Skip Dr review

30 September 2004 0:32 GMT / By Debbie Davies

You're speeding along enjoying a bit of road rage when all of a sudden the Miami freeway in front of you just disappears and it's game over. A scratch on your disc has crashed the game. You can start again but it is very likely the problem will happen again and again. This is when Skip Dr comes in useful. The gadget claims to repair abrasions and light to medium scratches on discs. It claims to work on all sorts of discs including music CDs, DVDs and games console discs. You put the disc in the motorized holder and spray it with a resurfacing solution. Once the holder is switched on, the disc spins very rapidly and the solution resurfaces the protective layer. The music, movie, data or game information, which is held in an aluminium layer under a protective lacquer, remains unaffected.

We put Skip Dr to the test on our Grand Theft Auto Vice City disc. The game was stopping just as we reached a good speed for mowing people down. After treatment, both the scratch and the problem with crashing had disappeared. We also repaired music CDs that were jumping. This motorized version is easier to use than the cheaper, manually operated Skip Dr.

The gadget does not work if discs are deeply gouged, warped or cracked. Nor does it repair scratches on the labels on discs which can sometimes be the more vulnerable side if you've applied them and they've gotten caught. A scratch across the metal, label side of a CD makes it skip or become unreadable. Everything you need to repair discs is included in the box, although we quickly ran out of resurfacing solution. A replacement accessory set, which is enough to repair 50 discs, costs about £10.00.

Verdict

Discs are best kept in their case. If looked after, they are an incredibly reliable storage format: much more so than tapes. But how many of us have drawers full of CDs slipping about one on top of the other because we can't be bothered? Cases are often great at protecting the CD when we drop them but that's when we stick them in the bin, leading to the disc mountains. Skip Dr is therefore a really useful gadget, even for the tidiest techie.

This product was kindly loaned to us by BoysStuff

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Review Recap

Made by: BoysStuff
Price as reviewed: £55
The good: It works
The bad: Over priced and resurfacing solution runs out quickly
Quick verdict: A useful gadget for those who can't remember to put discs back in their case
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