations 10185 Skip Dr. Motorized AutoMax Scratch Repair System
by Digital Innovations
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Digital Innovations 10185 Skip Dr. Motorized AutoMax Scratch Repair System
Customer Review: Works great if you follow a few tips.
Summary: 5 Stars
All the Skip Dr resurfacers work great, but the directions are crappy.
Rule 1: Always clean the disk thoroughly! I use some dish soap and clean the surface until it's smooth to the touch. (No dirt spots or grime!)
Rule 2: Keep the disk wet while resurfacing! Run the disk under the tap while the machine is running so that any of the poly dust is washed away and doesn't scratch up the disk worse! You can use the spray bottle that comes with it, but it's just isopropyl soap and water. I prefer to keep the disk soaked through the whole process under the tap.
Rule 3: Run a bad disk through it several times. You should see the scratches become less apparent and slowly disappear. The scratches do not need to be completely gone for it to read, instead try it after several resurfacing passes.
Rule 4: If the foil backing is scratched this will not fix it. You can try placing a piece of masking tape on the back (side with print on it.) side of the disk and it might read, otherwise you may be out of luck.
Rule 5: After you get the disk to read back it up!!! Although this will remove scratches it will not prevent new ones.
This can save you some cash, but don't expect it to work miracles. Some disks will be just too far gone especially if they have deep gouges in them.
Customer Review: Its okay
Summary: 3 Stars
If you have even a noticeable scratch this will not repair it. It will clean up the light touch scratches a disc normally receives over time. It only comes with one wheel which will need replaced in a short period of time, as well as the solution which is mostly water anyway. Also it runs off of batteries as is and they are not included. However I tend to prefer things that don't plugin because I already have too many things that do.
I had a couple xbox 360 games that were unplayable. This did not help. It did clean up a few lightly roughed up discs though. I ended up buying a memorex circular disc cleaner/repairer though which plugs in. This also was not able to repair my 2 unplayable discs but I think it does a better job of buffing out light scratches normally seen on used games. Each buffs the disc in a different direction and Ive been told that this Skip Dr does it in the proper direction (from the inside of the disc to the outside while the Memorex spins in a circular motion like a record player while two smaller wheels spin (one for wet one for dry).
If you have a disc with a very visible scratch that is unplayable I think you're out of luck. For normal wear and tear I think this product is good.
Customer Review: It does in fact work.
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this product to repair some of my damaged Xbox so I wouldn't have to buy them again and so I wouldn't have to buy a 360. The Skip Dr. came, I put the 6 AA batteries in it, and tried it out on a game that wouldn't play, but one that I never really played anyway. Then I put it into the Xbox to see if it would work. No luck. I tried another game. Still no luck.
I started thinking that it was obviously this machine and not my Xbox. However, a friend of mine let me put these games into her Xbox and they all worked perfectly. Thus, the real problem was my console.
So, if you think it is the game/DVD giving you grief for not playing then I would recommend this product to see if that is really the case. Some people have written reviews where the disc would not play after being repaired by the machine. I don't know about all the cases, but in my case the real problem turned out to be my Xbox. To sum up, the product does work, it does take 6 AA batteries, and it is sort of an expensive investment to find out what the real problem is with a game console or DVD player. However, it is cheaper than some of the alternatives if it really does turn out to be the discs.
Customer Review: Works fine. Just a little slow.
Summary: 4 Stars
I've noticed very divided opinions on this product. I can't imagine why, since I've used it literally a couple of hundred times with excellent results and no problems. I can only imagine that those who don't like it are using it improperly, or are hoping for and expecting too much.
It's a fine product, and works just as advertised. The reason it's 4 stars instead of 5 is that the thing is slow. It takes about a minute for the sanding process to get around the full disc, and you have to be there watching it all that time because you need to keep the CD/DVD wet or the sander belt will wear out quickly.
Tip for using it: KEEP THE DISC WET! I wore out my first sander quickly because I didn't want to babysit the process, and went off to get this or that done and came back. I think that's the mistake that some people make. Use the little spray bottle of water to keep it moist, and you'll be fine.
I'ave rescued many used CD's (I buy most music used, then copy it to my hard drive), even some horribly scratched library CD's and DVD's with this.
It works, and it's reasonably priced. What more can you want?
Tom B
Customer Review: Save yourself some cranking
Summary: 4 Stars
I have used the hand cranked version of product and its sister product the Skip Doctor to repair a few dozen CDs and DVDs. They have worked well in most cases. I use Exact Audio Copy to make MP3s. I have had disc show up with errors in EAC and then rip perfectly after a run through the Doctor.
The Doctors use a wet sanding technique to remove a layer of plastic over the whole surface of a disk to get remove scratches. It is not a spot polisher. The Doctors will not fix very deep scratches, but they will do a good job on light scratches, even if there are hundreds of them. Some times, even if a run through the Doctor does not completely remove a visible scratch, it will help enough to fix an error. You will notice that the disk will be covered with hundreds of very light radial sanding marks. These will buff out some with the included felt pad, but not completely. I have not had these cause a disk to play any worse than it was before.
Note: These machines WILL NOT repair Nintendo Game Cube games and other small form disks. The only disk I have had totally fail repair was a Game Cube game.