Greetings,

Does anyone use or have used Ice's Dove Retainers, what are you comments, pros or cons about them?

G0THIKE

I used them for a short time but didn't like them. I had trouble getting them open once I was hooked up. Maybe I didn't work with them enough but I've found a better method in my opinion.
Gold finger uses a similar hook up and they work for him just fine. To each his own I guess.

Dave,

Are we talking about the same thing? The Ice’s dove retainer is not a dove bag, the retainer has a mylar lining inside and opening sorta like a dove pocket but smaller. The dove is in the retainer with an invisible harness and when you produce the bird the retainer stays in the dove pocket. It is a dove bag-dove pocket that goes inside the regular size dove pocket for invisible harness productions.

The idea behind it is to save some set-up time with invisible productions. You basically take your time putting them in the retainers and have them in a safe place and when you get the “Your On in 3 minutes” you can place them in your dove pockets ASAP with his loop connect.

Anyone use these?

G0THIKE

Sorry, my mistake. Trying to work on several projects and and be on the Café at the same time. I was thinking about the loop connect not the retainer. So back to the original question, I have never used the retainer but I know it makes the production very slick and quick. A similar system can be used for regular productions. The dove bags just fly into your hand.

I've seen them an attempted to use them but they sucked. There's really no point in using them, you may as well just load the dove with a dove loading device, ie: mylar, a postcard, etc. I've seen people use them and actually pull out the dove retainer by accident.

Sperris

I started using them a while back when I had this one dove turn completely around in the pocket. Freaked me out So I went with this. I found it ok most of the time but have had it snag a few times. Any opinions on how I could stick with just a pocket and not worry about the dove turning around?

Ya, I recommend just staying away from those all together.

The concept is not unreasonable. In practice it is just one more thing that can go wrong. In short, I don't want anything in the pocket that is not expected to come out with the dove. (Because it will!)

Loading doves is part of the act just like getting dressed. If you can't get help loading doves, use a slide cut from a file folder. Paper or card file folders will work. The neatest slide is made from a plastic file folder, it is washable and comes in pretty colors. (Mine came from that famous magic shop: WalMart!)

Enjoy!

Bob

I personally don't like the retainers to much of a hassle, when I am doing dove productions that involve invisable harnesses believe it or not what I found out that works for me by trial and error is I took one of my 8x10 pictures and folded it in half with the backside inward, load the dove into the fold and put the whole thing in your dove pocket and leave it their. I have yet to have the picture come out, the bird comes out smoothly and quick! without a problem.