Review: Apex Disc Golf Hand Warmer

Since we play disc golf year round here in Northern Utah, we end up playing many months of the year in cold temperatures. Knowing that, I’m always on the lookout for products that keep my hands warm during the colder months of the year. When Infinite recently started selling the Apex disc golf hand warmer, I was excited to try it out and see if it would be something that would help keep my throwing hand warm when the temperatures started falling below freezing. I was VERY happy with the results of my testing!

 

When the temperatures start to dip here in Cache Valley, we slowly start adding layers, covering bare skin, and seeking devices to warm us when we’re playing those chilly winter rounds. There are a few options out there for keeping our hands warm. There are the disposable hand warmers, catalyst hand warmers (Zippo hand warmers, for example), and rechargeable electric hand warmers.  Although I like the disposable type for their effectiveness, I prefer not to keep spending money all winter long.

 

When Infinite first got the Apex hand warmer, I immediately started testing it to see if it was something that I could use for the upcoming winter months. Here is a breakdown of the features of the warmer.

  • Four LED lights to indicate the heat level of the warmer
  • Four heat setting that you can scroll through with the push of a button
  • Two USB ports for charging a phone or other item.
  • Soft pouch for holding the warmer
  • Micro-USB charging cable

 

 

To test the Apex, I just turned on the warmer and set it to the lowest setting. Then I put it in my pocket and timed until I noticed it stopped producing hear. Then I charged it up and tried it on the next level. By the time I got to the third level, it was actually a tad too warm in my pocket. Plus, I wanted to test the Apex in conditions that were more like how I would be using it: in the cold. So, I put the warmer inside my Rovic Mitten and put it in the freezer. A thermometer in the freezer indicated temperature ranged between 2-7 degrees Fahrenheit. On the fourth level, I just set the warmer inside the freezer, then checked it every half hour or so. Here are the results of the testing.

 

As I mentioned above, the warmer also has USB ports that can be used to charge things like cell phones. To test that, I charged my iPhone from 60% to 100% to simulate charging it enough to use it. Then I set the Apex to level two and ran it until it died. Even after charging the phone, the warmer lasted 9 hours!

 

One of the down sides to the Apex hand warmer is how long it takes to charge. It isn’t something you can charge for an hour before you leave to play disc golf and expect it to stay warm the entire time. It takes over seven hours to fully charge using a 2 Amp wall charger. That isn’t a big deal if you remember to charge it the night before you’ll need to use it. However, I did want to test it to see how long it would stay warm if you forgot to charge it until you were getting ready to play. To do that, I ran it until the battery died, then charged it for an hour. Then I set the heat to level 2 and timed how long it lasted. It only lasted about an hour and a half.

Long term testing

 

The only issue I’ve had with the Apex so far is with the four LED lights. Two of them are slightly dimmer than the other two. I don’t know if they shifted inside the case, or if they are faulty. That doesn’t affect the performance of the warmer, it just makes those two lights a little more difficult to see in sunlight. The LED’s were all functioning properly when I first got the warmer and I noticed the change a couple of weeks after constant use.

 

I will keep testing the Apex warmer to see how long it keeps working. I’ve only had it for about six or seven weeks, using it nearly every day. So far, it keeps on heating like it did when I first got it. I’ll keep testing it and update this blog after I’ve used it for another couple of months.

 

 

 

 

Even with the Apex I’m still not looking forward to winter disc golf. But it’s nice to know that I will stay a little warmer because if it. It’s a product I highly recommend checking out. The Apex hand warmer lasts a long time and produces some amazing heat. Check them out here:

https://infinitediscs.com/Products/Accessories/18399/Apex-Disc-Golf-Electronic-Hand-Warmer

 

 

 

 

What Disc Golf Accessories Do We Own

 

2021 State of Disc Golf

 

What Accessories Do We Own

 

One of the benefits of our sport is that it is relatively inexpensive to get started. A beginner who wants to play casually can get a few base-plastic discs and find a course that is free to play. For $20, you could be set for the summer. Even if you opt for premium plastics and a small bag, you could keep your expenses under $50. Compared to ball golf or many other sports, that is a bargain! Plus, that easy entry into the sport contributes to its growth. Even if you are buying discs for the whole family, it’s still a cheap hobby.

Once we’ve been playing for very long at all, we start considering some of the other disc golf related items we could use when we play. A mini is a necessity if you play tournaments and even leagues. Towels are nice in case our discs or our hands get damp. Maybe a bigger bag? Or how about jumping up to a cart? While disc golf CAN be played inexpensively, one can also spend a lot of money upgrading to the best discs, bags, and many varieties of accessories and apparel. For the 2021 State of Disc Golf survey, we wanted to see what disc golf paraphernalia was the most popular. We asked about accessories, apparel, water bottles, and what we use to haul our gear around. Let’s take a look at what items were the most popular.

Accessories

 

In the survey, we listed popular accessories and asked how many of them we own. Not too surprising that the number one answer was a plastic mini. Number seven is a premium mini (made out of wood, glass, etc.). Although there were a lot of people who indicated that they own both a plastic and a premium mini. The bottom line is that nearly all of us have a mini of one kind or another. If you play in a sanctioned event, you really NEED a mini. That need, along with the fact that the regularly show up in player’s packs, makes it easy to see why the mini is number one. Here are the results:

 

 

When I consider what accessories I own, and what I see my buddies use, most of these numbers look right. There is one that looks glaringly wrong: the ubiquitous water bottle. Less than half of us own a water bottle? It wouldn’t have surprised me if the water bottle were the number one accessory. I know a few golfers that use bladders, similar to the CamelBak. But that doesn’t account for what I consider to be a lot smaller percentage of people who indicate they don’t own a water bottle, than what I see on the course.

More Accessories

 

Towels and grip enhancers are two more items that I see enough on the disc golf course that it is not surprising to see them at the top of the list. Rounding out the list is an item that we’ve been see a lot more advertising for in the past few years: the rangefinder. I see a lot more of these in use than even a year ago. With less expensive options like the Apex Rangefinder, it is easier to justify getting one.

 

Water Bottles

 

Speaking of water bottles, we also asked in the survey what kind of water bottles. Jesse from Trash Panda Disc Golf will be happy to hear that over 80% of us prefer reusable water bottles. (To see what Jesse is doing for sustainable disc golf, check out our blog post featuring Jesse here). Like so many of us have discovered, the double-wall insulated water bottles are the most effective at keeping your beverages cold. Pro tip: you CAN put too much ice in these types of water bottles and end up with nothing but ice after you drink all the liquid. That’s a bummer on a hot day. Experiment with the level of ice to see what works best for your water bottle. Here are the results:

 

 

Apparel

 

Whether you are talking about a sports team, shoe company, favorite band, or YouTube celebrity, many of us like to show our loyalty by wearing apparel from the companies, individual, or groups that we support. It’s no different with disc golfers, so we asked in the survey what branded apparel we own? I would have thought that tee shirts and hats would have been at the top of the list, but I would have bet on hats being the number one choice. Here are the results:

 

 

In addition to tee shirts and hats, rounding out the top five are hoodies, polo shirts, and beanies. Personally, I have everything on the list but a branded jacket, shorts, and pants. The percentages listed in the results represent 2/3 of us. Slightly over 33% of us indicated that we don’t own branded apparel of any kind on the list. That’s surprising, given how frequently these items show up in player’s packs.

 

Hauling Discs Around

 

The final category we’ll look at today is how we carry our discs. We let people choose all that apply to them, so the percentages add up to more than 100%. Taking the top spot is the popular backpack bag. We don’t have to play disc golf for long before we have enough discs and accessories to justify getting a backpack bag. They are great for casual rounds and multi-day tournaments. Some golfers even get a cart that can hold their backpack bag, to use on cart-friendly courses. Over 77% of us have a backpack bag. That’s more than three times the second most popular choice, the small bag with a single strap. Here are all of the results:

 

Only about 1% of us don’t use a bag or cart. And 5% of us use some kind of bag we’ve repurposed for disc golf. Everyone else has at least a small bag. About 20 % of us have a cart of some kind.  Only about 11% of us use a large style bag.

Comment Below

 

What is your most important accessory? The one thing you couldn’t imagine playing disc golf without? Let us know in the comments below and we can see what accessory you value the most.

September New Products Released

During the month of September, we’ve released a handful of new products which merit a mention. They are all strewn about the disc golf necessities: baskets, accessories, cart accessories, apparel, towels, and other accessories.

Baskets:

We’ve added three new portable baskets to our line up. They are all from Viking Discs and are affordable. There is the Royal Basket, the Battle Basket Pro, and the Polar Basket.

The Royal Basket has the heaviest chains on it, it is PDGA approved – meaning you can use it for target practice or a temporary course. It assembles and dissembles relatively quick. You can see the basket easily with the white band on top.

The Battle Basket Pro is a lightweight and low cost basket. This is designed to be more portable, leading to easy assembly and disassembly. It doesn’t have two rows of chains like the Royal Basket, but they’ve interconnected the chains to limit chain outs. This is a great at home practice target.

The Polar Basket is a smaller basket and very lightweight. It is designed slightly smaller than the regular basket to improve accuracy or for kids to learn and play on. This is a good portable basket to take with you camping, to a park, or to a day outing.

All of these baskets are on sale til the end of October 2020; $29.99 for the Pole Basket, $74.99 for the Battle Basket Pro, and $129.99 for the Royal Basket.

 

Accessories:

Infinite Discs is adding a new grip enhancement to the market, the Infinite Discs Chalk Ball. This tool is filled with magnesium carbonate grip chalk, similar to what rock climbers use. It features a bag to hold the ball of chalk, to prevent the chalk from spreading onto your clothes or bag. It also comes with a carabiner to attach it to your bag or to a belt loop for quick access. You can also tie off the pouch to prevent the ball from falling out while playing or for storage. Available for purchase for $9.99.

 

Cart Accessories:

Briggsiware has printed up some accessories for your Zuca cart. We now carry a Zuca Cart Handle cover, and some putter clips to attach to the handle stem of your cart.

Briggisware Zuca Cart Handle Grip is a 3D printed grip to slip onto your metal Zuca Cart handle. This is made out of a durable plastic to enhance the comfort and grip of your Zuca Cart. It is a quick install that will last a long time, enhancing the control and grip on your Zuca Cart. You can buy this on our site for $15.99.

Briggsiware Zuca Cart Putter Clip & Double Putter Clip are clips that you can attach to the stem of the Zuca Cart handle. This will place your putter(s) in a convenient location, near the handle of your cart! You can buy a single ($10.99) or a double clip ($19.99), to fit the amount of putters you like to take up to you to the basket. They are easy to install and use.

 

Apparel:

We released a Infinite branded Neck Gator. This way you can have protection around town and on the course from the sun, or from COVID-19. This has our bar logo in a “X” shape, offering a cool design from afar and the ability to rep Infinite Discs upon closer inspection. This is available for only $8.45 while the sale goes on.

 

Towels:

New to the towel section is the Kastaplast Towel. This is soft towel that is good to wick-away moisture from your discs. This comes in a little pouch for storage and play, designed to keep your towel out of the weeds, grass, dirt, or pavement. This will keep your towel safe from snagging on weeds, getting weed debris stuck in it, and keeping it clean. You can buy this for $7.95

 

Other Accessories:

Phoenix Displays has released a new and improved way to display your discs. Check out the Phoenix Wall Hangers. You can use these wall hangers to ensure that your discs will stay on the wall, be level, and on a straight line with your other mounted discs. You can chose between a tack, nail, or screw to attach the disc hanger to the wall. Now you can show off your ace discs and other good looking discs with ease. Prices vary depending on the pack you pick. Check out the video for a better explanation of the hanger:

Tips for Applying LED Lights to Disc Golf Discs

Disc Golf Disc with Light

Throwing at night with LED disc golf lights attached to your discs is a fun and amazing experience. We sometimes joke that during these “night rounds” of disc golf, that the authorities will be called due to sightings of UFO’s in the area. There’s really nothing quite like it. So get your warm clothes out, and keep playing at night!

With an LED light attached to your disc in the dark, we find that it is easier to find your disc during the night than during the day. However, LED’s attached to your disc can have a few drawbacks. So we’ve put together some “best practices” to make your night round as enjoyable as possible.

Need some disc lights? We’ve got a few! Buy Disc Lights Here!

Disc Golf Light Best Practices:

1: Use plenty of quality tape

We actually use the same packaging tape which we send your orders out with to secure lights to the dis.. This is the Scotch packaging tape made by 3M, and it works perfectly. This is transparent tape. We have seen others use duct tape to secure the light to the disc; duct tape works very well, but will sometimes leave a sticky residue afterwards.

2: Apply tape to clean discs

If you have a dirt or oil on your disc, the tape will stick to that instead of the disc plastic. This will cause your light to fall of your disc when it comes in contact with another object. You can clean your disc off by rinsing and rubbing it, or you can actually clean it off with some dish soap like you’re doing the dishes. Do not use anything abrasive, unless you hate the stock stamp that came on your disc and you like scuffs. A gentle wash should clean your disc nicely.

3: Apply tape when it is warm

This is where advanced preparation is incredibly important. We suggest doing this a day in advance. If that is not realistic, at least a few hours in advanced. Take your discs inside and let them come to room temperature. Once warm, apply the tape (which should also be room temperature) to the disc golf lights and discs, and let the tape settle in and adhere for a couple hours.

4: Place Light Correctly, Use Transparent Discs

Some people will place the light on the top of the disc, or they’ll place it on the bottom with the light facing towards the ground. This is not the best way to place your light. The best way is to tape the light to the bottom of your disc, with the light shining through the plastic. This gives the light some additional protection, decreases drag above the disc, and gives you the most visibility.

5: Package the disc golf light in clear tape, prior to applying disc light to disc

This serves two purposes:

  1. It may waterproof the disc light.
  2. Prevents damage to the light when removing the light from the disc (you’ll thank us later!)

6: Two Lights is Better than One

Two lights flying look amazing, just like a UFO. We admit, we haven’t seen a UFO, but we’ve heard from others who have that this is what they look like. Also, two lights will decrease your chance of losing the disc, if one light comes lose.

If you do so, understand that these lights are 2.9 grams (roughly 3.1g if you have taped them over), and will affect flight. You will not have the truest flight to what you are use to with that disc. However, to keep flight consistent, place the lights on opposite ends.

7: Attach disc golf lights to targets or obstacles

It’s great that your disc is now visible, but unless you light up your target, you may be out of luck.

8: Buy from Infinite Discs

Our pricing is the best. The higher the quantity package you order, the better pricing that you will receive (on both shipping and cost per item). Our prices are so excellent that even larger stores purchase their lights from us at the 20 quantity pricing.

If you’re serious about disc golf after dark, you may also want to consider purchasing glow in the dark discs. Not all discs glow as well as others (most trilogy discs in terms of glow-ability, are almost worthless). These discs work best when you use a UV black light flashlight, and also worked great when a disc light is also attached to them for maximum visibility.

9: Not PDGA Approved (Somewhat True)

Every time we say something about playing in the night with disc lights, somebody will point out that lights are not PDGA approved. We use to think this was true, until Dan R. chimed in below:

Q: Are players allowed to tape LED lights on discs for night or winter play?

A glow stick or LED light may be attached/taped to any PDGA Approved disc for use in sanctioned events where play occurs after sunset in that time zone. In addition, these lights may be attached to PDGA Approved discs for use during sanctioned play in daylight, specifically when there is sufficient snow cover on the course where the lights might make discs easier to locate. Non-PDGA Approved discs such as those with built-in LED lights cannot be used at any time during sanctioned play.

So when the self-proclaimed PDGA police come out after sunset, you can grimly point them to PDGA FAQ.

10: If Playing at Night Public Parks, Inform Local Law Enforcement

Many public parks have a curfew, or will not allow citizens to be at them after dark. However, if you inform your local law enforcement in advance that you are organizing an event they will more-than-likely be happy to let you hold your event after dark.

11: Do not use flashlights or phones

Over time, your eyes will adjust to the dark. If you use a flashlight or whip out your phone to check Facebook, it will make finding your discs more difficult; especially if you have a buddy who is using glow discs. If you are going to use a bright light, give your fellow players a warning so they can shield their eyes. It’s much easier to see disc golf lights when your eyes are adjusted to the darkness.

Check out this article for more disc golf in the dark tips.

We want to know:

What is your favorite course to play in the dark (don’t forget to tell us which state!).
Are there any other “best practices which you would like to add?
How often do you disc golf at night through the cooler months?