Furutech Vinyl flattener or the ORB ?


Anyone have experience with these two devices? The ORB unit looks to be the same as the Furutech but at a MUCH lower cost. Any feedback appreciated!
varyat
Yes.  Orb make all record flatteners globally and OEM them to Furutech and Air Tight.

I have owned the Orb DF-02 for around 7 years and it has worked flawlessly.  

Orb have the DF-03 now, but you may be able to get NOS of the DF-02 on ebay.
Buy direct from Japan - All you need is a step down transformer.

highly recommended
@downunder : Question for you downunder-- will you do repeated sessions (not necessarily back to back, but over time) with the DF-2 if the record still has problems in playback after a single session? I have had some records that flatten and play well after a single cycle. Others- not so much- the records will get flatter, but in some cases, there still seem to be anomalies- the record looks "out of round" or even if not something visible, on playback, the record will still skip- sometimes, it seems that edge warps on old vinyl are the worst due to vinyl memory and long standing warps (though that isn’t consistent either- I flattened an early UK pressing of Truth on the EMI-Columbia label easily in one session though the record had edge warps in addition to larger gradual potato chip type warps). Sometimes, and this is just conjecture on my part, I think the groove path is "off" and flattening does not fix that, in fact, it may exacerbate the problem-
I’d be interested in your experience. The instructions that come with the DF-2 suggest that only a single session is appropriate and caution against repeated sessions. TIA.

Hi whart

Yes I do give some albums more than one flatten session.  I generally use the 2 hour timer or the 2.5 hour if it looks a little more dished than normal. some warps which are localised on one area will need a couple of flattens.  I will generally let go overnight, then cook again while I am at work.  Does not happen to much these two days.

  the flattener will work perfectly on any dished lp or mild warps.  Any warp that has caused the grooves to be deformed cannot be fixed. The flattener only flattens, it can't move the grooves forward or back when they are deformed - have to throw those out unfortunately.

  You will find some GZ pressings of the late 2000's and early 2010's will actually fry in the flattener as GZ decided to change to some POS soft vinyl compound.  They don't do that anymore.

cheers
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Agree with Dave. Vinyl Flat with Groovy Pouch does the job. I usually go straight to 4 hour heating and it is enough, unless a record has a sharp warp. For very heavy records (like today´s 180 g) I give 5 - 6 hours treatment.
As Downunder says, flattening only flattens not fixes deformed grooves.
Vinyl Flat is a great best buy. Highly recommended.