‘Hello Disc’ audible disc locator

[seedlings]

This is snazzy. One of those things you and your card mates imagine, but this guy actually did it - a beeping tone circuit that weighs 5 grams, glued to underneath of your disc. I suppose it would be kind of like carrying a floating disc - attach this to a putter or mid for snow rounds.

http://www.hellodisc.net

 

[MarkDSM]

Nice. 14$ is not too unreasonable.

 

[dreadlock86]

i'm still surprised there is not already sticky tape with an embedded RFID chip that you can use for this combined with an app on your phone. maybe it's not as cost efficient as i might think

 

[dysmike]

You can't get a passive RFID farther than 12m, that's with professional readers. Those aren't cheap.

 

[ru4por]

Shrug....I am not convinced there is any electronic technology that really improves my disc golfing experience. Just because it can be done, does not always mean it should. I will just really try to keep an eye on my disc.

 

[glassila]

I would struggle to play a round with 1 or 2 discs. At $14 I doubt if I'd be outfitting more discs than that.
I suppose it's better to play with 1 or 2 discs then to not play at all.

 

[elmexdela]

literally only one disc in my bag that i care if i lose

the rest are expendable

 

[Countchunkula]

For some reason this reminds me of: "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up."

 

[Innova63]

Shrug.... I will just really try to keep two eyes on my disc.

FTFY

Or in my case, four eyes...

 

[rocthecourse]

Having bagged a bunch of courses with nasty thick rough I can see where something like this would improve my disc golf experience. It would also be nice to have on holes with 4'+ tall prairie grass, especially in 80+ degree weather when the it's really humid. Or holes with soy bean fields, I hate looking for discs in soy bean fields.

I still think someone could make it and sell if cheaper. But $14 isn't bad and if it can save me time when I'm out bagging new courses it will be worth it. It's going on my "things to buy" list.



EDIT: Also, since it looks like "Disc Beeper" went out of business this will be good for blind disc golfers.

 

[dreadlock86]

You can't get a passive RFID farther than 12m, that's with professional readers. Those aren't cheap.

i've never been 12m off when looking for an errant disc

 

[dysmike]

i've never been 12m off when looking for an errant disc

Ok, you'll pay about 4 grand for that reader

 

[seedlings]

Ok, you'll pay about 4 grand for that reader

Does it have a cool stamp?

 

[HyooMac]

In my experience, I have trouble finding a disc in rough because I'm not looking in the right place; I've over- or under-estimated the distance. When I widen my sweep, I find the disc. I realize an audible beeping would help, but I'm not so worried about rough.

I looked through my list of 18 discs I've lost over the years (yes, I keep track...), and about 1/3 of them were lost in places where the beeper wouldn't help (on roof, under water, behind barbed wire fence). I wonder if I'd have been even madder to lose a disc AND a $14 beeper. Jeez- the thought of that thing beeping at me from the other side of a wired security fence...


Almost lost one that slid under a pile of leaves on Saturday. I think leaves are the biggest nemesis, because you can be looking in the right spot and not see your disc.

I like the idea of this accessory, but I really wanted to post about how much I hate leaves.

 

[F. Howl]

This is snazzy. One of those things you and your card mates imagine, but this guy actually did it - a beeping tone circuit that weighs 5 grams, glued to underneath of your disc. I suppose it would be kind of like carrying a floating disc - attach this to a putter or mid for snow rounds.


TOBU already did this. GPS and chirping feature. Had a test disc from their kickstart, but my phone was crap at the time, and TOBU's app kept crashing on it.

 

[Martin Dewgarita]

I started this thread 10 years ago: https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29203 Obviously I wasn't the only one with the idea, as youtube videos and other threads are linked (probably since the first disc that was lost, people were trying to come up with ways to keep that from happening again). The bacon grease never really worked either, I had a whole blog series on that one.

Anyway, maybe it's because I play so much less, and when I am throwing most everyone else is in the "no ribbons" camp, but I haven't had the urge to tape anything to my disc (besides LED in the dark) in quite some time. Having a dog does help, Aspen still can't stiff them out of the snow at all, but thick grass, leaves, shallow water, he can usually be pretty helpful. But I also have certainly gotten better at keeping an eye on my disc, like very specifically, I never leave the tee pad until the disc comes to a stop, then I mark it visually/mentally and never take my concentration off of it. I get stressed out if my disc might possibly be obscured, and I have to stop and look for someone else's lie..

I've found that I lose far less discs when I only play like once a week and most often at courses I'm familiar with, rather than 3-8 new courses each day.

 

[itsRudy]

Device on the OP is rather nice. I often thought about such a contraption. I hope it goes down in form factor some in future generations and down to $5 (or sets of 4 for $20) as it's very simple circuitry (just a timer and a buzzer/sound) and a watch battery. Right now it's looks big enough that it will snap on another dig sliding into the bag.

This would save some drivers. I almost never lost a midrange and never a putter -- unless it was under leaves.

It's something I would definitely buy for a cherished drive or two but until it gets cheaper that's about it. Still, I would have to get a drive about 5 grams lighter than normal as I don't care what the ad says, it impacts flight.

i'm still surprised there is not already sticky tape with an embedded RFID chip that you can use for this combined with an app on your phone. maybe it's not as cost efficient as i might think

I investigated RFID, passive RFID is not a location, rather a distance thing. You can triangulate with maybe two readers or two tags, but this is still under academic papers and way beyond disc golf niche. Right now just for indoor location, they are having 4-5 RFID readers in a room just to narrow down locations. And that's expensive. Active RFID has a battery and gps added, like those tile devices, so it's a whole buncha weight plus replacing them after a year due to drained battery.

Walmart wanted to force RFID on manufacturers, embedding chips the size of a grain of rice, already 20 years ago, to save inventorying costs, and they couldn't even push it through.

 

[dysmike]

We have enough problems with active RFID failing to be read randomly, causing 2000lb machines to be listed as 'missing'.