Which Sport Ident card to buy?

[andy]

Go for a V6, its fast and works everywhere.

couldn't agree more, v6 is definitely the way to go

[DJM]

From British Orienteering's Tips for Controllers – How to control SportIdent

Competitor cards:
SI-Card 5 The ‘classic’ and most widely-owned SI-card. Can hold 30
punches with code and time, 6 more with code only (but the order of
visiting is known) plus start, finish and check times. Punching time 0.33
seconds. Card nos 1 - 499999
SI-Card 6 Can hold 64 punches with code and time plus start, finish, clear
and check times. Punching time 0.13 seconds. Card nos 500000 to
999999
SI-Card 9 (In 2008, they are still very rare) Can hold 50 punches with
code and time plus start, finish and clear times. Punching time 0.115
seconds. Card nos 1000000 – 1999999 Can only be used with SIstations
BSF-7/8

No mention of type 8 here at all so the document will need updating (currently dated July 2008) - at the time, I believe type 8 was sold only for "training" use.

There's also a useful SI comparison chart at https://www.sportident.co.uk/ssl/sicard/SPORTident-CardComparison.PDF

Conclusion: go for type 6!

[Spookster]

There are about 12,000 people registered with BO, and of those 5,695 have a registered SI e-card. Only 7 of those were 7-digit cards in January 2010 (the date of my data). They are still rare.

[MIE]

There are about 12,000 people registered with BO, and of those 5,695 have a registered SI e-card. Only 7 of those were 7-digit cards in January 2010 (the date of my data). They are still rare.

And the SportIdent UK database (also from Jan 2010) has 20,000plus registered SI cards of which 19 are named individuals with 7 digit cards. Interestingly the 7 digit V6 I have knowledge of(see earlier post) is not on the list. So as Spookster says -- pretty rare.

[EddieH]

I lost a 6 digit "fast" card in Oz and had to buy a new 7 digit one which I thought was a reasonable price - no mention of type - and I have used it for over a year since back in the UK with no issues.

My old card arrived in the post having been found at a subsequent event I guess I am better off using that in future. It would be nice to know how I could find out exactly what I've got.

I naively assumed that newer versions would automatically be better than older ones, and would definitely work with all equipment.

[madmike]

It would be nice to know how I could find out exactly what I've got.

e-mail the number to:

martin.stone@sportident.co.uk

and ask?

[madmike]

or even better try:

Debbie Thompson - SI-Card Co-ordinator debbie.thompson@sportident.co.uk

[graeme]

Go for a V6, its fast and works everywhere.

Mine didn't work at the CompassSport cup final... and I bought it 'cos my v5 didn't work at BEOC the year before. (On both occasions the organisers gave me a free hire)

[Marco Polo]

Sacha,

none of this will help you with OD , as they use EMIT

LEI use BSF7/8 , but as with British Champs mentioned above, there could be large events in future where v6 boxes were pulled into service.

I think that for most events you could push for a free loan if you had an incompatible SI Card. I also note think that type 5 dibbers take 2 or 3 more punches than type 8. On that basis, you could get caught out with courses around 30 controls where th planner may not think that a warning that type 6 or better dibbers should be used is needed.

[SachaF]

Thanks for the many and varied replies, definately food for thought. Hubby has gone off and bought a v8 for himself whereas I like to 'sleep on it'.
I'm unlikely to need more than 30 punches (Blue at the weekend was 17 controls, plus start and finish so 19 in total, albeit EMIT as it was an OD event!). I am just concerned about the lack of compatability (anyone WAOC or EAOA able to tell me what stations they use?) which possibly won't be an issue 2 years down the line!

[andy]

It would be nice to know how I could find out exactly what I've got.

e-mail the number to:

martin.stone@sportident.co.uk

and ask?

or, even easier, there is a list of number ranges at the top of the pdf that DJM linked above: https://www.sportident.co.uk/ssl/sicard ... arison.PDF

[andy]

I'm unlikely to need more than 30 punches (Blue at the weekend was 17 controls, plus start and finish so 19 in total, albeit EMIT as it was an OD event!).

Pedantic moment... it's 30 controls plus start, finish, clear so technically 33

Also, you can see the compatibility with stations at the bottom of the pdf I linked, so if you are in any doubt email that to the event organiser and they can check with whoever is running the SI stuff

[pyrat]

Go for a V6, its fast and works everywhere.

Mine didn't work at the CompassSport cup final... and I bought it 'cos my v5 didn't work at BEOC the year before. (On both occasions the organisers gave me a free hire)

Looks like there is a V6 and a V6*! V6* have numbers >= 1million which is what you have Graeme (1600445). V6* only work on some stations when V6 work on all. So it looks like a mature V6 with lots of experience is the way to go.

[EddieH]

In what other system do higher version numbers become less good and less compatible?

[Ernie_Wise]

When did buying a sport ident card become so complicated!?!? Even more to the point, why does it have to be complicated?