JK2013

[Gnitworp]

Any potential advantage is pretty much nullified because the control units are rarely positioned correctly

Optimum orientation of units can sometimes be difficult to achieve on a 'good' course with lots of route options. Personally I always try to help rapid punching with thoughtful orientation and positioning, and I certainly appreciate attention to this nicety.

[King Penguin]

... but what is good for a righty is bad for a lefty, and vice versa. Another advantage of SI - assuming the unit is on top of the stake, not vertically on the side - the angle of approach makes no difference.

[Blonde bombshell]

Thanks to Spookster for looking up the numbers.
The interesting figure is that almost everyone with an EMIT brick also has a SI SI Card.

I agree that, if there is no alternative and it is a very important race and you are very competitive, then you would make the effort to practice.

However, there is an alternative. SI

7000 orienteers have their own SI Card and use this system regularly.
It would be great if they all entered the JK.
Why does one of the major events of the year not use the standard (throughout GB) system?

[Big Jon]

Why does one of the major events of the year not use the standard (throughout GB) system?

As far a s I am aware there is not one standard system throughout UK. Some clubs even still use pin punches (or so I have heard).

[Gnitworp]

... but what is good for a righty is bad for a lefty,

Lefties simply approach unit to the left and righties unit to right. Correct orientation can be correct for both if there's room.

[madmike]

Given IOF and BOF have approved both systems, I don't think you can argue that one is standard

Pin punching - I have got used to it again. As Big Jon and Family recently experienced on the Rome Colloseum Map, they use it more often than not here and it certainly takes more time than EMIT especially when they use transparant punches instead of the "standard" orange ones!

[Paul Frost]

The bit I find interesting is that computing support has been a paid for service for the last few years at the JK, BOC and 6 Days, usually provided by SPORTident.
This support is not cheap, so has an impact on the entry fees, so is the JK using volunteers for computing or paying someone else?

[roadrunner]

... but what is good for a righty is bad for a lefty,

Lefties simply approach unit to the left and righties unit to right. Correct orientation can be correct for both if there's room.

Fine, but the key thing is "if there's room". In urban events, where the control unit is frequently attached to something like a fence, lamppost, etc for security, there often isn't!

[EddieH]

I think we should abandon Emit for the JK and just to be fair to everyone let's have pin punches - I am sure clubs around the coutry will be able to dig out enough of these to populate 4 days worth of control sites.

[awk]

If you think it's an advantage then go and get some EMIT kit and practice. If you're not prepared to do that, don't complain.

Unfortunately, you can't practise for failure of the brikke, which has now happened to me twice. The availabality of those brikke's with a screen went some way towards alleviating that, but given that it now appears that EMIT have gone the other way, it's use does make me think twice (or more!) about entering an event using them. And the very fact that we're talking about the orientation of the units etc. just underlines why it's so unpopular.

Eddie may joke, but I genuinely prefer pin punches to Emit.

[graeme]

Unfortunately, you can't practise for failure of the brikke, which has now happened to me twice.

Presumably you got reinstated by the backup card then?

[Stodgetta]

"We know roughly what time you started, and we can tell you that you've completed your course, but we don't know what time you finished, so we can't give you your result. Would you like a refund for your entry fee if you're really not happy?"

[roadrunner]

Unfortunately, you can't practise for failure of the brikke, which has now happened to me twice.

Presumably you got reinstated by the backup card then?

I don't know what happened to Awk, but at one of my club's events someone's brikke failed, and that meant they didn't get a finish time. So you could prove that you'd visited all the controls (though not necessarily in the right order) using the backup card, but that still wouldn't give you a result. Maybe bigger events like the JK will have some sort of contingency for this?

[Spookster]

Maybe bigger events like the JK will have some sort of contingency for this?

That's why important/big events have timed starts, and a video camera on the finish line. The organiser is then certain what time you started and finished.

[Karen]

Indeed it is the failure rate of emit that frustrates me.
If a SI control box fails, it usually affects a number of people, and the clever computer bods can sort it out. I've never had a problem with SI that only affected me.
But I have had 3 failures of hired emit cards, despite the fact that I use the system rarely. Once the card didn't register at the start and was obviously faulty - minor event so I just trundled around, timed myself, was trusted and included in the results. Another time it was one of those weird scrolling things, meant to be touch free, seemed to register at the start, them went totally random and did not even register the finish time - I was furious.
I'm not fussed which system is used for level C or D, but for anything important, I just do not trust emit.
Given an option to pay extra to hire an emit card or pay extra for the organisers to hire SI, lets have SI, please.