Eco Pro 2 disc repair machine... where was this 20 years ago?

[Doggy]

The shop gets  many people with too see if they can remove the marks, some of leave depressed that the mark is on label and is unable remove mark.

[AlphaMale]

1 hour ago, heavyharmonies said:

I've got a Skip Away sitting on a shelf. Piece of garbage. Absolutely nothing like the Eco Pro 2.

I tried the scratch away paste and that didn't do shit either.

[Darkstone]

2 hours ago, heavyharmonies said:

I'm kinda curious to see just what this machine can and can't fix.

You should get an old "expendable" disc, scratch the shit out of it and see how it comes out.

Edited February 19, 2021 by Darkstone

[AlphaMale]

that one youtube video shows a pretty F'ed up disc sent through 60 second cycle and it came out looking much better.

[Darkstone]

Disc maintenance is one thing I don't miss. The other thing that annoyed the shit out of me was when you had a disc that wouldn't play on certain players. I found back then that it was usually the more expensive players that were the most fussy when it came to playing certain discs. 

[KarpetRydOFunk]

3 hours ago, AlphaMale said:

I don't pay attention to either of those assholes. They both are on my ignore list now.

And they wonder why all the good posters left. 

"Just doing my best."

[AlphaMale]

37 minutes ago, Darkstone said:

Disc maintenance is one thing I don't miss. The other thing that annoyed the shit out of me was when you had a disc that wouldn't play on certain players. I found back then that it was usually the more expensive players that were the most fussy when it came to playing certain discs. 

Yeah, hate that!

[martinsane]

I like it. Wish I could make decisions for myself and buy one. I could use it. I too am not a fan of the forced buy in on the product, but I guess thats no worse than printer ink.

[Maarten]

Hey Dan, I was wondering what's the verdict on the Eco Pro 2, now that you have used it for a longer period of time. I'm VERY tempted to buy one, but it's pricey, so I want to make sure it's worth it by watching videos on YouTube and asking users of this machine for their experience with it.

This is a comment on YouTube, reacting on a video and post from someone who was very complimentary about the Eco Pro 2:

"Doesnt matter if it looks alot better, 1min not enough to remove deep scratches, it will only remove surface ones which dont actually make the disc not work. I tried most of these expensive machines with consumable controls. They all end up working out too expensive to actually fix broken discs with heavy scratches. The best thing to do is use the JFJ to sand them then use these as the finisher as its harder on the JFJ to get a consitent finish since the pads break up and can leave buffing marks more easily. I cant remember which machine worked best with the JFJ but some of them dont repair close enough or far enough out on the disc to fully remove the sanding marks. If you're going to get an expensive machine I'd go for the disc go devil since there are no consumable controls. And a tip for anyone using any repair machine. You must wash the disc thoroughly afterwards or else in a few months time the disc will turn cloudy from minute amount of polish left on the disc. It might look perfectly clean but make sure to clean it several times with a clean cloth or it will turn white in a few months".

I know you haven't had this machine for months, but have you heard about the 'cloudy' thing this guy speaks of? Hope to hear from you and others about their experience/tips/where to buy 'cheap' etc.

[Darkstone]

3 minutes ago, Maarten said:

Hey Dan, I was wondering what's the verdict on the Eco Pro 2, now that you have used it for a longer period of time. I'm VERY tempted to buy one, but it's pricey, so I want to make sure it's worth it by watching videos on YouTube and asking users of this machine for their experience with it.

This is a comment on YouTube, reacting on a video and post from someone who was very complimentary about the Eco Pro 2:

"Doesnt matter if it looks alot better, 1min not enough to remove deep scratches, it will only remove surface ones which dont actually make the disc not work. I tried most of these expensive machines with consumable controls. They all end up working out too expensive to actually fix broken discs with heavy scratches. The best thing to do is use the JFJ to sand them then use these as the finisher as its harder on the JFJ to get a consitent finish since the pads break up and can leave buffing marks more easily. I cant remember which machine worked best with the JFJ but some of them dont repair close enough or far enough out on the disc to fully remove the sanding marks. If you're going to get an expensive machine I'd go for the disc go devil since there are no consumable controls. And a tip for anyone using any repair machine. You must wash the disc thoroughly afterwards or else in a few months time the disc will turn cloudy from minute amount of polish left on the disc. It might look perfectly clean but make sure to clean it several times with a clean cloth or it will turn white in a few months".

I know you haven't had this machine for months, but have you heard about the 'cloudy' thing this guy speaks of? Hope to hear from you and others about their experience/tips/where to buy 'cheap' etc.

I was actually wondering the same thing recently. 

 

[heavyharmonies]

I haven't put a whole lot of discs through it recently, as it isn't conducive to doing a few here and a few there. You want to do them in relatively large batches. I have a stack of HD-DVDs that I'm going to be doing at some point here in the next few weeks.

Also, I tend not to buy discs that are heavily trashed. If the scratches are so deep or so prevalent, you're unlikely to be able to turn the disc into anything saleable or tradable.

It all depends what you're wanting it for. It's not a "magic bullet". It won't resurrect discs that are too far gone. However, what it will do is take lightly scratched/scuffed discs and make the faults almost disappear (or at least require very close scrutiny to notice) as well as "clean" the disc bottoms of fingerprints, smudges, etc.

Keep in mind that most of us here are likely far more particular and meticulous with respect to assessing the condition of a disc than 95% of the populace. If it's one of us going over the surface of the disc using 10x magnification, yeah, you'll see that "something" had been done at some point in time. For the average consumer though, it will look and behave like a brand new disc. That's why all of the Disc Replay stores here in the midwest have them.

For DEEP scratches, then you need to move up to the $5K++ machines, as even repeated runs through the Eco Pro 2 will only do so much for deep scratches. That's why most of the stores have a higher-end machine in a back room in addition to several Eco Pro 2 on the front counter.

I'm not looking for it to salvage disasters. I'm looking to minimize returns/complaints on eBay, which this unit does fine and dandy.

I think the "cloudy" affect is more likely with blu-rays and possibly certain game discs than music CDs due to the different surface types and methods the Pro 2 uses. On Blu-Rays it leaves a fairly thick dry film that has to be manually wiped off thoroughly, whereas with CDs and DVDs that isn't the case.

[heavyharmonies]

Bringing this back up as they are running a sale on refurb units (like the one I bought) but $200 lower than what I paid.... bastards! 

$795 right now: https://www.elm-usa.com/collections/product-range/products/copy-of-eco-pro2-factory-refurbished-demo

I used the machine quite a lot over last summer and fall, and I'm completely sold on the unit for CDs and DVDs, not so much on blu-rays as the latter leave a dried residue that has to be manually wiped off. However, blu-rays have a more scratch-resistant surface to begin with so are less likely to be in need of repairing. Usually it's fingerprints, which a simple microfiber cloth can fix.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

3 hours ago, heavyharmonies said:

Bringing this back up as they are running a sale on refurb units (like the one I bought) but $200 lower than what I paid.... bastards! 

$795 right now: https://www.elm-usa.com/collections/product-range/products/copy-of-eco-pro2-factory-refurbished-demo

I used the machine quite a lot over last summer and fall, and I'm completely sold on the unit for CDs and DVDs, not so much on blu-rays as the latter leave a dried residue that has to be manually wiped off. However, blu-rays have a more scratch-resistant surface to begin with so are less likely to be in need of repairing. Usually it's fingerprints, which a simple microfiber cloth can fix.

Bargain! ;}