Discussion: wanted: used Control Markers and stations and

I am looking to purchase used equipment for training high school students.

I suggest to check prices in this webshop ALL4o.com, as they sell VAT-free to countries outside EU, so you basically get everything by about 20% cheaper if you are outside EU. And even for EU, they seem to have low prices.
Final product price, excluding VAT, is shown in product page, right below the price in bold.
+ free shipping, so that there are no hidden fees.

https://www.all4o.com/race-event-equipment

Welcome to your very first post on AP, Andre88, employee of the month at All4o and non-answerer of NJNSIs question.

Ha ha, well played jSh! Although it seems a touch ironic that your profile contains the same amount of context as Andre88’s: none.

But jSh is over 2000 users earlier, so either legit or really working the long con.

I do not publish any training logs on AP simply because honestly, I don't train, and don't have a smartwatch or a heartrate-monitor. I do, however, love orienteering.

I am an active discussion-follower here and have tried to add useful content where possible. My areas of expertise are German orienteering (my home country), OE/OS SportSoftware (through doing time-taking since around 1995), SPORTident (dito plus one year of employment there) and radio controls (through my private hobby building such devices, anybody interested may join "radio.", my username here, and the TLD ".de" to see the website, but please don't see this as an advertising ploy - I don't sell).

NJNSI, I have several hundred used Sportident SI-5 fingersticks available for sale. They are originally from a sports organization that ceased operation. Though they are not the latest model, they are in pristine condition, and have only been used a few times. They are perfect for JROTC and High School teams. I used them as an NJROTC orienteering instructor for many years. If you are interested, let me know the name of your JROTC unit, and I will get ahold of you directly with the details.

@oldfogey: Orienteering Cincinnati may be interested in purchasing or renting some of the used SI-5 sticks. We host large JROTC and Scout events which have grown to exceed the number of sticks we currently own. Also, I administer Orienteering USA's new club support program which currently has a few control flags and pin punches to loan to new clubs, but I'd love to also expand that program to be able to help new clubs get started with SI. Feel free to send me an email.

Got you covered Mike. I still have 165 SI-5 fingersticks available for sale if anyone is interested.

@oldfogy Can you provide me a email so I can talk with you? HOC is looking to build up epunch.

These have all been sold.

this meens you need to contact with the buyer

Are oldfogey and vmeyer talking about the same SI-5s?

I struggled with how to get orienteering equipment for all the groups that are asking for equipment to do some training.
Then it became clear that there is no rule that says training controls have to be those $6+ flags.
Generous strands of tape will do. Pie plates will do, Pretty well anything will do.
My favorite are those 24 to 32 ounce yogurt tubs. Plastic quart/ litre milk containers will do.
Instead of e-punch, pin punch will do. Instead of pin punch crayons will do. Apparently some use selfies as proof of finding a control. I'm planning to do that at a horse orienteering event a few weeks from now.

Having electronics does often get more kids excited than without. I know it is not the same, but for school groups and training I find the SI pCards sufficient. Granted, they hold only 20 punches (18 controls plus start and finish, no space for goof-ups if one has 18 controls). But when doing programs over several weeks or days, they do become the "reward" when using them every so often. If getting them in larger numbers, one can even have one's own logo on them.

Are oldfogey and vmeyer talking about the same SI-5s?

Yes. I made them available, and oldfogey did the shipping for me. They were 1000+ Si-5 cards from a Canadian event director...

@andreais: minor nit-pick here: the pCard holds 20 control punches PLUS a dedicated clear/check, a dedicated start and a dedicated finish punch.

Also, pCards and tCards are a major pain to users if stations are secured to objects by thin cable-locks (common case in urban events) - I have seen users literally trying for multiple minutes to get a punch, while in-hole chips had no problems and even comCards worked OK. Not a good way to motivate kids to participate again...

We use Cables and P cards, no issues

@jSh I guess I have been inadvertently conservative over the past 5 years in using 18 or fewer controls :) Granted, I use the e-punches either when within sight (Go4Orientering games) or then in parks away from where I would have to use cables. In places where I would have to use cables I just use old-fashioned pin punches.

Many places where you might feel the need to lock SI stations (urban) would work well with a cellphone app, eg MapRun

@gruver The problem with cellphone apps is I teach to many groups where the majority of kids have no access to smartphones. I bring the field trip to the schools, because many schools I go out to have little to no budget for bus rides and field trips.

Understood. And I was talking to an orienteer recently who was marketing orienteering as "device-free":-))

Nevertheless its interesting to toy with ideas. If one was starting from scratch, would a "class set" of low-end smartphones be more or less that a set of SI or Emit cards, plus control stations? Which way are the prices trending?

Not starting from scratch...is anyone using SFR? 60 euros a station and 7 euros per 122 punch card. Not many low end phones at 7 euros at least in my neck of the woods.

The SFR station has...and this is ABSOLUTELY INSANE....a replaceable battery! Replaceable! Not soldered! Replaceable! I'll rejoin this thread after I check the list of club SI stations that are dying and need to be shipped off for new batteries.

I believe the Ramblers in Quebec use SFR.

"Not many low end phones at 7 euros"

But you don't need 'a station' for MapRun

Fair point