Which Sport Ident card to buy?

[SachaF]

Hi,
After a year of hiring I am thinking of buying my own SI card. However I note the SI card 6 is now a few years old and the 8 is available, cheaper. How many clubs use kit that is compatible with an 8? I'm especially interested in responses from East Anglian clubs / HH / OD / Lei areas. I assume all the British Championships will have the latest SI kit but was wondering if it will be only these events that an 8 can be used at.
Many thanks in advance,

Sacha

[madmike]

Sasha,
in HH land we use North London SI Consortium kit - NLSIC is HH, LOK and Chig btw.

The SI boxes are all updated by our very efficient custodians of the kit and the older box issue should not affect your decision as far as HH land is concerned. V8 has about half the capacity of the V6 as I recall - 30ish punchs vice 64ish. If you aren't running black courses or long urban aces with 33+ controls then you may be OK with V8. I still use my 13 year old V5 on occasion as well as the V6 I got this year, which is much faster at recording the punch and optimal for UrbanO with loads of controls. We have V8s in the schools training kit on cost grounds.

[Spookster]

I assume all the British Championships will have the latest SI kit but was wondering if it will be only these events that an 8 can be used at.
Many thanks in advance,

Sacha

That may not be the case. The British Champs needs a lot of controls, so we'll be using all our boxes, including the old ones (series 6) as well as the new ones (series 7). It's unlikely anyone will be able to use a series 8 or 9 e-card at the British. We'll be hiring series 5 e-cards.

[SachaF]

Thanks MadMike.
Spookster - thanks, interesting - the SportIdent website states 'All major events in the UK use the new style stations '.... so they are being a bit misleading....

[Paul Frost]

I can assure everyone that you will be able to use SI-card 8 & 9 at the Scottish 6 Days.

I'm surprised that the British will be using old kit for an event of this level, I think that the Scottish 6 Days was SI-card 8 & 9 compatible in 2009 as well.

[EddieH]

Crickey! I don't have a clue what version either of my SI cards is. It never occured to me that new kit woudn't work where old kit does.

[mike g]

At the current prices (£49 for v6, £28 for v8) I should think most people buying a new SI card will get v8, so any major event using old kit will need a lot of older SI cards available for people with v8 cards to hire.

Eddie - I think v8 SI cards have 7 digit numbers, so if your cards have 6 digit numbers they're v5 or v6 and compatibility won't be an issue.

[Spookster]

At the current prices (£49 for v6, £28 for v8) I should think most people buying a new SI card will get v8, so any major event using old kit will need a lot of older SI cards available for people with v8 cards to hire.

Eddie - I think v8 SI cards have 7 digit numbers, so if your cards have 6 digit numbers they're v5 or v6 and compatibility won't be an issue.

According to sportident.com, the v8 is "primarily for the school sport and youth sport use". It's the newer and faster alternative to the v5, and is priced the same.

If you want the newer and faster alternative to the v6, then that's the v9, which is also about £50.

[Spookster]

Spookster - thanks, interesting - the SportIdent website states 'All major events in the UK use the new style stations '.... so they are being a bit misleading....

We'll, strictly it's correct, we will be using the new style stations, but perhaps also old style ones. I'm sure SportIdent would love to sell us another £3000 worth of new ones.

No decision yet, and maybe we'll hire enough new ones that the old ones won't be required. I just wanted to raise the issue for you, even if later it turns out not to be an issue.

[mike g]

If you want the newer and faster alternative to the v6, then that's the v9, which is also about £50.

I bought my v6 because it's faster than v5, not because it records more controls. If I lost it now I'd replace it with a v8, and I think most people would do the same. Unless you run black or elite you hardly ever need a card which records more than 30 controls, so the v6 and v9 aren't worth the extra cost.

[Gnitworp]

A friend of mine was forced to buy a Type 9 at WMOC in Switzerland because he'd lost his Type 5 shortly before leaving for the event without time to replace it in the UK. It was the only type of card available for purchase, and he little suspected that it would be less than ideal in the UK.

Yesterday he got to the Start of the MV CSC, 2Km from the Car Park, to find it wouldn't work, so he had to run hard (he already had a late start) 2km back to Registration to get another SI Card, and then another 2km hard running back to the Start, just making it before they packed up. He then did his 4.5 km Green Course!

It is surely important that all competitors are always prewarned that they have an incompatible SI Card so they can be provided with a free replacement for the event before they leave for the Start. Presumably SI numbers identify type (7 digits?)

[Spookster]

It is surely important that all competitors are always prewarned that they have an incompatible SI Card so they can be provided with a free replacement for the event before they leave for the Start. Presumably SI numbers identify type (7 digits?)

Indeed. We made it very clear in the final details of the 2010 Compass Sport Cup Final that 7-digit cards (v8 and v9) could not be used, and that we would free-issue an alternative v5. Almost everyone with a 7-digit card read them...

[AndyC]

The other measure that could have helped Gnitworp's friend (good name for a group that) would have been if the organiser had arranged for a few compatible SI cards to be available with the start team. I know that would cause issues at download but more equitable than an extra 4k run.
I know a lot of clubs work like CLOK do and use the database of dibbers to speed registration - I assume that shows issues at registration

[MIE]

At the current prices (£49 for v6, £28 for v8) I should think most people buying a new SI card will get v8, so any major event using old kit will need a lot of older SI cards available for people with v8 cards to hire.

Eddie - I think v8 SI cards have 7 digit numbers, so if your cards have 6 digit numbers they're v5 or v6 and compatibility won't be an issue.

However, I know of at least one 7 digit SI-6 Card in the UK so it is not
a guarantee to entries persons that a 7 digit card will be incompatible
with old kit -- it must be up to the competitor to ensure that their card
will work with the kit being used -- even if that means asking the organiser/
entries person the question up front.

[pyrat]

Go for a V6, its fast and works everywhere.