Sportident Annoucement!

[Mrs H]

Ravinous has just posted this on the SYO facebook page!
"SPORTident

End of life for SI-Card5 and SI-Card6
After more than 27 years of reliable service, we are announcing the end of life for the SI-Card5 and SI-Card6. These cards, introduced in 1997 and 2002 respectively, have stood the test of time – but as technology evolves, it’s time to move forward. Future SPORTident products and product updates will no longer support the SI-Card5 and SI-Card6.
What does this mean for you?
All SI-Card5 and SI-Card6 will continue to work with the existing stations and other SPORTident hardware as they are today. However, future SPORTident products and product updates (including firmware) will no longer support these cards.
We strongly recommend upgrading to the SPORTident Active Card or SI-Card9 to benefit from the latest features and innovations.
Thank you for being part of the SPORTident journey! We are excited to continue delivering the best in orienteering technology to you."

[sborrill]

Or from the horse's mouth:

https://www.sportident.com/company/news ... d-SI-Card6

[SJC]

So does this mean that as soon as a club upgrades the firmware in their existing boxes all version 5 cards will no longer be able to be used at their events ?

[Big Jon]

I wondered how long before SI would cash in on their monopoly position...

[kedge]

I suspect that there must be something in the pipeline for them to make this announcement, other than just wanting to increase their revenue stream. Certainly there hasn't been a firmware update for the control stations for a while now. And I hope they give us little time to update to a new SI Card if we need to.

Looking at the results for the last few larger events which my club (WIM) has held, it looks as if about 1 in every 8-10 runners in SWOA/SCOA is still using an older style SI card regularly.

Many clubs who were early adopters of SI will have had stocks of Type 5 dibbers for hiring to novices and for use in SchoolsO. Originally in 2000, we had a hire stock of 200 Type 5's , but over the years, selling some off to other clubs, natural wastage, plastic fatigue etc, we have maybe 80 left, of which 20 or so are in a fit state to hire out at events if we run out of our newer Type 8's hire stock. The more decrepit get used in schools/scouts events and the like.

So shortly we may have some redundant kit on our hands. And I don't think we should grumble too much. How many other 25 year old bits of tech do you have still working and in use?

Of the SI equipment & ancillary electronics we bought with the help of a lottery grant back in 2000, only our generator and our CBM splits printer are still serviceable, and neither get much use,(we have faster printers and a power pack now) and the original laptops, Type 4 control units etc are long gone. And remember, the newer BSF type 8 control stations we all use now date from 2007.

[buzz]

The other discussion on the SYO Facebook thread was about the battery life on SIAC. I keep changing mine every couple of years at considerable time and expense but apparently they last for years after the replace battery warning. Another money making ploy.

[ricardito]

The other discussion on the SYO Facebook thread was about the battery life on SIAC. I keep changing mine every couple of years at considerable time and expense but apparently they last for years after the replace battery warning. Another money making ploy.

You will get a warning on the splits printout from SITiming if the voltage is getting low OR the battery is over 3 years old. FWIW I agree the wording should be different in the latter case.

For anyone not aware, you can configure an SI box to display the voltage of a SIAC battery. From the docs (https://docs.sportident.com/user-guide/ ... ystem.html):

The battery voltage of the punched SIAC is measured and shown on the station’s service display. An acoustic signal ‘normal beep’ indicates that the battery is OK. For voltages below 2.72 Volts, the station will show WARN (warning) and emit a warning signal – several beeps at higher frequency. In this case the battery is close to the end of life, but should easily last for the current event, unless a lot of data is being collected from the chip for live timing. In case of FAIL (failure) for voltages below 2.44 Volts, there is no feedback signal. In this case, the battery voltage is below the critical level and the SIAC cannot be used for contactless punching. Battery service is needed.

I’ve been getting the age-based warning for some moths now but the measured voltage is (from memory) 2.79, so holding out for now until a convenient moment…

[King Penguin]

This announcement comes too late for Christmas presents for individuals.
I fear it will cost a lot of clubs a lot of money to replace their loan stock. I hope there will be a significant discount available on upgrades for bulk purchases by clubs.

[The mole]

I fear it will cost a lot of clubs a lot of money to replace their loan stock.

This could see the end of the British Schools Orienteering Championships.
What cost for replacing 400 SI version 5 cards that the BSOA use for these events ?

[Big Jon]

The other discussion on the SYO Facebook thread was about the battery life on SIAC. I keep changing mine every couple of years at considerable time and expense but apparently they last for years after the replace battery warning. Another money making ploy.

I've had warnings on every major event results print-out this year. Just ignored it - seems like I am fairly safe - for a while at least

[buzz]

The other discussion on the SYO Facebook thread was about the battery life on SIAC. I keep changing mine every couple of years at considerable time and expense but apparently they last for years after the replace battery warning. Another money making ploy.

I've had warnings on every major event results print-out this year. Just ignored it - seems like I am fairly safe - for a while at least

As I understand it SIAC cards still work in normal SI Card mode even after the battery dies so it's not the end of the world if beacon mode stops working. Hopefully someome can correct me if I'm wrong.

I guess the question is will they continue to work without batteries with future stations and
firmware updates or is part of the upgrade going to be the need for batteries in dibbers (and more cost).

[Mrs H]

I'm sort of hoping this thread doesn't shoot off into a siac battery discussion. That is a different matter all together:?
I feel the implications for the grass roots of the sport are far more impotant as The Mole has indicated.

[SIman]

I asked SI UK about this. They replied

I asked the questions [of Germany] and there is no planned firmware update for BSF7, BSF8 or BSF9 stations any time soon. This means that the warning about support for SI-Card 5/6 is a precautionary warning.

[kedge]

As I posted previously, orienteers currently still using the Type 5 & 6 dibbers amount to about one in every eight or ten entrants at an event.

Looking in our SiTiming archive of events since the software was introduced in 2017, in 2020 around the time of Covid, this number increases to about one in four or five, and in 2018, as SIAC's were just being introduced, one in three.

So in competition use, the use of the Type 5 is quite quickly diminishing : if Sport Ident are giving us a year or so's warning, as it appears, I think that is fair enough.

How many clubs still maintain large stocks of Type 5: how often are they used? We upgraded to Type 8's a few years ago. Our remaining Type 5's get used about once a year.

As for the British Schools Champs problem, if its a firmware update that ends up disabling use of the Type 5, its usually possible to revert the update to the previous version. its a bit of a faff for the IT team of the organising club downgrading 50+ boxes, then updating again after the event, but it should enable British Schools to use their large stock of Type 5's for the event for a while.