Don Best vs. Sportstracker

[mls]

Like reno I have found Skybook to be a great book with different numbers. Because of the Don Best feed almost half my plays were with Skybook.

Skybook is no longer with Don Best. Skybook now has a live feed with the Feist service, Sportstracker II ($300/mo vs. Don Best $500/mo).


Anyone have any experience with Sportstracker II?

Because I want Skybook I am considering switching from Don Best to Sportstracker.

[phaedrus]

If you are thinking of Sportstracker, don't pay $300/month. Haggle with the guys you will be able to get it much cheaper than that especially if you prepay for more than a few months.

[mls]

Thank you very much phaedrus - very helpful advice!

Now hopefully I will hear from someone that has compared the speed of line changes from Don Best vs. Sportstracker's. (I think they are the exact same since I think both services update their lines via computer feed from the books.)

[jinxbebe]

Sportstracker offers a 3 day trial FREE

[This message has been edited by jinxbebe (edited 04-07-2000).]

[Chester]

MLS,
Unfortunately if you make the switch from Don Best to Sportstracker you will find that it was a mistake...Possibilities of having both services running at the same time might help but getting rid of Don Best is definitely not the right choice.

[mls]

Chester - thank you for responding but your reply omits any facts.

For example, is Sportstracker II slower? does it not offer the major offshore books (I don't care about Vegas books anyway)?

Maybe you simply don't like a tout like Feist. But I am only interested in how their services compare ...

[JohnnyDeMarco]

Don Best vs SportsTracker? Forget it. No contest. I run them both side by side all day long.
offshore line changes- advantage DB
Nevada line changes- advantage ST
score updates- advantage DB
mistakes-advantage DB
hours of operation-advantage DB
injuries-advantage DB
weather-advantage DB
ease of operation-advantage DB
overnight lines-easy advantage DB-because of close ties with CRIS & Caribi. Feist opening morning lines means nothing because DB had them the night before.
futures-advantage DB
price of service-advantage ST, but right now the savings don't justify the difference. $500 at Don Best gets you everything.

[fairfax]

what books does sportstracker use. all it says are 8 offshore books

[t-bone]

Skybooks lines are available at www.skybook.com
Are these the same as on Linetracker?

[jinxbebe]

I know they offer skybook
looselines
Mirage
Stardust
Binions
Isle 1
isle 2
Isle 3
i think SOS
and some more

[ShiftySheik]

I used Sportstracker a couple years ago. It's a good service but you get what you pay for. If you can't afford DB, Sportstracker is a good choice. There were times when the offshore lines did not update, I'd call the book and get a different line. I havn't used it since '98 so it may be better now. After my subscription expired they offered me a great price (around $1800) if I prepayed for one year. I told the guy to get Skybook on the feed and I might go for it. A good thing about Sportstracker is that it runs fine on an old PC. I used to run it on a P-100.

[Boomer]

Skybook's lines are available on their internet software, which they will offer you for download if you have an account there.

I too am very sorry that Skybook is off the feed and wish these two could patch their differences and reconcile.

[reno]

If the competition between Feist and Don Best escalates, the thing you have to wonder about is if books will be allowed to simultaneously be on both screens. A bidding war could start, and books might end up signing contracts that lock them into an exclusive arrangement.

I wish I could say I'm a Jim Feist fan. But I'm not. So the whole affair saddens me all the more.

[reno]

Boomer or anyone else, is their online software in sync with the Don Best screen, thus freeing one from the necessity to sign up with Feist?

[phaedrus]

There is no comparison between the Don Best premium service and Sportstracker, none whatsoever. DB is by far the superior product in terms of casino's and the speed of the moves.

The Java applet that DB runs, though a resource hog even for my pentium 600 is vastly superior in functionality and ease of use.

I just cancelled my DB premium service this month for no reason other than my betting has tailed off and I couldn't justify the nickel a month in expenses. As many here know i don't bet baseball, only bet NBA totals and CFL totals as well as the odd NFL game. In addition i don't follow steam or really so the instant updates didn't really provide me with any use at this point in the NBA season.

I decided instead to opt for Island Xpress and i think it is a great service. In fact if you change the font to 12 and dialog input the look and feel is to the premium service.

At 99 a month its a steal and a great value, i would rather use IX than sportstracker even if Sportstracker lowered their prices to 99 a month, the Java version is that much better.

Here are some things i would change though:

you should have the ability to save your casino preferences and list order just like in the premium service. There is nothing more frustrating than having to reset your order each time you log on.

Along those lines you should also be able to save your font style just as you can save your timezone.

When you click on the score after a game has completed you should be able to get the boxscore just like in the premium service.

The fonts of the line history should also be the same 12 point courier that the premium service uses.

In other words i see no reason to make your ix service inferior to the Don Best Premium service in any way other than speed of the line changes and the number of books.

By doing this Don Best won't hurt his Premium service, as most people are interested in the instant line moves, and he would surely vastly increase his island xpress subscriber base in any event.
Its my opinion that there is a huge market that is willing to pay 99 a month and this could make up for any other defections from the premium service.


Also the Premium service should have the ability to "alert" you when a line becomes available- something sportstracker has.

If Dana could respond to the possibility of adding these features to the island xpress version, i would appreciate it.